Chapter 37
CHAPTER 37
L izzie watched the farm from the cover of the trees. It was pitch black and past curfew as she listened for every sound.
The silence was loud, and her heartbeat seemed to reverberate through her whole body.
Where was Jack? The question looped on repeat through her mind as she stood there, watching for him, praying he would turn the corner and enter the yard at any moment.
She had seen Pierre arrive alone a short while earlier and watched him enter the farmhouse. Her SOE training told her she needed to be sure he hadn’t been followed.
After what seemed an eternity, she emerged from her hiding place and walked quietly across the yard. She was still dazed from poisoning the general, and she wondered if the panic would ever ease. She couldn’t believe she had murdered someone.
Lizzie tapped on the door. She heard low voices and the shuffling of a chair and then Pierre appeared in the doorway, looking even more dishevelled than usual .
‘Thank God,’ he said. ‘I thought they must have caught you.’
He stood aside for her to enter, and she moved into the kitchen towards Camille, who opened her arms and embraced Lizzie tearfully. ‘I was so worried,’ she said.
In the short time they had known each other, they had grown as close as if they’d been friends for years. Lizzie hugged her and held back her own tears. She couldn’t break down.
Lizzie told them she’d had to kill the general because her cover was blown.
‘Your first?’ Pierre asked, his voice soft.
Lizzie nodded.
‘We are on our own front line here. Try not to be too hard on yourself. You are a soldier, and in war, soldiers must kill before the enemy kills them.’
Camille made them tea and Lizzie’s eyes kept straying to the clock.
Still no Jack.
‘He should be here by now,’ she said, her voice strained.
Pierre nodded. ‘We all went in different directions in case one of us was caught. They will have closed off the roads and be combing the area by now.’
Lizzie closed her eyes as if she could avoid seeing images spilling into her mind.
Pierre touched her arm. ‘Jack knows what to do. He’ll be lying low somewhere if he can’t get through. The chances are he won’t come back tonight.’
Lizzie nodded, but she was still clinging onto the hope that he would appear at the door, and all would be well.
‘What of the others?’ Lizzie asked.
Pierre shook his head. ‘We won’t know for a while. Or should I say, if one of them has been captured, we will know soon enough. ’
‘Forty-eight hours,’ Lizzie said, as if reciting the name of a poem.
‘If they can hold out that long under Gestapo torture, it will be a miracle. Probably more like forty-eight minutes. But yes, that’s what we commit to each other. That we will do everything in our power to hold out for two days, revealing no names or safe house locations,’ Pierre said.
Lizzie was stalling, knowing she should leave already, but she couldn’t bring herself to go without waiting longer for Jack.
‘Lizzie, we must set off now. The roads will be blocked after the attack, but I will take you on the farm track.’
‘No, thank you. I don’t want you to endanger yourself anymore tonight,’ Lizzie said. ‘I’m grateful, but I will find my own way. It’s the same pickup point as where I came in last time.’
Pierre laughed softly. ‘Jack would kill me if I let you go alone, so that’s out of the question. If it makes you feel any better, we are due a drop of equipment, so I must come and collect it, anyway.’
Camille clasped Lizzie’s hand once more and rose from the table. ‘Go safely. I will wait for Jack in case he shows up, and I will tell him you waited as long as you could.’
Lizzie pushed back the tears. ‘Thank you, Camille. Thank you, Pierre.’
Pierre said, ‘Where did you say you left the general?’
‘In a dark alley around the corner from the hotel.’
‘Right, well, no matter how dark, it’s only a matter of time before they look for him. Even the dim-witted Gestapo thugs will put two and two together and realise it’s no coincidence that he went missing on the night of the airfield attack. Did they see you leave together?’
‘I don’t think anyone saw us on the way out, but I can’t be sure. ’
‘We must get you out of here fast. You did what you had to do,’ he said, patting her shoulder. ‘Don’t dwell on it.’
‘You are a good man, Pierre. I will never forget all you have both done for me.’
Lizzie hugged Camille again and then they left in Pierre’s van, the wheels rumbling over the track that snaked through the farm to the pickup point.
The darkness was cool and dense, like silk gliding over Lizzie’s arms. The only light was from the faint glow of a partially clouded watery moon. They waited, perfectly still, not speaking. The night was silent apart from the buzz of insects in the tall thicket of trees surrounding the pasture.
The tension was tangible. An ambush could be waiting, and they wouldn’t know until it was too late.
Lizzie was torn between wishing she was already up in the sky on her way back to England, and wishing she could return to the homely farmhouse with Pierre and wait for Jack.
She rubbed her bare arms and shivered as the wind whipped up. Then they heard a whirr in the distance that grew steadily louder.
‘Here they are,’ said Pierre, brandishing his torch and casting a trail of light for the aircraft.
The plane flew low over the middle of the pasture before gradually skidding to a stop near to where they stood.
Lizzie reached over to kiss Pierre’s cheek. ‘Thank you again. Take care.’
‘Have a safe flight home. Don’t worry about us. We’ll be fine.’
Tears welled in her eyes at the thought of Jack hiding from Nazi search parties.
‘Pierre?’
He raised his head to look at her.
‘Please tell Jack I’m thinking of him. ’
The words were not enough, but they were all she had.
‘Jack’s a survivor.’ Pierre squeezed her shoulder gently and then hurried to stash the supplies in his van.
Lizzie forced one foot in front of the other and boarded the plane like she was walking to the gallows. Her chest heaved with the conflicting emotions rippling through her, and for a few seconds, she seriously considered jumping off the plane before it took off.
But that would be foolish, and Jack wouldn’t thank her for it. The pilot and his navigator had risked their lives to land in enemy occupied territory to pick her up, and she must follow her orders no matter how much it hurt.
As the aircraft bumped along the ground, gaining speed, the force of the take-off jostled her from side to side. Then the wheels lifted into the night sky and Reims faded into the distance.
She slumped against the cold seat, utterly lost.
Her heart had been shattered into a thousand tiny pieces.
She had made it out alive.
But where was Jack?