by CW Browning
“They’re fine, but I don’t have a good feeling,” Philip replied. “What about ahead?”
Erik looked grim. “It’s the same.”
Anna looked from one to the other.
“What does that mean?” she asked when neither of them seemed inclined to elaborate. “Either you saw evidence of German troops in the area or you didn’t.”
“I didn’t, but something isn’t right,” Erik said, stepping over the hollowed out tree trunk where Peder was seated. “I can’t explain it. We need to be on our guard and as quiet as possible.”
“Do we continue on this course?” Philip asked.
He nodded.
“Yes. I don’t know that changing course now would do anything other than slow us down. And time isn’t on our side.” He looked at Peder. “How long have you been trying to get through now?”
“Almost half an hour.”
Erik’s frown grew and he went over to stand next to Evelyn.
“That’s too long. If there are enemy troops in the area, they could intercept the signal and realize we’re here,” he said, looking down at her.
“Peder doesn’t think that’s likely,” Anna told him. “He said that they would have to know to look for the signal.”
Erik never took his eyes off Evelyn’s face, staring at her steadily.
“Is there any possibility that they could know to listen for a wireless signal?” he asked, his eyes boring into hers.
Evelyn swallowed. Of course there was a possibility. She knew it and Anna knew it. But was it likely? She was about to open her mouth to say no when she suddenly remembered Oslo last November. It wasn’t likely then for anyone to know of her whereabouts, yet both the SD and the NKVD had.
“Perhaps,” she said reluctantly.
He nodded, seeming to be satisfied that she had admitted to it.
“Peder, shut it down,” he said, turning away. “You can try again later when we’re past Steinkjer.”
“Just another minute,” he protested. “Just give me another minute.”
“Every minute you’re on that thing is another minute that the Germans can intercept it! Do you want to be a guest of the Huns?”
“No, but—” Peder stopped abruptly, grabbing his headset and pressing it against his ears. “I’ve got something!”
Erik turned impatiently, his lips pressed together tightly. He watched as Peder grabbed a pad and pencil and began writing furiously while he listened. Turning his head, he looked at Philip and made a movement with his hand, motioning for him to fall back and prepare to move. Philip nodded and tightened his hands on his rifle, turning to move back into the trees behind them.
Evelyn stood up and picked up her case. Some of Erik’s uneasiness was transferring itself to her and she moved forward to stand next to Peder, looking over his shoulder and willing him to go faster. Her heart began to beat a little faster as his pencil moved over the paper steadily. Once he had the message, he could shut the radio down and they would move. It would be all right. It had been so far.
She felt Anna come up behind her, and Erik moved to stand in front of Peder, his attention directed to the trees in front of them. As soon as Peder was finished, he was ready to move. And, suddenly, Evelyn was just as anxious to get moving.
“Here!” Peder tore off the paper and passed it to her. “It’s done.”
He quickly unplugged the radio from the strange, oblong box that he used as a power source, and began putting everything back into the case. While he was closing it up, Anna shone her torch onto the paper, allowing Evelyn to read the message quickly. Her blood ran cold when she decoded the words.
ENEMY MAY KNOW OF YOUR PRESENCE AND DESTINATION. PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION. MAKE CONTACT IN 10 HOURS.
“What is it?” Anna asked, seeing the look on her face.
“We have to move,” Evelyn said urgently. “Do you have your lighter handy?”
“Yes. It’s right here.” Anna switched off the torch and pulled a lighter out of her coat pocket.
Evelyn took it and flipped it open. It took a few tries with her numb fingers before she managed to get it lit, but then she held the flame to the paper in her hand, burning the message as she had all the others.
“What do you mean we have to move?” Erik demanded, coming back to them.
“Just that. We need to move. Quickly.”
Erik stared hard at her then nodded once, turning towards the trees. He had only taken two steps when he froze and held up his hand, motioning for silence. Evelyn felt a streak of awareness shoot down her spine and she caught her breath.
The wind whistled through the trees, carrying the faint sound of voices. Her heart pounding, she froze and listened, her lips parting on a silent gasp. Erik turned his head sharply and his dark eyes met hers as she suddenly made out the words on the wind.
“Schnell! Das signal kam aus dieser richtung!”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
––––––––
“That was German!” Anna hissed as Erik inserted his fingers in his mouth and let out a low, owl-like whistle.
Evelyn nodded and grabbed her rifle, pulling the strap over her head and hooking it over her shoulder with one smooth motion. Anna wordlessly grabbed Evelyn’s suitcase, freeing both hands for the rifle. Evelyn nodded her thanks and turned as Philip silently emerged from the trees in response to Erik’s whistle.
Erik motioned with his hands and then pointed up, indicating that they would have to ascend higher to avoid the enemy. Philip nodded and turned to cover their rear flank as Erik led the small group through the trees and up the incline. Anna went up in front of Evelyn while Peder remained behind her, ready to brace her if she slipped going up the snow-covered hill.
