Uncommon Enemy (21 page)

Underneath they heard a loud, sustained banging on the front door followed by the sound of footsteps and the door being opened.

“Good evening.” The accent was heavily Germanic.

“Good evening.” The voice was Tom’s. “Is there something wrong?”

“We would like to come in. We have questions.”

Clearly it was an order rather than a request, as footsteps were heard entering the house.

Tom’s voice asked, “Would you like to sit down?”

“Thank you. I am Franz Schroeder, Special Police.”

Stuart silently caught his breath. Schroeder was the German who’d arrested him at the Auckland railway station. He listened more intently.

More footsteps, a scraping of chairs, and then Schroeder’s voice continued. “I introduce my two colleagues, Detective Sergeant James Wallace and Special Agent Hamish Beavis.”

Stuart felt Carol stiffen as a cold shiver sweep over him. He squeezed her arm tightly and with his mouth close to her ear, whispered, “It’s OK. Keep still and listen.”

There was a scraping of chairs and then a moment’s silence before Schroeder’s voice resumed.

“My other men will stay outside. Now, you know about the attack on the Albany road.”

“Yes.” It was Tom’s voice. “We heard about it on the radio news broadcast.”

“So. We have questioned the er…”

“Passengers, Mr. Schroeder.”

“Thank you, Mr. Wallace. Ja, we have questioned passengers, from the bus. Two people - a man and a woman. They have disappeared.”

“We are searching this part of the country. Have you seen any strangers?”

“No. We haven’t.”

A new and local accent was added to the conversation. “We are particularly interested in the missing man and woman. Their names are Stuart Johnson and Carol Peterson. Have you seen either of them before?”

There was a slight shuffling and a long pause.

“No. Never seen them.”

“Why are you looking for them?”

Stuart and Carol tensed at the sound of Hamish’s voice.

“They are associated with the university where there was an, er, unfortunate occurrence a few days ago. They have both disappeared and we have cause to believe they may have been directly involved in the incident on the Albany Road.”

There was a silence. Clearly Tom and Jason had decided to say nothing further.

“Their families do not know where they are. However we have reason to believe that they may have been passengers on the bus that was involved in the incident,” said Wallace.

“Well, we haven’t seen them, have we Tom?”

“No. But we’ll be on our guard. Do you think they’re armed or anything like that?”

“Very likely.” Hamish’s voice sounded angry. “They may have teamed up with some New Order deserters and-----.”

“Herr Beavis! Enough! To speak of this thing is forbidden. The information is….”.

“Classified,” prompted Wallace.

“Ja, classified. You will remember that, Beavis.”

Although he could feel a layer of sweat forming over him, Stuart enjoyed a fleeting moment of satisfaction at the contriteness in Hamish’s reply.

“Er, yes. My apologies, Mr. Schroeder. I appear to have been, er, misinformed. There was, of course, no question of desertions.”

“Let me, on this matter, be very clear,” Schroeder continued. “The New Order government is for the good of all the people of this country.”

Tom’s reply, although overly sycophantic to Stuart’s ears, was designed to please the German. “We agree, Mr. Schroeder. Milk and wool prices have never been better.”

“And we greatly appreciate the assistance provided by government agricultural agents,” added Jason, echoing the obsequious tone.

“Ach, that is good. Our government values the work of the farming peasants.” Hamish coughed.

“The two subversives, Mr. Schroeder.” He was clearly concerned to maintain the focus on Stuart and Carol. “They are considered ruthless and will stop at nothing to achieve their ends. It is crucial that they are both captured and brought in for special questioning.”

“Of course,” responded Wallace. “Mr. Beavis, through his personal knowledge and recent association with the university, has been assigned to us to assist in the hunting down of these two subversives.

“I have met one of these people,” said Schroeder. “With him I have, how do you say it in English, some unfinished business.” He gave a grunt of mild amusement and then continued. “You said that you have not seen them. You say that you support the New Order government. That is good.” His voice took on a harsher tone. “You will remember please, that giving help to enemies of the state is punishable by death. Please tell your neighbours of this. Soldiers and a German officer have been murdered.” A
chair was scraped back and fell clattering to the ground. “Those who spread terror will be punished!”

