Posted As Missing

Chapter Thirty-Three

David stood and adjusted the pistol case on his belt. "Stay here, relax and think. I'm going to make a reconnaissance of the area to find out if we're alone up here. I might be gone half an hour, don't worry. We need to be thorough."

He picked his way through the trees, over and around large blocks of rock. Looks like a granitic intrusion, he thought, running his mind back to his geology lectures at the Alpine Club camps.

Surrounding softer rock has eroded and left it exposed and proud. Wonderfully frost shattered through the ages. Amazing the power of freezing water.

Several good camp possibilities intrigued him as he explored along the crest of the rib, pausing often to listen. He found no sign of anyone having been in the area, no broken twigs, nothing discarded. Then he rounded the shoulder of the rib and saw the valley spread out below about five hundred feet down.

A hundred and fifty metres. I need to use metric; Maria doesn't understand the British system.

Carefully making his way down to the top of a huge block, he moved to its edge.

This must be the lookout Mama talked about.

He reclined on the warm granite near its lip and looked down. He saw the top of the continuation of the rib all the way down to the line of trees beside the road and railway. He saw the small slough was still covered with a tangle of bushes. He saw the small river, he saw Switzerland, he saw the jagged horizon of the Alps. The problem was, he couldn't see Fritz.

I wonder where they are. Surely they must be guarding this place, it's far too easy to cross. Deserters, men avoiding conscription, escaped prisoners and refugees heading out, spies and saboteurs going both ways.

He looked at the edge of a town in the valley and unfolded his map.

Eggingen appears to be a fair-sized place, probably a thousand or more people and only three hundred metres from the border. They likely have a force based there. Those soldiers who stopped us.

With his finger, he traced the Swiss border on the map and stopped at a place named Erzingen.

This town looks much bigger than Eggingen, and it's also directly beside the border and only five kilometres along. Would Fritz be based there?

He looked across the valley at the low hills on the other side, but he couldn't see Erzingen. Hidden on the other side of the ridge.

Maybe that's where the Germans are based in this area. Maybe not; there's no rail line to it on the map.

He rolled onto his back and stared at the sky while he tried to clear his mind.

Utterly stupid, David. Endangering Maria and Rachel. Should have thought of that. So stupid of me.

He let his mind wander through possibilities of how to proceed.

Don't have enough information. Don't know where Fritz is. Don't know what he's doing.

After listening for sounds, he rolled over to his belly and watched for movement below for several more minutes. There were occasional automobiles on the road, a horse and waggon, a few people walking, but there was nothing he could identify as military activity.

Tough to see detail. Long shadows this time of day.

Rolling onto his back again, he let out a deep sigh.

So strange. Don't want to leave her, even though I know I must. Never before felt this... This attraction. This attachment. Love, I guess. I've told her I love her. Rachel said women enjoy hearing that. I wonder if I mean it.