The Life That I Have

Chapter 21

It was two months later, and the Maquis were planning to blow up a power station. Denise was fully recovered, so Anya was free to play her part in their plan.

  First, they would have to cut the telephone wires, in case the Germans suspected something and tried to call for reinforcements. Then, they would cut through the wire fence while someone was distracting the guard, and someone would sneak in and place a bomb in the generator.

  Dominique would be leading the team which consisted of Anya, Alex and another man called Pierre. Anya would be distracting the guards while Dominique would be dealing with the telephones and Alex would be cutting the fence. Pierre would be ready and waiting in the getaway car.

  There was an excited buzz in the air as the group drove off late that Friday evening.

  Pierre pulled up around the corner from the station.

  "Anya, when you hear a so-called owl hooting, run around the corner and do your stuff," Alex told her. "Now, have you decided what you're going to do?"

  "Yes, I know. Now go!"

  Dominique and Alexander stepped out and climbed gingerly into the ditch at the side of the road, and began to crawl on their hands and knees towards the station. It was completely dark now; almost midnight. The only light was the blue glow emanating from the moon.

  Anya waited patiently until she heard the ring of an owl hooting. If she didn't know it was Alex, she would have thought it was a real bird!

  She suddenly began to run, pretending to be terrified, towards the camp.  Alex's timing had been perfect– the guard was in exactly the right place.

  "Oh, please, please, you've got to help me!" she sobbed frantically, throwing herself at the guard.

  "What is the matted Fräulein?" he asked anxiously, totally distracted from his duties.

  "Someone is trying to kill me!" she whispered dramatically.

  "Kill you?"

  "Yes! I woke up in my room, you see, my mother is away visiting relatives so I was all alone! Anyway, I woke and saw him silhouetted outside my window! He looked at me, then smashed the window!"

  Anya staggered around a bit, causing the guard to catch her.

  "He– he tried to strangle me!" she screeched.

While this was happening, Dominique had climbed the telephone pole like a monkey, and with her free hand had cut through the wire with a pair of small (but strong) pliers.

  That done, she tossed the pliers down to Alex who began cutting a gap through the ugly barbed wire while Dominique dropped silently down to the ground. Finishing his act, Alex repeated his owl noise.

  Anya, on hearing this, gave a violent stagger, and dropped (painfully) to the ground.

  "Fräulein!" The guard cried, concerned.

  "I'll be alright. Can you get me a drink?" The guard reached into his pocket and retrieved a water bottle. Damn!

  "I mean a real drink. Brandy. Do you have any Brandy?" she said, and the guard spontaneously ran towards the power station.

  The moment he was out of sight, Anya ran back down the road and hurled herself unto the car, making Pierre jump.

  "How did it go?" he asked excitedly.                         

  "What an obliging man!" Anya exclaimed, thinking of the guard.

Dominique and Alex dodged around the corner of the concrete building, just in time to avoid the passing guard.

  "That was close!" he whispered.

  "Shhh." Dominique held her hand up to him, gesturing him to be quiet.

  They crept around until they saw the door of the main power room, recognizable by it's heavy security.

  Silently, Dominique reached into her pocket and retrieved a small brown bottle, which she opened and quickly smothered in cotton wool. 

  She tiptoed up behind the soldiers and as quick as a flash, Dominique waved the cotton wool under his nose, and without a sound, the guard fell heavily to the ground.

  "What is that stuff?" Alex asked in amazement.

  "Powerful. Let's go." She reached down and took the ring of keys from the soldier's belt.

  The door had three locks, and it took Dominique quite some suspenseful minutes to unlock it. When she had finally done so, they crept into the dark room which was filled with an unnatural buzz and hum. After closing the door behind them, Alex lit his flashlight.

 "Have you got the bomb?"

  Dominique didn't answer, just took a large, ugly looking device from her pocket, a long fuse from the other.

  "We'll have approximately three minutes to get away before it goes off," Dominique told Alex.

  "So we just make a run for it?"

  Dominique nodded.

  They paused, and looked at each other.

  "Ready?"

  "Ready."

  Alex stuck a match and lit the fuse.

  "Let's go!"

  They sprinted out of the room and across the tarmac in full view to all.

  "HEY!" they heard someone shout behind them, but they didn't stop, not even when the gunshots started whizzing past them.

  When at last they reached the car, they hurled themselves into the back seat.

  "Go, go, go!" Dominique screamed and the car flew forward with a lurch.

  Suddenly, there was a deafening explosion from behind them, and the whole sky lit up. Dominique and Alex shook hands solemnly.