The staffers looked at each other, brows furrowed.
James rushed into the room. He looked at the anger in Lillian’s eyes and the self-satisfied grin on Elsa’s face. Lillian jabbed a finger into James’s chest. “You make sure to keep a leash on your wife. If she steps out of line again or threatens this mission, we will leave her behind.”
Hurrying over to Elsa, James turned. “Then you’ll get nothing from me, and Frank will have died in vain.”
“Frank already died in vain because of your stupid lying!”
Henry put a soothing hand on Lillian’s shoulder. She viciously shrugged it off and stormed out of the room. She wanted to get as far away as possible before the tears streaked down her cheeks.
***
Henry Clark looked at the departing Lillian Saxton. For a moment, he didn’t know what to do. He had only known the fiery American sergeant for less than a week, but he had a pretty good handle on how she viewed military and mission matters. He had begun to get a sense of her on the Channel crossing. It was reinforced during their captivity in the hotel and the long hours before their escape. They had talked about life and the events that had landed them there, together, in a hotel room in Brussels. He knew she wouldn’t stop this mission until it was over, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t right about something.
He turned to one of the embassy staffers who carried a side arm. “Follow the sergeant’s orders.” He eyed the Geigers. “Keep watch on both of them until we leave.”
James Geiger took offense. “We are not prisoners. We are defectors.”
“Exactly. And I’m an official representative of His Majesty’s government. I am willing to get you both to England where you can divulge all your secrets. But, until then, am I not obligated to treat you as enemy spies? What if this is all just a trick?”
Geiger gave him a look that told Henry he was being preposterous. “For what purpose? To capture or kill a handful of British agents and an American? The Wehrmacht is practically at the doorstep of Brussels. If we don’t move soon, we’ll all get swept up in the invasion.”
“I’m fully aware of the situation.” Henry walked to the counter and, with a towel, wiped up the mess Saxton had made. “We have a plan. We leave today. In the meantime, however, the two of you are confined to this room since the sergeant took great pains and, dare I say it, pleasure in removing any source of communication from this room.” He grinned.
“I will not accept that,” Geiger said.
“You don’t have a choice.”
***
Gunter Graf sat in the Hotel Le Plaza and dreaded the call he had to make. Wilhelm was right: he needed to report to General Siegfried. Despite all the calm assurance he had showed to his adjutant, Graf knew he was on the precipice of failure. He had lost two members of his team. His prisoners had escaped. They now had additional resources at the British Embassy while he had fewer.
Graf sat in contemplation, a finger idly rubbing his lips. A glass of brandy rested on the side table. What would they do? How would they get out?
He thought about all he knew about the British and they way they fought wars. They were rigid in their protocol. They followed orders. They liked order over chaos. Why was the embassy still open in the face of the Wehrmacht onslaught?
Because they wanted to keep everything normal until the last possible moment. If that was the case, they would likely seek an orderly way out. A normal way of escaping.
The proper British means of escape would be the thing that’s still running. Graf smiled.
The trains.
He had mentioned to Schmidt that they would lay siege to the embassy, but Graf had had time to ponder the question and rejected it. He only had four men, including himself, to use. Graf had to pass some standard gun-handling exams but he was far from an excellent marksman. Now that Richter was dead, Ursula was the best. Schmidt was good and Wilhelm could hold his own. That meant Graf was the weak link when it came to arms.
He wasn’t the weak link when it came to strategy.
The trains would be the most logical means of escape. The only thing Graf had to do was get on and the traitor Geiger and his new allies would be trapped.
With a lightness in his heart, Colonel Graf picked up the telephone to call his superior.
CHAPTER 47
The plan to evacuate the embassy was extraordinarily simple: buy a ticket and get on the train. Actually, Arnold said, they had a standing agreement with the engineers at the train station that embassy personnel didn’t need a ticket as long as they showed the proper identification.
“So we’re just going to ride the train out of Brussels?” Lillian asked for the third time. Henry had briefed her on the plan, yet she still struggled with its simplicity.
“Yes. It’s that simple.”
“Great. Now, tell me how we’re going to get there. Colonel Graf is still out there. He knows where we are.”
“He likely does,” Henry conceded. “But with no action against the embassy up to now, that likely means he’s working with a small team. A team that’s down two if you recall.”
“Yeah, I remember. It was only hours ago. What about the Geigers? They don’t have tickets and neither do we.”
“Arnold has it arranged.”
Lillian walked over to the window and looked out. From four stories up, if she looked directly out, everything looked peaceful. She could almost forget there was a war on. When she craned her eyes down to the crowded streets, she remembered where she was and what she was doing.
“I’ll still be much happier when we’re on the train.”
“I’ll be much happier when we step foot on British soil.” Henry stood. “Ready?”
She looked once again at the people down on the street. Somewhere, among them, Colonel Graf and his team waited for them. Would the Nazis hesitate and show mercy to the innocent civilians? Probably not, which was all the more reason Lillian wished she knew where Graf was.
