Page 72 of Hearts of Resistance
‘Hazel?’
She looked up, turning when there was a light knock at the door.
‘Hello,’ Hazel said, smiling at Sophia.
‘I’m heading out,’ she replied. ‘I wanted to see if you’d managed to confirm Harry’s passage?’
She grinned. ‘Fingers crossed. He should be on his way tonight if I manage to get the final confirmation.’
Sophia came forward, surprising her by putting her arms on her shoulders and then drawing her closer for a hug, dropping a kiss to the top of her head.
‘They say you’re the fastest they’ve ever seen at transmitting messages to London.’ Hazel laughed and hugged her back. It was awkward because she was still sitting, but she appreciated the affection. It still surprised her whenever Sophia was so kind, even after everything. But that day she’d killed the Nazi had changed something between them, even though neither of them had ever spoken about it again.
‘I’m lucky. Being a country mouse is definitely better than being a city one!’ She used their code terminology – radio operators were often called country or city mice depending on where they were transmitting from.
‘Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re good at your job. Better than good, you’re great.’ Sophia stepped back and Hazel felt a strange shiver pass through her.
‘You’re not leaving, are you?’ she asked, keeping her voice low in case anyone was listening to them. The way Sophia had come to her seemed strangely final in a way. She hoped there was nothing going on that she didn’t know about.
‘No, of course not. I just, well, I don’t know. I’m worried about Rose, I suppose, and I feel, oh, I don’t even know what I’m trying to say.’ Sophia’s brows were knitted close together, like she was trying to figure something out.
Hazel stood and hugged her again, holding her for longer, knowing how overwhelmed she’d felt at times and wanting to do anything she could to comfort Sophia. What they were doing, it was tough mentally, had made Hazel question so many things, but the one thing she’d never questioned was how dedicated Rose and Sophia were to the cause.
‘It’s like a little safe haven here, isn’t it?’ she said, finally letting go of Sophia.
‘It feels too safe. I don’t feel right about something, but I don’t know why.’ She let out a deep, audible breath. ‘I definitely want to leave when she gets back. The more I thought about what you said, about how we could be compromising our safety...’ Her words trailed off. ‘I just thought she’d be back by now. It’s making me jittery.’
Hazel knew what she meant. ‘Look, if they knew we were here, if there were teams out there tracking my signals? They’d have stormed the place by now. There’s no way they would let me send another message.’ She didn’t mention Rose because she shared all the same worries.
‘I know, you’re right. But I felt safe at our last place, too. I never would have thought anyone there would have betrayed us.’
Hazel patted Sophia’s shoulder before turning back to her radio. She hadn’t had any messages come through yet.
She listened to the door open and shut, and then Sophia’s footsteps slowly receding. Her stomach swirled, something unsettling her, but she pushed the feeling away and settled back down to work.
She put the headset to her ears and carefully sent her message by code. They had a delivery of arms scheduled to come in, and it was the best way to get Harry safely home, not to mention the other men. Certainly a whole lot better than having to smuggle him through a network of people to get him to Spain.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
ROSE
Rose sat alone. They had her in a room, a cell, and she had no idea how she’d got there. All she knew was that she was sitting on concrete, her back to a wall, and she was dripping wet. She’d only woken when they’d thrown a bucket of cold water over her as she’d been lying on the hard floor, the puddle of water spread around her. She was shivering, her entire body convulsing, but she’d done her best. She’d twirled her long hair up and managed to knot it in place, with a few pins that had still been hanging from her hair helping to keep it in place, so it wasn’t dripping down her back. But she’d decided to keep her clothes on instead of stripping off to dry. There was no point risking her clothes being taken if they weren’t on her body, because at least with them on she could dry out slowly and then stay warm. If she even lived that long.
Footsteps echoed out and she sat up straight, ready to look fear in the eye. They could scare her all they liked, but she wasn’t about to let them think they could get her to give anything away. Her only priority now was keeping her friends safe, and she would say nothing,nothing, to give their location or existence away. It would start to get dark again soon, she was certain of it, unless she’d been out for so long that she had lost an entire night.
‘Here she is,’ a man said in rough French, ‘our lovely new prisoner.’
She stared at the man as he walked into the cell, his smile verging on cruel. He was eating a slice of bread and she looked away from it. He was trying to tease her, trying to make her salivate so she’d beg him for food. Only he had no idea just how stubborn she could be.
‘You might be a fool, but you’re beautiful,’ he said, his accent thick. ‘We could still all have a lot of fun with you.’
Rose gulped but she defiantly stared back at him. Rape would be a fate far worse than death for her, but every Gestapo in the region could rape her and she still wouldn’t talk. Scream,yes. Cry,certainly. Vow to slaughter every last one of them?Until my dying breath.But she wouldnotlet them torture her into giving her secrets away.
‘Tell us who you work for,’ he said. ‘I want to know everything. We’ve already found the others, so you have nothing left worth hiding.’
She sat silently, her lips slightly parted, her breathing shallow. She didn’t believe him for a second. Who was he even pretending to have found?
‘We know where you came from and where you were going back to. It’s only a matter of time before we know everything.’
