“Sir? What do you mean? They’re heading to the British Embassy. It’s the most likely destination.”
“I know. And it’s a good thing.”
“I don’t understand. How can that be a good thing?”
Graf reached out and closed Richter’s eyes. “You forget I’m a history professor. The embassy may be a castle to them, but I know a thing or two about sieges. They’ll have to come out sooner or later. When our soldiers are marching down the avenues of Brussels, they’ll try and avoid capture. And when they do, we’ll be waiting. In the end, they’ll simply fall into our nets.”
CHAPTER 46
“What do you mean we have to leave today?” Lillian Saxton asked. “I thought we were safe here.”
She rubbed her eyes. Her body ached, partly from the exertions in escaping the Hotel Le Plaza and partly as a result of sleeping on the floor of the British Embassy. It was an office building without any proper sleeping facilities.
When they had arrived the previous night, they all ran inside the building. The car were parked haphazardly on the street in front of the embassy. The building encompassed an entire block. The structure was four stories tall, with windows all around. There was the front door, now barred at night, and a back door on the opposite street.
Lillian found herself surprised when she noted so few people in the embassy. Arnold, chief security officer, told them most of the personnel had already evacuated. A skeleton crew remained, but they showed all the signs of impending flight.
Arnold turned out also to be in charge of the embassy itself. He told Lillian, Henry, James, and Elsa to make themselves as comfortable as possible and get some sleep. He posted sentries on all four corners of the building and lookouts on the ground floor and roof. That wasn’t just to keep an eye out for Graf, but also to make sure no enemy agents tried to storm the embassy.
James and Elsa found a spare office in the center of the building and secluded themselves from everyone else. Lillian knew they had lots to talk about, starting with James’s decision and how it affected the two of them. More than once, she heard their raised voices arguing. They quieted down soon, however. The last thing he heard from the room was soft crying.
It wasn’t as though Lillian couldn’t appreciate their predicament. She’d faced it herself when she won a scholarship to go to college as far away from San Diego as possible. She was happy to leave all that she knew in favor of something—anything—better. Elsa now faced a similar situation, albeit one that was forced on her by her husband and not of her own choosing. Lillian wondered what she would do were she in Elsa’s shoes. Would Lillian acquiesce and go with her husband even though he had made a decision without consulting her? The independent streak Lillian had developed in the years since Paris made her realize the answer would be no. Back in Paris, the answer would have been an unequivocal yes. If James had wanted to take her to Antarctica, she would have gladly left that very day.
Sitting by herself in the embassy less than an hour after they had arrived, Lillian visibly sagged in relief and exhaustion.
Henry approached and offered her a glass of water. “They don’t have much else. The ambassador took his stash of whiskey with him when he left.” Lillian took the water and offered a meek toast. They both drank.
“Thanks for taking out that shooter on the seventh floor,” Henry said. They sat in office chairs in a vacated office on the east side of the building. The blinds were open and starlight streaked inside.
“You’re welcome.” Lillian placed the cool glass on her forehead. “I have such a splitting headache. Any aspirin around here?”
“I’ll go find out.” Henry left the room. He returned five minutes later. He dropped a small package in her lap. “Aspirin powder.” He held up a bottle and grinned. “And gin. Found it in one of the desks. If I were evacuating, I’d certainly take my gin with me.”
Lillian chuckled. “Think I’ll mix the powder in gin.” She poured the powder in her water glass, stirred, then gulped the water down. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she held out her glass. “Now, for the gin chaser.”
Henry poured some gin in her glass and into his. He toasted. They both drank. The gin burned as it snaked down Lillian’s throat. She thought, considering the evening and the narrow escape from death, that gin was the best she’d ever tasted. The warmth of the liquor almost immediately soothed her. She started to relax. She savored the gin, finishing what Henry had poured.
Told there were no beds in the embassy, she wondered how she might sleep. After the gin, she didn’t think she’d have a problem sleeping on the floor. Turned out, she was correct.
