Small window in ceiling. Could loosen frame with screwdriver, Starr wrote.
Noor’s heart plummeted. She’d been staring at her own window for weeks. Its iron bars were tightly screwed in. How on earth did Starr think he could get hold of a screwdriver?
Screwdriver??? she wrote back.
Don’t despair. Something will turn up.
Don’t despair? Ridiculous. Did he think the Gestapo would simply hand over a tool kit?
A few days later, Starr’s note was one word long: Success!!!!
He’d tricked the cleaner into giving him a screwdriver so that he could fix her carpet sweeper. He hid it behind the basin, so the three of them could take it in turns to use it.
Noor couldn’t reach her window. Her bed was the kind that folded into the wall. Standing on it when it was flat was no use: she just wasn’t tall enough. She had to clamber on to the frame when it was folded away, and then lean across to get at the screws.
It was going well. The three bars nearest to her were loose. There was just one to go…
The thud when she hit the floor brought the guards running into her room, pistols cocked.
‘What’s going on here?’
‘Oh… I was… going to… I wanted to hang myself,’ Noor said, rubbing her neck.
The guards looked at each other. ‘That’s just stupid,’ one said. ‘Don’t try that again.’
They left the room without noticing the loosened bars. Immediately, Noor went back to work.
The three kept preparing their escape. Noor shared her face powder with the others so that they could plug the holes left by the loosened bars, and passed on some Metro tickets she’d found in the pockets of her clothes.
It was time. They were all ready. One last screw remained on Noor’s window. Starr whistled to cover up the scraping noise as Noor struggled with the final bar. Faye was already through his window. He leant through Noor’s and helped her, pulling her up and on to the roof.
Fresh air. Noor almost shouted with joy.
It was cold, and the night sky was dark with shredded cloud. They tiptoed across the rooftop, their shoes tied by their laces and strung round their necks, and blankets slung over their shoulders. Noor moved quickly, ahead of the two men. Her training all those months ago in how to move silently and swiftly had come in useful.
‘OK,’ Noor whispered. ‘We’ve reached the roof of the next door building. Time for the ropes.’
Quickly, they began to rip the blankets to knot together. ‘Hurry!’ Noor almost danced with impatience as Faye fumbled with his length of fabric.
The sudden ack-ack-ack of anti-aircraft guns stuttered through the dark. Straight away, long wheeling searchlights probed the sky.
Noor looked up. ‘An air raid! Duck!’
The three flung themselves flat on the rooftop. The first thing the guards did when there was an air raid was to check the cells. The alarm would be raised by now.
‘Let’s make a run for it!’ Noor said. ‘No choice.’
She stood up and, pulling on her shoes, she led the men back to the edge. She tied an end of the knotted blanket to a drainpipe, and tested it briefly. Then, gripping it, she swung into the window of the building below. Her feet smashed through the glass and she landed amongst the shards. Faye and Starr followed.
Had anyone heard them? No time to find out. They ran out of the room, through the door and down the main staircase. Starr opened the front door a crack. He peered out, then shut the door immediately, his eyes wide.
‘Gestapo outside. We’re trapped.’
‘Let’s run. See how far we get,’ Faye said.
‘Yes,’ Noor said. ‘Let’s go.’
She opened the door, and they hurtled out into the street. Faye was ahead. He’d just reached the corner when the Germans opened fire. Starr grabbed Noor and dragged her back into the house. Her heart pounding, she made for the stairs. A woman, her face moon-white, stared down at them from a floor above.
Before Noor could say a word, the front door exploded and jackboots thumped up the stairs. Hands grabbed Noor by the hair, yanking her backwards. She was thrown to the floor, kicked in the ribs, punched in the back and stomach. She tried to curl into a bundle.
She was lifted and hauled out of the house, and back next door to the Gestapo headquarters, and another cell.