Page 40 of A Song in the Dark

Intense days? She couldn’t thank him for inviting her. Couldn’t say she was excited to be here. What could she say? “It will be a privilege to play the impeccable instrument I hear you have acquired.”

“The best of the best.” Pride oozed from his tone, and she imagined the tiny mustache above his lip doing a little dance as he congratulated himself for taking it.

“Fr?ulein.” He stepped closer, and she could once again smell his putrid breath. “In a few months, we will have much to celebrate. I wish you to return the middle of November for that.” It wasn’t a question. It wasn’t a request. Hitler wished it and she was supposed to acquiesce.

She snapped her fingers and turned her head away from the man. “Melanie! Check my schedule, please.” Pretending she was a diva gave her a moment to stall.

Always quick on her feet, especially these last few weeks, Melanie sounded like she was digging in a bag and going over papers. “Miss Frappier will be in Amsterdam the middle of November.”

“Plans can be changed. She will play for me again on the fifteenth of November.” His voice turned away from Chaisley. Then steps. “Please play my favorites tonight, Fr?ulein.”

Shuffling, steps. Then the marching started down the hall again.

The door clicked shut. Then locked.

“I don’t like it.” Rick squeezed Chaisley’s shoulders. “I don’t like it at all. Celebration? What does he have planned?”

She didn’t like it either. “I guess that’s the reason he demanded to speak to me today? At this point, he won’t take no for an answer, so we will simply pretend to go along with it. Somehow.”

“Chais, I think it’s time we discuss ending the tour early. You can pretend all you want that you’ll return, but I don’t think we should come back.”

Melanie’s firm words resonated within her. She was right.

To come back here would be foolish.

Maybe even fatal.

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Four hours later, she’d performed and then endured Hitler’s long-winded speech about the best of the best and the pride of Germany.

He even went so far as to explain to the entire audience that she was born perfect and was of superior German lineage.

Her injuries were the cause of an accident and were the proof that people of the superior race were better than everyone else.

Look what she had overcome, and look at how her talent was incomparable.

It sickened her. But as the roar of the crowd grew with every superior , she kept a smile pasted in place and resolved that she would not let this man win. No matter what she had to do.

When Melanie and Rick finally escorted her offstage to the dressing room, Chaisley vomited. Ten showers wouldn’t wash away how disgusting it was to be in Adolf Hitler’s presence.

The man emanated pure evil.

Melanie lifted the wet towel from her neck. “We need to get back to the hotel as soon as possible. I can’t stand to be here.”

“Me neither.”

“I’ll go get the car.” Rick didn’t sound too happy either. And why would he be? The entire evening had kept them all on edge. “Will you be okay here by yourselves? We could always walk out together.”

“It’ll be fine. I can help Chaisley change, and we’ll be out in a jiffy.” Mel wiped down Chaisley’s face again. “I’m so sorry about all this. I wish I could fix it.”

As the door opened and closed, Chaisley slumped in her chair. “That first time I played with him in the audience, I’d been so arrogant to think that I could do something big to stop him. Now that—”

Slam!

Was that the door busted open?

“Give me your bag. It must be searched before you leave here.”

Who on earth? That forceful, arrogant voice had to belong to a Nazi.

Melanie stomped over toward the voice. “Excuse me, but you have no right to be in here.”

“I am a Nazi officer with orders. You will do as I say!”

Shuffling. Then more footsteps.

“How dare you? Get your hands off me!” No fear in Melanie’s tone, only rage.

Smack!

Had Mel slapped him?

“Get out of my way, woman.” The man hissed the command. Had he hit Melanie?

It sounded like he was turning over furniture as he stormed toward Chaisley. “Is this all you have with you?”

“She’s a concert pianist. It’s her music, you fool.”

Chaisley restrained a full-on laugh. Melanie had become a roaring lion!

Papers rustled as he apparently dug in Chaisley’s bag.

Her breath hitched, but she willed herself to stay cal—

Oh no! She’d left a partially composed letter to Grandmother in that bag!

It gave details about the last group of children they’d rescued.

It was in braille code, but ... what if .

..? Bounding to her feet, she placed her hands on her hips.

“I demand that you return my music to me at once. I will speak to Herr Hitler about this intrusion! Your behavior is atrocious.”

