The Fragile Hour (27 page)

There
were agonising minutes before Karl threw himself back behind the wheel with permission to go through. She almost wept with relief as the car shot away, although the force of it threw her painfully against the side.

Karl
called back to her. “That sergeant wanted to be difficult, but that was all. It’s this uniform. The Germans have no more time for Norwegian traitors than we, even though they need their information.”

He
was stopped twice after that, but went through smoothly. Soon Anna heard the sounds of the city and, from what she had been told previously by Edvin, she knew Karl was making for an old district near the harbour. The bump of cobbles told her when they had entered a long, crooked alley that ran between the windowless backs of warehouses. At the moment when the car was out of sight from either end, Karl swung it through open doors at the rear of one of the warehouses. Men’s footsteps came running and the doors closed after the car with a hollow slam.

Karl
sprang from his seat and came to help Anna out. “Are you badly bruised?” he asked with concern.

“
Not enough to matter.”

He
lifted out his rucksack and began changing back into his own clothes, while she flexed her arms and legs, thankful that she had escaped cramp on the journey. Then she turned as the car was started up again and saw that a man was driving it down a ramp into an underground area, which she guessed spread under the whole warehouse. A second man was hurrying down after it.

“
What’s going to happen to the car now?” She was combing her hair.

“
It will be hidden down there until it’s needed again.” He was frowning. “You can’t go back to Storgaten, Anna. I was thinking it over on the way here. It’s highly likely, when check-ups are made about strangers in the area of Jessheim, that the Gestapo will want to question you.”

“
But I covered my tracks.” It was her first chance to explain how she had done it, but although he heard her out he still shook his head.

“
Every farm vehicle would have been turned inside out at the road blocks. They’d know you weren’t on any of them or a bus. You’ve deep scratches on your cheek from the forest and a bruise on your forehead from the car.”

“
I fell down the stairs,” she answered impatiently. “I have to return to the apartment. If I’m not there to answer for myself, Christina will fall under suspicion. I won’t have that.”

Karl
could see there was no persuading her. He gave in reluctantly. “I’ll even have to let you walk back to Storgaten on your own. You can’t be seen with me.”

Her
expression softened. “I know,” she said, moving into his arms. “Take care wherever you go. I hope we meet up again soon.”

He
kissed her hungrily, she responding with equal fervour. Then he took her to a side door and she tore herself from him and left. He remained with his shoulder lodged against the door jamb and watched her out of sight. Partings were becoming harder for them both each time.

Chapter
Twenty-Four

The shop was shut when Anna arrived back in Storgaten, for it was early evening. She let herself in through her own front door and took off her
kofte
as she went up the stairs. On the threshold of her living-room she halted, startled. Nils had leapt up from a chair.

“
Where the hell have you been all day?” he demanded, his rage born of the anxiety he had endured. “What have you done to your face? It’s scratched and your skirt is torn.”

“
How long have you been here?” she countered, being in no mood for a tirade.

“
I’ve been coming and going through the shop until Christina wanted to go home. So then I stayed. I couldn’t get out of her where you were—”

“
She didn’t know,” Anna interrupted. “We lead independent lives.”

“
In working hours? I even called on your aunt in case you were there.”

Anna
’s own anger burst forth. “You had no right to do that! You would have set her worrying about where I might be.”

“
She’s on to your being in the Resistance, is she?”

“
I didn’t want her to know, but she’s an intelligent woman and guessed.”

“
Then if she knows, at least you can tell me, a fellow underground fighter, where you were today. It was more than a message delivery, wasn’t it?”

“
I set some explosives, that’s all.”

“
For the armament train?” he exclaimed incredulously. “Maybe.”

“
You did! When I nipped back to the office to see if there were any messages about an hour ago, I met Wolfgang, the sportsman I told you about. He had heard about the explosion on the army radio. You couldn’t have been on your own in something that big.”

Anna
sighed. “Listen. I’m tired and I’m going to have a bath and get to bed early. I’ll see you tomorrow. Let yourself out.”

She
would have turned for her bedroom, but Nils caught her by the arm and jerked her round to face him. “Who were you with? Was it Karl?”

She
saw that intense jealousy lay behind his renewed fury. “Yes, I was.”

“
I would have gone with you! You’d have been safer with me!”

