Krista's Escape Page 7

  “Jim, the captain, thought you and your family might like a pot of tea or something while you wait. Shan’t be long now until we have all the cargo loaded and you can come aboard. Sorry for the delay.” He gave a gap-toothed grin.

  “An Englishman by heaven!” Violet, the only true English person of their little group, stepped forward. Her companions might be able to fool foreigners into believing they were English, but she doubted an Englishman would be deceived for very long. “Come in and close the door. You are letting the warm air out!” She waved towards the fireplace. “Bertram, Christine, go sit by the fire. The pair of you must be frozen after standing outside for so long.”

  “There is a lazy wind blowing out there right enough.” Jim stepped into the room, closing the door at his back.

  “I beg your pardon?” Violet raised an eyebrow at the cheeky chap.

  “That’s what me mother calls it,” he grinned. “A wind that’s too lazy to go around you but goes through you!”

  “It is brisk out there,” Gerhardt dared to say. He couldn’t remain silent and let the woman do all the talking. It would not be in character for the man he was trying to portray.

  “Now, how about that pot of tea?” Jim had things to do but the captain wanted to be sure this posh couple had nothing to complain to the shipping company about. He’d ordered Jim to see to their needs.

  “A pot of tea would be wonderful. We have been travelling for months. We,” she gestured to the others, “have been drinking coffee! I must admit a proper cup of tea is one of the many things I miss about home.”

  “Well, to be honest, ma’am,” Jim shrugged, “if I were you, I’d wait until I got home before having tea. It’s a fright here. You’d be safer staying with the coffee.”

  “Ah well, when in Rome!” Violet laughed. “We thank you for the offer but we will take your advice and wait until we reach England’s shores before we drink tea. We are not in need of anything at the moment.”

  “Right you are, ma’am.” Jim pulled his forelock and with a smile stepped out of the room.

  “Watch him, Violet.” Gerhardt didn’t leave his chair, his voice almost a whisper.

  “It would appear that the man in the brown suit is interested in who we are.” Violet was careful to keep out of sight of the people on the dock. She watched as the brown-suited man stopped the English sailor. Money changed hands as she watched. “He is not a very skilled spy if that is indeed what he is. He actually pointed towards this waiting room if you can believe that.” She continued to watch what was happening on the dock.

  Gerhardt wanted to move. He needed to get out of this small room. “That man strutting around the dock is one of the many bully boys trying to make themselves important in the new regime. Do not underestimate him and his ilk.”

  “He is once more running after the harbour master.” Violet turned to look at her companions. “Judging from the body language, he does not appear to be popular with the men working the docks. He is receiving some very pointed glares.”

  “You always were good at judging the mood of a crowd,” Gerhardt said as he stood up.

  “Father!” Krista snapped before he could take a step. “You simply must remember to slouch. Look at your posture!” She waved a hand in his direction, feeling very daring. But if the man didn’t take the steel out of his backbone he was going to give them all away to anyone caring to look. “You look all set to bang your heels together. That is a very German habit, one you must repress. You do not look anything like an overweight bumbling Englishman at the moment.” She waited tensely to see if the man glaring at her would box her ears. But it needed to be said. She had no wish to be discovered trying to flee the country with a wanted man.

  “The child is right.” Violet didn’t have to look to understand what Krista saw. “You must strive to stay in character, Bertram.”

  “You are both correct.” Gerhardt sat down again with a sigh. “This waiting when we are so close to escape is wearing on the nerves. It has been a very long time since I needed to hide who and what I am.”

  Chapter 9

  “Christine,” Violet turned from the window, “please keep watch.” She gestured for Krista to stand up from her chair close to the fire. “Tell us if anything seems noteworthy to you.” She almost collapsed into the chair. It had been many years since she’d had to be constantly on her guard. She didn’t know if she could do it all again. She had been a young woman during the last war. Was she too old to become involved in the one everyone seemed to think was coming? But surely to goodness saner heads would prevail and stop the carnage that war brought? She wanted to drop her head into her hands and weep. But she straightened her spine. She had never been a weak woman.

  “Bertram,” she leaned forward to ask, “who is that British car registered to?”

  That officious little man in brown looked like a pencil-pusher to her. He’d have his nose into everyone else’s business if she was any judge. Such men had been the bane of her existence in the last war.

  “Bertram Standish.” The man assuming that name leaned his head closer to Violet’s. “He is a grand chap. At this moment in time he is in Berlin preparing for the upcoming air show. I offered to drive his car back to England. He plans to buy a plane if he finds one that pleases him. I expect he will fly his new plane home or hitch a ride home with one of the English pilots taking part in the show.”

  “The world has gone mad.” Violet wanted to punch something. Imagine, travelling to an air show in the very heart of that madman’s nest. She wondered what would happen to all of the artists and musicians visiting Germany. Did no one see the storm clouds gathering over Europe? “Air-shows – invitations to the European upper-level social set, to visit and party with that man. Have you seen the photographs in the newspapers? The list of people flocking to his side? Have they all run mad?” She leaned her head back, fighting tears. “Or are we being alarmist, my dear?”

