INFORMATION RECEIVED AN EVACUATION WILL BE ATTEMPTED AT NAMSOS ON 14TH. LIKELY TARGET JIAN. USE ALL AVAILABLE MEANS TO PREVENT EVACUATION.
His lips tightened thoughtfully as he stared at the decoded message. She was still heading north, then. Reaching into the backseat, he grabbed the folded road map he’d been using and opened it up, spreading it out over the steering wheel.
After studying it for a moment, he located Namsos, a town on the coast of what looked like an inlet from the ocean. Eisenjager pursed his lips thoughtfully. It was quite some distance north, but well within range for her to reach by Sunday. But how? What route would she take?
He studied the map for a long time before he finally came to the conclusion that there was only one spot that she would be likely to pass, no matter which way she went. Waterways separated the land between the coast and this side of Norway all the way up. With the German navy controlling the Trondheim fjord, the next possible crossing was a town called Steinkjer. There was another possibility further north, near Snasa, but that would take much longer. If Jian had to be in Namsos on Sunday, Steinkjer was the most likely crossing point.
A cold smile crossed his lips. There were battalions of SS troops moving north on the other side of the Trondheim fjord. He would contact them. They were in a position to reach Steinkjer quickly and could set up a net. Once that happened, they were all but assured to catch Jian and her two companions. They just had to get there before she did.
Eisenjager reached for the radio again. He would tell Berlin he was closing in, and then he would contact the commander of the SS troops. With any luck, he would have Jian by nightfall.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
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Evelyn crept forward with Anna when Erik waved for them to move through the trees and join him and Peder. They were crouched on the edge of a ridge, and Philip had gone ahead after seeing whatever was below, silently disappearing into the trees. Whatever they were staring at couldn’t be good.
As Erik had predicted, snow had fallen through the night and morning, covering the mountains with a soft, cold blanket on top of the already existing hardened snow. Winter was still alive and well in the mountains, and while it was cold and made progress slower, it also deadened the sound of their movement, allowing them to pass through the forests almost silently. Philip had taken the rear, erasing signs of their progress with a long fir branch as they went, ensuring that no tracks could be traced to them. At least, not by an ordinary observer.
Evelyn and Anna crept forward noiselessly and joined Erik and Peder by the tree line at the edge of the mountain ridge. Far below them, a road wound its way through the mountain pass. The fresh snowfall hadn’t made the road impassable, indicating that it had been cleared recently, but the massive tree laying across it would prevent any vehicles from proceeding.
“What is it?” she whispered to Erik.
“Someone has blocked the road,” he told her in a low voice. “Philip has gone down the mountain to see if he can find out what’s going on.”
“Why do you think someone did that?” Anna asked after a moment. “Couldn’t the tree have simply fallen across the road?”
Erik pointed to the base of the trunk and passed her his binoculars.
“Take a look.”
Anna took them, looking down at the fallen tree. After a moment, she sucked in her breath and wordlessly passed the binoculars to Evelyn. Evelyn gazed through them at the tree and her lips tightened. The trunk had been cut cleanly.
“Who would do that?” she asked, passing the binoculars back.
“It could be the Germans wanting to prevent anyone from getting in or out,” Erik said with a shrug. “Or it could be my countrymen trying to keep the Germans from passing. Either way, it tells me that someone expects troops to come through here.”
Evelyn looked back at the road far below them. There was ample space between them and the blocked pavement, but even so, she felt a shiver go down her spine. She frowned at the feeling, knowing that it didn’t bode well. That particular feeling never did.
“Will Philip be all right on his own?” Peder asked after a long, silent moment. “Shouldn’t he have stayed with us? If it was the Germans who put the tree there then it’s dangerous for him to be down there.”
“No more dangerous than it is for us up here,” Erik told him with a faint smile. “Philip knows how to be silent and invisible. He’s one of the best at it.”
“Perhaps we should keep moving,” Anna said after a moment. “If it is the Germans, the longer we stay in one spot, the more chance we have of them realizing we’re here.”
“As soon as Philip returns, we’ll continue. We can’t move without knowing who blocked the road. If it was the Germans, we will have to alter our route.” Erik glanced at Evelyn. “And if we have to do that, it will put us behind even more.”
She nodded to acknowledge the warning. If they were put very much further behind, she wouldn’t make Namsos in time. And at that point, she would have no choice but to try for the Swedish border.
Before Anna could reply, something caught Evelyn’s attention and she turned her head sharply, staring down at the road below. Erik reached out and quickly took the binoculars from her, raising them to his eyes as shadows emerged from the distance. Vehicles were approaching the road block.
“Buses. It looks like German troops,” he said after a moment, lowering the binoculars and glancing up at the overcast sky. “There’s no sun, so they won’t see any reflections from anyone in the trees.”
“At least we know who blocked the road,” Peder said. “The Germans wouldn’t block it
