Sons of Thunder (37 page)

Tonight. Tonight she’d steal away with him, put Dino into his arms, introduce him to his uncle. Perhaps, someday—stepfather.

An SS scout car pulled up, its round lights blinding the patrons. Waffen officers emerged.

She ducked her head away before the leader recognized her.

But he went straight to the colonel. Whispered into his ear.

Emotion flickered across Kessler’s face, but she couldn’t place it before he turned to her. “They need me at headquarters. I’ll ask my man to drive you home.”

“I can walk—”

“I insist.” He nearly yanked her up by her elbow, and she bit back the sting of his grip as he forced her outside. He nodded to his compatriots and pushed her into the car.

“What’s the matter? You seem upset.”

He glanced at her, and she suddenly had the sense that she sat next to Uncle Jimmy, that same sort of dark liquid syruping through her. But the colonel smiled at her, something that never met his eyes, reached back, and pulled the hairpin from her hair. “I like it down so much better.”

Then he grabbed her jaw in his gloved hand and kissed her. “Be waiting for me when I return.”

He got out and she knitted her hands together to stop the shaking.

The officer said nothing as he drove her home. Without her directions.

She fled into the dark house.

“Zoë!” She banged up the stairs, slammed open her door.

Skidded to a stop.

Lucien stood in the room, his face dirty, his clothes bloodied. Zoë held Dino to herself, and he saw Sofia. “
Matera
!”

She scooped him to herself, holding onto his heat as she scoured Lucien’s terrible expression.

“No…” She shook her head, squeezing Dino’s body tight against hers.
No, God—
“Please—Lucien.”

“He’s alive. But he’s been captured. And—we need your help.”

CHAPTER 27

Four people huddled in the barn, in the hayloft, flinching as Sofia scanned her flashlight across their dirty faces. She ducked back down the ladder, landed with a soft thud beside Lucien. She handed him the flashlight. “Why did you bring them here?”

“We had nowhere else to go. The Germans were after us, and we figured that the last place they’d look would be under the nose of the colonel.”

Sofia pressed her hands to her head, trying to keep herself from unraveling. “Are you sure Markos was captured?”

“Yes. He and two others—we were ambushed, Sofia.” He wanted blood. She could nearly taste it in his tone.

She whirled to face him, studied him in the dim glow of the flashlight puddling out at his feet. In the dark, she wouldn’t have recognized him, his face rubbed black with char, a stocking cap over his head, even his hands covered in black wool gloves. She had closed the door behind them after Lucien led her across the yard to the barn, but at any moment the colonel might return, a fact evidenced by his tight grip on his revolver.

“What do you mean—ambushed?” She shot a look toward the window, where Zoë hid right behind the curtains.

Lucien stepped close, a hiss in his voice. “They knew we were coming—the Germans waited until we’d freed the Jews, and then they
simply descended. We got them out but—” He walked over to the ladder, stared up. “Cosmos is dead.”

“And Markos was captured.” She had to stop shaking. For Dino.

Perhaps that’s where the colonel had rushed off to—to torture the man she loved.

She gripped the side of a stall before her knees buckled. “How did they know?”

He considered her, as if debating his words.

“Lucien.”

“We think the colonel played you, Sofia. He probably even sent out decoy messages to lure Markos—any OSS agent here. The Germans would love to know the British plans for invasion. If they could trick an agent into embedding with the partisans, they’d have the perfect catch. You know the colonel’s been hunting us partisans for months, and I’ll bet he knew that you were a part of us—”

“No.”

“They planted the bait with Markos—leading the British to believe there was valuable cargo on the island, and then used the Jews to bait us to the monastery. They knew that after we’d been hiding them for two years, we weren’t going to let the Germans have them.” He glanced out the window toward the house. “Did he ever catch you doing anything—anything that would connect you to us?”

“No, of course n—oh.” She pressed her hand to her roiling stomach. It was probably no use—she felt like losing it right there in the hay and muck.

“What?” Lucien’s hand closed around her arm as he steadied her. “What?”

