“Yes, and at what cost to us?”
“That’s the thing, isn’t it?” Miles scowled. “This probably could have been avoided if we’d acted sooner. I’ll tell you this much, though. I feel very sorry for the poor sods stuck in Norway at the moment. Things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.”
Chapter Twenty
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Grindal, Norway
Evelyn got out of the car and walked around the front to stare at the smoke pouring out from under the hood. She had pulled to the side of the road as soon as it started, shutting off the engine, but white-gray vapor was still seeping from inside the engine compartment. Peder and Anna joined her, and they all stared at the smoke in dismay.
“I don’t know much about automobiles, but that doesn’t look good,” Anna finally said.
“It’s not,” Peder replied with a sigh. “I just hope it’s something I can fix.”
He turned to go to the back of the car, opening the luggage compartment to pull out a toolbox.
“It might be something simple,” Evelyn said, glancing at Anna. “If so, we’ll be on our way in no time.”
“And if it isn’t?”
“Well, then, that’s another issue.”
Peder came back with the box and set it on the ground before walking to the side of the engine where the smoke was coming from. After gingerly touching the metal hood, he shrugged and looked at them.
“It’s not burning hot, so at least we know it’s not on fire,” he said with a quick grin before lifting the side of the hood to reveal half of the engine. More vapor and smoke poured out as he opened it and he waved his hands in front of his face, trying to disperse it. The acrid smell of smoke didn’t bode well for something that could be easily patched up on the side of the road.
Evelyn walked over to join him, looking into the engine compartment almost fearfully. She and Rob had spent many hours with their chauffeur, learning the ins and outs of the engine that powered their Lagonda. It was a necessary skill to learn if you intended to drive yourself around the country. If the car broke down, it was up to the driver to get it going again. While she knew the basics, she had only been forced to repair her engine once in the three years that she’d been driving. Wallace was very good at keeping all the Ainsworth automobiles in pristine working order. When the Lagonda had failed on her, it was a blown valve, she remembered. Wallace had promptly replaced all of them and neither she nor Robbie had had an issue since.
“That’s not a valve,” she murmured, peering into the engine. “I had one go on me once, and it was nothing like this.”
Peder glanced at her in surprise. “Do you know engines?”
She nodded. “A little. My brother and I share a car. We learned very quickly that we had to know how to fix it.”
Peder bent down and opened the tool box.
“Hopefully it’s just a hose that’s come loose,” he said. “It happened once last summer and smoke poured out like this. I was able to reconnect it and then replace it later.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Not yet.” He straightened up with a tool in his hand and leaned over the fender into the engine. “I’ll have to find the problem first, then we’ll see what can be done.”
Evelyn nodded and moved away to give him more room. She looked at Anna and saw the concern in her eyes. They were on a main road and they had no way of knowing if German troops were right behind them or coming from another direction. The road appeared to be going through a valley, with heavily wooded forests on either side ascending up into a steep incline. They were in the middle of a mountain pass, and were sitting ducks with nowhere to go if the Wehrmacht came rolling through.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“In Grindal,” Anna replied. “We’re a few hours south of Trondheim.”
“Do you have a map?”
She nodded and went into the car, emerging a moment later with the road map she had been using to help navigate. She carried it over to the other side of the hood and spread it out, pointing to where they were located.
“This is where we are,” she said, “and here is Trondheim.”
Evelyn studied the map with a frown. They were closer to the coast than she had realized and her heart sank. If the Germans had succeeded in landing along the coast, they were in danger of being trapped between the troops coming in from the ocean and those coming up from the south.
“Where is Narvik?” she asked.
Anna pointed to a spot much farther north. “Here.”
“And we know the Germans landed troops there. So we have to assume that they will come south from there, and in the meantime, we know they will come up from Oslo and Bergen.” Evelyn shook her head. “We’re right in the middle.”
“They haven’t made it here yet,” Anna pointed out, “and they have to get past the army first. Let’s not panic just yet.”
“I’m not panicking. I’m stating facts. If we don’t keep moving, we’ll end up trapped.” Evelyn straightened up and leaned against the car. “Peder, have you heard anything on the radio about the Swedish border?”
“Only that people are swarming towards it,” he answered, his voice muffled from inside the engine. “No one has said whether or not they’re letting people in.”
“I wish we could get through to London,” she said in frustration. “Perhaps I should risk it and head for Sweden.”
Anna was silent for a long moment, then she sighed.
“If Peder still can’t get through to London the next time he tries, then I’ll take you to the border,” she relented. “I don’t think it’s a
