“A price?” Else said. “How much?”
Thorvald turned his fork in his fingers. “Two thousand kroner per passenger.”
Laila gasped. “Two thousand? But that—that’s more than some people make in a year.”
“More than I make,” Hemming said. “But the fishermen would be risking their lives. And if their boats are confiscated or sunk,they lose their livelihood. Both men want enough money to replace their boats.”
Laila’s brow furrowed. “My family has the money, but most don’t.”
Hemming laced his fingers together. “Could you collect funds from the guests? Ask if those with means can help pay for those who don’t.”
“No need.” Thorup frowned at his half-eaten smørrebrød. “As I said, we have funds.”
Hemming groaned. “Not enough for this. I won’t let you deplete the household account.”
Janne gave her husband’s arm a squeeze.
Else tipped her head. A quiet tension rose whenever money was discussed.
“Maybe we can negotiate a lower fee after the first run.” Hemming turned to Laila. “They can take twenty-four tonight. Is your list ready?”
“I wanted to send the families with young children first, but my uncle suggested we sedate them so their cries don’t attract attention. He’s a physician. He wrote a prescription for a tranquilizer.”
“I’ll get it filled tomorrow,” Thorup said.
“Thank you.” Laila pulled a list from her skirt pocket. “Tonight we can send the elderly and the families with older children. Tomorrow we can send the little ones.”
Like the curly-haired boy Else had grown to love.
Janne took her empty plate to the ladies at the sink. “Tomorrow we’ll clean the empty rooms. Then we can take another twenty-four guests.”
“I talked to my grandparents at church,” Else said. “They have about that many hidden in town with friends. I’ll call and ask them to send two dozen potatoes tomorrow. That’s the code. I’ll leave their number here. Keep calling until they apologize for not having any potatoes.”
“We each have assignments,” Hemming said. “Tomorrow morning I’ll quit my job. Else, could you tell Fru Riber my motherdied and I’m staying with family for a while? Then I can help here day and night.”
Else met his gaze across the table. How little time they had left together.
She pulled up the strings of her smile, but they snapped.
COPENHAGEN
TUESDAY, OCTOBER5, 1943
Never before had Else felt guilty about going to the Institute for Theoretical Physics.
She walked down Blegdamsvej with her head low. The universities and secondary schools had closed for a week in protest of the arrests. As a part of the University of Copenhagen, the institute had closed too.
The week off was a blessing. During the day, Else, Knudsen, Rask, and others located people in hiding and sent them to the coast. Many seaside homes were being used for transport over the Øresund.
Else felt like a stikker when she ducked into the institute courtyard, but some were coming this week for legitimate scientific reasons. Else had come for news about staff in hiding—and to printFrit Danmark. The first reason provided cover for the second.
Her footsteps resounded in empty halls as she passed darkened offices and laboratories.
Light shone in Georg von Hevesy’s lab. The door opened, and a lab assistant exited with a bag stinking of rat droppings. Since both Hevesy and Hilde Levi had fled, someone needed to care for the lab animals.
And high on a shelf in that lab, Nobel gold shone, suspended in jars of aqua regia.
Wolff’s lab lay as dark as Else’s career. With Bohr and Wolff gone, what work could she do at the institute?
