The Fragile Hour (29 page)

For
the rest of the winter Anna moved from place to place in the mountains, and had begun writing short stories to pass the time. She had no high opinion of their merit and saw them only as a mental exercise. She burned them each time before moving on to another location. As with the first cabin she had occupied, all the rest were on slopes low enough to be easily accessible to her contacts in the valley.

Once
she received a short note from Lars with the latest communiqué. He had written that Karl was in the Horwitz concentration camp, but he knew nothing more. Before reading on, she closed her eyes briefly in overwhelming relief that Karl was still alive, no matter what his physical condition might be. She willed him to hang on to life as she had done in her thoughts and heart and prayers throughout the long weeks of isolation. Only snowstorms forced her contacts to stay away, but usually it was never for more than two or three days.

As
spring came, bringing again cobalt blue skies and sun-sparkling snow, Anna knew from the BBC bulletins that it could only be a question of a short time before the Allies brought the war in Europe to a close, for the enemy was falling back on all fronts. How things would go in Norway she did not know, for it had been Hitler’s boast that he had turned it into a fortress and it could be defended from Allied attack for a long time.

On
the last day of April news came through on the toffee-tin radio that Hitler had committed suicide in a Berlin bunker. It meant that the war in Europe was virtually over. Only Japan remained to be defeated, and the fate of Norway was still in the lap of the gods.

A
few days later when Anna was back at the first cabin she had occupied, her replacement arrived. He brought her the news that she had to go down to the Holstads’ house where Lars would be waiting for her.

After
packing up her belongings and burning the last of her manuscripts she went back down the forested slopes to the valley. Among the trees the tiny wood anemones gave a new and tender whiteness to where the snow had lain and, below her, the fields were turning green.

Mary
Holstad welcomed Anna back again and left her on her own with Lars.

“
You’re wanted for the most important and dangerous venture you’ll ever have to do, Anna,” Lars said, after they had settled down to talk. “I told you once that the Resistance intended to keep you in mind for anything special and this is it with a vengeance.”

She
gave a slight smile. “What a relief! I won’t mind what it is after being cooped up all the winter. Shall I be alone or working with anyone?”

“
You’ll be partnering your friend, Nils. He’s ideal for the role as he speaks fluent German and we’re lucky to still have him. You haven’t heard, but just recently he had a narrow escape on his own in an air-crash near the coast when flying from Sweden to England. He still limps a bit, but that’s all to the good as far as the sortie is concerned. He’ll be masquerading as a top-ranking officer, wounded months ago on the Russian Front, who has been posted to take command of the Horwitz Camp.”

She
gasped. “Karl is there!”

“
That’s right.” Lars paused significantly. “If he’s still alive, Anna.”

She
nodded tautly. “I realise that. Where do I come in all this?”

“
You’ll be Nils’s mistress. At the rank he’s holding, nobody will dare question your presence. You’ll remember I told you that Commandant Horwitz had ear trouble? Our specialist in that field has falsely told him that he must have an immediate operation if his hearing is to be saved.”

“
But why?”

“
You’ll remember that I said Horwitz was a sadistic devil? He has had the whole camp set with explosives and has vowed that, if Germany surrenders, he will order the blowing up of the entire camp in a final show of Nazi power. As the surrender can happen at any time, it’s vital that we get him away from the camp. If not, it will cost the lives of eight hundred men.”

She
sat stunned. “Dear God!”

“
The second-in-command is no less a dyed-in-the-wool Nazi and we can’t count on his not carrying out the order in Horwitz’s absence. It’s taking too much of a chance for Nils to go it alone. He’ll need armed support if things shouldn’t go well and you’ll give him that.”

“
But Nils has moved so much in Nazi military circles that he could be recognised by someone. As for his speaking German, I know he used to spend some of his holidays in Germany, but he will still have a Norwegian accent to give him away.”

Lars
shook his head. “He’ll be disguised and he has no accent. Right from the start when he first volunteered for the Resistance, he gave his full background. He’s totally Norwegian in his loyalties and outlook, but he was born in Germany. When that country was starving after the Great War, he came to Norway with other children under the Nansen scheme for care in private homes until fit to go home again. His foster parents adopted him as he was an orphan, but those trips he made to Germany were to visit family.”