“As I’ll ever be.”
“There going to be any issues with the Geigers?”
Lillian bit her lip. When she had stormed out of the kitchen, she managed to escape to a room far enough away from everyone where her sobbing couldn’t be heard. The cry cleansed her of the tension, the fatigue, and the memories. She emerged refreshed and rededicated to the mission. What happened once they got James and Elsa to Britain was another matter.
“Nope.”
She and Henry walked downstairs to the ground floor. Arnold and his men waited. James and Elsa waited with them. The two of them avoided eye contact with Lillian.
“Ready to give this a go?” Arnold asked.
“As rain,” Henry replied.
“Everyone remember our plan? My men head out first and secure the perimeter. Clark and the sergeant come next with the assets. If there’s trouble, the Geigers stay inside until the trouble is gone. Otherwise, we get to the train station and get the hell out of Brussels.”
The men nodded.
“Let’s go.”
Arnold, his men, Lillian, and Henry all drew their weapons. James and Elsa waited. Other than a few of the unarmed employees from the embassy, no one carried any luggage.
One of Arnold’s men opened the back door but didn’t go out. On a signal from Arnold, three men ran out and got behind each of the three cars parked along the street. They waited a few moments. When nothing happened, they climbed into the vehicles and started the engines.
Among Henry, Arnold, and Lillian, there had been some discussion about distribution of personnel. Henry wanted to separate James and Elsa, but Lillian vetoed the idea. “He won’t do it,” was all she said. It was agreed that the Geigers would be in the middle car in case the worst happened and the lead car was damaged.
On the count of three, everyone else ran out of the embassy. They all kept their heads down. Lillian led the way with James and Elsa close behind. They piled into the middle car and slammed the rear door shut. Henry climbed into the front seat next to the driver.
Nothing happened.
“I don’t like this,” Henry said.
“Me neither,” Lillian replied. “I’m feeling like we’re just walking into an ambush.”
James said, “You should have given me a gun.”
Without turning to him, Lillian said, “Your only job is to stay alive. It’s our job to protect you.” She tapped the driver’s shoulder.
The driver stuck his hand out the window and gave a circular motion. With that, all three drivers put their respective vehicles in gear and pulled out.
The closer they got to the edge of the embassy, the faster Lillian’s heart beat. If ever there was a position in which to attack, it was at the edge of the street.
Henry covered the side facing the embassy.
She covered the opposite side. “Get down,” she commanded the Geigers.
They complied.
All three cars burst through the intersection and took an immediate left. Tires screeched and people along the sidewalks turned and watched.
From somewhere along the roads, gunshots rang out. Lillian turned in her seat. The sounds came from behind them. The third car lurched on the road, losing control. No, the driver took evasive action. He was steering the car in an erratic way to avoid more gunshots.
Lillian wiped the perspiration on her forehead with her sleeve.
While the sidewalks were jammed with people, the streets were relatively empty of traffic. All three drivers poured on the gas and raced through the streets of Brussels down to the train station. They encountered no further action against them.
Instead of parking in front of the station, as planned, the three drivers parked in the rear. “It’s part of our agreement with the engineers that we can go through the back,” Arnold had said. As they approached the narrow alley behind the station, Lillian wondered if Graf had planned for this. They would be sitting ducks in here.
Nevertheless, everyone parked. Almost the instant the cars came to a halt, the doors were flung open and the occupants escaped and lined up against the side of the station. With nervous looks among Arnold’s men, they all made their way around the back corner and to a door. Arnold holstered his gun and knocked. A moment later, the door opened and a gun pointed in his face.
“We’re from the British Embassy,” Arnold said, hands up, palms out.
The pistol disappeared. “Come on,” a man said in French.
The door opened all the way and everyone went inside. It turned out to be a service hallway with unpainted cement walls. The man who had opened the door signaled the new arrivals to follow him. They did. At the end of the hall, he used a key and unlocked another door. When it opened, Lillian was aghast at what she saw.
***
They were inside the station, but on the service side. No platforms existed where they stood. On the far side, where the passengers normally boarded, throngs of people waited to get on the trains. Some had luggage, others held children in their arms. All had the look of desperation in their eyes.
“This way,” said the man who had unlocked the door. “You get on the last car.”
They trundled along the side of the station. Debris and trashed skittered along with the breeze. The smell of diesel and exhaust filled the air.
Lillian sidled up to their guide and spoke to him in French. “Will all those people be able to get out?”
“Probably not,” he replied. “But we’ll keep the trains running until the Nazis get here.”
Lillian looked at the people. Women, children, the young, the old, husbands, wives. Those on the platform who caught sight of the small band watched as Lillian and her party skirted the lines and went to the trains unencumbered. A sense of shame washed over her. Why should she have it free and clear when so many had to stay behind, potentially never to get out before the Wehrmacht swept through the city?
