Marjie’s head ached. There had been no word from Arnie by the time she and André had reached camp two days ago. She paced up and down, feeling on edge.
‘You can’t alter things by worrying about them, Marjie.’
‘I know, André, but why no word? It’s driving me mad not knowing if Sibbie and Paulo are safe.’ She wouldn’t say that part of her anguish was caused by fear over what Monty might do next. What if he led the Germans to this camp and she hadn’t done anything, after suspecting him? Hadn’t even discussed her concerns with anyone? But how did you do that, when you knew the outcome would be your own dear brother’s death?
‘Marjie, something spooked you – what was it?’
‘Please stop questioning me, André.’
‘You don’t trust me. That’s it, isn’t it?’
‘No . . . Look, I do have something on my mind, but I need to discuss it with Arnie first.’
A low whistle told them that Gisele was approaching. Marjie didn’t need to hide from her any longer, for Arnie had briefed Gisele and the two girls had met. Gisele had been just as pleased to see Marjie as Marjie was to see her, and they’d chatted and laughed together. But her approach heightened the already tense atmosphere in the camp, as this was the first time they’d seen Gisele since the betrayal.
André looked uncomfortable, and several of the men who’d sat apart from Marjie and André now became alert and hostile. One spat on the ground. Others moved away, making for their tents, or stood leaning on a tree, but not facing the group to greet Gisele, as they normally would.
‘André, fetch them back. Tell them that we must act normally. If Gisele is the traitor, we don’t want her alert to the fact that we suspect her. That could lead to her doing something desperate, to save her skin. Maybe even exposing the camp and having us all killed.’
André nodded, then acted swiftly. By the time Gisele entered the camp everything appeared normal, even if their greeting didn’t hold the usual banter they exchanged with her. Gisele didn’t act as if she knew something was wrong, and probably took the atmosphere as normal in the circumstances, as her first question showed. ‘What happened, André? How did Raphael and Juan come to get killed? The whole village is in mourning. I wanted to come before now, but I was afraid to. I – I thought I might be being watched. There’s a large gendarme presence, and the villagers are very frightened. They asked me to see if the group can do anything?’
This alarmed Marjie. The village of Laurens lay within ten miles of them. ‘It was the night of my papa’s pick-up. Germans suddenly surrounded us. Sibbie and Paulo have been captured, Gisele.’
The colour drained from Gisele’s face. ‘No! But I – I . . . No! Not Paulo, no.’ Tears ran down her face. Marjie wanted to comfort her, but found she couldn’t move. Gisele had known Paulo all her life and had a special relationship with him. He’d been like a big brother to her. But then the thought came to Marjie that Monty had been even more than special to her. Gisele adored Monty and would do anything for him. What if he had approached her for information?
Dropping her bike, Gisele looked round at the unmoving faces. ‘There must have been a traitor, otherwise how did the Germans know? You all suspect me, don’t you?’
One or two of the Resistance group shuffled about, looking uncomfortable.
Gisele looked around her, her face betraying her fear.
‘Who else knows as much as you do, to be able to inform on us, Gisele?’
‘I wouldn’t, André, I . . . You all know me. Some of you since I was a child. You know I couldn’t tell the Germans.’ Gisele looked as though something had dawned on her.
‘Have you spoken to anyone, Gisele? I mean, unwittingly? Has anyone approached you?’
Gisele stared at Marjie. ‘I – I, oh God, Marjella, it’s . . . Oh, Marjella, I must speak with you.’
Marjie realized that Gisele, like herself, was protecting Monty. That she must have been tricked by him and was now desperate not to inform on the young man she loved. Oh, Monty. Monty, what have you done?
The mood became angry. ‘We trusted you, Gisele. All those men . . .’
‘Henrick, I . . . Please believe me, this isn’t my fault. I must speak with Marjie. Marjie, please!’
‘What can you tell Marjie that you can’t tell us?’
