The Fragile Hour Read online

  Together they returned to the living-room. It was simply furnished, but although there was a comfortable looking sofa with cushions, they both took chairs at a round dining table as if, by unspoken consent, they wanted to be ready for the discussion to come.

  “Please tell me about Nils Olsen,” she implored, unable to hold back any longer. “How does he manage to keep on good terms with the Germans and work for the Resistance at the same time?”

  “He’s not the only one. The majority of our country’s police force do the same thing. They obey German orders, but tip off local people if there’s to be a raid for any reason. Nils organises food and other supplies for the Germans. It enables him to travel freely throughout the country and gather valuable information at the same time.”

  “He’s taking a great risk!”

  “No more than you’re doing by being here now,” Karl remarked drily. “How long have you known him?”

  She had flushed, resenting the comparison, because her role would always be a minor one. “I was eight when we first met, but it seems like forever.” She had no intention of sharing any of her memories of Nils with him. Taking a sip of coffee, she made an involuntary grimace. “This ersatz coffee really is dreadful.”

  “I’m afraid that you’ll have to get used to it. There’ll be no other kind unless Reichskommissar Terboven ever invites you to dine.”

  Her eyes danced. “Wouldn’t that be an achievement! Think of the German secrets I could discover! I’d be another Mata Hari.”

  He shook his head, his smile becoming serious. “No. I wouldn’t want you to suffer her fate.”

  She shrugged ruefully. “I’d forgotten for the moment how she ended up. But even if she’d known, I don’t suppose it would have made any difference.” With a shiver she cupped her hand around the hot cup and sipped her coffee again. “I suppose all that happened when we were at sea was my initiation.”

  “In a way, I think it was. Two kinds of life-threatening danger and also tragedy in a relatively short span of time.” He paused. “I’m afraid there’ll be more of the same for you to face in the time ahead.”

  “I’m prepared for that. All I hope is that I’ll never fail anybody.”

  “I believe there’s little likelihood of that. Otherwise I wouldn’t have endorsed Major Andersen’s decision to recruit you.”

  She looked at him quizzically. “So you were in on that too, were you? I felt your gimlet gaze boring into me.”

  He threw back his head on a surprised laugh. “Did I appear that fierce?”

  She thought to herself that he was fierce most of the time, although he obviously did not realise it. Maybe she would be the same when she had been working in the Resistance for as long as he.

  There was so much more she wanted to know, but at that point Lars returned with two men in business suits, aged about thirty. Karl knew them well already and they were introduced to Anna as Gunnar and Olay.

  They all sat down at the table and a map was unfolded and spread out, the target and lookout point ringed. Anna studied it carefully. The act of sabotage was planned for two nights ahead. Although the others had not expected her they welcomed her presence since she would take Gunnar’s place. The destruction of the factory was vitally important; for the Germans had a great need of the ball-bearings being manufactured there.

  It became clear to Anna as every tiny detail was discussed that this plan had been formed some time ago and Karl had been in on it from the start. She could tell that nothing was ever hastily undertaken, except in an emergency, for the enemy’s strength and alertness must never be underestimated.

  Everybody relaxed as the map was finally folded away again. Anna could see that there was no boyish excitement in any of the men, only a steely resolve to hit hard in this latest strike against the enemy.

  Gunnar and Olav left soon afterwards, after declining Anna’s offer to share Eva’s package of food, for they had to return to their office. She laid the table, Lars helping her, and when the three of them had eaten, there was still plenty left. Carefully she packed it up again after leaving some for Lars.

  Outside again Karl and Anna went to another part of the Bergen and booked into two single rooms in a guest house. They had reverted to the roles they had adopted earlier that day of being Leif and Eva’s nephew and his fiancée.

  “There’s a curfew in this district at nine o’clock,” the owner warned as they signed the register in turn.

  “We’ll be in before then,” Karl said.

  They were early to bed, having had only a few hours sleep the night before and almost none on board the Noreg. After switching off the light, Anna drew back the black-out curtains and looked out. It was snowing again. Large flakes were floating lazily down. Already it was gently muffling the thumping boots of a patrol passing by in the street below.

  Chapter Five

  In the early hours of the morning there was an air raid warning. It had stopped snowing and searchlights were playing across the sky. Anna and Karl went downstairs with the other guests to the cellar, everyone wearing dressing-gowns or coats over their night clothes. But there was no anti-aircraft fire and the all-clear soon sounded. Anna fell back into bed and slept again almost at once.

  In the morning she was dressed and almost ready when Karl came to her room to take her down to breakfast. He found her standing in front of a mirror as she gave her hair a firm brushing, making it swing softly, thread-like strands shining in the glow of a pink-shaded lamp. She gave him a glance with one of her quick sun-burst smiles.

  “Do you think the alarm last night was caused by a British plane dropping one of our people somewhere in the mountains?”

  Karl was leaning a shoulder against the wall as he watched her. He was intensely aware of the intimacy of being in her room with the unmade bed as if they might both have risen from it. All too often he found himself dwelling on the sheer physical beauty of her. Yet he still found it impossible to banish entirely the smouldering anger he had felt when she had first entered the London office and he had looked fully on her for the first time.

