"What on earth are you doing here, my pet " Gregory whispered as the van jolted into motion.
"I was caught by a civilian," she answered quickly, "a man who entered the lane from my end just before the bomb went off. I stopped him and pretended I had lost my way, just as we arranged. Then the explosion occurred and he thought that I must have had something to do with it, so in spite of my protests he hung on to me until the police turned up. But what does it matter-what does anything matter except that you're alive and safe? My heart nearly choked me with every shot that was fired."
Gregory grinned into the darkness of the speeding van as he held her tight. "Yes. It was a pretty tough business and I was lucky to come out of it better than the rest. But we got the packet all right; Wuolijoki has it now, so it's on it's way to Mannerheim."
"Oh, splendid, darling-splendid! Did you see Grauber?"
"Did I not! " Gregory could still taste the salt blood that had been running from his nose. "The swine cornered me and I'm afraid I won't be much to look at for the next few days, darling, but the police arrested him and all his boy-friends as well as us and they're on the way to police headquarters in another van."
"How about Fredeline?" Erika suddenly asked; and von Kobenthal answered out of the darkness
"She got away all right; I saw her standing among the crowd as I was led out. She saw me, too, so-thank God-she knows that I'm not dead."
"What D’you think they'll do to us?" Freddie inquired.
"Nothing," said Erika promptly. "Wuolijoki will fix it somehow so that we're released to-morrow morning."
At police headquarters the wounded were helped out and the little party was put into a bleak waiting-room furnished with pitch-pine. A large stove roared in the corner and the heat was almost unbearable after the intense cold outside. The police captain came in to take their names. Erika, Charlton, von Kobenthal and Suki gave theirs without hesitation, but Gregory found himself in a most disagreeable quandary. As he had claimed to be a representative of the British Government the officer would think it extremely strange if he gave the name of von Lutz; yet if he gave that of Gregory Sallust the British Legation in Helsinki would equally disclaim all knowledge of him. However, it didn't much matter what the police thought, so long as Wuolijoki was not given the least reason to suppose that there was anything phoney about Marshal Goering's emissary. Wuolijoki would have assumed, Gregory felt certain, that he had only claimed to be British in front of Grauber as a ruse to contest the true ownership of the papers and provide a reason for their being given into a neutral's keeping. The diplomat would expect Gregory to disclose his German identity once he was out of Grauber's presence, so after having pretended for a moment not to have heard the officer's question Gregory gave his name as Colonel-Baron von Lutz. The captain blinked, but he was a stolid man; he made no comment and went off to make his report, leaving two policemen with them.
A few minutes after he had gone a doctor came in to make a first examination of the wounds of von Kobenthal and Suki. He declared that none of the injuries was serious, and having applied first-aid dressings, said that he would later attend to them properly. Twenty minutes elapsed; then the party was led along a passage to the room of the Chief of Police. The officer who had arrested them was with him.
The Chief of Police was a grizzled-haired man with a sweeping moustache. He spoke in German, telling them all to be seated. He then signed to the captain and the men who had brought them to leave the room and, when the door was closed, said abruptly: "I don't pretend to know what lies at the bottom of this affair but I have received a note from Monsieur Wuolijoki asking me to give you every consideration possible. In consequence, if you are prepared to pledge me your word that you will not attempt to escape I shall not put you in cells for the night."
They all voiced their agreement to his proposal and he went on:
"That is satisfactory, because as two of you are wounded they would normally be sent to the infirmary; but owing to the crisis every hospital in Helsinki has now been evacuated in case of an unprovoked air-attack. We wish to keep every bed free; but I can give you a room where beds will be made up for you and those of you who are unwounded can then look after the others."
"I am quite prepared to act as nurse," Erika volunteered.
The police chief nodded. "In that case you can remain with your friends,Frau Gräfin; otherwise I was going to provide you with separate accommodation." He pressed a buzzer on his desk and a police orderly appeared. Having thanked the Chief of Police for his courtesy they said good-night and filed out into the passage.
The orderly led them up to the fourth floor and into a room which looked as though it was used as a lounge by some of the Finnish detectives. It had a large table, numerous chairs and three sofas. The doctor rejoined them a few minutes later, bringing with him two more orderlies who carried piles of bedding.
Von Kobenthal and Suki were helped to undress and their wounds were properly bathed and bandaged while Gregory washed the blood from his bruised face. One bullet had gone through the fleshy part of von Kobenthals arm and- the other was lodged in his shoulder. Extracting it was a painful business but he stood it well and they then got him into a bed that had been made up on one of the sofas. Suki's wound was only a long cut where a bullet had grazed the upper part of his thigh and he declared himself quite comfortable when they had tucked him up in a second bed. Three others were then made up, one on the remaining sofa for Erika and two on the floor for the unwounded men; after which the doctor and the orderlies departed, locking the door behind them.
Gregory dimmed the light so that the wounded men should have a better chance of getting off to sleep; then he sat himself down beside Erika on her sofa and told her in a low voice the details of what had occurred inside the Gestapo Headquarters.
When he had done she smiled, and said: "Well, thank God that's over, and I feel sure we'll all be free to-morrow. It's rotten luck, though, that we should have to spend the first night of our reunion like this."
Gregory felt as badly about it as she did but they tried to console themselves with the thought that they were at least together again, and after a while he urged her to lie down and get some sleep. But she would not hear of it, as she meant to look after von Kobenthal and Suki through the night and the doctor had left with her various items, such as Veganin tablets to give the men if they were in pain and barley-water for them to drink if they were thirsty.
For a time the two of them sat silent in order to give the others a chance to get off to sleep; then, when snores told them that their object was accomplished, they lay down together and exchanged more detailed accounts of all that had happened to them during the three weeks they had been separated.
At seven o'clock police orderlies came in to rouse them. A police matron appeared, who took charge of Erika and led her away to the women's section where she was able to have a steam bath and tidy herself; while the orderlies took Gregory and Freddie to the men's baths where they had their first experience of the national manner in which the Finns cleanse themselves.
They stripped, and, instead of an ordinary bath, were led into a steam-room where the temperature was very high and they sweated profusely. Afterwards they were given large towels with which to rub themselves down and were lent razors so that they could shave.
On returning to their room they found Erika washing the two wounded men and, in due course, a good, plain breakfast for all five of them was brought up.' The doctor appeared at nine o'clock and after examining the two invalids he reported that the wounds were clean and that both were doing 'well. Suki's wound was so slight that the doctor measured him for crutches and said that he would be able to get up the following day.