Immediately other chairs were pushed back and followed by a shuffling of feet.

Schroeder spoke again. “We are visiting other houses tonight. These enemies of the state will be found. Tell your neighbours that no stone, er-----.”

“Will be left unturned, Mr. Schroeder?” It was the detective’s voice.

“Ja. No stone. Tell your neighbours.” Another pause and a heel click. “We will take our leave.”

Stuart and Carol lay still, their thoughts in turmoil at the implications of what they had heard. They listened intently to the sounds of departure and, after a brief silence the outside door opened and closed. A pair of footsteps came into the room and stopped.

“Stuart and Carol” said Tom softly, “If you can hear me tap twice.”

Startled at hearing their real names used, Stuart momentarily paused and then tapped.

“OK. We think they’ve gone but there’s always the possibility that they’ve left men behind to watch the place. I’ve turned the dogs loose and we’ll let them roam for a while. If there are any strangers around the property they’ll let us know. I’ll then whistle them back and if they arrive in one piece we’ll be pretty sure everything’ll be OK. Can you hang on a little longer?”

Stuart tapped again.

“Good. It’s probably OK for the two of you to talk quietly. If there’s any sign of danger we’ll let you know immediately.”

The next hour passed slowly as Stuart and Carol, their faces close together, quietly reviewed the events in the room below. Their greatest concern was the speed with which the authorities had picked up their trail, the direct involvement of Franz Schroeder and, more particularly, Hamish Beavis. Clearly, from his tone Beavis was motivated by anger and revenge which dovetailed neatly into the importance that his superiors attached to apprehending those involved in the Albany killing. They were both also worried about the attitude of their new colleagues, who could well regard the presence of two identified ‘terrorists’ as too much of a liability - in which case their situation looked very bleak. The authorities now had copies of their pictures; their families had already been contacted, had probably been intimidated and were almost certainly now under surveillance. The familiar and secure links of friends, families and work had disappeared. They’d taken the only option open to them and now faced the unimaginably bleak prospect of becoming pariahs, shunned, feared and hunted in their own land.

Below they could hear the movements of people coming and going but apart from the occasional innocuous comment, nothing of any importance was discussed within their hearing. Their sense of gnawing despair increased.

Eventually several pairs of footsteps entered the bedroom and stopped in the centre. The ceiling trapdoor was opened and the ladder lowered.

It was Dan’s voice that said, “You can come down now.”

Cautiously Stuart stretched out his legs and, when his feet touched the rungs, slowly began to descend. Halfway down he stopped and looked into the room. The faces that stared up at him were expressionless.

“It’s OK, Carol,” he said quietly and completing his descent, watched as she climbed down into the room.

“How’re you feeling?” asked Dan, his face expressionless.

“Bit stiff, bit worried,” replied Carol, looking quickly at Stuart who reached out and took her hand.

“Yeah, I bet,” said Dan tonelessly. “There’s a meeting over at the woolshed. We’ve got some things to discuss.”

He indicated that they were both to go in front of the others. Apprehensively they walked out of the door into the dark yard and headed towards the woolshed.

Four men remained in the farmhouse in case of emergency. The rest were gathered in the woolshed, some on seats, others on the floor and several were perched on wool bales. The inability of the naked light bulbs to reach all the faces created an ominous atmosphere. This was further reinforced by the subdued responses to Stuart and Carol’s greeting.

“Sit here,” said Dan, indicating two chairs in the centre of the room.

They sat facing the group. Stuart resisted the temptation to make some wisecrack about kangaroo courts, and tried instead to read the faces that surrounded them.

Dan sat at right angles to them, his elbows resting on the large wool-sorting table.

“I presume you both heard all of the conversation that took place in the dining room.”

They nodded.

“I presume you are aware of the increased seriousness of the situation.”

They nodded again.

“We have all been discussing its implications. We knew that when we began a resistance movement we would be facing some serious problems. This current situation has developed more rapidly, and is certainly more serious, than we had imagined.”

He paused and looked around. A few heads nodded but nobody spoke.

