Page 76 of Shadows In Paris
Lizzie’s heart felt like it would beat out of her body, it was strumming so fast as she watched the exchange. Hannah looked calm, and Lizzie was relieved she didn’t have to do anything but stand there like a dutiful sister.
Hannah had murdered a high-ranking Nazi and here she was, acting as cool as a cucumber. The expression was one her mother used, and it was perfect for this nail-biting situation.
Lizzie glanced around to see if they had any chance ofmaking a run for it if needed, but there were groups of soldiers nearby. They were stopping people and asking for their papers in every direction. Lizzie breathed a little easier when she saw they weren’t the only ones being questioned. Perhaps it wasn’t as bad as it seemed.
‘And what about you?’ The soldier turned his attention to Lizzie, whose heart pounded as his eyes fixed on hers.
‘My brother gave you my papers,’ Lizzie said, surprised to hear the statement glide out so effortlessly.
‘Why don’t you share the same family name?’ The soldier kept his hard stare on Lizzie as he quizzed her.
‘I’m a married woman, as you see from the papers. My brother bears my maiden name.’
The soldier nodded to himself and passed the documents back to them both.
Lizzie allowed herself to breathe again. Had they passed the checks and were free to leave now? She daren’t ask and give the soldier any ideas.
‘If you see this woman in the poster, what will you do?’ he asked.
Hannah replied in her gruff male voice. ‘We will report her whereabouts to you. Is there anything else, sergeant? We’re in a rush to get home to our sick mother.’
‘Did you serve in the French army?’ His voice was controlled and vaguely threatening.
Hannah pointed to her spectacles. ‘I wasn’t conscripted. My sight is very poor.’
The soldier appraised Hannah, his grey eyes cold. Then, after what seemed the longest time, he stood aside and indicated for them to pass. ‘You’d better hurry. We’re locking down the city in our search for the murderer.’
‘Who was murdered?’ Hannah asked, as if she had all the time in the world.
‘You don’t need to know that. Let’s just say they killed thewrong man. He was the son of a close friend of Herr Himmler, and we have orders to arrest that woman and take her straight to Avenue Foch.’
When they were alone, Lizzie exhaled slowly, her breath ragged and heart still thumping manically. ‘I thought I was going to faint from sheer terror!’
‘Me too,’ Hannah said.
‘You’re only trying to make me feel better. You were so composed. I’ve never seen anything like it!’
‘Remember, I grew up with his type in Berlin. Probably went to school with a bastard like that.’
‘Thank God, he believed you,’ Lizzie said, still awed by Hannah’s impersonation of a man.
‘It’s not over yet. We’ve got a long way to go. If he’s right and they’re locking down the city, we need to get out now.’
‘Where is Raven?’
‘I know the location. We met there a couple of times on operations before the war. It’s snowing again, and it’s too far to travel by bicycle. We’d better grab a car.’
‘A car?’ Lizzie asked, her head spinning. At moments like this, she saw how much she still had to learn about surviving behind enemy lines.
They cycled along the riverbank until Hannah slowed and signalled for Lizzie to do the same. ‘Let’s leave the bicycles here,’ she said, and they propped them against a fence where they were partially hidden by a bush. ‘Hopefully we won’t need them again, but you never know.’
Lizzie pulled her coat around her, shivering in the freezing morning mist. ‘What a gloomy day,’ she said.
‘It might work to our advantage. They’re combing the streets for blonde women and in this mist, it’ll be tricky to spot them. That should slow their damn search down and, in a few hours, we’ll be gone.’
‘How do we get a car?’ Lizzie asked.
Hannah pointed with her chin. ‘See that milk truck?’
