The Unlikely Allies

by Gilbert, Morris

  “No socks! In this kind of weather?”

  “No, they make their boots out of reindeer skins. The women take the sinews of the reindeer and chew them and weave them together into a very tough, waterproof thread. They make the boots oversized, and then they stuff them with hay.”

  “Hay! That doesn’t sound very warm.”

  “It is, though. I tried a pair while I was with them. My feet stayed warmer than in my store-bought boots.”

  As Derek guided the truck carefully up the incline, he listened as Mallory told him stories of the Lapps. Some of them were amusing and some were rather tragic. “You really love these people, don’t you?”

  “They’re like children in a way. They’re so very small. The men are hardly over five feet tall. I felt like a giant among them. And remember how they looked up at you? It was as though you were a different species.”

  “They must be hardy, though.”

  “Oh, they are. They’re tough as boot leather, and they’re very hospitable, as you found out. They’ll invite anybody in to share their tent.”

  “I’d like to have a longer visit with them sometime.”

  “I wish you could. You’d love them, I know.”

  Her simple use of the word love brought Derek’s head around. She used it so easily. “I think I might love them. I haven’t had enough love in my life, Mallory.”

  “That’s a shame. You loved your mother, though.”

  “Oh yes, I did. She was a very gentle woman. Too gentle, my father thought. He always said I was too much like her and not enough like him.”

  “Well, I’m glad you’re like you are.”

  Derek turned. Murky light was beginning to illuminate the landscape, and he could see her face. “I’m glad you feel that way,” he said quietly. He would have said more, but suddenly the engine coughed and began to miss.

  “That’s it,” he said.

  “What is it?”

  “Out of fuel.”

  “There’s no more in the cans?”

  “No, we used it all. These vehicles are hard on petrol.”

  The truck shuddered to a stop, and Derek shrugged philosophically. “We’ll have to go on foot from here. When we get to the top of this mountain, it’ll be easy going on skis.”

  “How far is it to the Swedish border?”

  “Quite a ways, and when we get there, it’s going to be tricky missing the guards. I’m sure they’ve been alerted by this time.”

  The two got out of the truck and very carefully arranged their packs. They knew there would be no stores along the way, for they would not dare stop in a village. Derek divided the load so that he had by far the larger part, and then he said, “I think it’ll be easier to carry our skis while we walk up the grade.”

  “All right.”

  Derek thought for a moment, then said, “Let me get rid of this vehicle.”

  “Get rid of it?”

  “Yes. We’ll shove it over the side. They’ll be looking for it, and they won’t be likely to find it there.”

  Derek had put the emergency brake on, and now he got in and released it, still holding the brake. He let the truck roll slowly back toward the edge, carefully cutting the wheel until the rear wheels were headed straight toward the abyss. It would be tricky jumping out in time. If the door caught him as he went out, he would be carried down with the vehicle. Now that daylight was coming, he could see that far below was a small river, but it was a terrific sheer drop of hundreds of feet. Holding his breath, he got ready, then took his foot off the brake. As the vehicle began to roll, he jumped out and slammed the door. The vehicle rolled by and eased off the edge, the front end nosing up, and then it slipped over. The two watched as it rolled and cartwheeled end over end through the air. It finally struck the side, bounded outward, and landed with a loud crash as it hit the rocky bottom. There was no gas to explode, and Derek nodded with satisfaction. “I don’t think anyone will spot it there. You ready?”

  The two donned their packs and started up the grade, which became somewhat less steep as they approached the summit. Mallory was out of breath and began puffing. “I’ve gotten soft. I could have done this easily last year when I was living with the Lapps.”

  “The crest is right up there. Then it’ll be downhill. We’ll have to leave this road and skirt the village where the guardhouse is located.”

  The two forged on, and finally the land leveled out and the road became even. The scrub timber had grown rather thick on the crest, and they had made a sharp turn when suddenly a harsh voice cried out, “Halt!”

