‘Good.’ His voice softened. ‘Fear keeps you careful. Fear keeps you alive.’ He pulled her against him, and Clara pressed her face into his shoulder, breathing in the familiar scent of soap and the wool of his uniform.
‘All right,’ she whispered. ‘Together, then.’
‘Together.’ Friedrich kissed her forehead, then her lips, a kiss that tasted of promises and grief and desperate hope. ‘But Clara, you have to promise me something.’
‘What?’
‘Promise me you’ll be more careful. That you’ll plan ahead, that you’ll let me help you. No more improvising, no more playing it by ear.’ His hands framed her face again, forcing her to meet his eyes. ‘I can’t lose you. I won’t survive it.’
‘You won’t lose me.’ Clara covered his hands with hers. ‘I promise. We’ll do this the right way. Carefully. Together.’
‘This ends one of two ways,’ he said. ‘Either we succeed in stopping Hitler, in ending this madness or we fail, and we pay the price. But I won’t sit by and do nothing. Not anymore. Not after tonight.’ His voice dropped. ‘Not after seeing what you’re willing to risk.’
Clara thought of Hannah in the spare room, of those two tiny babies born in secret, of David’s face when he first held his children. She thought of all the women she’d helped, all the lives saved in the darkness. And she thought of the cost if they failed, both of them arrested, tried, executed.
A knock at the bedroom door made them both turn. Max stood in the doorway, his expression neutral but his meaning clear: it was time.
‘Before you go, tell me what you need,’ Friedrich said. ‘What does your network need? Forged documents? Travel passes? Information about round-ups?’
Max raised his eyebrows. ‘All of it. But most of all we need safe houses. Places the authorities haven’t identified yet. And we need warnings when they’re planning raids.’
‘I can do that.’ Friedrich’s jaw set with determination. ‘There are officers in my unit I trust. We can use what we know to help people like Hannah escape.’
‘And if someone suspects? If your superiors start asking questions?’
‘Then I’ll handle it.’ He said it with such certainty that Clara almost believed it could be that simple.
They went through to the sitting room, Max picked up his rucksack, slinging it over his shoulder, and Paul held a small bundle of supplies for the babies. The twins were wrapped in blankets, barely visible in the crooks of their parents’ arms.
‘The route I marked is clear until oh-three hundred,’ Friedrich said to Max. ‘After that, the patrol schedule changes. You’ll need to be at the safe house by then.’
Max nodded. ‘We will be.’ He looked between Friedrich and Clara, and something shifted in his expression, something like respect, perhaps, or recognition. ‘Thank you. Both of you.’
‘Don’t thank us yet,’ Friedrich said. ‘Just get them out safely.’
David stepped forward, and Clara saw tears in his eyes. ‘I don’t have words,’ he said hoarsely. ‘What you’ve done for us .?.?. what you’ve risked.’
‘Keep them safe,’ Clara said gently. ‘Keep your family safe. That’s all the thanks we need.’
Hannah reached out and squeezed Clara’s hand, unable to speak, but her eyes said everything. Then Marie was helping her towards the door, and Paul was checking the hallway, and Max was ushering them out with quiet urgency.
Friedrich handed Max a folded paper. ‘Emergency contacts. If something goes wrong, if you need help use these. Tell them I sent you.’ He paused. ‘And if I’m arrested, if something happens to me, get Clara out. Promise me.’
‘Friedrich,’ Clara started, but Max cut her off.
‘You have my word.’ He met Friedrich’s eyes with understanding. Two men from opposite sides of a war, united by the same cause. Then he was gone, the door closing softly behind the group, and Clara and Friedrich were alone.
The apartment felt enormous in the silence.
Clara sank onto the sofa, suddenly exhausted. Friedrich sat beside her, pulling her against him, and they stayed there as the night deepened.
‘I’m scared,’ confessed Clara. ‘I’m afraid of what’s coming.’
‘So am I.’ His arms tightened around her. ‘But Clara .?.?. I’m more afraid of who we’d become if we did nothing.’
Outside, the city breathed in the darkness. God, she hoped Max would get Hannah and the babies to safety. What they’d done today couldn’t all be for nothing.
‘I love you,’ Clara whispered into the silence.