“
I never knew that,” Anna commented quietly.

“
Apparently his adoptive parents wanted him to grow up as a Norwegian boy, and that’s what he wanted too. They even moved from where they were living to Molde in order to give him a completely new start. It’s why he’s been such a useful agent, letting the Germans know his origins while working all the time with us. He could have been shot as a spy at any time. Now’s he putting his life on the line once again, as you are, and everything depends on complete cooperation between the two of you if a mass murder is to be averted.”

Anna
left on the Oslo train in a smart suit, a hat and a hip-length fox fur coat, all suitable attire for the mistress of a Nazi
Generalleutnant
. She had more such clothes in a suitcase, including two silk dresses that bore the label of
Christina
. She did not question where any of the garments had come from, for the Resistance seemed to be able to get whatever was required. They had even managed to get her a First Class seat on the train. The other occupants of the carriage were all officers except for one man in plain clothes who might have been of the Gestapo.

There
was some conversation until she pretended to bury herself in a book, but she scarcely took in anything from the pages. Instead she was mulling over why Nils had never confided in her about his origins. Naturally he wouldn’t have even thought about it when they were children, being her senior and paying her little attention, but she would have expected it during the time when they were both so close, sharing thoughts and hopes and love.

Yet,
looking back, she recalled how he had openly enjoyed being important among his friends, always the one whose company was most in demand on every occasion, ever the unchallenged leader of the pack. Maybe it was satisfaction in truly belonging, which was understandable in somebody orphaned young in violent times. Perhaps it was also why he had been driven obsessively to excel, needing to be the best and always to dominate. Even as he had dominated her, albeit in a loving way.

She
turned her gaze unseeingly out of the window at the passing scenery. More and more memories flooded into her mind and brought questions with them that she could not answer.

Chapter
Twenty-Six

It was mid-morning and raining when Anna arrived in Oslo. Carrying her suitcase and with an umbrella up, she walked to the Grand Hotel on Karl Johan Gate and on the way glanced up eagerly at the windows of her aunt’s apartment. To her concern she saw that all the blinds were drawn.

Taking
a cautious glance about her to make sure she was unobserved, Anna crossed the street and entered the building. She pressed the doorbell of Rosa’s apartment. If her aunt was unwell, it would not be fair just to walk in and give her too much of a surprise.

Nobody
answered the door. Anna inserted her key and let herself in. As soon as she entered she sensed that the place was empty. Going through the hall into the drawing-room she stopped on the threshold in dismay. It had been ransacked. The priceless ikon had gone from its case, the Antoinette clock, the rare ivory collection and all the other treasures had vanished. Dark squares and rectangles on the panelled walls showed where the paintings had hung.

Darting
into Rosa’s bedroom Anna saw that the safe was open and emptied. Her eyes went to the bed. It had not been made. Had Rosa risen to face the intruders or been dragged from it?

She
had begun to tremble so much that she scarcely knew how she reached Frida’s room, but that had not been touched. Here the bed was also unmade and so the raid must have taken place in the early morning. In her own bedroom nothing had been disturbed.

Anna
knew she must leave as quickly as possible. Until she saw Nils, there was nobody she could ask for any information without risk to herself and the task she had come south to carry out. Hastily she went on to the hotel.

Nils
arrived at noon and came up to Anna’s room. He was in the greenish-grey uniform of a
Generalleutnant
decorated with the Iron Cross. He had dyed his hair brown and was wearing dark horn-rimmed spectacles that quite changed his appearance. There was a long scar down his cheek from his air-crash. Heedless of his disguise, Anna threw herself into his arms, certain that never before had she been so glad to see him.

“
What happened to Aunt Rosa and Frida?” she cried in anguish.

He
held her close. “How did you find out?”

“
I went to her apartment this morning.”

He
sighed. “I’m sorry you had to learn about it that way. I’d hoped to break the news to you myself. Fritz gave me a full report. He’d been unable to prevent the arrests. It was found out that your aunt had been in contact with you, who are wanted for the train’s sabotage, and Christina. For all we know, Christina may have revealed that under Gestapo pressure.”

Anna
’s face whitened. “Aunt Rosa would be the last person to blame her in those circumstances.” She told him of the looting that had taken place.