Evelyn’s breath came fast and shallow as she gripped the rifle tightly, listening for the sound of pursuit. There was none. They hadn’t been heard or detected yet. But the voices were still floating on the wind and she found it strangely calming to focus on the German. They were arguing, she realized after a moment. While one was reiterating that the radio signal had come from this direction, the others were complaining that all that was out here was snow. Listening to them bicker, a strange sort of calm descended over her and Evelyn realized that the trembling in her limbs had stopped. It was almost as if she was moving and living in another person’s body, observing from the outside as the group moved rapidly into the hills above.
They reached the next ridge and she realized that the voices had faded into the distance. Scrambling over a fallen tree, she landed on a flat path and looked behind her. Peder was just going over the tree with Philip behind him, sweeping away their tracks from the snow, when she heard it: the sound of multiple boots crunching through snow. Turning her head swiftly, through the trees she saw blinking flashlights in the darkness. They had escaped one threat only to run in front of another!
Her heart surged into her throat as she listened to the marching footsteps coming from the right. Erik grabbed Anna’s hand and shoved her into the trees on the other side of the trail, motioning for Evelyn to follow. Then he turned and waved Philip and Peder back. Philip nodded and grabbed Peder’s arm, pulling him down and out of sight behind the fallen tree. As soon as he was hidden, Philip hurriedly swept away the tracks in the snow by the trail before diving down next to him, disappearing from view.
Evelyn’s heart pounded painfully against her chest as she crouched behind a mound of underbrush, watching as Erik cleared their tracks as best as he could while the sound of the marching enemy drew closer. They could hear them clearly now, the sound of their voices carrying down the trail. She couldn’t see Anna, who had taken cover behind a spruce tree that looked as if it had been struck by lightning at some point. While the bottom trunk was still thriving, the top had split and fallen sideways, there to remain until time and nature reclaimed it. At the present, though, it offered the perfect protection for Anna.
> Erik finished on the trail and silently moved past Evelyn, disappearing into the trees behind her. A moment later, she couldn’t see him either.
No sooner had he melded into the darkness than the German voices became louder and a short burst of laughter rang out on the trail. A group of four soldiers dressed in gray Wehrmacht uniforms came into sight, walking in pairs, and Evelyn shrank down even lower behind the brush. Her throat constricted, and she held her breath, listening as they tramped towards them.
They had stopped talking for the moment. Instead, she heard the sound of their heavy breathing as they moved quickly along the ridge, their steps in time with each other. One of them coughed suddenly and she started, biting her bottom lip to keep from gasping. They were very close to her now, passing just on the other side of the copse she huddled behind. Her blood pounded in her ears, and all she could hear was the sound of her heart thumping until she was afraid they would also hear it.
“This is a waste of time,” a voice said directly next to her. “We haven’t seen anything in these mountains.”
“Hauptsturmführer Beck wants to be sure,” another replied. “He’s been informed that a high value target will be moving through Steinkjer tonight or tomorrow.”
At the mention of the superior’s rank, icy fear, sharp and swift, sliced through Evelyn and her throat constricted. Holding her breath and knowing that she should remain perfectly still, she nonetheless turned her head to try to peer through the underbrush at the trail that passed a few feet from her hiding place. The four soldiers were just passing the brush, and she could smell the leather of their boots and stale cigarette smoke on their long coats.
At the sight of the dark gray coats, she raised her eyes, searching for the lapel insignia. She already knew what she would find, but she had to be sure. Even prepared for it, the sight of the sinister silver SS sent another shaft of terror through her, and Evelyn lowered her eyes quickly.
“A high value target?” The first soldier scoffed. “Unless it’s the Norwegian king, no target is worth this cold.”
“Shall I tell Hauptsturmführer Beck your thoughts? I’m sure he will be interested to hear what you have to say.”
That appeared to silence the disgruntled soldier, and the group fell silent again, continuing along the trail. Evelyn’s chest burned as she tried not to breathe, terrified that she would end up sneezing or making some noise to give away their position. Her hands tightened on her rifle and she clung to the comfort of the cold steel. At least she wasn’t completely helpless if they were discovered.
“If anyone is out here, they will be holed up somewhere to wait for morning,” one of the other soldiers said. “Only a fool would still be moving with more snow coming.”
“Perhaps.”
They were moving away now, putting distance between themselves and the concealed group in the trees. Evelyn watched them go, afraid to tear her eyes away in case that was the second that one of them saw something. Her mind was spinning, trying to grasp that her worst fear had come true. The SS had learned of her presence here. How was immaterial for the moment. What mattered was that now Anna and the others were in even more danger than before. The regular German army was bad enough, but Hitler’s SS troops were another matter altogether. They were his death squads, and the SD was their intelligence branch. Not only did they know she was trapped in Norway, but they had learned that she would have to pass through Steinkjer. Which could only mean that they also knew where she was going. Her lips tightened and a slow anger began to chase the paralyzing fear away. There was only one way they could have learned she was heading for Namsos; they had to have heard it from London.
“Do you think it’s true that it was Eisenjager who contacted Beck?”
The question floated back to her and Evelyn frowned. She knew that name, but she didn’t remember how.
“Eisenjager? That’s a myth. He doesn’t exist.”
The voices were fading now and Evelyn strained to hear the response.