She closed her eyes, moaned out her words. “He found my hairpin. In his room. I thought maybe Zoë found it, but…” She covered her face. “Oh, Lucien, what have I done?”

“It’s not your fault.” But his tone said he didn’t believe his own words.

“We have to rescue him.”

“We?”

She rounded on Lucien. “Don’t you see? The colonel used me—it’s my fault Markos is being tortured—probably going to be…” Her breath caught, and she forced it out through clenched teeth. “Killed.
Killed.
Because I thought I could do something…” She held up her hands, backed away from him. “I’m going to go find the colonel. There has to be something I can do. I’ll beg for Markos’s life…”

“Markos? Markos is here?”

Oh. No. The voice trickled over her, so full of disbelief it shook Sofia to the core. She turned and wanted to cry at Ava’s expression.

“My son has returned to Zante?”

The woman stood in the doorway, her dark eyes alight, a lamp smoothing out the creases in her face. “When? How?”

No, it couldn’t end like this. Not with so much hope in Ava’s eyes. Sofia advanced on her, caught her strong, wrinkled hands. “He—
is
here. But…” Oh, she didn’t want to say it—looked away, in fact, even as Ava’s hand came up to rest on her cheek.

“Tell me, daughter.”

Oh, she was no daughter. Didn’t deserve to be. “The Gestapo caught him when he was freeing”—she glanced up—“a Jewish family.”

“The Germans found a Jewish family?”

“Yes. The colonel used me—he told me where to find them, and then used me to lure the partisans. Markos—he was captured.”

Ava stared at him as if she might be speaking Russian. “Markos—is a partisan? How long has he been here?” Her face darkened as she turned to Lucien. “How long?”

“Two days. He is with the OSS and came in on a mission.”

Ava drew that information in on a long breath. Then finally nodded, even as she moved away. “Of course he didn’t want me to know. He was worried for me.”

Sofia caught her hand. “He wanted to see you. But he didn’t want you hurt.”

Lucien turned away under Ava’s eyes.

“And now the Gestapo have him.”

She said it so calmly, just as she had faced every other catastrophe in her life.
My husband and eldest son are dead. My remaining sons have moved to America. I married a widower, watched him die of cancer.

Sofia refused to add the future—
I watched my son’s body hang from the town square.

“We have to rescue him.”

Lucien came to life, now striding past Ava, who stood at the bottom of the ladder, looking up at the haymow. “How? How do you suppose we’ll break into Gestapo HQ and rescue Markos?”

Sofia moved to the door, an eye on the house. Please, don’t let the colonel return home—but what if he was torturing Markos—oh! “I don’t know, Lucien! Maybe—maybe you can ask your father. He’s the magistrate—can’t he help?”

“My father would like to see all the partisans shot at dawn. You forget the German army pays him to turn over his people, to keep the so-called peace.” He shook his head. “He won’t help.”

“Wait—Markos told me there were Germans friendly to our cause. Perhaps they would help us?”

Lucien considered her. “Go on.”

“There were uniforms, right? Markos wore one when he helped me
escape last night. Maybe our people could wear them, and the guards—what if they could be persuaded to—”

“How? With what? Retsina? I might remind you that Markos hasn’t found anything of value—and he has nothing to barter with.”

“What will you do with these people?” Ava’s voice broke through his harsh tone.

Sofia ran her teeth over her lip, then, “We’ll take them with us. Markos had a plan to escape…” She looked away when she added, “And Dino and I were going to go with him. Our bag is packed, under the bed. I—wanted to start over.”

Ava didn’t move, her face still. Finally, “Of course you did.”

“Matera, I wanted you to come with us.” She let the endearment trickle out, afraid of the rush of emotions behind it.

Ava glanced at Lucien. “Give me the flashlight.”

He obeyed as if she had a sort of hypnosis over him. “Now—go to the house. Get Dino, and Zoë, tell her to pack, to come to us.”