‘I must tell her first, André. Look, all of you: something has happened. It wasn’t my doing. I – I trusted someone you would all have trusted. Just give me a chance to tell Marjie first, please.’
Marjie felt her heart sink, while her mind screamed at the danger Monty was in. As yet she hadn’t allowed herself to think of him deserving it; only of the devastation it would bring to her and her beloved family.
‘Come with me, Gisele. Everyone, please stay here. Let Gisele do this as she wishes – needs – to. I promise you, I will do what is right by you all.’
Marjie and Gisele walked away. When she knew they were out of earshot, Marjie stopped and turned to Gisele. She wanted to ask if it was Monty, but didn’t want to give away the fact that she knew. Looking into Gisele’s face, it was as if she was seeing her for the first time. This wasn’t the cheeky kid she’d once known, but a very beautiful young woman. Gisele’s fair hair, which had always been a tangled mess, due to her tomboy ways, now shone and was fashioned with the front rolled and held in a clip, and the back falling to her shoulders, where it neatly curled under. Her eyes – the lightest-blue eyes Marjie had ever seen – were large and enhanced by the black pupil in their centre. Her features were clear-cut, and her skin creamy. Gisele was about the same height as Marjie, with a slight figure that wore clothes as if they were top designer outfits, not hand-me-downs or giveaways.
‘Tell me, Gisele. Who was it?’
‘Monty.’
Even though she knew, Marjie drew in a breath that spoke of her shock. ‘How? I mean . . .’ Her thoughts were thrown into a turmoil. It’s true then, I wasn’t mistaken. Oh, I so wanted to be. ‘How did Monty get here? What has he asked you about? And why – why would my brother . . . Oh God!’
‘I’m sorry, Marjie. I never dreamed Monty would do this. He told me he had escaped, that he’d been through hell and was sorry he ever believed it was for the good of the country that we honoured the Germans and lived under their occupation, and that they would make everything better in France. He wanted to know where his family were, and why his home was deserted. He was broken-hearted when I told him they had been forced to flee. He broke down and said he was desperate to put everything right. That he wanted to make contact with Paulo and join the Resistance to help the cause.
‘I had no reason not to believe him. Monty is part of your family. I told him that I was part of the Maquis group and what I did, and that his father and you and Arnie were all in the camp. Oh, Marjie, I told Monty he would need to hurry if he wanted to see his father, as he was being air-lifted out. He wanted to know when. Then he . . . he told me he loved me. I went with Monty to your home, and we . . . Oh, Marjie, please don’t condemn me, I couldn’t help myself. I love Monty. I can’t bear anything to happen to him. Oh, Marjie.’
As Marjie looked at the distraught Gisele, she realized what it was that had made her suddenly appear so different. Gisele was truly a woman now, made so by Monty, the man she loved . . . a traitor!
Trembling, Marjie asked, ‘Did it not alarm you, when he wanted details? You must have told him when and where my father and brother were to be picked up.’
‘Your brother?’
‘Oh, I mean Randie escaped too and came here.’
‘And now he is in England? But that is wonderful.’
‘It is, Gisele, but tell me: do you know why Monty wanted the details?’
‘He said he had to know as he must go there, otherwise he might miss his father.’
‘Oh, Gisele, I can’t believe all this . . . I don’t want to. Not Monty. Oh God, make this go away!’
‘Marjie, don’t cry. I’m so sorry. I’m scared. What are we going to do?’
Marjie opened her arms to Gisele, who suddenly seemed so young, so vulnerable, and yet they owed her so much. ‘I don’t know what to do. I want to wait until Arnie comes back. Monty can’t know about Arnie’s mission, can he?’
‘What mission?’
‘I can’t tell you, Gisele. Not now. But as you don’t know, it is unlikely that Monty can know.’
‘Marjie, I had no idea what I was doing, by telling Monty what I did. I swear. I believed him. I had no reason not to. I would never have told him anything if I’d thought this would happen.’
