The Unlikely Allies

by Gilbert, Morris

  The room was murky, for she had only one small light on the desk, which did little to illuminate most of the room. Again the wind sighed and moaned, and the whole house seemed to shake with the violence of its power.

  Mallory rose and went to peer out the window at the night sky, but she could see nothing, for the storm that had gripped the land for the past two days had shut out the heavens. The stars are still out there, she thought, and in Africa I know they can see them, but here, it’s like being buried underground. She could make out nothing but the swirling of the icy snowflakes, which made a sibilant sound as they brushed the glass, driven by the moaning wind.

  No planes can fly in this weather, she thought as she turned and walked back toward her desk beside the fire. She sat down, held her hands out, and luxuriated in the warmth. I always took warmth for granted in Africa. How many times did I complain about how hot it was? Well, I don’t have that problem here.

  The place was quiet, for Lars and Eva had gone on a mission. They were often gone, for it was their strength and determination that kept the resistance in this area tied together. They lived a precarious existence, unsafe and in danger every day. Of course Mallory knew that she was at risk herself, but she had learned to live with the fears that would sometimes rise in her.

  A sound caught her attention then, and she turned to see the Klovstads’ large gray cat named Michael as he jumped from the table and walked across the floor. He was a huge animal with large golden eyes, rather aristocratic and hard to get to know. Mallory had won him over with frequent offerings of tuna and had discovered that he seemed to like olives. One had fallen to the floor, and he had pounced on it immediately and devoured it. “You want an olive, Michael?”

  Michael looked up and said, “Yow!” and turned to pad back toward the refrigerator. Laughing at the antics of the huge cat, Mallory went to the refrigerator and fished out three olives out of a can with her fingers. She put one on the floor, and Michael ate it and then meowed again. He repeated this twice more, and then without a meow of gratitude, he turned and walked away, headed for the fire. He curled up, and Mallory made a face at him. “You’re welcome,” she said. “If there was such a thing as a cat charm school, I’d send you to it!”

  Going back to the desk, she sat down and took up the letter she was writing to her parents. She had written them several times, on each occasion finding a way to smuggle the letter back to England, but it was a one-way communication. She had received no mail from her parents for over two months. She suspected that the battle in the Atlantic had something to do with this, for the mails depended upon the shipping lanes, which were dangerous, with German submarines prowling incessantly, looking for their prey.

  She had a hard time concentrating on her letter as her thoughts kept turning to Derek. She missed seeing him and kept wondering if they could ever have a relationship. That was hard to imagine as long as the war was on. Derek just didn’t seem like a Nazi to her, although Eva kept reminding her that of course he was. But to Mallory, he seemed much too gentle and kind to be a Nazi in his heart.

  Even as she thought this, Mallory felt a deep conflict going on inside her heart. There was a gentleness in Derek Grüber she did not see in any of the other Nazis she’d had to deal with. She sensed it and had also seen it in his quick agreement to release the retarded boy. No other Nazi she knew would have done that, but Derek had done it readily. She could not picture his being a part of a wicked system that shot hostages mercilessly. “I mustn’t think about him anymore,” she told herself and went back to her letter.

  I carry a revolver now, which is something I thought I would never do. Eva insisted on it, and I always keep it concealed. The question that comes to me over and over again is, “What would I do if I had to use it? Could I actually shoot someone—take a human life?” I don’t think I could, but it satisfies Eva.

  She finished the letter, signed it, and sealed it in an envelope, then stood and stretched. It was getting past eight o’clock, and she was a little concerned about Eva and Lars, but they had told her not to be worried if they did not get home before ten o’clock. She turned abruptly, went to her bedroom, and came out bearing a radio she had put into working order. It had been damaged in transit from the last plane that flew in, and it had been difficult to repair. Now, however, it was working perfectly.

