The City of Shadows (35 page)

‘He's still out.'

Someone else was approaching. Stefan was gathering his strength. As soon as he was upright he would have to use every bit of that strength.

‘Wake him up.'

His hand tightened on the tyre lever. He was ready to hit out. But the touch on his face was unexpectedly gentle. There was a scent he recognised.

‘Come on then sleepy head!'

He opened his eyes. In the torchlight, Hannah was smiling at him.

*

They were somewhere above the Free City, in the forests that climbed the hills overlooking Langfuhr and Oliva. There was a small clearing here, and an old hunting lodge. It was a single-storey building with some kennels and an enclosure of cast-iron railings at one side. Tiles had fallen from the roof; windows were broken; ivy crawled up the crumbling brickwork. But inside the lodge a fire burned in the grate and there was a basket of cut timber. Animal traps hung from the walls. There was an oak table in front of the fire. And there was a bottle of Machandel vodka on it. Hannah Rosen and Stefan Gillespie sat on a bench opposite one of the men who had pulled her off the street outside the Danziger Hof. An hour ago the same man had clamped a chloroform-soaked handkerchief over Stefan's face on the Speicherinsel. He was in his mid-twenties, thin, with fair, curling hair. He called himself Leon, here anyway. Two grey Weimaraner dogs stretched out in front of the fire.

The fact that Hugo Keller was in Danzig had surprised and shocked Hannah. She wanted explanations, but as Stefan gave them they only silenced her. She had achieved nothing. She had put her own life and the lives of others at risk, and she hadn't even got the truth out of Francis Byrne. She heard the words of the old man in the library again. He was right. She had almost delivered herself to the Gestapo, walking blindly into a situation she didn't understand, in a place she had no business to be. Stefan had been in a Gestapo cell because of her. He didn't tell her he was lucky he wasn't still there, but she knew it anyway. She thought about the boy he had brought with him to the synagogue in Adelaide Road, who talked about the tricycle in the window at Clery's. She had felt a lot in the last few days, anger, frustration, loneliness, shock, fear; now as she sat beside Stefan she felt sick inside. She needed to touch him, but she couldn't. She was glad he was there; she had wanted him there. But she was irritated by the number of people who had every right to make a list of her mistakes and throw it at her now.

Hugo Keller troubled Leon; the whole thing troubled him.

‘So you bump into this Keller, in the police station in Weidengasse, where you've just been interrogated by the Gestapo, about Hannah. He's a man you arrested in Dublin last year, who was spirited out of Ireland by influential friends, including some Irish policemen and the Nazi Gauleiter, Adolf Mahr. You find out he's working for the Gestapo in Danzig now, and he's blackmailing this priest, Byrne, at the cathedral. Then the two of you go out for a drink together.' He looked at Stefan hard. ‘Does that sound odd?'

‘It wasn't easy to say no to a drink. He'd just lied about knowing me. If he'd told them who I was they'd have taken me straight back to the cell.'

‘That's what doesn't fit. Why would he do that?'

‘He's a frightened man, I know that. He's been brought to Danzig because of Father Byrne, because he's the one who's got a hold over him. I don't know why the priest is so significant, but that's what it's about.'

Leon was silent, thinking through what Stefan had told him. It was beginning to make some kind of sense.

‘Generally everyone in Danzig's got a good idea who the informers are, but this man Keller's an outsider. I don't know him. I doubt anyone knows him. The priest isn't good news,' he reflected. ‘Not at all. There's not much opposition left in our Free City. Socialists, communists, liberals, Catholics, Jews, we've all been battered into silence over the last few years. We've got an election now, but don't let that fool you. The Nazis have probably held a thousand election rallies this year. Compare that with a dozen from the opposition, and most of those were broken up by the brown shirts and the police. Tomorrow they'll be outside every polling station. They already know who's going to vote against them. And you'll need guts to do it. Some of the only guts left are in Oliva Cathedral. I'm a Jew, Herr Gillespie. I haven't got much to thank the Catholic Church for, but while Edward O'Rourke is bishop of Danzig there's someone still standing up to the Nazis here, someone they can't just knock down. People trust him.'

Stefan nodded. It explained the relationship between Byrne and Keller. ‘Well, they might want to think twice about that with Father Byrne on the bishop's payroll.'