The only problem she now had was waking up. The bright spring sun glared in her eyes when Henry opened the curtains and told her they’d have to leave today. She repeated her question.
“Because of the speed of the invasion,” Henry answered. “The Nazis are faster than we expected. They’re already at Louvain.”
Lillian pulled an image of a Belgian map in her mind. Louvain was only thirty kilometers from Brussels. “Oh my.”
“That’s one reaction. Another might be panic.”
“Panic? We can still get out, right?”
“That’s the thing we’re about to find out.”
Lillian put her shoes back on and stood. She swayed for a moment. How much did I drink last night.
Henry reached out a hand and steadied her.
“Hangover after only one drink?” He grinned at the joke.
“And the adrenaline crash.” Lillian shook his arm away. “I’m fine. What’s the situation?”
“We have to leave today. Preferably as soon as possible. Arnold says he knows the guy who runs the trains. They’re running late and full. We can hop on the last one out of town if we hurry.”
Lillian tried to process what she had just heard. “Only one train out of town?”
Henry nodded. “No trains leaving going east or south. The Nazis are already there. That only leaves Antwerp to the north. Not much to go to out west. Almost everyone is going to Antwerp, trying to catch a boat off the Continent. I think that’s our best option. The Royal Navy’s got the Channel tied up. We get on a boat, we’re home free.”
Lillian nodded. “Sounds like a plan.” She peered outside. “What time is it?”
“Ten.”
“Ten? I slept that long?”
Henry shrugged. “I closed the curtains. Made it darker in here.” He grinned. “It also made it easy to wake you.”
“Where’d you sleep?”
“Next room. I gave you some privacy. Of course, I heard your snoring through the wall.” He winked.
Lillian playfully punched his shoulder. “Shut up.” She again marveled at his ability to bring lightness to dire situations. “You tell James yet?”
“They’re already awake.”
“Really? You let me sleep past them?”
“They’re just the assets. We’re the ones to protect them. They don’t need as much sleep as you do.”
“I’ve had enough. Let’s get moving.”
“Hold on.” Henry actually raised a palm at her. “We need to call London. Let them know what’s going on, what we plan to do. It’s protocol.”
Lillian frowned. “It’s protocol always to call in? What about on the fly decisions?”
“They’re made on the fly,” Henry conceded. “But that’s not the situation we find ourselves in. We have a moment to breathe.”
“I thought you said we need to leave today. Why not now?”
“Because we don’t have plans yet. We’re calling London. They may want to talk to you. Be ready. There’s coffee and some food down the hall.”
He turned and left but stopped. “Oh,” he said, reaching over to a table. “This is yours.” He picked up a holstered pistol and handed it to her. The leather belt and holster also housed two additional clips.
Lillian took the belt and strapped it on. She withdrew the pistol and put a round in the chamber. “Thank
s.”
Satisfied, he turned and went to make the call.
Lillian hefted the pistol in her hand, weighing it. She wanted to let her mind and hand and arm feel what it was like to hold that particular weapon. Her preferred gun had been lost at the hotel. She was grateful to be armed again. She shifted the gun from hand to hand. Finally, she holstered it and moved around the interior of the embassy looking for the kitchen.
The embassy itself was nearly in shambles. In peacetime, she imagined this office environment to be refined and stoic. Now, in war, it showed the wear and tear of improvisation and desperation. Drawers in desks were pulled out, emptied, and left open. Many of the desks had their office supplies scattered. Book shelves that lined one wall had lost many of their books. There was an odd smell, too. She couldn’t place it. Strangely, it got stronger as she got closer to where the food was.
The little kitchen wasn’t a real kitchen, but another office, albeit one with a sink and a refrigerator. The smell was strong. It was rotting food. Lillian wondered what had spoiled and why someone didn’t just take out the trash.