“...say he...most dangerous...Himmler...”
It was no use. They were too far away now and the wind was carrying their voices in the opposite direction. Evelyn scowled, trying to remember where she had heard or seen that name before. Iron hunter. That was what it meant. But how did she know it?
The men passed from view along the trail, but still no one moved. Evelyn remained where she was, waiting for Erik to give some kind of signal. She listened to the new silence that fell over the mountainside, shivering in the cold. She could hear nothing now aside from the howl of the wind and the occasional howl of a distant wolf. Her heart stopped thumping against her chest, and she took a deep, ragged breath, sucking air into her starved lungs.
After what seemed like an eternity but was in fact only a few minutes, Erik moved out from the trees and motioned for them to join him. Evelyn tried to stand and found that her legs had cramped from cold and fear. Pain shot down them from her hips and she grit her teeth, using the rifle butt to help push her to her feet. Once she gained her balance, she moved towards Erik, biting her lip as her feet screamed in protest. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Philip and Peder move up the rise on the other side of the trail, and she exhaled. It was a miracle that none of them had been seen.
Anna joined Erik and looked at Evelyn, her face pale.
“You were right next to them!” she hissed. “I thought for sure you would be discovered!”
“I don’t know how I wasn’t,” she confessed in a whisper.
“You’re a high value target?” Erik asked softly, his dark eyes boring into hers. “Did you know this?”
Evelyn swallowed painfully. “You understood them?”
“I speak German as well as my sister. Did you know?”
“No.”
Anna cast Evelyn a sharp, warning glance before turning to face her brother.
“We don’t even know it’s her they’re looking for,” she argued. “It could be anyone and we just happen to be here as well.”
“That would be a very big coincidence.”
“They do happen. If Marlene knew she was a target, she would never have allowed me to come with her.”
Erik looked at her in silence for a moment, then the grim set of his mouth relaxed a bit and he glanced at Evelyn.
“Those were SS troops,” he said in a low voice. “They are specialized and highly trained, more so than the regular soldiers. We must be very careful.”
“There are more above us,” Philip whispered as he and Peder joined them. “I saw the lights when were behind the log. We can’t go up any further. We’ll run into more.”
“They’re spread out through the hills,” Erik said. “They’ve cast a net around Steinkjer.”
“They how do we proceed?” Peder asked, looking from one to another. “Should we find somewhere to shelter and wait for morning?”
“No. By morning there will be three times as many of them. We must go through them.”
“How?” Anna demanded.
“We have to get into the valley,” Erik decided after a long moment of thought. “There are houses and villages there where we can conceal ourselves.”
“We will lose the protection of the hills,” Philip pointed out.
“We have already lost it. The valley is the only way through now.”
Philip frowned. “That means going along the ravine,” he said slowly. “We’ll be putting ourselves in a kill box.”
“Do you see another way?” Erik asked. “If you do, please offer it. I don’t want to go down there any more than you do, but I can’t think of another way.”
Philip was quiet, thinking, then he finally shook his head. “No. Even if we stay in the hills, we will have to descend to pass through Steinkjer, and that’s what they’ll be expecting. That’s why they’ve cast such a wide net, to force us where they want us to go.”
Erik nodded. “Then let’s get moving. We�
��ll move quickly and without light. Stay close together. Philip, you take the back and Marlene, you stay in the middle. We’ll keep the fire power even between us.”
Evelyn nodded and took a deep breath as the small group moved out of the trees and onto the trail. Erik led them to the opposite side and they began a silent descent, moving to the left of the area where they had first heard the German soldiers approaching. She listened to the silence around them, straining for sounds of voices in the darkness. While she didn’t much like the thought of descending into something referred to as a kill box, she realized that they had very limited options. She had to trust Erik.
They moved as quickly and quietly as possibly, stopping frequently while Erik or Philip checked for the SS patrols. Each time they stopped, Evelyn gripped her rifle a little tighter, knowing that both the Norwegian soldiers were counting on her ability to fire if needed. Anna was still carrying her suitcase for her, allowing her to have both hands to handle the gun. While she felt guilty for her carrying two heavy suitcases down a mountain covered in snow, Evelyn was glad to have both hands on the rifle. She wasn’t entirely confident in her ability to hit any target with her frozen fingers, but if it came down to it, she had no choice. At least she knew she was a good shot. Hopefully that would hold true despite the frigid temperature.
Erik held up his hand, halting the group, and Evelyn stood still, listening. She couldn’t hear anything in the darkness, but something had made him stop abruptly. Twisting her head, she strained to see any tell-tale specks of light. They had seen several on their descent, some quite close to them, but now all she saw was darkness. Clouds had covered the moon, robbing them of what little pale light it had afforded. Her eyes, accustomed to the darkness, made out the tall shapes of trees around them, but nothing else.
She reached forward to touch Anna’s arm questioningly, but before she could touch her, she heard what it was that had made Erik stop so suddenly: voices.
Evelyn frowned in confusion. They seemed to be coming from above them, but then the wind shifted and she could swear they were coming from behind them. They were too far away to make out the words, and she turned to peer behind them, trying to make sense out of the muffled sounds.