“Although our rule is not to reveal our real identities to each other in case of future interrogations, in your case the authorities
have done it for us. Both of you are now classified as terrorists. We have heard your names mentioned on the radio news an hour ago. Schroeder, Beavis and Wallace had photos of both of you so I daresay they’ll be in tomorrow’s newspaper.”

Stuart’s eyes swept the room. “Obviously we hadn’t expected this. And for them to say that we spread terror is ridiculous.”

“Yes,” joined in Carol. “We’ve harmed nobody.”

“It’s a political label, nothing more, nothing less. One group’s ‘freedom fighter’ is another group’s ‘terrorist’,” responded Tony from the back of the woolshed. “Whether or not you’ve done anyone any harm is irrelevant. If you’re labelled as an enemy of the people then that turns people against you and gives the authorities the excuse to deal with you however they please. Reason or logic has nothing to do with it.”

To a murmur of agreement Dan continued.

“Nevertheless, the fact that you’re on their wanted list means an increased risk for everyone here. Aiding, abetting or harbouring a terrorist is a capital offence. Anyone in this room could be hanged for it.”

Carol was clearly close to tears. “Look,” she began falteringly, “we hate the Nazis as much as anyone in this room. We joined Fightback because it gave us a chance to, well, fight back.” She paused but there was no reaction. Her voice steadied. “We had no intention of putting anyone, not one single person, in danger on our account.”

Stuart, putting his arm across her shoulder, faced the rest of the group.

“We’re fully aware that we are a danger to all of you. We discussed it while we were left hiding in the ceiling.” He looked at Carol who nodded. “We’ve made a joint decision. People could be killed because of our presence here.” He shrugged and rising to his feet, looked squarely into the faces of those in the front of the group. “Clearly there’s no alternative. We’ll both leave and take our chances. We may get caught but the rest of you will be safe.” He reached down and took Carol’s hand as she rose and stood alongside him. “Right, Carol?”

“Yes,” she responded. Looking straight at Dan she continued, “As Stuart has said, it’s a joint decision. We’ll leave tonight.”

The spontaneous burst of applause stunned them both. Brendan immediately stepped out of the shadows and seized Stuart’s hand while Susan hurried forward to embrace Carol.

“What the hell’s going on?” asked Stuart bewildered at the sudden change of mood.

“We had a meeting and decided to see what your attitude would be to the change in the situation. We wanted to see if you’d put your friends or yourselves first,” explained Dan.

“You’ve passed the test, mate,” said a hugely smiling Brendan. “Now we can work out a plan of campaign.” He grinned even wider. “Not that I ever doubted you for a moment of course!”

Tony was on his feet again. “Members of Fightback are committed to supporting each other in all situations. That’s one of our central tenets. In this case, you’re not the only two who are liabilities…” He paused and pointed to the three former Blitzkrieg Boys. “Obviously the authorities don’t want it known that three of their soldiers deserted. But that doesn’t mean that they will be any less rigorous in their pursuit of the deserters or any more lenient with any who have provided them with aid and comfort. We, my friends, are all compromised. In fact we were the moment each and every one of us decided to oppose the oppressors and their cronies and join Fightback. Now,” he turned to Dan, “it’s been a long night and extra guards have to be posted so I suggest we all turn in and catch up on some richly deserved sleep.”

Dan nodded. “Second the motion. There’s still plenty of detail to work through but I think we’ve all had quite enough for one day. OK everyone, let’s grab some shuteye.”

Half an hour later Carol, having taken her turn at the washbasin, returned to the cubicle and slipped into bed beside Stuart. Throughout the twists and turns of the extraordinary day she had been continually conscious of his strength and support and was looking forward to what was fast becoming the best part of the day – sharing a bed with him.

He was lying on his back and he barely moved as she slid in beside him and rested her head lightly on his chest. Slowly she moved her hand backwards and forwards across his chest but he barely stirred. Enticingly she slid her bare leg across his legs towards his groin. His only response was to sigh. She lay still for a moment deciding whether or not to persevere and within a few moments she had joined her lover in a long deep sleep.