  She set it on the table while she put on her heavy coat and pulled a black wool cap down over her ears. Picking up the radio, she opened the door and stepped outside. As always, the biting cold hit her like a fist and she gasped, keeping her mouth closed, for she had learned how cold the air could feel in the lungs. She thought of the Lapps as she made her way back around the house and headed for the barn. She had seen Lapp children playing in weather not much warmer than this with lightweight clothing on. That was their heritage, but she knew she herself could never endure it. The wind pulled at her and was strong enough to actually propel her forward.

  She had almost reached the barn when suddenly she heard a voice call her name. She whirled around and saw a tall figure, and for a moment she could not tell who it was in the darkness. Then he came closer, and she said, “Derek!”

  “Hello, Mallory.”

  She stood transfixed. The radio in her hand was enough to send her to a firing squad! She ordinarily was a very quick thinker, but the suddenness of his appearance and the abruptness of his greeting stopped her mental processes. The only thing she could think of was, I’m caught! I need to do something.

  “Can I help you with that?”

  Derek reached forward and took the radio; then she saw his head drop as he stared at it. In that one moment Mallory made a heartrending decision. She reached inside her coat and pulled the thirty-eight from the band of her trousers. He straightened up and his eyes widened.

  “I wish you hadn’t come here, Derek. You don’t give me any choice.”

  Derek Grüber silently looked not at the gun but into her eyes. She could not read his face, so intense was the blackness of the night.

  “You’re going to shoot me?”

  Mallory knew she could do no such thing. Still she had to do something! “Go back to the house,” she said curtly.

  Derek turned and walked alongside the house. Mallory stayed behind him, the gun held tightly in her hand but pointed at the ground. When they reached the front door, she said, “Go on inside.” When he entered, she stepped inside after him and shut the door. “Put the radio down on the table, Derek.”

  He did so and then turned to face her. The snow had dusted across the shoulders of his black overcoat, which was belted with a black leather belt. The peaked officer’s cap was also coated with white. He pulled off his hat and laid it down beside the radio. The silence in the room was broken only by the popping of the wood in the fireplace.

  “Sit down.” He opened his coat, and when he did, she saw his Luger in the black holster. “Take off your coat and put your pistol on the table.” She waited until he had done so, still without saying a word. He sat down in the chair and watched her. His face was leaner than it was when she had first met him, and she knew he had lost weight. The clean line of his jaw and the strong lines of his face bespoke the strength that was in him, and he sat there clasping his hands and making no move to say anything.

  Mallory had regained her swiftness of thought, but it troubled her that he showed no surprise and certainly not any fear. He was simply watching her, ignoring the gun. “Why did you come here, Derek?”

  He did not answer her directly but said, “What about the Jewish family? Did they get away safely?”

  The question caught her off guard. She was so startled she could not answer for a moment, but then she nodded and said, “Yes.”

  “That’s good. I’m glad.”

  “Why did you let them go?” Mallory burst out. She had wondered this ever since that night in the mountains, and now her voice was sharp, yet there was a trace of something else in it. “We expected you to turn us all in. Why did you let us a
ll go?”

  “I saw something in the Jewish woman’s face, and I couldn’t do it, Mallory,” he said, his voice full of unconcealed emotion.

  “Why not? What did you see?”

  “A woman came to my office a few weeks ago. She had known Rachel.” He related how the woman had led Rachel to the Lord and how the woman had brought him a letter from Rachel, in which she declared her love for Derek and expressed her faith in Christ. He hesitated, then shook his head. “It did something to me, Mallory. The woman looked a little like Rachel. You know how I felt about her death. You knew that the night I broke down and wept. But then to find out that she loved me in spite of my betrayal and went to her death loving me . . . I . . . I couldn’t take it all in. It doesn’t seem possible.”

  “I’m glad she came to know Jesus, Derek. That should be a comfort to you. You can be sure she’s in heaven now.”

  “Maybe it should be a comfort, but it isn’t. All I can see is my failure. I’ll never be able to think of her without tearing myself apart inside.” He dropped his head, and his voice was almost imperceptible. “Some things never die, do they?”

