Page 102 of Winter's End
“All right, stop, Evi. Do not force it,” Zoe said. “At least until the soreness eases.”
She reached behind her into a supply cabinet for the precious stock of antibiotics Pieter had been able to procure.
“I will inject an antibiotic to ward off infection. That much I can do – and I cannot cast it, but I can fashion a better sling. You must try to keep the arm immobile until you can see a medical doctor.”
Evi sat still for the injection, and watched as Zoe created a functioning sling from a roll of surgical bandage. Then she slid off the table.
“Wait,” Zoe said, looking Evi straight in the eye and taking her by the elbow of her good arm. “Evi…I don’t know how to thank you for what you did tonight…”
Evi shook her head. “I did it for Mam.”
Zoe felt tears spring to her eyes. “I know. But my father owes his life to you…”
Evi managed a half-smile. “I would do it again,” she said. “Two more Nazis dead…”
“But your arm –”
“It is only a flesh wound. You said so yourself. It is nothing. It will heal.”
Zoe sighed. I think so,ja.But you should see a proper doctor.”
“I will,” Evi promised. “But now, I need to get back to the farm. Jacob and the Beekhofs will be worried.”
Zoe helped her on with her coat, helped her hoist the battered book bag over her good shoulder. “You cannot ride a bicycle with your arm in a sling. I will walk with you.”
But Evi shook her head. “No need, Zoe. I will be fine. Just comb my hair into braids in the event I am stopped at a German check point – and pull my cap down low.”
Zoe did as she was asked, combing Evi’s hair into two thick braids, fastening them with lengths of surgical twine and pulling the blue knit cap with their cheerful yellow butterflies nearly down to Evi’s eyebrows.
“There,” she said, stepping back. “You look notably younger. Are you sure you do not want me to walk with you?”
Evi shook her head again. “Thank you for taking such good care of me, Zoe. I will be fine. I promise.”
Zoe sighed, watching from the doorway as Evi began her trek. When she was well out of sight, she closed and locked the door and went to the telephone at her desk.
She found a connection, and dialed. The telephone at her parents’ home in Enschede rang and rang and rang. Zoe hung up.Lieve godthey were safely on their way to Tante Inge’s…
She closed her eyes. She knew she should sleep. But her heart was with Kurt and Gerritt and the others in the basement of the hospital in Heemstede.
MILA
Mila left the home of Klaus Jaansen and his wife before seven in the morning, on a sturdy bicycle of unknown origin, with two apples, half a loaf of bread, and a pair of binoculars in her shoulder bag, and a hand-drawn map she had already committed to memory.
There was not a great deal to memorize, she reflected. The route was flat, as was the town of Diemen itself, situated as it was on the south bank of the River Diem and surrounded by patchy wooded areas. But she set out in the bitter morning, chilled even in her heavy coat, withher scarf wound tightly about her face and filled with a grim determination to find Pieter and finish off police captain Reimar de Boer with or without his help.
Where was Pieter, she asked herself for the hundredth time, pedaling into the gray morning. She could close her eyes and see his brilliant green eyes, the shape of his jaw, the calm intelligence in his face. He was somewhere nearby, she could feel that he was, intent on avenging Daan’s fate by eliminating the German collaborator.
But where? How? And was she any more prepared than he to finish what he had started?
The bag was heavy on her left shoulder, weighed down by the Luger she had owned since her father had presented it to her in the year she turned sixteen. She had not seen a German checkpoint since she left Amsterdam, and she prayed she did not see one – but if she did, she was prepared to capitalize on her association withObersturmfuhrerFranz Becker…
...
De Boer’s home was an ordinary box on the corner of a street lined with ordinary boxes. It was set amid a mix of low brush and fir trees bordering on woods, and there was nothing to distinguish it except the two uniformed police officers standing sentry in front of it.
Only two?
Mila pedaled past the house with little more than a glance, turned a corner and pedaled past the rear, surprised to find no guard standing sentry.
