Night Falls on Norway

by CW Browning

  Evelyn took a deep, ragged breath and felt her hands steady as she stared across the small space at Erik. Everything he said, while cold and harsh, was also true. She had offered to serve her country, and to fight. She had been trained to fire guns with the intent to kill. Sifu had trained her to use her body as a weapon and her hands for the same intent: to kill. MI6 had trained her to detect and silence enemy sentries. All of it, everything she had learned and been trained for, had led her here. This was the path she had chosen that long ago day in a chateau outside of Paris.

  “You’re right,” she said after a long moment, her voice cracking. She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry.”

  “Never apologize,” he said gruffly after a long moment of staring back at her, “not for being human. Finish reloading that gun and get some sleep. It’s after one in the morning. We continue at eight.”

  Steinkjer, Norway

  April 13

  Eisenjager slowed and pulled to the side of the road, shutting off the engine. Dawn was streaking the sky with gray and purple, casting shadows across the make-shift barrier blocking the road. A soldier in a long coat walked towards his car, a machine gun hanging over his shoulder, while two others watched from a few feet away. They had their hands on their rifles, ready to fire if needed.

  “Herr Manfrit Gruber?” he asked, bending slightly to peer into the window.

  “Yes.”

  Eisenjager pulled out his papers and passed them to the SS soldier. He watched as the young man examined them carefully before passing them back. He clicked his heels together respectfully as he straightened up.

  “Hauptsturmführer Beck is waiting for you, Herr Gruber,” he said politely, opening the car door for him. “If you would come with me?”

  Eisenjager climbed out from behind the wheel, tucking his papers back into his inside coat pocket. He turned to follow the soldier across the road and into the trees a few yards away.

  “The others will watch your car,” the young man said over his shoulder. “This is one of the main roads into Steinkjer, and no one is allowed in or out. It will be quite safe there.”

  “I’m really not worried about it,” Eisenjager replied. “Have you secured the town?”

  “Yes, but we haven’t gone any further. We’re waiting for additional support.”

  Eisenjager raised an eyebrow but said nothing more as he was led through the trees. They walked for some minutes before they came to the edge of what looked like a dried out river bed. Below them in the ravine were several bodies covered with gray blankets, laid out in a row. Black boots covered the uniform trousers to just below the knee.

  “Those are our dead,” a deep voice said from the left.

  Eisenjager turned to face the tall man walking out of the trees towards them. He had dark hair and pale skin, but his eyes were sharp and keen. They swept over Eisenjager quickly as he approached.

  “They killed seven of my men in total,” he continued. “Five here and two back there in the trees.” He jerked his head in the direction he had come from. “And we only got one of them. I am Herr Hauptsturmführer Wilhelm Beck,” he added, holding out a gloved hand. “You must be Herr Gruber.”

  “Yes.” Eisenjager gripped his hand.

  Beck nodded and looked at the soldier who had escorted him. “You may return to your post.”

  The soldier clicked his heels and saluted, then nodded to Eisenjager and turned to make his way back through the trees. Once he was out of earshot, Beck turned back to look at him assessingly.

  “Or should I call you Eisenjager?” he asked softly.

  “I prefer Herr Gruber at the moment.”

  Beck smiled faintly. “Yes, of course. It’s an honor to meet you. I was beginning to believe the rumors were true, and that you were only a myth. It’s reassuring to know that they’re wrong.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because we need men like you,” he answered candidly, turning to walk over to the edge of the ravine. He began to make his way down the steep incline into the river bed. “Especially after what happened last night.”

  “What did happen last night?” Eisenjager asked, following him.

  Beck glanced behind him. “I’m still trying to work that out,” he muttered. He reached the bed and turned to watch as Eisenjager slid the rest of the way down the incline. “As far as I can tell, your British agent was right where you said she’d be.”

  Eisenjager stopped at the bottom of the incline, a surge of satisfaction rolling through him.

  “She was here?”

  “I think so, yes.” Beck turned and led him past the covered bodies and along the ravine. “There were four men and one woman. At least, that is what I’m told. Three of the men had rifles. They’re responsible for that.” He waved his hand to encompass the bodies behind them. “They were outnumbered, out-positioned and out-gunned, yet they still managed to kill seven of my soldiers. We believe they are Norwegian military.”

  “And the fourth man?”

  Beck motioned ahead. Eisenjager turned to look and saw another body lying alone further down the ravine.

  “He shot and killed one more of my men, and severely wounded another in his stomach. I don’t expect the one with the stomach wound to last the day. That will bring the number of dead to nine.”

  Eisenjager’s lips tightened and he strode forward, covering the distance to the body quickly with his long legs. They had covered it with a blanket like the others, but he could see that the black trousers and shoes were civilian.

  “This one is not army?” he asked, stopping beside the body.

  “No. He was Norwegian, but a civilian. Peder Strand, according to his identification. He lived in Oslo.” Beck bent down to reach for the edge of the blanket. “It’s not pretty,” he warned before pulling it back.