He
shook his head slowly. “I didn’t know anything about that and neither did Fritz or he would have told me. It must have happened after the arrest and it doesn’t sound the work of a common thief.” He frowned thoughtfully. “Maybe I can guess what happened.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
I know from Fritz that some of the Nazi officers are getting desperate with a German surrender drawing so near. They need money and plenty of it to get away and escape retribution. Quite a few of them have talked of keeping the flame of Nazism alive for time to come and they need funds for that too. Maybe some of them remembered the priceless contents of your aunt’s flat from a previous house raid. More than one person must have been involved to get so much away.”

“
When did Aunt Rosa’s arrest take place?”

“
A few days before I left for Sweden.”

“
Where did they take her and Frida?”

“
They didn’t take Fru Johansen anywhere.” He kept her in his arms as he leaned back to look sympathetically into her agonised face. “She collapsed and died within minutes of the intrusion.”

She
stared at him, her eyes dilated with grief. “I should have been there!”

“
You would only have been arrested too without being able to help her. Be thankful that, unlike Frida, she escaped the miseries of Grini.”

Anna
buried her face into his shoulder and her voice was torn. “I don’t know how to bear this.”

Nils
cupped her head in his hand. “If it’s any comfort to you, I arranged a funeral and burial just as you would have wished it. You’ll be able to take flowers to her grave one day.”

“
Thank you!” Anna folded her arms tightly around his neck, pressing her cheek to his. “I’ll always be grateful to you for that,” she declared emotionally.

He
kissed her brow. For the first time in his life he had been patient and it had paid off. She was returning to him at last.

A
military car was waiting outside. When Anna and Nils came out of the hotel, her suitcase had been stowed away, and a sergeant saluted as he held the car door for them. When he was back behind the wheel, he glanced at her in the mirror. “Hello, Anna, remember me?”

“
Yes, of course, Olav,” she replied. “You were at my first briefing in Bergen just after I’d arrived.”

“
That’s right.” He was driving the car out into the traffic. “Horwitz went into hospital three days ago, which was when we had to move in. About now he’s on the operating table, although nothing will be done to him. I’m driving you to the camp now.”

“
Are you fluent enough in German to convince everybody there?”

“
No, but all has gone well so far. I told them I was a Czech conscripted into the German Army, and some barbed wire pronunciation covers my own accent. That convinced them.”

Anna
turned to Nils with what was uppermost in her mind. “Have you seen Karl?”

“
No, but I found his name on the list of prisoners marked for the most severe treatment. Even worse was a letter from the Gestapo headquarters in Oslo ordering his execution tomorrow. I cancelled that immediately.”

“
What reason did you give your second-in-command?”

“
I said that I still believed it possible to get information out of Karl by my own methods, but not if he kept passing out through weakness. He was to be given medical treatment to get back his strength.”

She
nodded gratefully. Olav spoke up from the driver’s seat. “If the worst happens and Reichskommissar Terboven decides to carry on the war from here after the German surrender, we’ll still get Karl away with us somehow.”

“
What do you think will happen?” Anna asked.

Olav
answered thoughtfully. “It’s impossible to guess. He has a large territory that hasn’t been overrun by an Allied advance and half a million battle-ready men under his command. As a violently-minded Nazi, it might be a matter of pride that he’ll choose to fight on. We’ll just have to hope for the best.” He changed the subject. “What do you think of Nils as a
Generalleutnant
? His scar makes everyone think he was at Heidelberg.”

Nils
laughed. “It’s too recent for that, but it’s taken as a war wound. I’m only thankful that I escaped serious injuries in the air-crash or, what was worse, meeting a watery end by going down through the ice with my aircraft. It disappeared in minutes. Fortunately I was alone.” His expression became bitter. “But I had important cargo aboard and there was no chance to save it.”

“
What brought you down? Engine trouble?”

“
No. Normally the homeward run to England is made over the Baltic, but if there are rogue German patrols in the area or bad weather conditions, an alternative route is taken back over Norway and the west coast. I ran into some unexpected anti-aircraft fire and managed the landing on the lake, but that was it.”

“
What happened then?”

“
One of the young men hiding from the German recruitment drive heard the Mosquito come down and came from a cabin to look for me. I know there are many of them in the mountains, but I could have been a hundred miles away from any help.”

