The Time Keeper (The Guardians of Time Book 1) (16 page)

She grinned.  ‘I’d never been so terrified in my life.  My heart was in my mouth the entire time and I was certain every German soldier I passed knew what I was doing and was going to shoot me.  But I made it to the meet point and successfully passed on the message.  And that’s how I got involved in the resistance.

‘It gave me purpose, but I was still angry and grieving.  I wasn’t looking to replace Charles and I kept myself to myself around the men.  Then I met Pierre.’

‘You’re with Pierre?’ Emilia exclaimed in surprise, thinking of the terse, scruffy guard who had stopped them at the entrance of the catacombs.  Now that she wouldn’t have picked.

Francoise chuckled, not at all perturbed by Emilia’s response.  ‘I know he doesn’t look like much and he doesn’t talk a lot, but that man has a heart as big as an elephant.  He ended up down here after the German’s commandeered his family home, tossing them all out in the street.  His father made the mistake of protesting, so they shot him right there in front of his family.  Pierre stuck around long enough to get his mother and sister settled with another family and then he volunteered for the resistance. 

‘So you see, he understood what it is to lose someone you love.  He used to just sit beside me, not saying a word, just being there.  One day, I had a particularly bad day and I couldn’t stop crying.  He wrapped his arm around me, pulled my head down to his shoulder and held me while I sobbed.  After that, we sort of became friends and over the course of time, we fell in love.  He wants to marry me, you know.’

She smiled.  ‘I still have hope that one day this is all going to be over and Pierre and I will be able to grow old together, without fear, and we’ll be able to walk in the sunshine hand in hand.  That’s not so very much to ask for, is it?’

‘No.  No, it’s not.’  Emilia was deeply touched and amazed.  She never would have thought the gruff guard could inspire such love in another person, but it was obvious from the glow in Francoise’s eyes she had been lucky enough to find love a second time.

Emilia turned to Veronique.  ‘What about you, Veronique?’

‘Perhaps I should have gone first, because my story is sure to disappoint after hearing Francoise’s tale,’ the other girl said ruefully.

‘I’d still love to hear it,’ Emilia encouraged.

‘My brother died early on in the war and, like Francoise, grief propelled my family into action.  It started out with small acts of sabotage that we devised ourselves.  We’d follow German officers in their cars and when they went inside we’d slash their tyres or drain their petrol, that sort of thing.  Then a few of us banded together and eventually we all got absorbed into what is now known as the resistance movement.

‘But I’m no hero.’  Veronique looked down at her hands twisting together on the table.  ‘I have a boyfriend, Gaston, who somehow has survived all these years of war on the front and continues to fight for our country.  He writes me letters as often as he can and I write back, encouraging him and giving him hope.  He wants to marry me when he gets home and I don’t have the heart to say otherwise because those soldiers need to have something to live for.’

She drew a deep breath and looked up at Emilia.  ‘But the truth is, I’m in love with Georges.  You haven’t met him yet.  He’s out with Henri and Anton sabotaging German supply lines.’

Emilia jerked to attention at the mention of Henri.  At last they had some information.  Not wanting to alert the women to her interest in Henri until she’d had a chance to speak to Seb, she encouraged Veronique to continue on with her story. 

‘I didn’t mean to fall in love with Georges, but like I said, when you spend so much time working together you can’t help but develop feelings for each other.  Gaston is a good man and when he comes home on leave I pretend everything is okay, because I can’t bear to break his heart while this war wages on.  But one day, I’m going to have to tell him and I’m dreading that day.’

She looked at Emilia with sad, wounded eyes.  ‘I’m so ashamed of myself.  It’s not fair to either man.  I keep Gaston’s hopes alive when there is no future between us and I hide my relationship with Georges when he would love nothing more than to marry me now.’  Her shoulders slumped.  ‘It’s such a mess and it just keeps going on and on.’

Emilia had to be careful what she said, but she felt such an intense need to give both these women, who had been so open with her, something to hold onto.  She leaned across the table and motioned the two girls closer, so what she had to say wouldn’t be overheard.

‘When we were in London before coming here, we were privy to a number of discussions at a high level of command,’ she said quietly.  ‘I can’t go into the details but I can tell you I truly believe the war is almost over.  This mission that we’re writing these messages for is going to be a big one and I think it’s going to be successful.  It won’t be long now.’

‘I hope you’re right,’ Veronique breathed and Francoise murmured her agreement.

Emilia was absolutely right, but she couldn’t tell them that.  Couldn’t tell them that in just a few short days Paris would be liberated, even though she very much wanted to.  So she settled back on her stool and returned to the coded message business.

Chapter 20

By the end of the day, the three women had a good-sized stack of messages ready to be discreetly distributed.  There were many ways in which coded messages were hidden and passed onto the appropriate people.  One way was through the use of poetry.  Emilia had originally thought to tackle the task of composing short love poems, cleverly containing the code words, which would reveal the hidden message.  However, her first few attempts were so woeful Francoise and Veronique had nearly fallen off their rickety stools they were laughing so hard. Clearly she didn’t have the heart of a poet.  In her defence, it was much harder to write decent poetry in a different language!

That particular task taken off her hands, Emilia had concentrated on compiling grocery lists.  The order of the list was dependant on the particular code word used for each item, so that reading the list from top to bottom revealed the message hidden within.  It was kind of fun.