“
My safety didn’t come into it. Karl and I did what had to be done and we got away. That’s the end of it. In any case, you’re not linked to the Oslo group. You told me yourself that you prefer to work independently with your own Resistance contacts.” Impatiently she drew his attention to the phone, which had begun ringing persistently throughout their argument. “I’ll have to answer that!”

She
went to the extension from the shop in the hall and lifted the receiver. “Christina’s Gowns.”

“
This is Edvin! Christina has been arrested! Get out, Anna! Now!”

Ashen-faced,
Anna ran to her bedroom, calling out as she went, “They’ve got Christina! I have to get away!”

She
snatched up her suitcase before throwing in her few things. Nils scooped a couple of blouses and a skirt from hangers for her to add to everything else. She pulled off her torn skirt and threw on her other one. In all it had been only a few minutes before she was in her coat, a wad of stored money tucked into a secret pocket with her gun, and was making for the stairs with her suitcase.

“
Thanks for your help, Nils,” she said gratefully, as they hurried down the flight to her street door. “We’ll part outside.”

“
I’m not leaving you.”

“
Don’t be a fool!” she exclaimed desperately over her shoulder. “You know what would happen if we should be caught together!”

“
They’ll not get you if I can help it.”

Then
there came such a crashing on the street door that they both stopped abruptly and she almost fell back against him. “Dear God!” she breathed. “They’re here!”

Even
as she and Nils dashed back up the flight, there came the sound of glass being smashed in the shop door. Their only other escape route had been blocked.

“
I’ll help you through the hall fanlight onto the roof!” Nils was unable to think of anywhere else.

“
No! Come with me!” Anna ran to raise the cupboard floor and toss in her suitcase. “Go down the ladder! I’ll follow, because I know how to close everything.”

He
eased himself swiftly through the gap and she followed as soon as she could get her feet on a rung after him. The soldiers had broken through from the street and their heavy boots were charging up the stairs, more coming from the direction of the shop. The cupboard shut on the second that the door of her hall burst open.

In
the inky darkness Anna let her forehead rest on the top rung, needing time to come to terms with what was happening. She wondered how many of the Resistance the Germans had expected to find with her, for as far as she could judge, an excessive number of men had been sent to arrest one woman. Angrily she found that she could not stop trembling.

Nils,
standing at the bottom of the ladder, took hold of her ankles. “Come down, Anna,” he urged softly.

She
descended slowly and he took her into his arms, holding her close as they listened to the thumping of feet and the creaking of floorboards above as the search for her went on.

“
I wish you hadn’t come here today,” she whispered unhappily. “In fact, you should have stayed away from me altogether for your own good. You’ve only put yourself in unnecessary danger.”

As
he answered, she could hear the smile in his voice. “How could I ever not be with you when I had the chance?”

It
was not the time to continue the argument they had begun upstairs and she remained silent, remembering that he would have risked his life still further for her if they had left the apartment in time to escape this search.

Overhead
boards creaked and furniture was overturned with reverberating crashes. They both grew tense as the cupboard doors were flung open and everything on the shelves was tossed out in turn, but the floor-lid remained untouched. Yet they both knew that somebody might return to it.

Then
they heard her kitchen table being set down and dragged into position under the skylight. It showed that she would not have been safe if she had crouched on the roof. When the soldier who had climbed up to look out jumped down from the table again with a thump, it seemed as if he must surely come through the ceiling of the hideout.

Still
the soldiers did not leave. It could only mean they were searching for evidence against her and anyone associated with her.

“
What of Aunt Rosa?” she whispered fearfully.

“
She won’t be touched. There’s nothing to link her with you. Remember that she’s my aunt now.”

Anna
pressed her cheek against his in speechless gratitude. His arms closed tighter about her and he was further convinced that he had only to be patient and she would come back to him.

Neither
Anna nor Nils knew how long they stood together before the heavy footsteps went away down the stairs again and finally left the building. There was only a pause before the boarding up of her street door and that of the shop began. Yet she knew that they had to be prepared for a trick. There had been times when somebody had deemed it safe to emerge from hiding only to find the enemy still waiting to pounce.

“
We must wait a while longer,” Nils warned as if reading her thoughts. “Is there any way out now other than the roof?”

“
There’s a high window in the office if it hasn’t been boarded up.”

“
We’ll look later.”

“
I don’t think I’ll risk switching on the light yet. Let’s sit down. It’s been quite a day.”

She
guided him across to the divan and took the chair herself. The darkness was therapeutic. She began to feel drowsy. Nils slept first and did not wake as she did whenever a board settled or there was the sudden tumble of something that had been precariously lodged.

