He would contact his man in Oslo and put him on her trail. Without realizing it, Grigori had given him the perfect excuse for a revived interest in the British agent. Grigori pushing for the NKVD to get hold of her gave Vladimir a valid reason for keeping track of her himself. Not that he would need one. He had so many operations in play that his own superiors had long ago tired of keeping track of them all. If he thought something could be useful to them in the future, he laid the groundwork for it. The British agent would be considered just another of those contingency plans.
Glancing at his watch, he turned the corner and headed back to his hotel. He would contact Mikhail now and by nightfall, the Soviet agent would either tell him the British agent had made it out of Norway, or he would say he was on her trail. Either way, Vladimir would then have some idea of how to proceed.
Under no circumstance could she be allowed to fall into Eisenjager’s hands.
Chapter Twenty-Six
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Near Skatval, Norway
Evelyn nodded to Philip and ducked into the abandoned barn where they had taken shelter for the night. Erik and Philip had kept up a grueling pace throughout the afternoon and evening, stopping only once for half an hour to eat some of the food that Mrs. Hansen had sent with them. It wasn’t until after ten o’clock that they had come across this farm. It was in good repair, but had obviously been abandoned for quite some time. After checking the old house and the smaller out-buildings, Erik had decided that they would take refuge in the barn. He built a fire to chase away the frigid temperatures and, after eating again, the others had fallen into an exhausted slumber.
When Evelyn had gone out a few moments earlier to answer to nature, Philip was posted outside for the first watch. He had nodded to her and warned her not to go far. It was a cold night and there were wolves in the area. She had done as he suggested, starting at every slight noise until she had hurried back to the barn. Wolves. Fantastic. Just one more thing to worry about.
Coming out of the harsh wind, she went to the fire, holding out her hands to the welcome warmth. If she wasn’t such a stubborn woman, she reflected, she would be close to giving up. The road seemed to be getting longer and more difficult with each passing hour. Yet what other choice did she have? What other choice did they all have?
“It will snow before morning,” Erik said in a low voice behind her.
She turned in surprise to watch him come out of the shadows near the door and move towards her.
“I thought you were asleep,” she said.
“I should be, and so should you.” He sat down near the fire and pulled out a cigarette case. “We still have a long way to go.”
Evelyn sat next to him and accepted the offered cigarette.
“Will we make it by Sunday?” she asked.
“It’s possible. If it weren’t, I wouldn’t be pushing us so hard.” He lit her cigarette, then his own. “The snow will slow us down.”
“I looked at the map with Anna earlier. It looks as if we’re not even halfway there.”
Erik glanced at her, his lips curving faintly. “We still have two days. Don’t panic yet.”
Evelyn was silent for a long moment, smoking her cigarette and staring into the flames.
“Who are you?” he asked after a long silence.
Evelyn looked at him to find dark eyes studying her in the firelight.
“What do you mean?”
“The Royal navy wouldn’t arrange to evacuate a simple embassy clerk from a port miles away from Oslo,” he said calmly. “They would wait until the entire embassy could be evacuated. Yet here we are, hiking across Norway to get you to a rendezvous with a British ship. Anna is determined that you not come within earshot of the Nazis, and Peder is risking much to contact London for you on a regular basis. So, I ask again. Who are you? Really?”
Evelyn swallowed. She supposed it had been inevitable that Erik would realize that she wasn’t exactly who he had been led to believe. He was right. The embassy employees would be interned in the embassy until such a time as England could send transportation to evacuate them. The fact that she was risking a cross-country trek to meet a ship willing to take her now was telling.
“Does it matter who I am?” she asked, glancing at him. “Would knowing make any difference?”
He looked at her for a long moment.
“I suppose not, but it would appease my curiosity,” he said. “You speak Norwegian very well, but I think you are English. I suppose you could be French, but I would be surprised if that were so.”
“Why is that?”
“In general, I don’t find that the French display the amount of courage that you’ve shown in the past two days.”
Evelyn was torn between a feeling of insult on behalf of her French relations and amusement. She couldn’t stop the wry smile that curved her lips.
“I’ve shown no more courage than everyone else,” she replied. “We are all doing what we have to do right now, as best as we can manage.”
Erik turned his gaze into the fire and they were quiet for a few moments.
“It hasn’t escaped
