Page 66 of Winter’s End

Too puzzled now to stay well back, Evi hopped off the bicycle, left it lying in the brush, and threaded her way into the pines, just far enough back to keep Jacob in sight.

She saw him stop in the midst of a clearing – perhaps, she thought, the very clearing where the Resistance shooters had waited for Evi toshow up with the drunken Nazi. In the dim light of a sliver of moon, she saw him check his watch, look up at the sky, pull out a flashlight, and send a beam of light up into the darkness.

In the dead quiet, she heard a low thrum. Jacob again flashed a beam of light into the sky, and the thrumming sound came closer…an aircraft.

Behind her, in the same instant, she heard the back door of the tavern thrown open. She heard the hearty laughter of drunken soldiers bantering in their native German. She held still as the raucous laughter receded. She hoped the Germans were moving toward the roadway.

The noise above her deepened, and in the semi-darkness she saw a helicopter over Jacob’s head, rotors turning.

Looking up at the hovering aircraft, she saw the U.S. Air Force logo on its side.

Where were the German officers?Surely, they had heard the racket, too. Evi peered behind her, drawing back into the shadows.

“Amerikaner!”someone shouted as two of the Germans looked up at the whirling rotors and drew their pistols.

Evi could not see Jacob from where she stood, but she knew he was out there in the clearing, and as the helicopter hung overhead, and a rope ladder began to descend, she began to understand what was happening.Lieve god,how could she warn him?

Panicked, she threw her bookbag to the ground, rummaged inside for the Colt.

The Germans shot first, the sound exploding in her ears.Could they see Jacob in the clearing?

Hands shaking, she raised the pistol, held it with both hands to steady herself. Grateful for even the bit of moonlight, she peered through the sight, took aim at one of the Germans, and slowly squeezed the trigger.

Before the man could fall, his companion whipped around, trained his gun in her direction.

Sight. Aim. Trigger.Squeeze!This time, she watched the man fall.

Shaken, hardly daring to breathe, she heard the back door of the tavern slam open again. No doubt they had heard the commotion.

Scurrying backward on trembling legs, she huddled at the side of the tavern, then sank to the ground, hands still gripping the pistol. She could not see Jacob, but three or four men were rushing to the side of the fallen Germans.

The helicopter lifted, and began to retreat, the rope ladder swinging in the night sky, one of its rotors at an odd angle.

In the next instant, Jacob appeared seemingly out of nowhere, his own weapon raised.

“Jacob…” she managed, crouched low on the sodden earth.

Jacob squinted, strode toward her, disbelief on his face.

“Evi?”

He grabbed her by the arm and propelled her through the brush, back in the direction of the farmhouse.

“Evi,” he said again. “Where in the hell did you come from…?”

Now the tears came, fear and relief…

Godzijdank. He is alive…

ZOE

Zoe scraped the last of the yellow flesh from a small wedge of Gouda, a prize recovered from the train they had pillaged. She ate the cheese slowly, savoring every bite. Who knew when she would find such a treat again?

Tying her hair back with a length of old ribbon, she threw a dark scarf over it, tucked the scarf into her coat, and headed out into the cold.

Outside, she wavered briefly. If Lukas’s warning had been correct, the Dans Hal was in safe hands with Leela. She was less sure how Gerritt was faring with the Germans’ inquiries at the hospital.

It began to sleet, and she found herself slipping through the dirty slush that pooled at her feet. She ducked into the depot, hoping perhaps to catch a bus to the hospital, and counted herself lucky to find onebound forHeemstede. She climbed aboard, paid the fare, and settled into a seat near the back, the less to be noticed or engaged.