They escaped the cemetery by scrambling over a section of the wall where the stones had crumbled, leaving jagged gaps just wide enough to squeeze through. Beyond, waiting in the shadows of a narrow side road, sat a truck marked with a bold red cross on its canvas sides.
Clara climbed into the back after Rose, while Henri took his place behind the wheel. The truck bed was filled with wooden crates and sealed boxes stacked nearly to the roof.
‘What’s in these?’ Clara asked, running her hand over the nearest box.
‘Nothing important,’ Rose replied with a wry smile. ‘Officially, medical supplies. The ones at the front actually do contain bandages and morphine. It was just enough to fool a cursory inspection. But the rest are empty decoys. We’re banking on German efficiency not extending to thorough searches.’
Clara had forgotten Rose’s irrepressible optimism in the face of danger. ‘And what’s our story if we’re stopped?’
‘We’re nurses being transferred to a field hospital just outside Dunkirk. Which is partly true. I am a nurse, and you certainly know more about medicine than most.’
‘Is there really a field hospital there?’
‘Not exactly,’ Rose admitted cheerfully. ‘But it’s far enough from any checkpoint that the guards won’t know the local set-up. It’s all a bit chaotic at the moment, which is to our benefit. With luck, they’ll just wave us through.’ She reached into a canvas bag and withdrew something that made Clara’s blood run cold – a small revolver with a dark metal grip. Rose held it out matter-of-factly. ‘And if luck fails us, we have alternatives.’
‘What? Are you serious?’ Clara pressed herself back against the truck’s side, staring at the weapon as if it might bite her. ‘Rose, I can’t. I’ve never fired a gun. I won’t shoot anyone.’
‘Take it,’ Rose said gently but firmly. ‘You might find you’re braver than you think.’
‘No. I’m not a killer.’
‘If someone was about to shoot me,’ Rose said quietly, ‘would you save my life?’
Clara looked into her sister’s steady gaze. She shouldn’t be surprised that Rose now carried weapons as casually as medical supplies. And the terrible truth was, Rose was right. Clara would do anything to protect her sister.
Her hand trembled violently as she reached out and took the gun, its weight heavier than she expected. She slipped it deep into her bag, hoping desperately she’d never need to find out if she could actually use it.
They fell silent as she adjusted to the weapon’s weight. She’d seen Friedrich’s service revolver every day, it was part of his uniform, but he always removed it the moment he came home, locking it away in his desk drawer. ‘The image of me holding a gun is not the memory I want you to carry,’ he’d always said. Now she understood what he meant.
‘Are you feeling all right?’ Rose’s gentle question broke through her thoughts.
‘I’m fine. Just tired. Emotional. Terrified,’ Clara confessed, her voice barely above a whisper. ‘I’m not as brave as you, Rose.’
Rose made a soft sound of disagreement. ‘Don’t be fooled. I feel all those things too. I’m just better at pretending I don’t. You’ve always worn your heart on your sleeve.’
Clara managed a weak smile. ‘You always were the actress in the family.’ She reached across the swaying truck to grasp Rose’s hand, feeling a familiar wave of love and protectiveness wash over her. ‘But soon it won’t matter. We’ll be back in England with Evie, and the three Hartwell sisters will be together again. Just like when we were children.’
Rose’s face crumpled slightly, and she bit her lip hard enough to leave marks. ‘Clara, there’s something I haven’t told you.’
Clara’s heart dropped to somewhere on the floor. ‘What? Tell me. Is it Evie? Mum? Papa?’ Suddenly, she felt like she was the younger sister who needed reassuring.
‘Mum and Papa are absolutely fine. But Evie .?.?.’ Rose’s voice broke slightly. ‘She went to Poland when the war started. To Warsaw, to document what was happening there. As far as we know, she’s still there.’
Clara felt light-headed for a moment. ‘Still there? But that’s impossible. Why didn’t she come home when it became too dangerous?’
‘She chose to stay,’ Rose said quietly. ‘We don’t know all the details. Communication with Poland is nearly impossible, especially about individuals. All we know is that she made the decision to remain and continue her work.’
Clara closed her eyes, trying to process the devastating news. Their baby sister, sweet Evie with her camera and her quiet determination trapped in Nazi-occupied Poland. ‘So, it’s just the two of us,’ she whispered.
The pause that followed stretched like an eternity before Rose spoke again. ‘Only until we reach Dunkirk.’
Clara’s eyes snapped open, meeting Rose’s anguished gaze. ‘What do you mean?’
‘You’re going back to England on one of the evacuation boats. You’ll take my identity, my papers. But Clara .?.?.’ Rose’s voice cracked completely. ‘I can’t come with you.’
‘What?’ The word came out as barely a breath.
‘I can’t tell you the details, but I’m staying in France. There’s work to be done here, people who need help.’
