Page 80 of Hearts of Resistance
‘Stop!’ one of the men commanded.
She inhaled deeply, slowing and putting one foot down to stop and steady herself.
‘I’ll be back past again soon!’ she said in a sing-song voice. ‘Off to give these apples to my grandmother and check she’s all right. Would you all like one?’
She picked one out, then another, offering them and grinning when the two men took them. She kept eye contact, glancing away every now and again as if she were shy in their company.
‘Let her go,’ the closest man said. ‘Come see us on your way back.’ The knowing look he gave her made her want to retch.
She waved and pedalled off, terrified she would wobble and tip over. Her legs were already shaky, her balance terrible, and they’d been so close to seeing what was in her basket. The radio parts, the money, the codes...
Sophia gulped and kept going, not rushing, not wanting to alert them. She wasn’t even halfway yet, and she had to keep going.
Sophia had started to slow. She’d been going for hours. How many, she had no idea, but she’d been cycling all day and her movements were getting sluggish. She had recognised the house, a small, nondescript cottage that was set well back from the road, and she was heading towards it, so close to collapsing but refusing to give in.
She neared, wobbling as she put one foot down and then dropped the bicycle and staggered off, her remaining apples careening from the basket and leaving her satchel to fall on to the grass beside them. Sophia stumbled as she tried to reach for it, her legs seizing and crying out to her to lie down.
‘Stop!’
She looked up and into the eyes of a man she’d never seen before. His gaze was menacing, reminding her instantly of the Gestapo, but he was wearing plain clothes and she knew she was at the right place.
‘We were ambushed,’ she croaked out, desperately in need of water. ‘I have what I could save. I need...’
‘What’s the password?’ he demanded, pulling out a knife and grabbing her by the hair, yanking her up.
She flapped her hands, clawed at his grasp, but when the cool blade of the knife pressed to her throat, she stopped moving.
‘I don’t know the password!’ she insisted. ‘But I have been here before. They used to call me the fox.’ Please not thepasswordgame again!
He laughed. ‘Try again.’
She heard someone, knew at least one other person had joined them outside, but she couldn’t look over her shoulder to see.
She inhaled, let her body go slack, remembered her training. These men were tough and strong, good fighters and prepared to do anything, but they hadn’t received the dedicated training that she had in London. They were often too quick to act, and not fast enough to listen first.
Sophia breathed deep again, feeling the blade, feeling his hands on her, knowing instinctively that his grip with one hand wasn’t solid. She spun then, using one hand to smack the knife away and the other to push him. She took him by surprise and jumped back once she’d got away, touching her neck, knowing he’d nicked her with the blade.
‘Don’t ever do that to me again,’ she spat out. ‘I’ve travelled all day on that wretched bike to get here, and I have an urgent message, not to mention a radio and money for you.’
Her would-be captor glared back at her, eyes narrowed. He would have been handsome if he hadn’t been looking like he wanted to kill her. She let herself glance around then, saw there were in fact two more men outside and more in the small house looking out.
‘How can we trust you?’ one of the other men asked, arms folded across his chest.
‘You can trust me when I show you this,’ she said, opening the satchel so he could see inside and then throwing it to him. He caught it easily. ‘That’s all the money from the chateau and something to start building a radio with if you don’t already have one. I’m the only one left. The others were either already gone, killed when we were ambushed or...’ She swallowed, her mouth dry. ‘Taken. My friend Hazel was taken.’
‘Wait,Hazel?’ The man straightened, his face changing from harsh to warm. He gave her an odd kind of half-smile. ‘My sister, Rose, was working with an old friend of ours named Hazel.’
Sophia could have cried. ‘Sebastian?’ she asked quietly. ‘You’re Rose’s brother.’
He nodded. ‘Where is she? Is she safe?’
Sophia shook her head. ‘I’m so sorry. She didn’t return from her last job, and Hazel was taken last night. I’m the only one left.’
Sebastian nodded, holding his hand out. She clasped it, his palm warm against hers as he shook her hand. There was suddenly so much left unsaid between them, and there was nothing she could say to reassure him as she broke their connection. His face was gaunt, his eyes pained as he stared back at her, but a noise from behind made her turn. It was Pierre. She’d thought he was dead from what they’d been told upon arrival at the chateau, but clearly he’d simply moved on.
‘Pierre?’ She smiled when he walked towards her with open arms.
‘Little fox, come here,’ he said affectionately.
