Schmeling scooted a bag to the side. “Set the opened bags here. They must be placed upright in the lorry.”
“Yes, Herr Oberbauführer.” Gerrit shoved his opened bag to join the other.
“Excellent so far.” Schmeling brushed his hands together and climbed the ladder. “I shall tell the guard to bring in the workers. As they unload, check a few more bags.”
When he disappeared through the hatch, Gerrit stood close to Bernardus and lowered his voice to the deck. “You could have gotten the boy arrested. Killed.”
“He’s smart. Well spoken.”
True. Charlie Picot spoke with the vocabulary and diction provided by an expensive school. But at his age, he should still be at that expensive school.
“He’s cautious,” Bernardus murmured.
“Impetuous.”
“He’s young. He could learn.”
Gerrit pulled back enough to pin his friend under his gaze. “Don’t.”
Bernardus shrugged. “Just making acquaintances.”
“Contacts.”
Bernardus shrugged again and glanced around the hold. The hold of a ship that frequently ran to Saint-Malo.
Gerrit’s blood chilled. No. Too many variables. Too many unseen factors.
“I’m only thinking,” Bernardus said. “First, we have a great deal to learn.”
As much as Gerrit longed to redeem his decision to join Organisation Todt, he refused to endanger lives to do so. “A very great deal.”
chapter
6
St. Helier
Sunday, September 20, 1942
A breeze flipped the curled ends of Ivy’s hair as she walked down Hill Street with Fern and Charlie to church on Sunday. The one day a week she let herself don a pretty floral dress and wear her hair down.
The one day a week she didn’t need to convince everyone she was actually a doctor.
Fern’s shoes clicked on the flagstones as they passed the Town Hall, the elegant pale pink Victorian building bloodied by the swastika flag. “I’ve come up with a solution for your rounds.”
“Oh?” Ivy didn’t want to talk about work on a warm sunny day.
Fern’s smile tipped toward her high cheekbones. “I run the morning surgery like clockwork.”
“Yes, you do.” She moved patients in and out of the examination room faster than Ivy liked, but the waiting room never over-flowed.
“However, when you go on rounds, I lose all control.”
Charlie peeked around from Fern’s other side and grinned. “Lucky Ivy.”
“Oh, you.” Fern chuckled and elbowed their little brother. “For the past few weeks, I’ve analyzed your rounds. Every day, you travel all over the island in a most inefficient manner.”
“It can’t be helped,” Ivy said as they turned onto Church Street.