  Eisenjager stared down at the lifeless face, taking in the multiple bullet wounds over his torso and head. The man was riddled with machine gun fire, the price he paid for shooting two SS troopers.

  “Why did he stay behind?” he asked after a moment.

  “He was shot in his leg and couldn’t continue. When he was approached, he opened fire with this.” Beck pulled out a pistol and handed it to Eisenjager. “It’s a Norwegian standard-issue sidearm.”

  “One of the others gave it to him,” Eisenjager said, examining it. “Probably for defense.” He looked up. “What happened to the others?”

  “They escaped that way,” Beck pointed down the ravine. “They went around the curve. By the time our soldiers got there, they were gone.”

  Fury streaked through Eisenjager, white and hot, and his fingers clenched around the pistol in his hand.

  “I thought I made it clear that the woman had to be stopped and detained?” he said, his calm and quiet tone belying the angry glint in his cold eyes.

  “You did not make it clear that she was accompanied by three trained soldiers,” Beck retorted. “My men were not prepared for them.”

  “Are you making excuses for the failure of your men?”

  “No. I’m stating facts. They were not adequately briefed on the nature of the mission. They were told to look for two women and a man, all civilians. What they found were three soldiers and a man familiar enough with pistols to kill one of my men and fatally wound another.”

  Eisenjager stared at him in cold silence for a long moment, then he handed the pistol back to him and turned his attention to the body at their feet.

  “Was there anything else on him?” he asked. “A notebook? Anything?”

  “No. Just his wallet and identification.”

  “Scheisse!” Eisenjager turned away from the body. “That’s of no use to me then!”

  He started to stride towards the curve in the ravine in the distance, then turned and went back to Beck instead.

  “What’s in that direction?” he asked, pointing.

  “Steinkjer.
The ravine runs along the edge of the town.”

  “And you’ve sent men in pursuit of them?”

  Beck frowned. “No. I don’t have the men to send.” He turned and motioned to the bodies behind them. “They killed half of the men I sent to look for them. My orders are to wait for reinforcements.”

  “When will they arrive?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  Eisenjager let out a frustrated exclamation. “Tomorrow is too late!” he spat. “That is why I told you to stop them here.”

  “I cannot send my platoon on a hunt through enemy territory,” Beck told him stiffly. “We haven’t secured the area, only the town. We know there are enemy forces in the area. My orders are to wait.”

  Eisenjager stared at him for a moment, then exhaled.

  “And you must follow your orders,” he said grudgingly. “I understand.”

  Beck inclined his head and they turned to walk back to where they had come down into the ravine.

  “You aren’t the only one interested in this agent,” Beck said, breaking the silence after a few minutes.

  Eisenjager looked at him sharply. “Oh?”

  “I received a message this morning from Obersturmbannführer Hans Voss, in Berlin. He also stressed the importance of apprehending her. Are you aware of the SD’s interest?”

  “I am. They do not concern me.”

  Beck grunted and smiled faintly. “Perhaps they should. They are obviously still keeping an eye out for her, and they have resources everywhere the SS go. If they find her first, you will lose for the first time in your career.”

  The hint of smug arrogance in his voice indicated that the possibility was satisfying to the Hauptsturmführer. Eisenjager noted it, and the smile he gave him was chilling.

  “Unlike the SS, I do not lose my prey. I can assure you, they will not find her first.”

  London, England

  Bill hung up the telephone and stared at it with a frown. He raised his eyes to the clock on the wall of his study, and the frown deepened. It was two hours past the time when Evelyn was supposed to have made contact, but still nothing. He had rung the radio room to make sure, and they confirmed that no new messages had been received yet. She still hadn’t checked in.

  He picked up his glasses and put them on, turning his attention to the reports on the desk in front of him. Even though it was Saturday, he still had work to do. Marguerite had gone to a luncheon with the Women’s Institute, leaving him to get done what he had to do before they went to the theater this evening. If he didn’t finish, he would have a very annoyed wife on his hands. His lips curved despite himself. She had been looking forward to this evening all week and he wouldn’t disappoint her.

  Nevertheless, a few minutes later his mind wandered again, and a heavy sense of foreboding fell over him. The navy had sent a group of destroyers to Narvik along with air support in the form of an aircraft carrier with the aim of defeating the enemy there and gaining a foothold in northern Norway. They were expected to arrive today and engage the Germans. Tomorrow, more ships were arriving in Namsos, carrying the Royal marines. By Monday, if everything went to plan, the Germans would be engaging Allied troops up and down the coast. Evelyn had to be out of there before that happened. Once the battles began, she would be in more danger than ever.

  Where was she?

  Bill exhaled and dropped the report in his hand, flipping the folder closed over it. He got up impatiently and turned to go over to the wall of bookshelves alongside his desk. Pulling down a large world atlas, he carried it over to a reading table and set it down, opening it and turning to the pages for Norway. In her last transmission, Jian had said that she was outside Steinkjer. He had warned her that the Huns knew she was in Norway, but he hadn’t received a reply. Hardly surprising, and he hadn’t been concerned last night. They had received confirmation that the message was received, and that was all that he was concerned with at the time. He had no way of knowing how reliable the radio was that she was using, or even if it would continue to be able to transmit. Therefore, when no reply came, he assumed that they had simply lost their signal again. After all, he had told her contact again in ten hours. He hadn’t told her to acknowledge the message. He had wanted to keep the messages as short as possible. The shorter the message, the less time it took to decode, and the less time the Germans had to intercept a location on the radio.