‘Not all the opposition is out in the open,' said Leon. ‘A list of everyone the bishop talks to would be worth a lot. Especially if the Nazis win this election big time. That's when the arrests will really start, on a scale we've never seen.'

Stefan remembered the sense of darkness he had felt earlier, knowing nothing about any of this. Keller was doing what he did best, but Stefan still felt there was something else, something more urgent than mere information. Hannah reached across and took his hand.

The two dogs suddenly leapt up, growling, and raced to the door. Leon stood and moved to the window. He could see nothing in the darkness, but the dogs had heard something. He pointed to another door, at the back of the room.

‘If I say go, walk out that way, into the woods, and keep walking.'

He opened the front door. The Weimaraners disappeared into the night, barking furiously. Leon followed them outside. Over the noise of the dogs Stefan and Hannah heard an engine. Stefan got up and went to the window. He could see white headlights through the trees. A pickup emerged into the clearing. The dogs bounded towards it. Leon turned away and walked back inside.

‘It's all right,' he smiled, relieved. ‘We'll be going soon.'

He poured a glass of vodka and drank it.

‘How long will it take?' asked Hannah.

‘It depends which way he goes.'

A man Hannah knew as Johannes walked in, smiling, wearing a student's cap. He had been the driver of the car outside the Danziger Hof. He had been the other man in the car that brought Stefan to the hunting lodge. He was younger than Leon, barely in his twenties. Where Leon was tense and nervous, Johannes was cheerful and relaxed. Behind him was an older man, bearded, dressed in green loden. He had a pipe between his teeth that had gone out some time before. The Weimaraners pattered beside him, sniffing at the leather bag over his shoulder. He clicked his fingers at the dogs. They went back to the fire and curled up in front of it. Leon's expression had changed as the man walked in. It wasn't who he expected.

‘Who's this, Johannes?'

The older man smiled, taking out a box of matches to relight his pipe.

‘How's it going?'

‘Peter's broken his leg,' explained Johannes. ‘This is Karl. He's a friend of Peter's. It's fine. He knows the forests backwards.'

‘I'm sorry, Karl.' Leon looked at him uneasily. ‘I don't know you.'

The bearded man carried on lighting his pipe.

‘He's the same price as Peter,' said Johannes with a shrug.

‘It's not about the bloody price. We don't know him!'

‘Peter sent him instead. He said Karl knows what he's doing.'

‘It's not up to Peter to decide –'

‘Look, it's no skin off my nose, son.' Karl drew on his pipe, grinning amiably. ‘I had to come up and feed Peter's dogs anyway. I could do with the cash, but if you don't want a guide, that's your business. I've done it before. You wouldn't be the first ones I've helped get across into Poland.'

Leon still wasn't happy; he'd been backed into a corner.

‘We've got to get them out, Leon,' said Johannes, shrugging.

‘I know that.'

‘Well, I'm here if you want me. I'll feed the dogs.' Karl whistled quietly to the Weimaraners and went outside. They trotted out after him.

‘It's not a decision you should have made, Johannes.'

‘We've always trusted Peter.'

‘There are people you pay and people you trust.'

Stefan exchanged a look with Hannah.

‘Is there a problem, Leon?' she asked.

‘No. It's just not the way we do things. But we'll have to get on with it. It's too late to worry about it now. The sooner we go the better. Ten minutes, right? You two get some air. I've just got a few things to sort out.'

It was clear Leon wanted to speak to Johannes on his own. Stefan smiled, knowing there was a bollocking to be delivered. He glanced across at Hannah. She nodded. As they walked out into the night the forester was heading back in, filling his pipe. He stopped to relight it once again.

‘Boys! You wouldn't think their mothers would let them out, would you?' He carried on into the lodge, whistling cheerfully to himself again.

They walked on in silence. Hannah held Stefan's hand.

‘I still don't know how you got here.'

‘Someone told your father what you were doing. He'd found out where you were. He came to see me, with Robert Briscoe. I assume you know him?'

‘Yes. But how did my father –'

‘Maybe you've got better friends than you know.'

‘Probably,' she said very quietly.

‘He wanted me to get you out of here before you did anything stupid.'

‘Talking to Francis Byrne didn't feel like it was stupid.'