‘I know. I’m not showing a lack of trust in you; it’s just that what you don’t know, well . . . sometimes it is better not to know. Oh, Gisele, we cannot trust anyone. But I understand. You haven’t had the benefit of the training I have had. Did Monty want to know anything else? Have you seen him since? Did you know he hadn’t made contact with us?’
‘Yes. I saw him again. Monty told me he’d been unwell and hadn’t been able to go and see his father. That he had decided to wait, after he heard about the deaths of Raphael and Juan. He said he was afraid something must have gone wrong, and that if he tried to come to you, someone might follow him. He asked me to go and visit him at your home. I – I went. We had such a wonderful time, I stayed . . . Monty made me promise not to visit the camp until I was contacted. He felt I might be being watched, too. He asked if there was any other way that he could make contact with you, Marjie. I told him that until I went into the camp and asked you, I wouldn’t know. Monty then changed his mind about me not coming here, and asked me to bring this note to you.’
Gisele fished in her pocket and brought out the note. As Marjie took it, part of her was consumed with relief. It must have been a coincidence that Monty was on the station when they arrived. ‘Gisele, has Monty travelled anywhere? I mean, has he done anything that you thought unusual? I want so much to give him the benefit of the doubt. But I have to know how he acted and what he has been doing.’
‘Yes, he caught the train to Montpellier. He said he had to do some shopping.’
Marjie released a sigh. So Monty hasn’t betrayed me. His presence, and that of the gendarmes, was a coincidence. But would he have betrayed me, if he had known I was likely to be on that train? Marjie couldn’t honestly say that he wouldn’t.
Wanting to read Monty’s note, but conscious of how long they had been away from the group, she decided to wait until later. For a moment she was silent, her mind giving her many solutions about how to go forward. ‘Gisele, my instinct is to keep you here until Arnie comes back – not only to keep you safe, but to put the minds of the men at ease. However, I think it better that you go back and act normally, otherwise it may raise Monty’s suspicions and force him to do something that would be disastrous to us all. We’ll go back to the group now, and I will appease the men, then read Monty’s note and decide the best action to take.’
The men weren’t easy to appease, as Marjie told them they did have a possible suspect. That it wasn’t Gisele, and that things would be worse for them all if they did any harm to Gisele or tried to detain her.
‘Are you mad, Marjie? If she has compromised us, what is there to stop her doing so again?’
‘I trust her, André. Gisele has been very honest with me and has helped to reveal who is working against us. I want to wait for Arnie’s return. It is his decision as to what should be done. I’m going to contact HQ. I will tell them it is imperative that Arnie is contacted. They know we have been betrayed. I will tell them we think we know who by, and that we need Arnie to give us the way forward.’
Going to the tent containing the radio, Marjie pulled out Monty’s note.
Dearest Marjie,
By now you will know that I have escaped. Now I just want to fight this hateful regime that has occupied our country.
I’m amazed that you were able to make your way back, and bring a friend. You are so brave, dearest sister. And I cannot believe that Papa was here with the Resistance and was air-lifted out. This means that you are very organized now and have backing from Britain. With that in place, we must surely win through.
Please tell Paulo that I cannot wait to see him, and tell Uncle Arnie, too. I need to be with family, Marjie. Please make arrangements for me to come to you very soon.
Love, Monty x
Oh, Monty. Monty, I don’t know what to believe.
Setting up the radio, Marjie was about to make contact when she stopped. If they were compromised, someone could be waiting to detect radio activity and would track them down. They had to move camp – it was the only way. She could contact HQ once they were settled, and they would let Arnie know where they were.
Sitting back, she sighed. She’d hardly dared think about Sibbie and Paulo, holding on to the hope that Arnie would save them. Every part of her prayed that would be so.
Penning a quick note, she wrote:
Dearest Monty,
It did my heart good to hear from you, and to know that you are safe in our home. I will contact you soon. Just be patient, and before long you will be with us.
I love you, my brother. Paulo and Uncle Arnie send their love, and are making arrangements to fetch you in. Until we meet, dearest Monty.
