Then the group of Jewish prisoners seemed to surge outwards, like a wave, as some began to run. Others, the older ones mostly, huddled closer together. The woman with the pram leaned protectively over her baby. Half a dozen of the younger Jews ran into the fight. A shot was fired and one of the Jive Boys pitched forward, his chest gushing blood. There were screams, another shot.
Sarah felt herself being picked up again and hauled to the pavement. She lunged out and an angry Yorkshire voice shouted in her ear, ‘We’re trying to get you out of here, you stupid cow!’ She turned and saw it was the boy with the university scarf and duffel coat she had noticed earlier, the girl beside him. Sarah scrambled to her feet and joined them, running for the pavement. Other Jews were fleeing all round them now, making for a little alleyway that ran down the side of a pub. There were more shots, loud cracks. Beside her Sarah saw the old Jew in the bowler hat tumble over. On the other side of the road the shop assistant who had been putting up Christmas decorations could be seen cowering behind a counter. A long piece of tinsel hung forlornly in the window.
Sarah followed the young couple into another alley. Then the boy ran into the open door of some flats, leading them into a dark, smelly hallway. They stopped, taking long whooping breaths. Other people ran past, feet pounding on the paving stones. In the distance Sarah heard more shots, then the sound of a police whistle being blown, over and over again.
‘Joe,’ the girl said breathlessly. ‘We’ve got to run!’ She had a middle-class accent like Sarah’s.
The boy shook his head impatiently. ‘No. There’ll be dozens of them here in a minute. Hide under here.’ He pushed his way into a dank alcove under the stairs. The girl followed. ‘Come on, lady,’ he said impatiently to Sarah. She squeezed in beside them, feeling the warmth of their bodies. There was a big metal dustbin there, stinking of rotten vegetables. Sarah felt cold and clammy, though strangely calm.
‘Bloody hell,’ Joe said. ‘I thought we were stuffed.’
The long wail of a police siren sounded in the distance. The girl began to cry. ‘They shot people, they’ve killed people.’ Her voice was rising hysterically. Sarah grasped her shoulders. ‘Please, please,’ she said. ‘We have to keep quiet.’
The girl took a couple of heaving sobs, then looked past Sarah at the boy. ‘What are we going to do, Joe? Where can we go?’
‘Wait till dark, then we’ll head out to Mark’s friend in Watford.’ He raised a hand to the yellow badge on the front of his coat. ‘I’m getting rid of this fookin’ thing. The identity cards can go too.’ He pulled at the badge but his fingers were shaking and he couldn’t get it off. The girl, calmer now, laid a hand on his. ‘No Joe, unpin it. If they see you with a tear on your coat they’ll realize you’ve pulled something off.’
‘Okay. Can you do it, Ruth? I – I can’t seem to manage.’
They worked together to remove their badges, then pulled out their identity cards, yellow stars prominent on the front, tore them up and dropped the pieces into the fetid bin. Sarah listened, frightened someone might come out of one of the flats and find them. But the people who lived there had probably heard the shots and were cowering indoors. She turned to the young man. ‘Thank you,’ she said breathlessly. ‘Thank you for rescuing me.’
Joe smiled, a flash of white teeth in the dark space. ‘That’s all right.’ Though it was hard to tell in the dimness Sarah sensed he blushed. They’re just children, she thought with a desperate ache.
Ruth said, ‘You helped us. You and your friend.’
Sarah felt a catch at her throat. ‘My friend’s dead.’
‘I know. I saw.’ The girl began to cry again.
Joe peered cautiously out of the alcove. ‘There’s a good few dead out there now.’ His voice was trembling.
‘What happened to you?’ Sarah asked Ruth. ‘Where were they taking you?’
‘They’re taking every registered Jew in London out of the city. We don’t know where. I live at the university halls of residence, they came for us at seven this morning.’ She put her head in her hands.
‘I thought Jews weren’t allowed in the universities any more.’
Joe said, ‘We started just before the law came into force. There’s still a few of us third years left.’ He looked at his girlfriend. ‘You were right, you said they’d come for us one day.’ He turned back to Sarah, his face working with emotion. ‘I thought we were safe, I thought our government wouldn’t let us be shipped off. Offence to national pride, against British fair play,’ he added bitterly. ‘Though they might kick us out of our jobs and businesses, I thought they’d stop short of handing us over to the Germans. But that’s what they’re doing now, it has to be.’
Ruth spoke quietly. ‘Beaverbrook must have agreed this with the Nazis in Berlin.’
Joe shook his head. ‘This must have been planned for some time.’
‘Maybe there was a contingency plan,’ Sarah said. ‘And now the Germans have forced them to implement it. The Civil Service are always making contingency plans, my husband’s a civil servant—’
Joe’s look became instantly hostile. ‘Is he?’
‘He’s in the Dominions Office, they’re not involved in anything like this—’
‘They’re all involved, everyone who works for Beaverbrook and Mosley.’
‘Keep your voice down,’ Ruth urged him.
Joe went on, quietly now, but his voice was still savage. ‘Well, now we know what British fair play’s worth when the chips are down. From the moment we were picked up people just stood watching, drove past in their cars. Kept their heads down.’
‘Except that old man,’ Ruth said. She looked at Sarah. ‘And your friend.’
‘What really turned it was those Jive Boys.’ Joe smiled sadly. ‘Not that they’d care what happened to us, I’ve heard plenty of stories of them beating Jews up. They just saw a fight and joined in.’
Sarah found thoughts rushing through her head. It was because of her that Mrs Templeman came that way. She’d thought her just a bossy old woman. Then she did that incredible act of bravery. Sarah shivered as she realized she could have been killed too. She had feared David might abandon her but it was she who would have abandoned him had she been shot.
The boy took her arm, jolting her back to reality. He said, ‘It’s quiet out there now. It won’t stay that way for long. I’d get out of here while you can. You’ve got your ID card?’
‘Yes.’
‘Where do you live?’
‘Kenton. Out towards Pinner.’
Ruth said, ‘You shouldn’t wear that coat, it stands out. You sat down in the street, they’ll be looking for a fair-haired woman your age in a grey coat.’
Sarah said, ‘Swap coats with me. Lots of people wear duffel coats.’
They stepped out of the alcove, and while Joe watched the entrance the two women switched coats. Ruth’s duffel coat was tight on Sarah. She picked up her handbag and took out her purse. ‘Here, take my money.’ She held out two ten-shilling notes, a handful of silver. ‘Please. I’ve got a return ticket, I don’t need money for anything else.’
Joe looked reluctant but Ruth took the money. ‘Thank you.’
Sarah asked, ‘Where do your families live?’
Ruth said, ‘Mine live in Highgate, they’ll have been picked up too.’ She blushed. ‘I was spending the night with Joe.’
‘Mine are in Bradford. They’re probably rounding up Jews there too.’ Joe’s voice cracked, and Sarah could see he was at the end of his tether. ‘Go now, lady,’ he said roughly. ‘Go on.’
Ruth took her arm. Sarah’s grey coat looked big on her. She said, ‘We’ll never forget what you and your friend did.’
Sarah smiled. ‘Good luck,’ she said, then took a deep breath and stepped outside. Everything was quiet now, nobody in sight. She adjusted her bag on her arm and walked away, in the opposite direction to Tottenham Court Road. More sirens sounded in the distance. Her legs shook like jelly but she made herself walk on, towards the tube station and home.
IT TOOK LONGER THAN DAVID had expected to find the hospital. Although they were so near Birmingham, they were on narrow country roads shaded by trees, with few signposts, and after a brief period of wet snow it had