A man stood at the sink, washing something. Lillian came into the kitchen and went for the percolator on the stove. She grabbed a cup and poured herself a cup of coffee. She looked around for a lump of sugar. Finding none, she sipped the hot brew. It was bitter but good.
Then she noticed who the person was: James Geiger.
It was the first time she’d actually been alone with him since they had met again. A thousand questions flooded through her mind. She settled on, “Would you like some coffee?”
James turned when she spoke. The running water had drowned out her approach. Their eyes met. He turned off the water and placed the coffee cup he held on the counter. He picked up a towel and dried his hands. “No, I’ve already had some. There aren’t enough cups to go around so I was washing mine for Elsa.” He half smiled. “But thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” Lillian enjoyed holding the cup because it hid her shaking hands.
“Hey, and thanks for all you did last night.” James shook his head in admiration. “You have certainly changed since our time at the university.”
Lillian shrugged. She was proud of her proficiency in martial arts, espionage, and handling weapons. She enjoyed the thrill of the chase. She could do with a little less of the daring escapes, but, deep down, she knew there was a part of her that thrived on that kind of action. Idly, she asked herself if he knew his decision to break up was what had led to how she was. From a certain point of view, he was the one who had made her.
“Yeah, well, I kind of had to.”
He frowned. “What are you trying to say?”
Lillian sipped her coffee. “You know, after Paris, after Frank and his ill-timed question, I had to do something. I wandered around a while until I found my way. I guess in some respects I have to thank you for that.”
“Thank me for that? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
She put some sternness in her voice. “It means exactly what I say it means. After you broke us up in Paris, I had to figure out something to do.”
“I broke us up? I think it was actually you that broke us up.”
“How do you figure that? You are the one who insisted on staying in Germany. I didn’t want to stay in Germany.”
James broke into a wide grin. “Exactly. You didn’t want to stay in Germany. That means you are the one who broke us up.”
Lillian set the cup down. She took a step closer to him, getting into his face. “I don’t see it that way. I don’t think you realize how much Paris broke me. I was in complete shambles when you sprang your choice on me. I had no way to prepare. It didn’t help matters that Frank posed his question. Can you believe he actually proposed to me mere hours after you and I broke up? No, James, you are the one that broke me in Paris.” She spread out her hands. “Actually, I sometimes wanted to thank you and these past six years. I found that I’m a pretty good Army soldier, and I like what I do. Do you like what you do?” She play-acted, putting a finger to her chin and rubbing it in thought. “What do you do exactly? Besides lying to bring me here all the way from America? And getting Frank killed in the process?”
James cut the air with his hand. “Listen, I had no idea that anything was going to happen.”
“Of course you didn’t. This isn’t your realm. It’s mine, and I know the dangers. You sent Frank into this mission not knowing how dangerous it actually was. That’s what got him killed. That’s what you have to live with.”
He looked down at the floor. “I know,” he whispered. “It’s something I’ll be living with the rest of my life.”
Lillian picked up her coffee cup again. The brew tasted even more bitter than before. She still drank it.
James looked up at her and met her eyes. In a soft voice, he said, “I don’t think you realize how much Paris broke me. There’s a part of me that’s still there. Still there willing you to say yes to my proposal. I so wanted you to say yes. I so wanted you and me to live together for the rest of our lives. Why’d you have to say no?”
The word stung Lillian, but she hoped her outward appearance didn’t betray her. She didn’t want James to know how much it hurt, even now, to look at him, much less to look at him with his wife.
“I didn’t want to live in Germany,” she said. “I could see what kind of country it was becoming. I didn’t like it. I wondered what you saw in it. I thought about it, and realized that if you saw something in Germany that you liked, we could never be together. So I had to say no.”
James inhaled deeply, and sighed. “Just imagine if you had said yes.”
“Just imagine if you hadn’t insisted that Germany be our home.”
From the door came a shuffling sound. Lillian and James both looked over and saw Elsa standing in the doorway. From the corner of her eye, Lillian noted that James blushed. He cleared his throat, and then excused himself to go down to the men’s room. That left Elsa and Lillian standing alone in the kitchen, contemplating each other.