  Krista watched the crowds of people being escorted onto the ships waiting on the docks. The man in the brown suit appeared to be paying a great deal of attention to the shivering crowd but he wasn’t doing anything to stop their leaving as far as she could see.

  Gerhardt too was heartsick. “People don’t want to believe that the men in power would be insane enough to force us into another war. But I have seen too much on my journeys to promote the family business. I couldn’t close my eyes to what is going on – and, to be honest with you, I am terrified by what I have seen. No one, no country is ready for what that man Hitler has planned.”

  “I am as guilty as the next man of closing my eyes to what is happening around me.” Violet had been desperately hoping that saner heads would prevail.

  “I thought you were going to shoot me when I insisted you accompany me on this trip.” Gerhardt knew he’d been taking his life in his hands when he’d appealed to Violet for help. He’d had no choice in the matter. The German forces were searching for a man alone. He had hoped an Englishman travelling with a wife would escape detection. Krista, in the role of his daughter, was an added bonus to his disguise.

  “I had made a nice little life for myself,” Violet said.

  “You were never meant for a life of bucolic bliss, my dear Ann.” Gerhardt had never understood how a woman who had been instrumental in saving lives and organising a force as powerful as the WRNS in the war had ever been able to settle to a life teaching little snot-nosed children to speak and read English. “Why did you never marry?” She was a good-looking woman. It wouldn’t have been for lack of opportunity.

  Violet stared across the fire at the man daring to ask her such a personal question. She bit her lip against the fiery words that wanted to escape her. How dare he? He was probably waiting for her to give him a sob story about the love of her life lost in the trenches. It was a familiar story after all. There were a great many women enjoying the pity of their friends as they told their sob stories, over and over again.

  “The institution of marriage never a
ppealed to me,” she contented herself with saying. Now was not the time to get into discussion about the horror she’d witnessed in the life of her own friends – intelligent women who had given up everything to marry the man of their dreams. Not for her the role of the little woman supporting her big strong man. She had spent years in the Wrens doing the work while some man reaped the rewards and honours. She had a small inheritance that allowed her to live quietly while answering to no man. The life she had made for herself suited her. She preferred not to think about what might become of her now.

  Krista was not paying attention to the conversation going on behind her. She was looking out the window as ordered but not really seeing what was in front of her. She was worried. What was to become of her? She was unaware of lifting her hands and rubbing at her temples. Her head hurt. She had been speaking English almost constantly since she left the auberge. Her brain felt as if it were leaking out of her ears.

  Would she be able to make herself understood in England? Would she understand what was said to her? She hadn’t understood a word that English sailor said to Miss Andrews in spite of spending years studying with the help of the British Broadcasting Corporation tapes that Miss Andrews insisted her students mimic.

  Her attention was diverted to a scuffle taking place amongst the people trying to board one of the ships. She narrowed her eyes, trying to see clearly what was taking place.

  “I believe you need to see what is going on outside,” she half-turned to say to her travelling companions.

  “What’s happening?” Violet was glad to get away from Gerhardt and his questioning. Her life was none of his business.

  “I don’t know but come look.” Krista put her hands in her pockets, trying not to point.

  “Where?” Violet put her hand on Krista’s shoulder and followed the direction the girl indicated with a jerk of her head.

  “Gerhardt!” Violet gasped, forgetting to call him Bertram, unable to believe what she was seeing.

  He joined the two women at the window.

  “We can’t all stand here like shop-front dummies,” he said but then froze as he registered the scene on the docks.

  “Those are not Belgian soldiers.” Violet watched in disbelief as soldiers forcibly dragged men out of the crowd of passengers standing on the dock.

  “No,” Gerhardt sighed. “They are German.” He watched as one man was pushed to the ground and kicked when he tried to object to being dragged away from his family. He had seen scenes like this in his own country. He’d been able to intervene. In Germany he was a titled gentleman with something of a reputation. Here, he was an obese, pompous Englishman. What could he do?

  “How in the name of goodness are they getting away with this?” Violet winced at the rough treatment being handed out to the passengers. No one was objecting, not even the Belgian policemen accompanying the German troops. The sailors on the docks were pointedly not seeing what was going on in front of them.

  “I am not surprised to see German troops here. Our countries share a coastline. The Flemish people in this part of Belgium are proud of their German heritage.” Gerhardt lowered his eyes to his feet, ashamed of the actions of his countrymen. He wanted to shoot them down like the dogs they were. But what use would that be? He could not win this fight. He was not afraid to die but he refused to offer up his life until he had made powerful men listen to him. He had to try. That man Hitler must be stopped.

  “The amount of money being spent bribing officials to look away must be enormous.” Violet put one hand in front of her mouth. She wanted to run out there and start laying waste to those soldiers – men who thought they were above everyone else.

  “Hitler has become very wealthy,” Gerhardt said. “He has been systematically stripping wealthy Jews of their belongings. He has taken many, many millions of deutschmarks from the heads of families. He is a thief offering ‘your money or your life’ – that is what the old highwaymen used to say, is it not?” He knew wealthy German Jews were being encouraged to leave the country. Joseph Goebbels had recently sent out a memo encouraging Hitler to put a system of publicly marking Jews in place.