Your loving sister, Marjie x
Swallowing hard to stop the tears, she called out to Gisele to come in to her. When she did so, Gisele looked even more fearful. ‘They are all very hostile towards me, Marjie. They may not let me leave.’
‘They will – don’t worry. Here, take this note for Monty. Hide it from the others. And, Gisele, do you have a relative – someone who lives far away from here – that you can go to?’
‘Yes, my aunt lives over the border near Girona in Spain – my uncle is a fisherman. Why must I go? Oh, Marjie, I don’t want to, please.’
‘You must, it is the only way you will be safe. The Germans know about you now. They will watch you. And if Monty is the person we think he is, then once you don’t give him any information, he will turn you in.’
‘No! He would never do that. I can’t leave him, I can’t.’
‘Gisele, staying here will sign your own death warrant. I won’t be able to save you. You know too much about the Resistance: how they work, where they are, their missions. And, Gisele, if our organization doesn’t kill you, then the Germans will. But they won’t just shoot you – they will torture you and then, when you are of no further use, they will shoot you anyway.’
Gisele’s large eyes filled with terror as she stared at Marjie. Her voice was a shocked whisper. ‘I’ll go, I promise. But, Marjie, take care of Monty. He is your brother. Don’t let them kill him. I can only survive knowing that one day he and I will be together.’
‘I will do all I can. Yes, he is my brother, and I love him very much. Arnie will get him away somewhere, I’m sure.’
Back with the group, Marjie could feel the ugly mood that had descended. She told them of her decision not to use the radio, and of her plan to move camp. All agreed. But when Marjie told them that Gisele was to leave, and about her plans for her to disappear, they were not in agreement.
‘She has betrayed us. How do we know she won’t do so again?’
It was a usually quiet member of the group, called Louis, who had said this. Marjie told them all, ‘I cannot give you the details of what I know – you will have to trust me – but Gisele isn’t a traitor. What happened was a misjudgement on her part, but she poses no danger to us, and never has. She is going away so that nothing like this can happen again, and for her own safety.’
Ethan, a sullen man who was always disgruntled, spoke then. ‘If that is the way of it, then I think we need to escort her to where she is going. She needs our protection.’
Marjie was nervous about this. She looked over towards André. She could trust him. When he spoke, he put her mind at rest. ‘I agree, but I am going to be part of the party that escorts her. I agree with Marjie. Gisele, whatever she has done, deserves our protection.’
At this, Marjie agreed. She knew she could trust André. Gisele, too, relaxed as he told her, ‘Gisele, this will have to happen soon. We will make the arrangements. You need to get ready to go tonight. Be by the river in Laurens at midnight. Wait near the bridge, in the shadow of Monsieur Vandaise’s house.’
Gisele nodded. Her eyes travelled around the group as she picked up her bike.
Marjie spoke to her as she prepared to leave. ‘Goodbye, Gisele. Thank you for all you have done for us. You are very courageous, and we are going to miss you. Safe journey and, when this is all over, I hope we meet again.’
None of the rest of the group uttered a word as Gisele left.
Sibbie tried to keep her eyes on Paulo. The lorry transporting them rocked from side to side. They lay on the hard, slatted floor, bound and gagged. Breathing was difficult through her smashed nose. Her arms hurt, from the many burns inflicted by her interrogator’s cigarette, and her hands smarted where some of her nails had been yanked out. But she hadn’t given in. Even when the pain engulfed her in agony.
After discovering some of the weapons she had secreted around her body, and finding her cyanide pill, the Germans had deduced that Sibbie was a British agent and must have decided that she should be sent to the Gestapo. Her German torturer had taken great pleasure in telling her of their decision, and had described horrible tortures that she didn’t know if she could endure. ‘Your hands will be plunged into boiling oil – oh yes, let’s see if you keep quiet after that, you English pig.’ He’d gone on to say that they would cut her feet off, very slowly, with a hacksaw. Sibbie’s mind had screamed in terror at the thought, but still she hadn’t given in.
