Evelyn’s heart pounded painfully against her chest as she crouched behind a mound of underbrush, watching as Erik cleared their tracks as best as he could while the sound of the marching enemy drew closer. They could hear them clearly now, the sound of their voices carrying down the trail. She couldn’t see Anna, who had taken cover behind a spruce tree that looked as if it had been struck by lightning at some point. While the bottom trunk was still thriving, the top had split and fallen sideways, there to remain until time and nature reclaimed it. At the present, though, it offered the perfect protection for Anna.
Erik finished on the trail and silently moved past Evelyn, disappearing into the trees behind her. A moment later, she couldn’t see him either.
No sooner had he melded into the darkness than the German voices became louder and a short burst of laughter rang out on the trail. A group of four soldiers dressed in gray Wehrmacht uniforms came into sight, walking in pairs, and Evelyn shrank down even lower behind the brush. Her throat constricted, and she held her breath, listening as they tramped towards them.
They had stopped talking for the moment. Instead, she heard the sound of their heavy breathing as they moved quickly along the ridge, their steps in time with each other. One of them coughed suddenly and she started, biting her bottom lip to keep from gasping. They were very close to her now, passing just on the other side of the copse she huddled behind. Her blood pounded in her ears, and all she could hear was the sound of her heart thumping until she was afraid they would also hear it.
“This is a waste of time,” a voice said directly next to her. “We haven’t seen anything in these mountains.”
“Hauptsturmführer Beck wants to be sure,” another replied. “He’s been informed that a high value target will be moving through Steinkjer tonight or tomorrow.”
At the mention of the superior’s rank, icy fear, sharp and swift, sliced through Evelyn and her throat constricted. Holding her breath and knowing that she should remain perfectly still, she nonetheless turned her head to try to peer through the underbrush at the trail that passed a few feet from her hiding place. The four soldiers were just passing the brush, and she could smell the leather of their boots and stale cigarette smoke on their long coats.
At the sight of the dark gray coats, she raised her eyes, searching for the lapel insignia. She already knew what she would find, but she had to be sure. Even prepared for it, the sight of the sinister silver SS sent another shaft of terror through her, and Evelyn lowered her eyes quickly.
“A high value target?” The first soldier scoffed. “Unless it’s the Norwegian king, no target is worth this cold.”
“Shall I tell Hauptsturmführer Beck your thoughts? I’m sure he will be interested to hear what you have to say.”
That appeared to silence the disgruntled soldier, and the group fell silent again, continuing along the trail. Evelyn’s chest burned as she tried not to breathe, terrified that she would end up sneezing or making some noise to give away their position. Her hands tightened on her rifle and she clung to the comfort of the cold steel. At least she wasn’t completely helpless if they were discovered.
“If anyone is out here, they will be holed up somewhere to wait for morning,” one of the other soldiers said. “Only a fool would still be moving with more snow coming.”
“Perhaps.”
They were moving away now, putting distance between themselves and the concealed group in the trees. Evelyn watched them go, afraid to tear her eyes away in case that was the second that one of them saw something. Her mind was spinning, trying to grasp that her worst fear had come true. The SS had learned of her presence here. How was immaterial for the moment. What mattered was that now Anna and the others were in even more danger than before. The regular German army was bad enough, but Hitler’s SS troops were another matter altogether. They were his death squads, and the SD was their intelligence branch. Not only did they know she was trapped in Norway, but they had learned that she would have to pass through Steinkjer. Which could only mean that they also knew where she was going. Her lips tightened and a slow anger began to chase the paralyzing fear away. There was only one way they could have learned she was heading for Namsos; they had to have heard it from London.
“Do you think it’s true that it was Eisenjager who contacted Beck?”
The question floated back to her and Evelyn frowned. She knew that name, but she didn’t remember how.
“Eisenjager? That’s a myth. He doesn’t exist.”
The voices were fading now and Evelyn strained to hear the response.
“...say he...most dangerous...Himmler...”
It was no use. They were too far away now and the wind was carrying their voices in the opposite direction. Evelyn scowled, trying to remember where she had heard or seen that name before. Iron hunter. That was what it meant. But how did she know it?
The men passed from view along the trail, but still no one moved. Evelyn remained where she was, waiting for Erik to give some kind of signal. She listened to the new silence that fell over the mountainside, shivering in the cold. She could hear nothing now aside from the howl of the wind and the occasional howl of a distant wolf. Her heart stopped thumping against her chest, and she took a deep, ragged breath, sucking air into her starved lungs.
After what seemed like an eternity but was in fact only a few minutes, Erik moved out from the trees and motioned for them to