Her bag was shoved into her hands. “You don’t fool me, pianist. We know you’re up to something. My superior works for the Führer, and he doesn’t trust you. So neither do I!” Quick stomps and then the door slammed.

“We’ve got to get out of here, now !” Melanie grabbed her hand and dragged her out the door.

Chaisley stumbled behind her trying to keep up. When they made it to the car, she practically fell into it.

“What’s happened?” Rick sounded panicked.

“Drive. Hurry .” Melanie wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close.

Back at the hotel, Chaisley couldn’t stop shaking. Did that Nazi know where they were? Would he come after them here? She grabbed Rick’s hand. “Let’s drive away from the city. Find a small hotel somewhere else. And make sure we aren’t followed.”

The exhaustion in them all was palpable, but they agreed her plan was the best. When they reached a quaint hotel and checked in with two adjoining rooms, Chaisley was beyond anxious to speak to Dr. Grafton.

She picked up the telephone in her room.

“Rick, would you stay with Mel and me for a moment? Just until I finish this call?”

“Of course.” It sounded like he hadn’t left the door. Was he guarding it?

She put the call through to her grandmother’s.

She hated waking the house, but she needed to ask about the visas for Mary Beth and Geraldine.

Because she couldn’t stand to stay here much longer.

Not after tonight. It was a risk to ask about the visas over the phone, but maybe if she switched up languages, she could throw off anyone listening in.

Were the mother and daughter all right? It was too risky to visit them at their hotel. Chaisley drew too much attention, but to know she was in the same city and couldn’t do anything to help them yet broke her heart.

When Dr. G answered, she spoke as vaguely as she could. A sentence or two in Dutch, then switched to Hungarian, then to French, then to English. Using a few code words along the way.

“I’ll be there tomorrow.” Dr. G’s voice was gravelly in his French response. “The flowers older than a fortnight need to be exchanged.”

So. Those old enough to be sterilized needed to leave immediately. The Gestapo were only growing bolder in their arrests. There was no way they would stop searching for them. “I’ll ask the driver if he can make a trip tonight.”

“Good. No need to wait for me. I’d love to visit the hotel where you are staying.”

In other words, get out as soon as she could, and leave a coded letter at the hotel with details.

He switched to Hungarian. “I’ve learned there are many new groceries I’d like to pick up. I may stay several weeks, but will try to be back by the time you return at the beginning of November.”

She longed to tell him about what happened. To pour out her worries and fears. But she couldn’t. It wasn’t safe.

For any of them.

“God be with you,” she whispered in English.

“And you, my child. I love you and how brave you are.”

She hung up the phone and sucked in a breath. Was she brave enough to keep going? As her whole body shook, she couldn’t stop the tears.

Rick gripped the steering wheel and rounded a sharp curve.

The towering forest on either side of the road kept any moonlight from hitting the pavement.

His palms were slick with sweat. All of his training was to extract information.

Get in and out of buildings without detection.

Blend in and hear things people thought were secret.

But this mission had become so much more than spying for Britain.

God, in His wisdom, had given him a greater purpose in helping those the enemy wanted to destroy.

He glanced in the rearview mirror. The weight of responsibility for these six young people with him tonight put his nerves at a level he hadn’t experienced since his first mission.

But that was nothing compared to the tension that gripped him when he thought about Chaisley.

His most precious cargo was in the grip of the Nazi regime.

His chest tightened.

Was Chaisley safe? Was Mel? Would that Nazi officer come looking for them again?

Rick’s throat tightened and he cleared it.

No use asking questions when he had no answers.

Right now, the best thing he could do was pray for them, as he knew they were doing for him.

Please, Lord, protect them. Give them wisdom. Keep them safe.

It was the same prayer he prayed every time he left. With so many around them losing their livelihood, homes, and even their lives, it was difficult to know the right words to ask the Lord to intervene. That was the beauty of prayer, though. God knew, even if he couldn’t articulate it well.

He drove up a small hill and caught a white marker on the side of the road. Some of the tension left his shoulders. Only two miles to the Netherlands. Celestia should be at their meeting point, seven miles past the border.

“We’re almost there.” His voice was hoarse from lack of use.

“Praise God!” One of the young women breathed the words out in a prayer.