Lucien met Ava’s eyes as Ava touched his cheek, her fingers running into all that char. “Then, you go and free my son, Lucien Pappos.”

Her touch held him a moment, and he seemed to breathe it in. Then he nodded, not unlike a small boy told to fetch the wine, and disappeared out the door.

“Sofia.” Ava caught her face in her hands. “Of course I will go with you. You are my family now. You and Dino and Zoë.”

Taking both hands, “I know where to hide these people. And then, I have an idea. Perhaps for such a time as this, Sofia, you have carried my most valuable possession across the sea and back. We will use it to save the life of my beloved son.”

“Your most valuable possession?”

She drew her shawl up over her head. “My topaz ring. I wore it last on
the day my oldest son was murdered. I sewed it into Galen’s coat and gave

it to Markos. I told him to never part with it. He obviously gave it to you.”

Sofia shook her head. “Dino gave it to me. Markos gave it to him.”

Ava smiled. “Of course he did. And you brought it home to Zante. The ring is sewn into the hem at the bottom. After we deliver our friends to safety, you will fetch it and give it to Lucien. He will use it to pay for Markos’s escape.”

“You trust Lucien after what his family did to yours?”

“I believe in Lucien’s heart. And I trust in God’s deliverance. Now, we must hurry. Every moment we delay brings more danger.” She stepped up the ladder, gathering her skirt as she climbed.

“You will be safe with us—come.”

She hopped back down, helping an elderly man down the ladder and to the floor.

He smiled at Sofia, patted her cheek. “I always knew you came back for a reason.”

“Dr. Alexio.” She’d expected him to be more gaunt, perhaps, but their host Greek family had harbored them well. Beneath the grime of his prison cell, he still bore the robust spirit she remembered from the day he delivered Dino.

“I didn’t know it was you—”

“And yet you came for us.” He kissed her on one cheek, then the other. Then reached out for a little girl who looked about seven. “This is my granddaughter, Ruth Ann.”

“Yes, I remember Ruth Ann, the baker.” She exchanged a smile with the girl—had it already been two years since she played with baby Dino on the floor of the taverna?

Sofia reached up for the next person—a woman she recognized as Ruth Ann’s mother.

The last down the ladder was an adolescent boy that Sofia vaguely remembered as a scoundrel who had tried to steal baklava from her taverna. Now all four refugees stood in the barn, radiating danger.

“Where are we taking them?” Sofia asked, fetching a horse blanket and tucking it over Alexio.

“To the caves—they’re below the olive grove.” Ava picked up a rope from one of the stalls. “We’ll tie ourselves together when we get to the caves. It’s dark, and we don’t want to get lost.”

She flashed the light out into the yard, farther, into the grove. The olive trees beckoned like gnarled fingers. “The caves lead to the sea. The Germans don’t know they even exist. Our friends will be safe there. As will Dino and Zoë and I while we wait for you and Markos to join us.”

She opened the door, gestured to the group, their pale faces, eyes glued to her light. “Follow me, and…hold on to each other.” She reached out her hand and took Alexio’s, flashing him a smile.

Alexio had probably delivered Markos and Dino also.

Ava stepped out into the darkness, clicked off the light.

Dots sprayed into Sofia’s vision, even as her eyes adjusted to the pitch. A hand reached out for hers, and she clasped it, fell in line with the others.

Please let Ava know where she’s going, what she’s doing
.

“Wait! Wait for us!”

Footsteps thumped across the dirt, and Sofia made out Zoë, Dino plastered to her body, a blanket in her hand. “Where are you going?”

Lucien ran up behind them, clutching Sofia’s satchel.

“We’re leaving—tonight.” Sofia pulled Dino into her arms. Caught his chin in her hand, “Are you okay,
xryso mou
?”

He nodded, his eyes so big in his face she could be lost in them forever. Yes, truly he was her treasure.

“That’s my brave boy.” She kissed Dino on the forehead, handed him back to Zoë. “You be good and stay with Auntie Zoë, and Mama will be right behind you. I promise.”