  Suddenly Derek looked up and said, “I have to tell you something—but you won’t believe it.” She stared at him, but before she could speak, he said, “Not long ago I was alone in a room in a little village called Harstad. . . .” His voice was quiet, but his face was different—more peaceful than Mallory had ever seen it.

  “I know exactly where that is. It’s not far from Narvik.”

  “Yes that’s right.” He related how he had asked God to forgive his sins. “It sounds like a story a man would make up to get a woman to put her gun away, doesn’t it? But since that moment, I’ve been different, Mallory. You spoke once of the peace of God, and I had no idea what you meant. But now I do.”

  Silence filled the room, and then Derek said, “I was tearing myself apart over my guilt over Rachel. I didn’t think God could forgive a thing like that—but He has.”

  Mallory had forgotten the gun now. She still held it loosely, but it was hanging down at her side. “What would you do if you could do it all over again?”

  “I’d save her or die trying.”

  At that moment Michael stretched and looked up at the man sitting in the chair. He did not like strangers, and he walked away to disappear into the darkness of the other room.

  Derek suddenly leaned toward her with a look of urgency on his face. “You’ve got to get away from here, Mallory.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Colonel Ritter read a story in a magazine about your mother. I don’t know who sent it to him, but it says that she’s half Jewish.”

  “That’s right. Her father was Jewish, although her mother wasn’t.”

  Derek’s voice was grim. “You must leave right away. Ritter sent me here to arrest you, and you know what that means. It’ll be a death sentence. They’ll either send you to a concentration camp, where you’ll die like Rachel, or they’ll hang you here on some other pretense.”

  Mallory felt a tinge of fear. She did not fear death, but she did fear going through some of the things others had endured at the hands of the Nazis. “How can I believe you, Derek?”

  “You don’t have any choice, Mallory. If I don’t bring you in, they’ll send somebody else. You can believe that. But that must not happen.” He got to his feet and stepped closer to her. She did not lift the gun. She had forgotten it. “Let me help you get away,” he said urgently. “There’s little time.”

  Mallory did not know what to think. The revelation had come so suddenly! She was still thinking when she heard a car engine, and she was spared the necessity of making an instant decision. “That’s Lars and Eva.”

  “What will you tell them?”

  “I’ll tell them just what you told me.” She turned to face him squarely. “They’ll have to decide what happens to you.”

  They heard the footsteps and voices as the two approached, and then the door opened. Shock washed across both of their faces as they saw Derek standing there in his uniform. Instantly Lars reached inside his coat for his revolver, and Eva said, “What are you doing here, Major?”

  “I was sent to arrest Mallory,” Derek said evenly.

  “Well, you’re not going to do it!” Lars shot back. His voice grated, and he lifted the pistol and aimed.

  “Wait!” Mallory said. “You haven’t heard all of it.” She looked at Derek and saw no fear at all in his face. “Derek let the Goldsteins and all of us go because of something in his past. He came here to warn me, not to arrest me.”

  “Did he tell you that?” Eva said, her voice cold and her eyes filled with suspicion.

  “Yes. He says that I’ve got to get away.”

  “I know you don’t believe any of this, but it’s true. Colonel Ritter will be expecting Mallory to be under arrest tomorrow morning. When he finds she’s not, and I’m missing, he’ll know something’s wrong.”

  “He’s just trying to talk his way out of this,” Lars said.

  Eva shook her head. “I’m not sure. Why did he let our people go? I’ve been thinking about that ever since.”

  “You have no reason for believing me,” Derek told them, “but I’m leaving the army. There’s no excuse for what Hitler’s doing. I’ve known it for a long time. A lot of us have, I think. We Germans have a talent for following the wrong leaders for the wrong reasons. And you won’t believe this either, but I’ve given my life to God. I don’t know how I can possibly convince you of that. Do what you will with me, but I beg you to get Mallory out of here. And you’ll have to leave too. They know she’s been living with you, and they won’t let you go free.”

