Page 77 of Summer of Fire
Jack heard a noise and turned.
The second soldier held Julien at gunpoint.
‘Put down your weapons,’ he shouted, ‘or I kill him now.’
Jack’s voice was deathly calm. ‘Move towards us or you will die with him. The planes are about to blow, and you will blow with them. If you want to live, move toward me now.’
The soldier kept his rifle trained on Julien, and Jack and the others kept their guns pointed at the soldier.
‘Tick, tock, tick, tock,’ Jack said. ‘Move out of the field or you will die in a few minutes.’
The soldier pushed Julien forward roughly, clearly panicking at the threat of being blown to smithereens, but not sure if it was a bluff.
‘The others will be here soon, and it will all be over for you,’ he shouted with what sounded like false bravado.
Jack said, ‘You know as well as I that no one is coming for at least another hour. Put down your rifle and let him go, or I will have to shoot you.’
‘What if I shoot him first?’
‘Then we will all shoot you and you’ll die too.’
The soldier wavered but kept his gun close to Julien’s head.
‘Why not do the smart thing? There’s no one here to know. Let him go and that will be one less death on your conscience.’
‘But you’ll kill me anyway,’ the soldier said.
Jack fired the shot and hit the soldier’s forehead before he could say anything more. He stood there frozen in mid-air until Julien grabbed his rifle, which fired and hit the ground.
Julien was white and shaking. This was his first operation where he saw someone die in front of him.
‘The bombers are going to blow at any minute. We must get out of here. Run,’ Jack shouted.
‘Now!’ commanded Pierre.
They ran out of the base and back under cover of the trees on the opposite side of the road. The booms of the bomber engines were so loud, the earth shook beneath their feet. The sky lit up like a fireworks display.
‘That’s for Black Saturday,’ Jack said aloud.
They all knew what to do. Without another word, they went their separate ways as silently and swiftly as the undercover operators they were trained to be.
Jack reached a ditch where he’d hidden an old bicycle. Pulling it out from beneath the leaves and branches, he dusted it off quickly and set off for the farm. He cycled across country, avoiding the roads that would soon beblocked by Gendarmes and Gestapo as they drove to the site of the explosions.
As he rode, he didn’t think about the two soldiers he had executed. He thought only of Lizzie and whether she had made it safely out of the hotel.
If not, what would the general do with her when he heard what had happened?
CHAPTER 36
Lizzie passed the café where she had met the Resistance member on her first mission. How long ago it seemed now.
She entered the hotel lobby and said the general was expecting her. The French receptionist gave her a knowing look and Lizzie blushed, realising the woman must presume she was the Nazi’s mistress and a traitor by default.
Lizzie resisted the urge to say something.
What was there to say?
She followed the woman down the carpeted corridor until she opened a panelled door to reveal a luxurious private dining room. It was like stepping back in time to before the war.