Her heart ached as she looked at her beloved Paulo. His eyes were full of pain. Looking out from blackened, swollen sockets, they seemed to be pleading with her. She knew that his leg was smashed, as she’d seen the bone jagging out from it. Fear clenched her, as she knew he could die if it wasn’t tended to. Oh, Paulo, if only we could speak to each other.
The horrendous sound of an explosion smashed through the air around her, freezing her thoughts as the truck veered off the road and down the verge. Her body rolled uncontrollably on top of Paulo’s. She tried to lift herself off him, knowing that she was adding to his pain, but couldn’t.
Gunfire resounded around her. Panic-stricken, Sibbie made an extreme effort to lift herself. In doing so, she caught sight of Paulo; his face was blue, he couldn’t breathe! Help me. Oh God, help me.
At that moment strong arms lifted her, and she looked into Arnie’s beloved face. The strip of plaster that held her mouth closed stung as he ripped it off. ‘I’m sorry, my darling girl, but that is the only way. I’m going to lift you out, and then see to Paulo.’
‘Hurry, he isn’t breathing, Oh, Uncle Arnie, save him – save him.’
Someone took her from Arnie and carried her away from the lorry. She was conscious of dead German soldiers as he stepped over them. ‘You’re safe now.’
Safe? Without her darling Paulo? Please don’t let him die.
‘I’m going to untie you. I’ll try not to hurt you. We have a doctor in our camp, he is a freedom-fighter, too. He will help you.’
‘Where are we? We don’t seem to have travelled far.’
‘Just south of Lyon.’
Once free, Sibbie tried to stand and go to Paulo, but her legs wouldn’t hold her. ‘Help me, I must get to Paulo’s side.’
‘Arnie is bringing him out now. Sit still. Our main objective is to get out of here as fast as we can. It’s too dangerous to stay on the road for long.’
Sibbie looked towards where Arnie was carrying Paulo’s limp body and heard Arnie shout, ‘Paulo’s alive! Carry Sibbie, Pierre. We must hurry.’
The journey across fields and rough terrain seemed endless to Sibbie. Along the way, Arnie and Pierre swapped the burden of carrying Sibbie and Paulo with two other members of this faction of the Resistance movement.
Once in the camp of the faction, which she knew to be the communists, Sibbie again asked after Paulo, as he was taken into a different tent to her. Pierre told her to hush, and that the doctor, who was called Michel, was also a surgeon and was doing all he could. As he spoke, Pierre bathed her wounds. His touch was gentle – her pain excruciating. ‘I, too, trained to be a doctor, and at the same hospital as Michel. We now work for the Resistance and carry out many procedures in the special tent where Michel is working on Paulo. He is in the very best of hands.’
At Sibbie wincing as he bathed her hands, Pierre said, ‘How can anyone do this to another human being? But you will heal, I promise you. I have some morphine. I’ll give you that.’
‘No, not yet. I want to be awake, I need to know how Paulo is. I can stand the pain; it is more comfortable now, thank you.’
After a few moments Arnie came and knelt by the pallet bed they had lain Sibbie on. Tears ran down his face. ‘Paulo is very ill. The doctor has said it is touch and go. I think he will benefit from having you by his side. How are you, my dear?’
‘I am in pain, but my heart hurts the worst. Don’t let me lose my Paulo.’
‘Everything that the doctor can do is being done, Sibbie. He has limited resources, but he has set Paulo’s leg. Paulo needs an operation, but that isn’t possible. Hospitals will be searched, once they know you are free. But Paulo is strong. If he survives this, we will request that you are both air-lifted out. But in any case you will be, I promise.’
‘Oh, Uncle Arnie. Take me to Paulo.’
Once she was lying next to Paulo, Sibbie put her hand out towards him and touched his arm. Paulo didn’t stir. ‘Get well, my darling. Please get well.’