  Instantly Derek reached for his Luger, but he had changed to Lars’s clothing and it was underneath his heavy coat.

  “Don’t move or I’ll shoot you dead, Major!”

  When he heard the word Major, Derek knew that all was lost. He turned and saw two soldiers come out from the copse where they had been concealed. Both of them had their rifles up, and their eyes glittered as they approached. “Major Grüber, I assume.” The speaker wore the insignia of a sergeant. He was a small man wearing a heavy overcoat, and he was smiling broadly.

  “Kurt, let me introduce you to Major Derek Grüber, the famous traitor. Major, this is Private Rimmer, and I am Sergeant Jergen. Kurt, relieve the major of his weapon.” Jergen raised the rifle and pointed it directly at Derek’s head while the private, grinning broadly, laid his rifle down. He came forward, jerked open Derek’s coat, and removed the Luger.

  “And see if the lady has a weapon.”

  “It will be a pleasure, Sergeant.” The private jerked open Mallory’s coat. He managed to brush against her figure as he removed the pistol she carried and laughed as she tried to pull away. “Don’t be shy, Fraülein.”

  Jergen waited until the private had come back, and then he said, “Well, this is a pleasant surprise. What did you do with the truck you stole?”

  “It ran out of petrol. We shoved it over the edge.”

  “Destroying government property? That could get you into serious trouble, Major.”

  Mallory’s heart was like a stone. “We almost made it,” she said. “Just a little farther and we would have been in Sweden.” She knew nothing good could happen now, and a coldness came over her as she thought of the icy eyes of Colonel Ludwig Ritter and the obvious cruelty of Colonel Uldrich Stahl.

  “Well, now, we’ll have time to visit when we get to our headquarters. You are valuable people. Did you know that? Colonel Ritter’s promised a reward and a promotion for any soldier who captures you. I might even become a lieutenant, and you could have my stripes, Rimmer.”

  Rimmer grinned and picked up his rifle.

  “All right. Head down the road. If you try to run, I’ll shoot you in the legs. That will not be pleasant.”

  They walked down the road for a hundred yards, where they saw a motorcycle with a sidecar parked. “Private, you take the cycle and drive on in. We can’t all ride in that pitiful thing. Go in and tell the lieutenant we’ve captured the famous Derek Grüber and his woman. I’m sure he’ll want to come out in a car for such a famous visitor.”

  “Yes, Sergeant.” The private hesitated. “You don’t need help to guard them?”

  “Not at all. Here, take the rifle. I think this will serve better.” Sergeant Jergen pulled Derek’s Luger from his pocket and checked the clip. “I could scarcely miss at this range. Hurry. I’m looking forward to our promotions.”

  Private Rimmer started the engine, then turned and roared off down the road.

  “We might as well keep moving,” Sergeant Jergen said, gesturing with the Luger. “Start down the road, and if you try anything, you’ll be the worse for it.”

  Derek glumly turned, and with Mallory at his side, they moved away. “I’m sorry about this, Mallory,” he said quietly.

  “It’s not over yet. Don’t give up hope.”

  “That’s right. Don’t give up hope.” The sergeant laughed. “The radio said you were a preacher, that they call you the Jesus woman. Is that true?”<
br />
  “Some people have called me that.”

  “Well, I’ll be very interested. I know you’ll be praying for Jesus to get you out of this, but somehow I don’t think He will. Don’t worry. The SS will take care of you—both of you. I imagine they’ll have some interesting things for you during your interrogation, Major. You, woman, will be hanged—but maybe they will interrogate you also. Oh, I’d like to be in on that!”

  Mallory’s mind was working rapidly. The sky was light now, and the weak sun illuminated the road ahead of them. The precipice was not so steep here. She glanced over and saw the small river far below. It glittered in the morning light, and she was praying that God would deliver them.

  Afterward, she was never able to remember how the plan came into her mind, but it seemed to come from nowhere. She was walking next to the rock wall, and suddenly, she knew exactly what to do.

