Page 58 of Whispers At Dawn
Lev lowered the rifle and something akin to a smile crossed his mouth. He was a serious man, and Lizzie noticed he rarely smiled or showed emotion. She wondered if he was so reservedbecause of the horrors he had witnessed in recent years, or if that was his nature.
They stood in a sun dappled spot beneath a patchy canopy of trees. Lev confirmed there were two airmen, and they were sleeping.
‘One of them is injured. I went home to get some medical stuff and patched him up as best I could, but he needs a doctor.’
‘What type of injury?’ Jack asked.
‘Gunshot wound. A farmer shot him after he disturbed them sleeping in his barn. They escaped, but he was hit. He’s been bleeding and is hot and delirious, so my guess is he has an infection.’
‘He will need proper treatment,’ Jack said. ‘We can’t take him to the hospital, or the authorities will be onto us in no time.’
‘They only had one safe house on the way, so they had to hide in fields or take a chance in someone’s barn for most of the journey.’
‘Let’s see what we can do about that for the next round. There must be more sympathetic farmers we can prevail upon, even if we must make it worth their while.’
Lev said, ‘I’ll speak to the others and see who we can contact.’
Lev and Lizzie stayed under the shelter of the trees, and she offered him a sandwich, which he accepted gratefully and devoured.
‘We brought food for the airmen,’ she said, passing the picnic basket to Lev.
‘Thank you. I don’t think the injured one will be able to eat, but the other is hungry. What’s the plan for taking them to the château?’
They spoke in whispers, constantly aware that even the trees might have ears. The summer winds snatched their words so they could barely hear each other. Lizzie told Lev what they had planned. He was to escort the airmen to a meeting point near thechâteau at an agreed time that night, and they would be there to meet them and smuggle them into the cellars.
‘He’s too badly hurt to walk alone, but I think we can manage his weight and pull him along between us.’
Jack reappeared and said to Lizzie, ‘They are both British. One’s from London and the other from Scotland. Lev’s right though, the Scot is in a bad way. I’ll have to speak to Luc about finding a doctor we can trust.’
They left as suddenly as they had come and slipped back into the grounds of the château with the picnic basket that Lev had emptied and returned to them.
They found Luc reading in the library.
After pondering briefly, glasses in hand, he said, ‘I have a good doctor in the village. I’ll get a message to him this afternoon and see if he will help us.’
‘Do you trust him?’ Jack asked.
Luc nodded. ‘I do. My only hesitation is that he may be under surveillance, or perhaps not even be living at home anymore.’
‘Why would that be?’ Lizzie asked, screwing up her forehead.
‘He’s a Jew,’ Luc said. ‘Like you heard when you were questioned by the policeman soon after you arrived, the Jews never quite know who is going to be under suspicion next. He’s been our family doctor for years, but he likely has had his licence revoked under the latest statutes.’
‘How awful,’ Lizzie said. ‘You’d think they’d want all the experienced doctors they could get in wartime.’
‘You would, but unfortunately prejudice has no logic, and the authorities here are hellbent on doing the Nazis’ bidding, which, as you pointed out, involves destroying Jewish livelihoods and driving them away until France is ‘cleansed’.
The ominous statement rang in the air like a death toll, and Lizzie immediately thought of Hannah and Lev. How longwould these brave souls keep risking their lives to get others out, instead of escaping themselves and getting to safety?
Lizzie was subdued as she sat in the shade of the orchard, trying to read a French novel after Jack had gone to inspect the cellars. They had agreed it was best not to attract attention by both going, so she had stayed behind, but her mind wouldn’t focus on the story, and she kept reading the same words over again, until she gave up and put the book down. She lay back on the blanket and closed her eyes, trying to rest, but her mind whirled with frantic thoughts.
What if the airmen were intercepted before they reached the château tonight? What if they were caught as they went to meet them? Lizzie knew there were informants all around, and just because they hadn’t met anyone on the way to the shack didn’t mean no one had watched Lev and the airmen make their way to the woods.
Lev had explained how he’d got them there. They were dressed in civilian clothes, so they blended in well enough, disguised as casual labourers. They had skirted around the city and the village and come the back way to the woods. The chances were they hadn’t been spotted, and they had seen no one.
The Free Zone was an eclectic mix of families, wounded veterans, Frenchmen trying to rebuild their lives after returning from the war, fleeing Jews, communists, and other races and minorities who weren’t welcome in Nazi-occupied Europe. Lev told her a lot were making plans to leave France before it was too late. Their contact had helped many escapees cross the Pyrenees during the past few months.
Lizzie enquired whether Lev had met the mysterious man in St. Girons. He said he hadn’t, but Marguerite had made arrangements for some of his friends to leave via that route.
