Anna joined Erik and looked at Evelyn, her face pale.
“You were right next to them!” she hissed. “I thought for sure you would be discovered!”
“I don’t know how I wasn’t,” she confessed in a whisper.
“You’re a high value target?” Erik asked softly, his dark eyes boring into hers. “Did you know this?”
Evelyn swallowed painfully. “You understood them?”
“I speak German as well as my sister. Did you know?”
“No.”
Anna cast Evelyn a sharp, warning glance before turning to face her brother.
“We don’t even know it’s her they’re looking for,” she argued. “It could be anyone and we just happen to be here as well.”
“That would be a very big coincidence.”
“They do happen. If Marlene knew she was a target, she would never have allowed me to come with her.”
Erik looked at her in silence for a moment, then the grim set of his mouth relaxed a bit and he glanced at Evelyn.
“Those were SS troops,” he said in a low voice. “They are specialized and highly trained, more so than the regular soldiers. We must be very careful.”
“There are more above us,” Philip whispered as he and Peder joined them. “I saw the lights when were behind the log. We can’t go up any further. We’ll run into more.”
“They’re spread out through the hills,” Erik said. “They’ve cast a net around Steinkjer.”
“They how do we proceed?” Peder asked, looking from one to another. “Should we find somewhere to shelter and wait for morning?”
“No. By morning there will be three times as many of them. We must go through them.”
“How?” Anna demanded.
“We have to get into the valley,” Erik decided after a long moment of thought. “There are houses and villages there where we can conceal ourselves.”
“We will lose the protection of the hills,” Philip pointed out.
“We have already lost it. The valley is the only way through now.”
Philip frowned. “That means going along the ravine,” he said slowly. “We’ll be putting ourselves in a kill box.”
“Do you see another way?” Erik asked. “If you do, please offer it. I don’t want to go down there any more than you do, but I can’t think of another way.”
Philip was quiet, thinking, then he finally shook his head. “No. Even if we stay in the hills, we will have to descend to pass through Steinkjer, and that’s what they’ll be expecting. That’s why they’ve cast such a wide net, to force us where they want us to go.”
Erik nodded. “Then let’s get moving. We’ll move quickly and without light. Stay close together. Philip, you take the back and Marlene, you stay in the middle. We’ll keep the fire power even between us.”
Evelyn nodded and took a deep breath as the small group moved out of the trees and onto the trail. Erik led them to the opposite side and they began a silent descent, moving to the left of the area where they had first heard the German soldiers approaching. She listened to the silence around them, straining for sounds of voices in the darkness. While she didn’t much like the thought of descending into something referred to as a kill box, she realized that they had very limited options. She had to trust Erik.
They moved as quickly and quietly as possibly, stopping frequently while Erik or Philip checked for the SS patrols. Each time they stopped, Evelyn gripped her rifle a little tighter, knowing that both the Norwegian soldiers were counting on her ability to fire if needed. Anna was still carrying her suitcase for her, allowing her to have both hands to handle the gun. While she felt guilty for her carrying two heavy suitcases down a mountain covered in snow, Evelyn was glad to have both hands on the rifle. She wasn’t entirely confident in her ability to hit any target with her frozen fingers, but if it came down to it, she had no choice. At least she knew she was a good shot. Hopefully that would hold true despite the frigid temperature.
Erik held up his hand, halting the group, and Evelyn stood still, listening. She couldn’t hear anything in the darkness, but something had made him stop abruptly. Twisting her head, she strained to see any tell-tale specks of light. They had seen several on their descent, some quite close to them, but now all she saw was darkness. Clouds had covered the moon, robbing them of what little pale light it had afforded. Her eyes, accustomed to the darkness, made out the tall shapes of trees around them, but nothing else.
She reached forward to touch Anna’s arm questioningly, but before she could touch her, she heard what it was that had made Erik stop so suddenly: voices.
Evelyn frowned in confusion. They seemed to be coming from above them, but then the wind shifted and she could swear they were coming from behind them. They were too far away to make out the words, and she turned to peer behind them, trying to make sense out of the muffled sounds.
Peder was right behind her and when she turned to look, his eyes were wide in a pale face. She gave him a reassuring smile and reached out to squeeze his arm, offering what strength she could. He smiled faintly as they stood perfectly still in the deep shadows, listening. And waiting.
Evelyn was never to be quite sure what happened next, or what caused the chaos that erupted around them. All she was sure of was