  All his senses had been thrown and he bitterly resented it. Resistance work and emotional relationships did not mix as he knew from experience. He had no intention of becoming involved again.

  “Maybe bad weather took the British plane slightly off course on what we call a collection run,” he said.

  “Whatever is that?” Anna put down her brush and gave her hair a final pat as she turned to him. Her eyes, full of interest, were as bright as a mountain morning.

  Karl straightened up, his reverie over. “Although the Swedes are neutral they ask no questions at a small airport within their borders where a British plane collects or delivers our people or, sometimes, an urgent package. It’s not generally known and we like to keep it that way. When I’ve taken the controls on that route it’s always because I’ve had an important message to deliver to London’s SOE that I couldn’t entrust to anyone else.”

  Mentally Anna stored the information away. Perhaps it would be important for her to know of it one day in the future.

  After breakfast they went their separate ways for a while, arranging to meet later. Karl was going to Lars’s flat in order to double-check some equipment needed for the following night’s sortie, leaving Anna to go for a walk. She would have liked to stroll leisurely as she went along Tyskebryggen, for the ancient merchant houses with their steeply pitched roofs and mellow paintwork encouraged the eye to linger, but on no account could she look as if she were sightseeing. Instead she had to keep her pace brisk and purposeful.

  After going as far as St Maria’s Church where she had once attended a service with Aunt Rosa, she turned back to the centre of town. She soon found the public library where she settled down with a book on the origins of skiing in Norway in pre-historic times. She had read no more than a chapter when Karl took the chair next to her.

  “There’s been a change of plan,” he said in a low voice. “Let’s go.”
/>   They emerged from the library just as a commotion broke out. A middle-aged man had been sighted wearing a paper-clip in his lapel, a Norwegian invention that, although forbidden by the Germans, people wore as a symbol of unity. An irate soldier had snatched it away, only to discover too late that a razor blade had been concealed behind it. As he yelled with pain, his sliced finger dripping, the man turned away and lost himself quickly among other pedestrians.

  Karl hurried Anna away, for other soldiers had come running to their comrade’s assistance. “That trick has been played for a couple of years now, but the Germans never learn,” he said grimly.

  When they reached a park, he brushed the snow off a seat and they sat down together. Some children were building a snowman a little distance away, but otherwise they were on their own.

  “What’s happened, Karl?” Anna was impatient to know.

  He rested an arm along the back of the seat behind her. “Nils Olsen sent an urgent message to Lars earlier today. The German guard was trebled on the factory last night and that it is to be maintained. A vulnerable part of the building is now covered. It means that weeks of planning have come to nothing, but I’ve worked out an alternative way. I’m going in alone tonight.”

  The colour drained from her face. She was appalled by his decision. “You can’t go on your own! I’ll come with you! Just tell me what will be different about this sortie!”

  “Your coming is out of the question.” His tone was implacable.

  She was undeterred. “It was going to be dangerous enough with four of us closely co-operating, but on your own you wouldn’t have a chance!”

  He gave her a hard look that told her bluntly that he did not want any more expressions of her concern. “For God’s sake, listen to me, Anna! Other arrangements have been made for you.”

  Anna bit back a retaliatory retort, recalling the old saying that Norwegians were as resolute as their mountains. She had enough Norsk blood in her veins to match him in that, but she was here to carry out whatever task she was given. “What are my new instructions?”

  “A report has come in on the movements of a certain German battleship. The information has to be delivered promptly and you’ll be the courier.”

  “Where shall I be going?” Anna was unaware that she was sitting stiffly, her back straight as a wand. She only knew that Karl’s determination to sabotage the factory on his own had filled her with fear for his safety.

  “To Alesund. It’s in the territory you know best and that’s helpful. It’s unlikely that you’ll meet anyone you know, considering you told me once that you only went there on day trips. Nevertheless, you’ll still have to be careful wherever you go in that district.”

  “I will. Is the information to be conveyed by word of mouth?”

  “No, it’s written in code.”

  “Do I return to Bergen afterwards?”

  He shook his head. “You’ll stay in that area until you’re instructed to go elsewhere.”

  “Do you have the coded message on you now?”

  “No. For safety’s sake, Lars will pass it to me later today after dark. It will be folded very small and easy to conceal.”

  “My leather shoes have heels designed for that purpose.”

  He nodded. “I’ll give you one of the work permits that will show that you have a legitimate reason for travelling. In Alesund you’ll go to the Ryan Hotel and ask for Fru Sande, who is a widow and owns the place. Her husband was an artist and drank himself to death years ago. The hotel will be full of Germans, but don’t be put off by that. Greta Sande is a go-between for a Resistance group, some of whom I know, and she’ll get the message to them without delay.”

  “What happens to it then?”

  “It will be sent on to the SOE in London by way of the Shetland Bus. You’ll stay on at the hotel in some minor capacity, establishing yourself, and it is from there you’ll carry out future assignments for the time being.” Karl paused, choosing the moment to break something else to her. “If you should go to Molde, don’t expect to see it as it was the last time you were there.”