“Coffee?” Lillian asked.
Elsa brushed by her. She picked up the cup James had washed and poured coffee into it. She didn’t even bother looking for cream or sugar. She sipped the near-scalding liquid and didn’t flinch. She regarded Lillian over the coffee cup.
“I’ve known about you for as long as I’ve known James.” Elsa spoke these words in such a declarative way that it came across as fact. The statement took Lillian aback. Elsa noticed. “That’s right. Those many years ago—six, wasn’t it?—you broke my husband’s heart. You refused to stay with him after giving every indication you would.” She cocked her head. “Why was that?”
Lillian drank some coffee. Ever since she had laid eyes on Elsa, Lillian had wondered about her. The trained army sergeant in her sized up Mrs. Geiger in a glance: tall, lithe, blonde, strikingly beautiful with an aristocratic air about her. Even now, when Lillian wore clothes that showed evidence of last night’s action, Elsa Geiger looked little the worse for wear. Seeing her looking like that and having the German woman question her made Lillian more than a little peeved. “He caught me off guard by his plan.”
“Much like he caught me off guard with this foolhardy adventure we now find ourselves in. I might even have it worse. People are shooting at us.” She scoffed and flippantly waved her hand at Lillian. “Well, let’s be honest: they’re shooting at you. I know Colonel Graf…”
“So do I,” Lillian cut in. “He was my professor while at the university for a semester in Berlin.”
Elsa mocked being impressed. “Oh, so he was your professor. I bet you really got to know him. Was that during office hours or after hours?”
Lillian tightened her jaw. “As a professor. I was with James at the time. And I would never do something like that.”
“I suppose not. I know Colonel Graf as a military strategist. He was specifically brought into the Wehrmacht because he thought differently from others. He’s had some adjustment to deal w
ith, but his mind is quite sharp. I highly doubt we will leave Brussels without manacles around our wrists. No, around your wrists. Or you might just die in the streets with a bullet in your brain.”
Lillian had had enough. She slammed the cup onto the counter, sloshing the dark liquid on the surface. “Listen here.” She could barely hold back her growing rage. “I have a job to do. And since your husband lied to me regarding the codebook, I now have to get him and you to England. If I thought he would talk without you, I’d leave you here in Europe where you can slink back to Berlin and be cheerleader for der Führer. But I can’t. He wants you with him, although I can’t see what he sees in you.”
“He sees a woman who loves him, a woman who is having his baby, and a woman who will do anything for him.” Elsa arched an eyebrow at Lillian. “More than you ever offered.”
The impulse to punch Elsa in the face was so strong it took all of Lillian’s willpower not to strike. Instead she breathed, clamping her lips together so no inappropriate words would come out.
“While I’ve got your attention,” Elsa continued, “I wanted you to know one thing: we love each other. We’re devoted to each other. Make no mistake. I could walk over there, pick up that phone, and call Berlin right now. I could talk with my father and tell him the situation. James and I could be back in Berlin before you get to England. And my husband would come with me. He might not want to, but he would. He would apologize and beg forgiveness and my father would accept it. James, of course, wouldn’t have as high a stature as he did before, but we’d live our lives and raise our children. When the Wehrmacht came to fetch us, they’d probably kill you and everyone else here.” She sipped her coffee and smiled over the rim. “All it would take is a phone call.” She let the threat hang in the air.
Lillian narrowed her eyes, then bolted across the room. She picked up the phone and yanked the cord out of the wall. Throwing it down, she gave Elsa a satisfied look.
Embassy staffers, hearing the sound, came running, Henry and Arnold among them. Lillian pointed an accusing finger at Elsa. “Make sure she does not get near a phone. This Nazi just threatened to call the Wehrmacht on us.”
Ulterior Objectives: A Lillian Saxton Thriller Page 24