But then she looked behind her and caught sight of James and Elsa. That was why she was here. Lillian needed to stifle her personal feelings and move forward. She noted a smugness in Elsa’s face. This must have been the type of special privilege the German was used to. The thought turned Lillian’s stomach.
Their guide reached the lead passenger car and whistled. Another man responded and opened a side door just next to the bellows that connected the first and second car. Everyone climbed aboard and found seats. A number of passengers were already seated and the embassy group had to split up. The embassy personnel and some of Arnold’s men went forward while Lillian, Henry, Arnold, and the Geigers moved to the second car. All the seats faced the front. The Geigers sat in one bench seat. Arnold took a spot ahead of them while Lillian and Henry took the seat directly behind them.
They waited. Upon a signal, the doors opened in all the train cars and the people on the platforms stormed forward. Lillian watched in horror as people pushed and shoved to get closer and get inside for a chance of freedom and escape. Her heart went out to everyone outside the trains.
Not able to resist herself, Lillian leaned over the seat. “That’s the kind of desperation your Führer makes,” she said to Elsa and James.
Henry pulled her back before either Geiger could respond. “You don’t have to antagonize them.”
“Why not? I just wanted to point out that all those people are in that state because of the Nazis.”
“Everyone knows what’s at stake. Now, keep your eyes peeled. Just because our friend Graf didn’t get to us outside the embassy doesn’t mean he won’t try here.”
“How?” Lillian blurted. She gestured outside. “How could he and his team possibly get through that?”
Henry shrugged. “Just keep watch.”
Fifteen minutes passed by. More and more people flooded into the train. In the car behind theirs, Lillian noted the stevedores were allowing people to stand in the aisles two and three deep. In their carriage, however, fewer people were allowed. In fact, a stevedore stood guard at each of the doors that led into their car. She couldn’t stand it. Lillian got up and strode over to one of the guards. “Why aren’t you letting people in?”
“This is first class.” The man spoke the words like he was commenting on the color of the sky.
“There’s room for people to stand in here.”
“No, madam. Not in this car.”
She put her hand to the holstered gun. “I could make you.”
With level evenness, the stevedore said, “And I could throw you off this train.”
The next moment, Henry stood beside her. “Let it go.”
Lillian gazed out the window at the people who could not get on the train. “I can’t.”
“You will.” Henry placed a hand on her shoulder. He guided her back to their seat. “You have a job to do. It’s only those two people you should care about.”
“What about them?” She gestured toward the people on the platform. “Don’t you care about them?”
“In war, we have to make choices. Our choice was made for us when we took this mission. All other things fall by the wayside.”
The whistle sounded. The character of the throng outside changed. Desperation set in. There was more shoving and pushing. A few people fell to the ground from the platform. Belgian police and military struggled to keep the crowd at bay.
With a lurch, the train began to move. It pulled out slowly.
Lillian turned away from the platform and stared out the window on the service side. It was a good thing she did.
At the end of the tracks, right before the train left the station, she saw something and gasped.
Henry turned. “What is it?”
Lillian pointed.
Four bodies lay strewn in a haphazard line. All had bullet holes in their heads. Each body wore only undergarments.
“I can think of only one reason those people are dead and hidden from sight,” Henry murmured.
“Yeah,” Lillian replied. “It means Graf and his team are on this train.”
CHAPTER 48
Colonel Gunter Graf experienced a momen
t of hesitation when he told his remaining team members of the new plan to infiltrate the train. It wasn’t that the plan was wrong. In fact, it proved to be quite easy. It was the details. Namely, the need to get on the train without being detected. In order to accomplish that, he realized they needed to blend in, and what better way to blend in than with the clothing and accouterments of railway workers?
He charged them with that task. They had returned, in a surprisingly short amount of time, to the building across the street from the train station. Schmidt, Lange, and even Ursula wore uniforms of the railway. They handed a folded wad of clothes to Graf.
“Dare I ask how you obtained these uniforms?”
Ursula shrugged. “The men who wore them refused to hand over their clothes. Now, they no longer need any.”
The nonchalance of the statement and the action behind it still chilled Graf’s spine as he sat in the lead passenger car. The train was moving now, building up speed through Brussels. The clickety-clack of the wheels had already started to mesmerize him. He was tired. He had a headache likely caused by drinking too much and eating food of a caliber far inferior to his wife’s cooking. He was looking to putting an end to this mission and returning to Berlin a vindicated man. Siegfried could shove his doubts up his ass for all Graf cared. He would have proven himself in the field, leading a team. With that kind of clout, Graf assumed he could parlay any additional assignments in the field to someone else.
The last call he had made was to Siegfried. The general had informed the colonel that the Wehrmacht was on the move near Antwerp. It was likely that the German Army would sweep through the port city before the train from Brussels could arrive. In effect, Siegfried had told Graf, the last train that left the free city of Brussels would arrive in Nazi-controlled Antwerp.
Which meant to Graf only one thing: get on the train, make sure the Geigers are on the train, and lead them into the trap.
Ulterior Objectives: A Lillian Saxton Thriller Page 25