  She looked over her shoulder at the sergeant, who watched her cautiously. “I don’t want to fall into the hands of the SS, Sergeant.”

  “Nobody does, but that’s what’s going to happen.”

  “It doesn’t have to.”

  “What are you talking about? And you keep your head around, Grüber!” He said sharply.

  “The one they really want is Major Grüber.”

  “I expect that’s true, but it’s always good to catch a spy, especially an American one.”

  “Look, when I left, I brought everything valuable with me.” She pulled off her glove and held up her hand. On her last birthday, Rolf had bought her a huge imitation diamond ring as a joke. When she wore it, friends teased her about being the diamond queen of Norway. Now the imitation stone caught the sunlight, and she said, “This ring is five carats. It’s worth six thousand marks. And look here. I’ve got the rest of my jewels in here.” She pulled her bulging leather makeup pouch out of her pocket. “I was going to sell all these and start a new life. They’re worth at least half a million marks.”

  Sergeant Jergen was staring at the ring and at the pouch. “What are you talking about, woman?”

  “Take them all and just let me go.”

  “You know I can’t do that.”

  “Yes you can. For half a million marks, you can do a lot.”

  Mallory saw the soldier’s face grow still. She could almost read the workings of his mind. I’ll take the jewels. I can take some of them out. They’ll never know how many she had.

  Mallory saw greed win out over any noble thoughts Jergen might have had.

  “Give me the pouch.” He changed the Luger to his left hand and held out his right, warning Derek to keep moving. He was walking less than two meters from the edge of the road. When she got close to him, she handed him the pouch and walked alongside as he struggled to open the zipper with his gloved hands, his Luger still in his left hand. Cursing under his breath, he pulled off one glove and stuck it under his left armpit to hold it, along with the pistol. He was so fascinated by the pouch he had taken his eyes off of Mallory.

  This was the moment she had waited for. With a sudden burst of strength, Mallory threw herself violently against him.

  “Hey, what—!”

  Her sudden lunge caused the sergeant to stagger. He tried to both hold on to the pouch and swing the Luger around, but the suddenness of it all caught him unprepared. He was driven to the edge, where he threw an agonized glance downward. He tripped over his own feet, then went over with a scream. He managed to pull the trigger of the Luger, and the sound echoed sharply against the mountain walls.

  Mallory almost went over herself. She sprawled full-length and heard the unbelievably shrill scream of the sergeant as he fell. She couldn’t look but turned away, shaking. She put her hands over her ears and sat on the icy road, helpless to stop the agony she felt.

  Derek had turned at the sergeant’s first cry when Mallory struck him. He’d had no time to do anything, for it was all so sudden. One moment the sergeant was walking along the road and the next he was over the edge. Derek ran quickly and knelt down beside Mallory.

  “Derek!” Mallory was weeping as he pulled her to her feet. She turned to him weakly, almost collapsing, and he put his arms around her.

  “It’s all right, Mallory,” he whispered.

  “I didn’t think I could . . .”

  Derek knew something of the gentle side of this woman, and he knew that killing a human being was probably the worst thing she could imagine herself doing. He knew that the enormity of what she had done was doing terrible things to her spirit. He held her as she wept, putting his hand behind her head and holding it to his chest. Finally she seemed to get a grip on herself and straightened up. He released her but still kept his hand on her shoulder. “I know you feel terrible about this, but it was the only way. You know what terrible things they would have done to both of us. You did what you had to do.”

  Mallory brushed her eyes with the back of her gloves and could only say, “I don’t think I’ll ever forget this.”

  “We must go quickly.” He knew that action was the best thing for her. “We don’t know when that car will get back, but it won’t be long. Come on. Let’s get our packs and our skis.”

  They donned their skis, and Derek took a quick look around. “We need to leave the road as soon as we find a break.”

  They picked up speed as they went downhill, and within a mile the countryside had leveled out considerably. Derek waved to his left. “There’s a place.” He pulled to a stop, and she pulled up beside him. “I wish we could make for the Swedish border.”