  Mallory suddenly believed that Derek was speaking the truth. She put the pistol back in her belt and said, “We have to trust him.”

  Derek nodded his head and said, “Thank you, Mallory. I wouldn’t have you hurt for anything in the world.”

  Lars and Eva silently struggled with their options, and finally Eva made up her mind. “I don’t know why I should believe anything a Nazi says, but I do somehow.” She turned to Mallory. “Can we get a plane in to escape?”

  “No. Everything’s grounded.”

  “When I said get Mallory away, I meant now!” Derek said. “Ritter has already doubled the guards along the Swedish border and along the coast.”

  “There’s no way out then,” Lars said. He too replaced his revolver. “We’ll just have to make a run for it.”

  “I think there’s one way that might work,” Derek said. “I think if you and Eva can hide out with friends for a couple of weeks, they’ll stop looking for you. As for Mallory, I know that the guards are placed thickly along the Swedish border in the south, but in the mountain country in the north they’re spread out pretty thin. There just aren’t enough men to cover it. I know where they’re located, and I think I can thread the needle.”

  “You mean go north and then turn east and go to Sweden that way?”

  “That’s the only chance I can see.”

  “But how will we get there?” Mallory asked.

  “We’ll take the truck I came in. I’ll keep my uniform on. There’s no alarm out yet, so if anybody stops us, I can use my rank to get us through. By tomorrow it will be different. I’ll have to put on some other clothes.”

  “I think you could wear mine,” Lars said with a nod. “They’ll be a little small on you, but it’ll be better than that uniform.”

  “We have to go now. Right away,” Derek urged.

  “All right. Let’s just load everything you can use,” Eva said quickly.

  The next thirty minutes was taken in loading the truck. At Derek’s suggestion, they took skis in case they would have to go across country. Mallory took a small radio and batteries so that they could trace any calls Ritter would send out, and of course, they took warm clothes and blankets.

  Finally they stood outside in the darkness, and Mallory embraced both Eva and Lars. “You’ve got to get away,�
� she said. “They’ll be looking for you.”

  “Don’t worry about us. We have plenty of places to hide,” Eva said. She turned to Derek and said, “I never thought I’d trust a Nazi.”

  Derek shook his head, and the shadow of a smile touched his lips. “You’re not trusting one now.”

  “You’d better get going,” Lars said. “Go as far as you can tonight, but if I were you, I wouldn’t travel in daytime. It’d be easy for a plane to spot you.”

  “I think you’re right.” Derek put out his hand. “Thank you for trusting me,” he said simply. The two men shook hands, and then he turned to Eva. “I’ll take the best care of her I can.”

  “See that you do.”

  The two got in the truck, and as it moved down the street and disappeared into the darkness, Eva turned and put her hand on her husband’s arm. “Did we do the right thing, Lars? It’s so hard to know.”

  He put his arm around her, and the two embraced. “I think it is. I think the man is what he says.”

  “I think he’s more than that. I think he’s in love with Mallory—and I think she’s in love with him too.”

  “Well, they’ll need each other if they make it out of this mess. Come on. We’ve got to get out of here ourselves!”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  “We’ll Hang Her in the Square”

  Leaning forward and narrowing his eyes, Derek peered into the darkness. The snow had stopped for a time, but with no moon and no stars, he could barely see five feet ahead of the truck.

  “If I go off the road, we’ll be in real trouble,” he lamented over the sound of the laboring engine. “And there’s not much road to go over.”

  Even as he spoke, Mallory glanced over to her right, where she saw a sheer wall of rock that seemed to plunge into a bottomless pit. The mountain road Derek had chosen was not one often traveled. She could well believe that and couldn’t help but imagine the horrors of falling off such a road. They were headed for the crest of the mountain, and the road was only wide enough for one vehicle. “What happens if we meet somebody coming down?” she asked.