  But now the ten hours had been and gone, and there was still no word from her.

  After some searching, he found Steinkjer on the map and studied the area with a frown. The town was located in the middle of a bottleneck where Norway narrowed, bridging the north and the southern portions of the country. It was about two-thirds of the way between Trondheim and Namsos. He shook his head. Without knowing how she was traveling, he had no way of beginning to estimate when she would reach Namsos. In fact, without knowing where she was now, he couldn’t be sure that she would reach Namsos in time. The cruiser would be in the harbor tomorrow, and the captain was under orders to unload his cargo and then return to England. If Evelyn wasn’t there by the time he finished unloading the troops, he would leave, and she would be trapped in the middle of a battle for Norway.

  A battle that was never supposed to have occurred in the first place.

  He let out a frustrated grunt and followed a line from Steinkjer to Namsos with his forefinger. If the party had made it through Steinkjer last night, it would have been after midnight or even after one or two in the morning. They would have stopped for what was left of the night. Asp looked like a possibility. It was the next sizable town after Steinkjer. They would probably have been able to find somewhere to stop there. If that was the case, they would be far enough away from the water that the likelihood of running into enemy troops would be lessening. They would be able to move more freely as they got away from the bottleneck, and drew closer to Namsos. All the current surveillance photos showed the German troops concentrated around Trondheim and moving north along the fjord to join up with the forces coming south from Narvik. They were staying in the middle for now. They would worry about the smaller coastal ports once they joined up with the other divisions.

  And that might just be the thing to save Jian. If she’d made it through Steinkjer, she had the whole western swath to Namsos to navigate without much risk of interference from enemy forces.

  If she’d made it through Steinkjer, he reminded himself, straightening up and removing his glasses to rub his eyes. And he wouldn’t know that until he heard from her again.

  He turned to go back to his desk, a frown settled on his face again. So far, she had been extremely punctual in contacting when she said she would, but of course, he had no way of knowing what kinds of delays she was running into. All he could do was wait.

  And pray.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  ––––––––

  Spillum, Norway

  Evelyn leaned against the post of a wooden fence and felt her eyes trying to close. She forced them open again and looked at Anna, sitting on a tree stump a foot away. She looked as half-dead as Evelyn felt. They had been hiking through the mountains since eight this morning, moving through progressively deeper and deeper snow until she was convinced her legs couldn’t take one more step. She had lost all feeling in her feet and ankles hours before, and her calves and thighs were screaming from the effort of slogging through at least two and a half feet of snow. Her rifle was back to being slung across her body and she carried Peder’s radio and her toiletries case, switching hands when she lost feeling in the one carrying the heavy radio. Anna still carried her suitcase, her own left behind on the incline outside Steinkjer. She had her feet propped up on it while she sat on the tree stump, waiting for Erik and Philip to finish checking the immediate area.

  They had come upon the outskirts of Spillum, a town just south of Namsos, and Erik was checking to make sure it was clear and safe for them to pass through. So far they hadn�
��t run across any indication that the German forces had made their way west, but they all knew that could change in an instant. If the town was clear, they would look for somewhere to take shelter in the hills. If not, they would have to go around. Evelyn grimaced at the thought and fought back a wave of helpless tears. She honestly didn’t think she could go much further, perhaps no further at all. She was falling asleep on her feet, and so was Anna. They had to stop soon.

  “It looks quiet,” Erik announced, coming out of the trees with Philip beside him. “I don’t think they’ve come this way yet. We should be safe to look to for shelter for the night.”

  “Oh, thank God,” Anna said. “I don’t know how much further I can go.”

  Erik nodded. “I know. Come on. Philip thinks there might be some old farms up that way.”

  Anna nodded and struggled to her feet, picking up the suitcase. Evelyn bent to pick up her cases again and, as she did so, a shiver of warning went down her spine. Through her exhaustion, instincts she didn’t even know she had took over and, instead of picking up the cases, she straightened up with her rifle in her hands. Seeing her swing the gun into her grip, Erik and Philip both did the same, spinning around to look for the threat.

  “What is it?” Anna asked in alarm, looking around.

  Before Evelyn could answer, a man stepped out of the shadows near the end of the fence. He carried a shotgun, but at the sight of three rifles pointed towards him, he raised his arms in a placating motion.

  “Whoa, easy there!” he said, keeping his grip on his shotgun, but stopping well away from them. “Who might you be?”

  “Who might you be?” Erik countered.

  The man looked at him for a long moment, then lowered his arms and his shotgun.

  “That’s my property behind you,” he said, nodding at the expanse of land behind the fence Evelyn had been leaning against. “I was out checking on the goats when I saw you.”