  “Can’t we do that?” she asked.

  “It’s exactly what they expect us to do. They’ll call in planes and troops and throw a solid line of men all the way across the border. We’ve made it easy for them now that they know where we are.” He shook his head and bit his lip. “We can’t go back, and I don’t see how we can get through the line they’ll throw up.”

  “I know what to do,” Mallory suddenly said. “We’ll go to the Lapps. They’ll hide us.”

  Derek thought for a moment, then nodded eagerly. “Yes, we can go north. They won’t be expecting that. We’ll cover our tracks where we leave the road. They’ll think we’ve gone on to try to break through their line.”

  They moved to the open spot where they could leave the road, and he removed his skis. He broke a branch off a tree and went back, carefully sweeping away all traces of their ski tracks. Then he put on his skis and came to stand beside her. “We’ve got a chance.”

  “Do you think we can do it, Derek?”

  “I believe God is with us. It’s the only way we could have escaped. We were doomed, but now we have a chance. He won’t abandon us.”

  Mallory looked up and saw the light in his eyes. It was the light of hope, and his hope gave her the same feeling. “God is always with us,” she said. “Come on. Let’s go find the Lapps.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  God Always Has a Plan

  The weather was bitter cold, but there had been no more snowfall, even though Derek had wished it would snow to cover their trail. As they made their way north, Mallory looked up from time to time, but the sky remained clear.

  Suddenly Mallory heard a faint sound. “Do you hear that?”

  “No. What is it?”

  “I think it’s a plane.”

  “Quick, get under these trees!” Derek shoved off with his poles and made his way under the shelter of some of the scrub trees that grew on the tundra at this latitude. Mallory skied in to stand beside him, and both of them looked up into the air. They both spotted the plane at about the same time. It was flying at an altitude of no more than 150 meters. “They’re probably looking for us,” Derek said. “I’m surprised we haven’t seen one before.”

  “Would they look for us in this direction?”

  “They’ve probably spread out all along the Swedish border and moved inward. Now that they’ve covered that ground, it may have occurred to whoever’s in charge that we took a different path.” His eyes were stil
l on the plane, and finally it became a black dot and disappeared. “I’m not sure we can get through without being spotted, but we have to try.”

  They continued traveling as fast as they could. Now that they were traveling without a vehicle, they assumed it was fairly safe to travel during the two hours or so of daylight they still had. The snow gave them a good surface, but cross-country skiing was one of the most tiring things Mallory had ever tried. They stopped once to have a cold meal and then forged on ahead.

  Mallory’s arms and legs ached from all the physical exertion. It took every ounce of her determination to keep going. She trudged along, looking up just enough to keep from running into anything.

  “Look,” she said, pointing at the ground.

  “What is it?” Derek asked, stopping and looking back to where she was pointing.

  “That’s reindeer droppings. A big herd must have gone through here. And see how the snow has been nosed up? They push it back with their noses to get at the tiny plants underneath.”

  “Do you think it could belong to your people?”

  “Even if it’s not them, they’ll probably know something. We ought to catch up with them soon.”

  “There’s not much daylight left, and you’re tired. Come on, let’s try to get another few miles.”

  They forged ahead, and a half hour later, Mallory said, “Look. Reindeer!”

  “Do you think it’s the Lapps?”

  “Sometimes the reindeer aren’t owned. They just wander. If we get close enough, we can see if they belong to Jagg’s family.”

  “How could you tell that?”

  “They mark all their reindeer when they’re tiny calves with a cut in the ear. I’ve seen Jagg identify one of his at an incredible distance. They have good eyes for things like that.”

  “We’d better pull up over there and make camp.” It was getting dark fast.

  They stopped near some scrub trees, where they found plenty of firewood. “I think we can risk a fire,” Derek said. They gathered dry sticks and soon had a blaze going. Derek looked up from poking at the fire and said, “Look, those reindeer are curious.”