The Life That I Have

Chapter 25

Laurent received mocking calls as he stumbled and almost dropped the heavy crate of food he was carrying.

  He swore silently under his breath at the guards. He hated suppling food to the prison where his fellow frenchmen were held for defying the invaders. But then, principles didn't pay the bills. His dark brown eyes flashed around the camp. One day, his knowledge of the geography and security of the prison might come in handy...

If Rudi had known what was waiting for him at the farm, he wouldn't have been in such a hurry to get there.  But, as he didn't know, he was walking up the long and narrow drive early the next morning.

  When he reached the farmyard, he found it was deserted. A little thrown, he went over cautiously to the small lime-washed cottage.

  "Hello?" he called, a little nervously.

  On receiving no response, he walked into the living room, and before he knew it, he heard the sound of many guns being cocked, and a triumphant voice saying:

  "Reporting for duty, Gefreiter Hein?"

  Rudi snapped his head to where the sentence came from. There, standing, gloating over his new catch was General von Fredrichs.

  "I must admit I didn't suspect this," the General said. "I was expecting some small-fry from the Maquis, or maybe even that girl you were with at the dance. Not just some filthy deserter."

  Rudi's first instincts were to bluff.

  "What girl?" he asked, unconvincingly.

  "Don't play games with me, Hein."

  Rudi shivered, but tried to remain cool.

  "Anyway, I'm not a deserter. I'm a defector. There's a difference. I thought you would know that."

  A sharp slap took Rudi by surprise, and he gasped as the pain seared through his cheek.

  "Take that insolent tone out of your voice. And don't try to fool me. The more you do, the more you'll regret it... later."

At the castle, people in the know couldn't understand why Rudi hadn't returned. The anxiety was partly for Rudi himself, part for the precious cargo he carried.

  Anya contacted the bad habit of pacing, trying desperately to stop her wild imagination from giving her all sorts of terrible scenarios.

  Paul had managed to arrange a flight back to England for Anya. What if Rudi wasn't back by then? She might never know what happened to him.  It had been over a week now. It shouldn't have taken him that long!

  "I think we must assume something has happened to him," Dominique announced eventually.

  "But what are we going to do about it?" Paul asked.

  "Yes, if something's happened to Rudi, we have to help him," panic was creeping into Anya's voice.

  "I meant about the radio," Paul joked feebly.

  Anya glared at him.

  "Can't you be serious for once in you life?" she snapped.

  Dominique tried to soothe her, but all it did was to annoy Anya more.

  "Are you satisfied now?" she said, turning to Alexander.

  "Don't blame me!" he shouted back.

  "BE QUIET!" Dominique shouted at the top of her voice, causing instant silence.

  "Thank you. Now, I think the best idea is for someone to go to the farm and find out exactly what happened, or even if he ever got there," once again Dominique spoke wisely.