When
Anna awoke in the middle of the night, it was through the creaking of the shop stairs. She sprang up and shook Nils into wakefulness.

“
There’s somebody in the building!”

He
was on his feet immediately, and together they listened intently. There was no mistake and he drew his gun from his shoulder-slung holster. Anna took hers from the secret pocket of her coat. Then the floor-lid was being lifted. The beam of a flashlight was directed down the ladder.

“
Anna? Are you there?” Karl’s voice demanded.

“
Yes!” she cried out in relief. “And Nils is with me!”

“
Thank God you’re safe!”

He
had already come through the aperture to descend the ladder, and his flashlight enabled her to cross to the light-switch. The shaded pink lamps illuminated the room.

“
How did you know I was here?” she asked eagerly as he stepped off the last rung and gave her a quick kiss. Neither noticed that Nils put his gun away slowly as if he would still like to use it. He fiercely resented what he saw as an unnecessary intrusion.

“
Edvin rang me after he’d spoken to you, Anna,” Karl explained, his arm still about her. “I was still at the warehouse. I came here straight away, but the Germans had arrived before me, so I waited and watched. When they didn’t bring you out with them, I had to keep out of sight until after curfew when I could get into the building after dark and find out if you were trapped here.” He turned to Nils. “How did you reach Anna?”

“
I was here already when she arrived. Did you come through the office window?”

Karl
gave a nod. “We can leave that way too.”

They
discussed as to where Anna should go to be safe in this emergency. Nils suggested that she go to her aunt’s home for the time being. Anna argued furiously against it.

“
You’ve really no choice,” Nils said. “You mustn’t be found, and that’s the obvious place to hide as your aunt already knows you’re in the Resistance.” To Karl he added, “Through pulling some German strings, I’ve managed to stop any surprise raids being made on Fru Johansen’s apartment.”

“
If that’s the case, you should go there, Anna,” Karl endorsed. “There’ll be a watch kept day and night for you at the railway and bus stations. Civilian vehicles of all kinds will be turned inside out at check-points. As soon as the hunt cools down, the Resistance will get you away.” He drew her to him. “If it’s humanly possible, I’ll meet you wherever you are.”

“
We’d better get going, Karl!” Nils snapped. With a sense of shock, it seemed to Anna that a wave of hatred emanated from him like a cold, invisible mist.

Anna
delayed only long enough to take a couple of travel passes from the secret compartment of her suitcase and push her toilet-bag into her coat pocket. Toothbrushes were like gold these days. She left everything else and went up the ladder after the two men. Standing in her hall again, she caught a glimpse in the flashlight’s beam of the destruction in her living-room. She turned away from the sight.

Downstairs
in the shop the large display window was intact. Outside the rain was pelting down, the blacked-out city in total darkness. Broken glass from the door cracked under their feet as they went into the office. Both men pushed the heavy desk against the wall under the high window, before adding a chair to make exiting easier.

Karl
went out of the window first and dropped to the pavement below. As soon as he had checked it was safe, Anna followed and he caught her as she descended. Nils was next. The darkness and the rain were a shield. They went from doorway to doorway in turn, pressing themselves back when once a patrol went by. The most perilous part was after they had left the shelter of the trees in Studenterlunden, for there were sentries at the Storting. But these must have been huddled up in their capes, rain running from their helmets, and failed to see anything unusual.

With
a master key Karl opened the main entrance of the building where Aunt Rosa’s apartment was located. Then Anna was alone in the marble-floored lobby and had closed the door behind her. Karl had given her the flashlight and she switched it on to see her way as she crept up the stairs. Wet and cold and shivering, she let herself into the apartment. She hung her dripping coat up in the bathroom. There she dried her hair, which had been sticking to her head as if glued. In the bedroom that had always been hers she tossed off her clothes and fell into bed. She slept instantly.

*

Anna stayed five weeks at her aunt’s apartment. Frida, who had been let into the secret at last, was as delighted as Rosa to have her there. Fortunately Anna had brought her ration card, and managed to alter the name on it to `Hanna Hanson’, but there was so little in the unheated shops, the assistants in coats, hats and gloves, that often the main meal was watery soup. It was Rosa’s joke as the three of the them sat down to eat in the kitchen, which was the warmest room, that they themselves were as bundled up as Eskimos to keep warm.