‘Maybe it wouldn't have been if he'd been in the Isle of Man. I know what you've been doing for the last three months. At least I know who you've been doing it for. And I just thought you were growing oranges.'

‘If they'd leave us alone to grow oranges I wouldn't be doing it.'

They were still walking, deeper into the trees, away from the lodge.

‘I'm sorry, Stefan. I'm sorry you got involved –'

He shrugged. ‘I know why you left Ireland the way you did anyway.'

‘I had to go. And I think it was time to go.'

‘What does that mean?'

‘Because if I'd stayed any longer, I might not have wanted to.'

‘Maybe it was worth a session with the Gestapo after all,' he smiled.

‘What?'

‘To hear you say that.'

‘Do you think it didn't matter?'

‘I didn't want to think that.'

For a moment they looked at each other. He took her in his arms and kissed her. All of a sudden he was very tired. He didn't want to talk any more; nor did she. There was a deep silence in the woods that surrounded them. As they kissed again they moved backward slightly and Stefan stumbled. Hannah laughed. He turned to look down at what he had stumbled over. It was the carcass of a dead Weimaraner. He saw the body of the other dog, closer to the clearing. He walked across to it, unconsciously silencing his footsteps. He didn't need to know what the danger was to feel it. Hannah was still staring down at the first dog, aware of the unidentified threat in the darkness too. Stefan crouched down. There was a pool of vomit by the second dog's mouth and there were several pieces of undigested meat.

‘They've been poisoned,' he whispered.

‘He just went out to feed them. How could –'

Stefan put his finger to her lips. She didn't understand, but suddenly he did. He stood perfectly still. His hand moved down to hold her arm. They waited. The silence seemed as deep as it had moments earlier when they were kissing. There was the sound of an owl some way off. Then another one, much closer, more urgent, and the noise of wings and branches as it took off, unseen, disturbed and irritated, into the night sky.

‘We've got to tell them!' She hissed the words. She knew what he was listening for now. He shook his head. He sensed it might already be too late. There was a sound, a short snap; dead wood under a foot. Then something that could have been feet moving through leaves. He crept forward slowly, closer to the clearing where the lodge stood. There was movement. Out from the trees, into the moonlight, stepped three men in the brown uniform of the SA. Stefan and Hannah saw Karl emerge from the lodge, sucking on his pipe. He walked straight towards the three men. He carried on past them into the woods, as if he didn't see them. More stormtroopers were coming out from the dark trees now. They seemed less worried about the noise as they started to fan out around the front of the lodge. Two of them were holding guns.

Hannah took a pistol from her pocket.

Stefan was surprised. He didn't know she was armed.

He shook his head, pushing the gun back into her coat. ‘Too many!'

She hesitated. Her instincts were to help the two men in the lodge.

‘Walk very slowly. As quietly as you can.'

For a moment she just stared, still looking towards the lodge. He pulled her away from the edge of the clearing, further into the trees. There was a shout, then a gunshot. More shouts. More gunshots from the direction of the lodge. A scream. Hannah stopped, looking back, too shocked to move.

‘Keep going!'

As they walked, they heard more shots. Then the bullets stopped.

There was laughter now, outside the lodge. The light from several torches was sweeping around the clearing, into the forest. Stefan and Hannah were still not far away. They had to go carefully. They couldn't make a noise. An order barked out. ‘Shut the fuck up, you bastards!' The stormtroopers were heading into the trees. The light of the torches went before them. ‘There's two more somewhere!' The moon disappeared behind a cloud. Then Hannah tripped. The cry was barely anything; she stifled it in her throat. But it was still a sound. The torches swept round towards them. As she scrambled up, Stefan dragged her forward. It was too late for silence.

Now they were just running. The moon appeared and disappeared through cloud, giving enough light to see for a few seconds before it was gone, and they were plunging blindly into the undergrowth again, crashing through branches. They had no idea where they were going. They stumbled and tripped, pulling each other up as they ran. But each time the moon reappeared, and they saw a gap through the trees to aim for, their pursuers saw them, and the torches focused in. The Nazis had their own problems with the inconstant moon, blundering and falling as they spread out behind the fugitives. But they were enjoying the hunt. They followed with a mix of curses and laughter. Stefan and Hannah smashed their way through branches and bushes, over a stream, through a clearing, back into thick forest.