With nothing else to do, Delia returned to the Martha Washington and headed straight to the front counter. “Are there any messages for me?”
There was. A telephone message had been left for her earlier this morning but after Delia had already left for the stock exchange. She tore open the flap and read the clerk’s message:
Finn Delaney called to say he had an unexpected meeting come up with an Army lawyerand is unable to keep his appointment this morning at the stock exchange building. He sends his apologies.
That was all.
Why on earth did Finn need to meet with a lawyer? Whatever the reason, it had to be serious for him to have skipped this morning’s appointment.
She wouldn’t waste time waiting for him to contact her. She was heading straight to Camp Mills to find out what was going on.
Finn’s suitcase lay open on his cot as he tossed another plain white shirt inside it. He’d be traveling light and didn’t have room in the single suitcase for his formal Army uniform. Besides, where he was going, being seen in an American uniform was likely to get him killed.
Sounds of a normal day filtered through the tent. The rumble of delivery trucks and of a sergeant leading the morning drilldrifted in through the tent’s flaps. Yet nothing could drown out the horrifying thoughts cycling through his mind.
Mathilde had been arrested and even now could be enduring torture in a German dungeon somewhere. No doubt the Germans were trying to pry from her the names of her fellow members of the resistance who had helped distributeLa Libre Belgique. And being a woman wouldn’t save her from their cruelty.
His hands shook as he balled up a pair of woolen socks. It was going to be cold over there, and he’d need to be ready for all kinds of weather. His silk scarves would come with him because he might need to pilot a plane. He didn’t know how he was going to rescue Mathilde, only that he was going to do it.
“Finn? Finn, are you in there?”
Delia’s voice sounded directly outside his tent. Facing her was the last thing he wanted this morning, but it had to be done. He untied the flap and pulled it back. Delia stood in her spiffy maroon business suit, a clipboard in the crook of her arm.
“Did you get my message in time?” he asked.
“No, I didn’t. And I want to know why a meeting with an attorney took precedence over your appointment with the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.”
He turned away, a rush of acid filling his gut at the memory of his meeting with the Army lawyer. Captain Jacobs had confirmed his fears about Mathilde’s dire situation. She’d been caught red-handed with a few hundred copies of the forbidden newspaper and charged with sedition, a death-penalty offense. The only good piece of news Captain Jacobs had been able to offer was that Mathilde was still alive. A flurry of telegrams had been sent between France and New York, confirming that Mathilde was being held at the Saint-Gilles Prison in Brussels, Belgium.
Finn motioned for Delia to step inside the tent. After lowering the flap, he said, “The woman who saved me has been arrested.” He handed her the issue ofLa Libre Belgique, pointing to the news article. “Word of Mathilde’s arrest is all over Belgium. I hadn’theard of it until I was shown that article—she was arrestedthree weeksago.”
The ire immediately drained from Delia’s face. “Finn, I’m so sorry. Perhaps Bertie can do something to help.”
“Ha!” he scoffed. “Bertie plays by the rules. He won’t do anything to rock the boat with the Germans.”
Delia’s expression suddenly turned cautious. “What are you planning on doing?”
“I’m going over there. I can’t just sit here in America while the person who saved my life ends up in front of a firing squad, all because of me.”
“I don’t understand,” Delia said. “She’s being held on the charge of distributing a forbidden newspaper, not for helping you, right?”
Finn shook his head. “Don’t you see, Dee? All the fame I got over here, getting written up in newspapers and such, it got back to General Ryckman. My escape humiliated him, and he put a bounty on the heads of whoever helped me escape. They suspected Mathilde because her house was so close to where I crashed. They searched her place a dozen times but never found where she hid me. Somone must have taken the reward and turned her in. The Germans found the cache beneath the floorboards, which included a large stack of newspapers. This stupid, vain idea of making me a hero is probably going to cost Mathilde her life.”
“Surely not,” Delia said, coming to rest a hand on his shoulder. “She’s a woman. They won’t execute a woman.”
His mouth twisted in bitterness. “Tell that to Edith Cavell’s family.” The brave English nurse had volunteered her services in Belgum and was caught helping Allied soldiers escape. They executed her two months after her arrest. “The Germans blindfolded her, stood her up against a wall, and shot her to death. They’ll do the same to Mathilde.”
Finn fumbled for a cigarette, his fingers shaking so badly it took a minute to get it lit. His heart and brain were racing. He took a long pull from the cigarette. “When I was twelve, I couldn’tsave my mom from the fire. I’m not going to have another good woman’s death on my conscience. I’m going over there, and I’ll save Mathilde Verhaegen if it’s the last thing I do on this earth.”
“That won’t be possible, Finn. You’ve been ordered to take up a Stateside assignment.”
“I’m quitting.”
“Youcan’tquit. You’re in the Army!”
He never should have signed those papers. At the time, joining the U.S. Army was the only way to get to France and back into action. Now those papers had him trapped.
“Let them arrest me,” he shot back. “They’ll have to find me first, and that won’t be easy to do once I get to France. Besides, they’ve got better things to do than hunt down a renegade pilot.” He drew deeply on the cigarette, trying to calm his racing thoughts. It wasn’t working.
