Page 71 of Valor (Long Hot Summer: Christian Romantic Suspense #2)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Northern Moravia, 1942

Fred stared at his cousin. “An order?”

“We may not wear uniforms like the Germans, but we have a chain of command. You, dear cousin, just landed at the bottom rank, so eat. I need you to be able to hike 30km tomorrow without crying.” Mark playfully shoved Fred’s shoulder.

“Where are we going?”

“Need to know. Remember?”

“Come on; you want me to trust you blindly?”

Mark looked at him, his eyes reflecting the low flames. “East.”

“But that’s Slovakia. They joined the Nazis.”

“The government did. Not the people.”

Fred bit into the chunk of bread. It tasted so familiar.”

“Where did you get this?” He waved the crust in the air.

“Need to know. You got to learn that.”

“Who am I going to tell here?” Fred motioned with his arm, encompassing the vast darkness of the cavern.

“Here? No one, but if we get caught, you might squeal like a little piglet as soon as Fritz?—”

“Stop treating me like a child. I’m not scared of them.”

“You aren’t?”

“No,” Fred scoffed. “They are the scum of the earth, and I refuse to be scared of what they can do to me.”

“I’m not scared of that either. What I’m worried about is what they can do to my family if anyone finds out that I’m with the resistance. They picked up Karel’s mom and dad two weeks ago.”

Fred shot him a look. “What?”

“Maybe you should think about that.” His eyes bored into Fred’s. “Just think of what happened to Hedvika’s family.”

A wave of anger rose in Fred’s chest. “I will avenge them, so help me God.”

“Yeah, and to do that, you need to stay alive.”

Fred looked at the ground.

“You know that your father gave them up,” Mark said solemnly.

Fred bit his lip so hard blood trickled down his chin. “For that, he doesn’t deserve to live. Promise me, if I don’t make it back, you will take care of that.”

Mark stared at him.

Fred ripped another mouthful of the bread with his teeth. It tasted metallic as he chewed on it.

“What about your mother?”

“What about her?” Fred glared at him.

“How will she survive without him running the mill? Marta can’t help her.”

The mention of his sister felt like a stab in his chest. Thanks to Father, she was forced to be with that animal day and night. If she had a child with Fritz, how would he ever bring himself to care for his nephew or niece, knowing who their father was?

“Does Karel know?”

Mark nodded.

“How?”

“How do you think?”

Fred leaned closer to his cousin and asked in a hushed voice. “Where is he now?”

Mark gave him a hard stare.

“Need to know.” Fred kicked at the fire. “I get it.”

His cousin moved to the other side of the fire and settled on the makeshift bed.

“Get some sleep. We are leaving before sunrise,” Mark said, adding two small pieces of wood to the fire. “Use this.” He threw Fred a wool blanket. It gets cold once the fire goes out.”

“This is one of our horse blankets,” he looked at his cousin over the flames of the low fire. “Mother?”

Mark met his gaze.

Silence stretched between them. But a few moments later, Mark’s works echoed through the growing darkness. “She also baked the bread and packed enough food so we wouldn’t starve before we got to the camp. Now shut up and let me sleep.”