Page 62 of Hearts of Resistance
‘I’ll set the explosives,’ Sophia said. ‘We have two hand grenades and I need you each to have one, in case you have to throw it. We have a short delay, approximately ten minutes, so it will give us just enough time to get out of there. We don’t want any longer, though, in case it’s discovered.’
‘Or we’re discovered,’ Hazel muttered.
‘Exactly,’ Sophia said.
‘Let’s have something to eat and get on our way, then,’ Rose said. ‘It’ll be dark in a few hours or less.’
They sat quietly and took the food Rose passed them, and Sophia thought how amusing it was to have a bag containing grenades and food sitting so casually beside them.
A couple of hours later they walked confidently across the field. They’d surveyed the railway bridge, and there was no doubt it was dangerous. But night was starting to fall and if they were going to do it, they needed to act fast.
‘The biggest problem, aside from those bastards, is that we could end up being caught in an explosion by one of our own,’ Sophia muttered. ‘Who knows how many local fighters have mobilised?’
They’d decided to walk as far as they could without trying to hide. That way, they could try to talk themselves out of trouble and pretend they were lost and not doing anything wrong. Sophia had suggested the plan, and even though she was the first to admit it wasn’t her best idea, it was the only one that got them close to the railway line without doing anything suspicious.
‘If we can’t get to the bridge, can we blow up the line on this side of it?’ Hazel asked. ‘We’re surely better to blow up something than nothing at all?’
Sophia agreed. ‘Yes. We’ll decide once we’re there.’
They all stayed quiet as they continued their approach, and Sophia almost jumped out of her skin when an explosion echoed out, a dark cloud rising in the far distance.
‘Run!’ Sophia ordered, holding tight to her bag and moving as fast as she could. Rose and Hazel kept up her pace, one on each side of her, and as they neared the train line they heard dogs barking, the noise carrying to them on the wind. Another cell must have blown up something nearby! It was the only explanation. There had been no planes droning overhead, and now they had even less time to set their plan in motion.
‘I don’t think we have long,’ Rose panted beside her. ‘They’re going to be everywhere soon. The patrols will be—’
‘Let’s just do it here,’ Sophia said, knowing that being cautious was better than being dead, even though she hated not making it all the way to the bridge. She slowed down, tried to catch her breath and glanced back at the others. Hazel was walking with one hand on her hip, clearly winded, and Sophia knew how heavy her radio equipment must be to haul around like that.
‘You’re certain?’ Rose asked.
Sophia nodded and looked down the line, not seeing anyone. The bridge was too far away – they would never have made it without being seen – and here at least she had a moment to think and place her lines carefully.
She didn’t need to ask Rose or Hazel to cover her, because they were already in place. The moment she dropped to her knees beside the line they were on either side of her, and she looked up to see Rose pass Hazel a grenade. She set to work, still hearing dogs on the wind, their just-audible yips sending shivers through her. It was her greatest fear, a dog being set on her, and she knew from what the Germans had done to Jews in Berlin that their dogs didn’t hesitate to rip a person to pieces as they screamed and begged for mercy.
She worked quickly, instinctively knowing what to do, her mind quiet as she focused on laying the wires and preparing her explosion site. Once she was done she reached into her bag for one of the pencil detonators they had luckily received in the last drop. She crushed the end of the copper tube with the heel of her boot and checked she’d broken the glass vial, then moved on to the inspection hole to check it was unobstructed. Then she carefully inserted the end of the pencil into the explosives.
‘We need to go!’ Rose hissed. ‘I can hear a rumble, there’s something coming.’
Sophia ignored her and checked her work, ran through everything in her head, closed her eyes and felt the temperature around her. It wasn’t cold, which meant the timer should be accurate for ten minutes; it usually only went off later if it was freezing.
‘There’s someone coming. I can hear...’
‘Move!’ Hazel ordered, her voice deeper than usual, her hand on the back of Sophia’s jacket and yanking her up. ‘We need to get out of here and fast.’
She stood and squinted, looking down the line. There was company on its way, that was for sure. Sophia packed away her remaining equipment and grinned down at her handiwork, before following behind Hazel as she set the pace. They walked quickly, heads ducked, chins tucked down as if they were cold and trying to use their jackets’ collars for warmth.
But the rumble was fast approaching now, the unmistakable sound of trucks or tankers or something – not a train because the noise was all wrong – and Sophia made the mistake of looking behind them.
‘Incoming!’ she hissed. ‘Head for the trees!’
They started to run then, and as darkness started to fall around them Sophia prayed that time was passing more quickly than it seemed to be. How many minutes had gone by? When the bomb went off they’d at least have a head start because of the disruption it would cause.
The yells of men told her they’d been seen, and she was smart enough to know that they were within plain sight, that with everything going on they would be seen as traitors the moment they were spotted running. But what else were they supposed to do?
‘We’re not going to make it,’ Hazel cried. ‘I need to break my radio up, I can’t have them taking it!’
‘Stop it!’ Sophia yelled at her. ‘Just keep moving!’
‘She’s right, we need to—’