  Anna realised what he was about to tell her and quickly reassured him. “It’s all right, Karl. I know that it was badly bombed and burnt to the ground at the time of the invasion. I read about it in the London newspapers.”

  “Well, as long as you know. I didn’t want it to come as a shock to you, because the rebuilding that’s been done doesn’t match up to how the Town of Roses was in the past.”

  She smiled slowly. “I haven’t heard Molde called that since I was there, but that’s exactly what it was. It was thoughtful of you to try to warn me of the change.”

  “It should be some consolation that your family home on the outskirts escaped damage and is intact.”

  Her face lit up. “How do you know?”

  He was pleased to have brought such radiance into her face. “It happens that the county of Romsdal is as familiar to me as it is to you and I was in Molde only a few months ago. My grandparents had a house on the opposite side of the fjord.”

  “Oh, where?” she asked eagerly.

  “Not far from Vestnes. It lies on a slope with a grand view across the fjord and was a place for holidays, but it’s closed up now. When we get back to our rooms at the guesthouse, I’ll draw a map to show where it’s located. Then if ever you need a bolt-hole in an emergency you can lie low there for a while.”

  “Thank you for the offer,” she said gratefully, “but, if I needed a place to hide anywhere near Molde, I could go to my own family home.” She patted the fish-skin handbag that lay on the bench beside her. “I have the key to it with me all the time.”

  “Ah.” Karl regretted having to spoil her pleasure, but he knew that the moment had come. “I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a while before you can use that key again. I’m sorry to tell you that the house has been requisitioned by the Germans as an officers’ mess.”

  Anna stared at him almost in disbelief before white-hot fury exploded within her. “How dare they!” In her outrage she clenched her fists and thumped them on her knees. “My God! That lovely, peaceful house! Their jackboots clumping about in it! And their hateful swastika on the flag-pole in the flower garden!”

  Although nobody was passing along the path, he cautioned her, but not impatiently as he had done the previous day. “I know how it is, but take it easy.” Leaning forward, he closed his arm about her shoulders. “Calm down, Anna.”

  She breathed deeply for a minute or two, struggling with her emotions and shaking her head furiously as if to deny what she had learnt. Gradually her hands relaxed in her lap and her eyes were dark and troubled as she met his gaze again.

  “I’ve no moral right to be upset about a house when many far worse things are taking place every day. It was selfish and thoughtless of me. But I’ve felt a terrible, frustrated rage at every sight and sound of the Occupation since I’ve landed. It’s a violation and rape of everything I’ve loved and respected all my life.”

  He was understanding. “It did you good to let off steam. Don’t worry about it. We’ve all gone through that pent-up rage, but it has to be brought under control. It’s only by keeping our heads that we can defeat the enemy in the end.”

  “You’re right,” she agreed harshly, “and I’ll never let rip like that again. It just makes me wish more than ever that I could go with you tonight and be really active against those Nazis!”

  She has spoken with such vehemence that he raised an eyebrow. “You know that subject is closed.”

  “How shall I know afterwards if you’re safe?” she appealed.

  “You’ll hear if I’m successful. That’s what counts.”

  Anna felt rebuffed, even though he took her hand in his as they left the park on their way to buy her a passage on the coastal steamer going north. On the way to the ticket office they were stopped twice by soldiers for their papers to be checked.

  “Don’t they ever stop bothering people?” Anna commented pithily after th
e second time. She was in no mood to be hassled even in a minor way.

  “No, Anna. Just remind yourself that it won’t be forever, no matter how much Hitler boasts that the Third Reich will last for a thousand years.”

  She grinned savagely. “That’s a good tip. Each time I’m stopped I’ll think to myself that it’s one inspection less.”

  Just afterwards they were stopped for a third time. As they walked on she caught his eye. “Yes, I crossed that one off, Karl. I suppose there’s a few thousand more to come.”

  He laughed, pressing her hand encouragingly. “You’ll get through.”

  She hoped he was right.

  At the ticket-office the clerk had only one berth left for a female passenger on the evening’s sailing. It meant sharing a cabin with three other women, but Anna was pleased to get it.

  As she put the ticket in her handbag Karl suggested they go to a cinema to while away some of the time before she went on board. The programme included a newsreel showing German successes on the Eastern Front with scores of Russian prisoners being rounded up. There were also shots of Hitler welcoming Mussolini on a visit and Luftwaffe pilots smiling for the cameras as they returned from a raid on London. After a cartoon Anna turned to speak to Karl and saw he was fast asleep. Since she knew he would be awake all night and probably on the run from the enemy for most of it, she did not disturb him. He did not wake until the last romantic clinch of the main film.

  “Sorry about that,” he said with a grin as they emerged into the darkness of evening.

  “It didn’t matter. It was good for you to have a rest. Let’s find somewhere to eat. I’m hungry.”

  They went into a restaurant on a second floor that overlooked the marketplace. When seated they surrendered the necessary ration coupons required for a meal as they had done previously. This time Anna also handed over the two unpeeled raw potatoes that Eva had thoughtfully included, separately wrapped, in the food packet. With such a shortage of the potato crop left for Norwegian consumption, it was only by handing over raw potatoes that it was possible to have cooked ones served in a café or restaurant.