There
was much else to talk about and Nils prepared her for what to expect at the camp. “Our quarters are outside the perimeter, but we’re getting near now and you will see the camp as we pass by. It’s not a pretty sight.”

“
I’ll be prepared,” she said.

Yet,
when they came upon it in the depths of a forest, it was even worse than she had expected. It covered a large area with many rows of long, grey huts, a bleak obscenity of a place with a large courtyard, surrounded by high wire fences and tall lookout towers in which she could see guards with machine-guns. As Olav drove past she caught sight of a large courtyard, in which about thirty prisoners were lined up, all in dark loose shirts and trousers, some with drooping heads, others swaying on their feet with weakness. Pity overwhelmed her.

“
That’s a returned work-party,” Nils said, following the direction of her gaze. He did not add that they had been digging graves for those who had died in the past twenty-four hours or that the forest around was full of the graves of patriots who had been shot. But she guessed.

Ahead
lay the barracks, the officer’s mess and other military buildings. Olav drew up outside Horwitz’s quarters. There was a great deal of saluting and clicking of heels from officers and other ranks in the vicinity when Nils got out of the car. He returned the salutes as he escorted Anna into the building and past the guards at the entrance.

“
I want to show you the layout here first of all, Anna,” Nils said, giving his hat and gloves to an orderly. As he led the way, she saw through a doorway that Horwitz had enjoyed comfort during his stay. There were large leather-upholstered chairs, some antique furniture and bright woven rugs on the pine floor. Crystal decanters full of various wines and spirits stood on a side-table.

In
contrast the office was totally functional with the usual large desk and filing cabinets with a Nazi flag draped across one wall and a coloured photograph of Hitler on another. A door on the far side led to the outer offices. Nils took her across to a table in front of a window facing the camp. On it stood two acid batteries with a firing switch.

“
As you can see,” he said, “everything is set up and connected to the charges laid throughout the camp. The guards have orders to run for their lives if a klaxon gives a certain series of signal blasts.”

Anna
gave a nod, knowing that for safety’s sake the two batteries had to be connected to each other with a short length of zigzag wire before the firing-switch was pressed. “Couldn’t you get rid of this now?” she asked, flicking her hand towards the batteries. “You could say that you’ve decided to counter-command Horwitz’s plan.”

Nils
shook his head. “I can’t do anything that might arouse suspicion. I’ve already gone against the Gestapo in ordering that Karl’s execution be postponed. When I arrived unannounced the second-in-command here, Oberleutnant Ulman, found it difficult to accept that Horwitz hadn’t mentioned that somebody else would be taking over. I had to say it was a last-minute decision from the High Command.”

“
When shall I meet him?”

“
I’ve invited him to dinner with us this evening. He’s a dangerous man and I need to keep an eye on him.”

“
Be careful then. Shall we get a chance to talk again privately? There’s so much I want to ask you.”

“
Why not now?” he suggested. “After you’ve seen your room we’ll have a drink together.”

An
orderly showed her upstairs. Her room was very military and spartan. It reminded her of her WRNS quarters after she was commissioned. Hurrying to the window she saw the view was of the forest and not of the camp. She pressed her palms against the pane and rested her forehead against it. All she wanted was to run to the camp’s wire fence and shout to Karl that she was here, but that was impossible.

Downstairs
again, she went to the room with the leather furniture. Nils was waiting for her, a glass in his hand. “What would you like to drink?” he asked, indicating the decanters on the side-table. “I’m having a whisky. It’s Scotch. God knows how it came here, but I suppose Horwitz must have confiscated a good hoard of it some time ago. From what I’ve seen of his style of living, he has a taste for the luxuries of life.”

Anna
thought it obscene that Horwitz could have considered his own comfort when prisoners in his charge were starving and dying. “I don’t want anything of his.” She sat down in one of the leather chairs and looked straight into Nils’s eyes. “Lars told me about your German origins. Why did you never tell me?”

Nils
looked surprised, but not in the least disconcerted. Casually he perched his weight on the arm of another chair. “I wanted to many times, Anna. Not when we were children, of course, but later when we became inseparable. But by that time Germany was out of favour everywhere outside its own territories, and Britain and France were facing the possibility of war. You wouldn’t have been able to understand how I could still love the country of my birth without it in any way affecting my loyalty to the land of my adoption.”