‘You remember why you got put in the hospital?’ David hesitated. ‘Because your brother –’ he hesitated – ‘fell out of the window.’
‘I pushed him,’ Frank said bleakly.
‘Well, we know your brother told you something important.’ Frank’s eyes widened with fear, and David raised his hands in a soothing gesture. ‘That’s all we know. Your brother told people in America what he had done, and they asked us to get you out. We don’t know what it is that you know, we don’t want you to tell us. We probably wouldn’t understand anyway,’ he added in an attempt at humour.
‘Where is Edgar?’
‘Still in America. He’s being held somewhere safe. That’s all we’ve been told. You see, the American security services got in touch with us, they asked us to free you.’
‘We’re going across country to the south coast,’ Ben continued. ‘The Americans plan to pick us up in a submarine. What aboot that, eh?’
Frank tried to think. He said, ‘But two policemen came, just before you did. One of them was German. I thought you were all working together.’
‘No.’ David looked hurt. ‘How could you think that?’
‘How would I know any different?’ Frank asked with sudden anger.
Ben said, ‘We think the Germans also know you have important information. That’s why we had to get you out straight away.’
Frank looked between them. It was hard to take in. Ben said, ‘Did you tell the police anything when they came to see you that day?’
‘No! And I’m not saying any more to anyone. Maybe I don’t know anything,’ he added defiantly.
‘All right, Frank,’ David said soothingly. ‘But please, you have to trust us.’
Ben asked, ‘Is that why you tried to kill yourself? Because you were scared someone wid force you to tell what you knew?’
Frank nodded dumbly. His head still ached but he had to concentrate. He still couldn’t quite believe what David and Ben were saying was true, but he was starting to feel flickers of something he hadn’t known in a long time: hope. He said, ‘They’ll be after us.’
‘Yes,’ David agreed heavily. ‘We have to hide out here till our people tell us it’s safe to continue to London.’
A thought struck Frank. ‘What about your wife, David? Your job?’
‘My job’s finished. I’m on the run like you now.’ His eyes were bleak. ‘My wife didn’t know I was working for the Resistance. Our people are trying to get her out, too.’
Ben said, ‘Why don’t we gi’ you a shave, then you can get dressed in some nice new clothes we’ve got for you, and get something to eat.’ He reached out and grasped Frank’s shoulder, making him cringe again. ‘It’s okay, you don’t have to tell us anything, just go along with us. That’s how we’ll stay safe. Will ye dae that, Frank?’
‘They’ll be after us,’ Frank said again. ‘When they find we’ve gone.’
‘They won’t get us, we’re smart.’
‘I don’t want to be drugged again like last night.’
‘All right. I’ll just give you your normal dose. Just to keep you calm.’
‘I’ll behave,’ Frank said bitterly. He hated the way Ben spoke to him sometimes, as though he were a child. He was beginning to believe their story, but even if what they said was true the police and the Germans would be searching already. If the Germans had any inkling of what he knew they would be desperate to find him. He thought, I’ll wait, I’ll find a chance, I’ll still finish it. Then he glanced at David’s serious, unhappy face and something in his look, the memory of their old friendship, made him want to cling to life. He clenched his good hand into a tight fist. He mustn’t allow himself to think like that. There was still only one certain way to keep his secret safe.
Ben took him to the bathroom and shaved him, Frank guessed because they didn’t trust him with an open razor. Afterwards he changed his clothes under Ben’s eye. When he had finished dressing he went over and looked out of the bedroom window. He saw a gravel drive, some shrubbery, a dead-looking palm tree, everything covered in frost. Directly below him was the car they had arrived in, the roof glittering with ice crystals. They were only on the first floor. If he jumped out he would land on the car and might break a leg or an arm but that was all. The enormity and horror of what he was thinking, what he had already tried to do, suddenly overwhelmed him and he leaned his head forward, resting it on the cold glass.
Ben came over. ‘What are you doing?’ he asked sharply.
‘Nothing.’
‘Come on. Let’s get some breakfast.’ He took Frank’s arm and led him to the door.
Downstairs, the others had already eaten and were sitting round the table smoking, the old woman he had seen the night before bustling about with plates. Geoff stood up. ‘Morning, Frank. Feeling better?’
‘A bit woozy.’ I’ll pretend to be more dopey than I am, he thought.
The woman brought him a plentiful breakfast, bacon and eggs and porridge, toast and butter. Frank found he was very hungry. As he ate the others all watched him. The foreign woman was there. He saw there was a touch of a slant to her eyes. Her expression as she looked at him was kind but there was a hardness in her face. David had shaved, too, but still looked washed-out, though Geoff seemed like his old self, puffing away on his pipe.
Afterwards Ben gave him his pill – just one small pill, his usual dose, and the foreign woman brought him an identity card with the name Michael Hadleigh on the front. She leaned over him, those slightly slanted eyes staring into his, and said in accented English, ‘Just in case we get asked for identity cards for any reason, this is your name. Look at it and remember it. Do you think you can do that, Frank?’
‘Yes, yes, I can.’ He wondered where she came from. The accent didn’t sound German, thank God.
‘I’ve a doctor’s letter as well, not a real one but it looks authentic enough. It says you’ve got TB and we’re friends taking you to a sanatorium in London. If anyone asks us to show them our ID cards they’re likely to let us past quickly, people are frightened of TB. There’s more of it around every winter now.’
‘Pretty clever, eh?’ Geoff said.
Frank said, ‘Yes, it is.’
Natalia turned to him, a little apologetically. ‘Before we go we’d like to wash your hair and tidy it up. Would you mind?’
‘No,’ Frank said, touching his uneven fuzz. It sounded a good idea. ‘Are we likely to get stopped?’
‘No,’ Geoff said reassuringly. ‘But you never know these days.’
‘Especially with what’s happening with the Jews,’ Natalia agreed.
‘What have they done with them?’ Frank asked. ‘I heard they’d all been taken away.’
‘We don’t know,’ David answered bleakly. ‘They’ve put them in resettlement camps outside the towns. But we don’t know what’s going to happen from there.’
‘Maybe they’re going to take them by train to the Isle of Wight. Maybe the Germans will kill them there,’ Geoff said. ‘Perhaps Beaverbrook will keep them where they are for now, dangle them in front of the Germans as a bargaining chip.’
‘They’ll hand them over to the Germans, all right,’ David said bitterly. ‘They’ll take them to Eastern Europe and finish them off.’
‘Barbarians!’ Colonel Brock burst out suddenly, standing up. ‘Never had too much time for the Israelites myself, but this – it’s barbarism, barbarism!’
The door opened and his wife came in, excitement glowing in her face. She looked at David. ‘I’ve just had news over the radio,’ she said. ‘From our people in London. Your wife’s safe, our people have got her!’
David’s whole body flooded with relief. Colonel Brock came over and shook his hand vigorously. ‘Thank God! Congratulations, old chap!’ Geoff clapped him on the shoulder. Frank saw David look over at Natalia. She gave him a tight little smile, and a nod.