  The three stood silently watching. They watched as the men were shoved up against a nearby warehouse. The German officer separated from the group and began taking slow deliberate steps along the line of cowering men.

  “That man appears to be enjoying his moment of power a tad too much.”

  The officer had backhanded a young man who apparently had the nerve to question his actions. An older man grabbed at the younger before he could collapse to the ground. He received a punch to his stomach for his daring.

  “We cannot sit here like rats in a trap, waiting for that bully to grab us.” Violet looked around the little room, frantically searching for something that could be used as a weapon. They had left their guns hidden in the car. Stupid.

  Gerhardt pulled the two women from the window by their elbows. “Listen to me closely now. Neither of you speak German.” He shook them by their elbows. “Do you understand?” He shook them. “Not one word of German, do you understand?”

  The two women never took their eyes from his face as they nodded.

  “From what we have observed,” Gerhardt took a deep breath before continuing, “they appear to only be interested in males. You two must leave me here – make your way to the ship. The Swallow is berthed on the fourth dock to your left as you exit this room. The captain is a good man. Vickers will see you both right if I should fail to join you.”

  “I believed my worth to you was as a shield you could hide behind?” Violet regretted bringing Krista with them. “Those men,” she pointed in the direction of the window and the German soldiers, “look like they would shoot first and ask questions later.”

  Krista didn’t know what to do or what to say. This situation was far outside her experience.

  “Plans change at a moment’s notice and we must be ready to change with them,” Gerhardt said. He was keeping an eye on the activity outdoors. He did not want the women here when those soldiers reached this room – as he was sure they would. “We have no papers for Krista and my own are forged. I cannot allow you two to be placed in danger on my behalf. Those men will have no mercy for anyone discovered with me. I cannot worry about your safety while fighting for my own freedom.”

  “Fighting!” Violet gasped, thinking of the weapons the German soldiers carried openly.

  “It may not come to that.” Gerhardt would do everything in his power to walk away from this room. But he would not be responsible for harm coming to two innocent women because of him. “I need you both to be brave. You must walk out of this room with your heads held high and disdain for all who try to stop you.” He smiled sadly. “I have seen you stare disdainfully enough times, my dear Ann. It is very off-putting, I do assure you.”

  They stood for a moment, each unsure of what to say. The situation was unspeakable.

  “Come.” Gerhardt turned the women around to face the doorway. “We have no time to waste.”

  “I don’t like leaving you like this,” Violet objected.

  But Krista wanted to pick up her skirts and run to the safety of the ship. She had no desire to face heavily armed German soldiers.

  “I know, my dear, but needs must. You two must leave me here for your own safety. I never intended to put you in danger. Go now.”

  He waited while they each picked up their bags before almost pushing them towards the door of the waiting room.

  “I will sit here and smoke my last cigar and wait for developments,” he said.

  He shrugged when Violet glared at him over her shoulder.

  “Cigars are a filthy habit, Bertram, as I have told you many times before.” She was fighting tears. She could do nothing to help him in this situation – and he was right – his worry over them could endanger him. She would have to get Krista away and pray to a God that she had almost forgotten that Gerhardt could talk himself out of this situation.

  “Go
d go with you, my dears.” He opened the door to allow them to step outside. “I will join you if and when I can.”

  He stood in the open doorway, watching them walk across the quayside. He closed the door with a sigh when it appeared that their appearance attracted no attention.

  He sat in the chair to one side of the fire and took out the last of his expensive cigars. Pulling a silver tool from his trousers pocket, he stared at it.

  “It is the little things that trap you,” he muttered, staring at the silver cigar cutter. The tool bore his family crest and initials. “Stupid.” He longed to throw the item from him, but it was an expensive article and would attract attention if found. “Time to gird my loins and enter battle.”

  He cut the end from the cigar then bent to shove the cutter into his half-boots.

  He puffed smoke into the room and waited. He looked around him at the room, which appeared dingy to his eyes. “I never thought I would meet my end in a waiting room.” He grinned wryly. “Mother always did say I’d come to a bad end.”

  Chapter 10

  “Are we really to leavehim alone?” Krista felt an itch between her shoulder blades. She longed to turn her head to see what was happening behind her. She kept her eyes focused on the busy docks, avoiding the men working to load the many ships. The noise and bustle was almost frightening to someone unused to such frantic activity.

  “What do you suggest we do?” Violet wanted to scream her frustration to the sky. She hadn’t wanted to come on this journey. She’d been content in her little cottage.

  “I don’t know.” Surely they could do something? It felt wrong to turn her back on a man she had known all of her life – but how did one go about facing down men with guns?

  “Nor do I.” Violet lowered her eyelids and allowed her eyes to search the area around them. They were attracting no special attention as far as she could see. “Keep your chin up, shoulders back and head towards the ship as we were ordered. We cannot afford to attract attention.”