She’d barely seen Seb all day.  He’d wandered over at some point in the afternoon to say he was going out with a couple of the guys to run some errands and then he’d taken all the messages the girls had completed to that point.  Obviously he was going to experience hands on how the resistance networked and interacted with their various branches. 

*

Seb was having a blast.  With Emilia safely back in the catacombs, he didn’t have anyone to stress about.  He knew it was crazy, but he was getting a kick out of sauntering past the German soldiers as though he didn’t have a care in the world.

Which was so far from the truth it was laughable.  Seb had a lot of cares… one big one in particular.  Waking up this morning with Emilia curled in his arms had knocked him for six.  He’d known it was a risk offering to keep her warm, but he could hardly lie there doing nothing while her teeth chattered uncontrollably and she died of hypothermia!

It was the way she made him act so out of character that bothered him the most.  She made him care, which he really didn’t want to do, and then he acted without thinking of the consequences… with instincts he’d thought long buried.  And he so badly wanted them to remain buried.  But every day he spent with her he could feel his resolutions and promises to himself crumbling. 

Why did she get to him so much?  He wondered if it was because he could never predict what she was going to do next.  He’d thought she’d be embarrassed to wake up in his arms, but oh no, not Emilia.  No, she’d been cool as a cucumber.  Which, now that he thought about it, really ticked him off.  Did he have no effect on her at all?  Because she certainly had an effect on him.  So much so, he didn’t know what to say to her.  And in that scary way she seemed to know what he was thinking, she’d guessed what was going on and promptly picked a fight.  He swallowed a rueful grin at the way she’d played him.

But he couldn’t stop thinking about how…
nice
it had felt to sleep with her tucked against him.  His fingers flexed unconsciously as he remembered the feel of her beneath his hands.  She’d felt so small and delicate, which he knew she wasn’t having experienced first hand just how tough she was.  That didn’t seem to matter though; when he was near her he just wanted to keep her close and look after her.  Which was why it had been a blessing to get away from her for a few hours, where he could stop stressing about what absurd thing he’d unthinkingly do next.

Seb frowned.  Here he was wandering through German occupied Paris, where at any moment a bomb might drop out of the sky or a soldier might take exception to his walk and decide to shoot him, and he was busy mooning over a girl who could never be his.  Geez, he was pathetic!

Shaking off his distraction, he brought himself back to the present.  He’d been partnered up with two men, Michel and Thierry, to take messages to a man known as Rochefort, whose particular role in the resistance movement was to cleverly disguise and distribute all messages.  Apparently there were many ways he did this; in fact, he was the very man Seb and Emilia had researched, who went as far as smuggling notes inside the skins of smelly cheeses.

Their task now completed, the three guys ambled seemingly nonchalantly through the streets of Paris.  But their route was far from aimless.  Dusk was nearly upon the city, the waning light perfect for a bit of spontaneous supply gathering.

Two German trucks rumbled past them and parked in front of the government buildings a little further up the road.  Thierry stopped, lounged casually against the building they were passing and began an exaggerated search of his pockets for a flask of alcohol.  Seb and Michel gathered around him, ostensibly just a bunch of workers sharing a precious drink before returning to their homes.

Six soldiers exited the two vehicles.  Five went into one of the buildings, while one remained to guard the trucks, a task he didn’t seem too bothered about.  He leaned his back against the door of the front truck, tossing his rifle negligently from hand to hand.

Thierry drew closer to the other two.  ‘Those soldiers only came out of the cabs of the trucks, so there mustn’t be anyone in the back.  Which means they’re probably on their way to the front with supplies.  It’s risky, but if we cross to the other side of the street and then cross back over once we’re level with the trucks, we might be able to get into the back truck without the guard seeing.  What do you think?’

‘It’s worth a shot,’ Michel replied.  ‘We won’t be able to take much though.  We’d never get it all back to the catacombs without someone noticing.’

‘Even if we get a couple of extra guns, it’s worth it.’  Weapons were difficult to come by, so no one person in the resistance had their own gun.  Instead all weapons were put in a stockpile and distributed as needed.  Thierry looked at Seb.  ‘Are you in?’

Seb nodded.  ‘Definitely.’

Making sure the guard was looking in the other direction, they crossed to the opposite side of the road and quickly walked the hundred or so metres until they were parallel with the trucks. Seb sent out a whisper of thought to muffle their footsteps as they crossed back over and came alongside the rear truck.  He couldn’t do anything too obvious, but a few subtle things, which neither of the men would notice, could help them tremendously.

Thierry glanced around quickly to make sure no one was around, then slid under the canvas covering the back of the truck and disappeared from sight.  Michel pressed himself against the edge of the truck, his eyes darting backwards and forwards, keeping watch. 

‘I’ll go and check the front,’ Seb whispered to Michel and dashed the length of the truck before the other man could protest. 

Being able to do magic was something Seb was still getting used to, but at times like this, he loved it!  He used his ability to appear invisible to everyone except Thierry and Michel, who would probably freak out if he suddenly evaporated into thin air, and hauled himself into the back of the front truck.  Not that he was invisible as such.  Rather, he simply willed the German soldier not to see him.

Inside the truck was a veritable treasure trove for the embattled resistance movement – guns, rations, blankets, boots, coats, knives, medical supplies and more.  Seb turned in a slow circle examining the bounty.  What did they need the most? 

A couple of laundry hampers on casters at the back of the truck caught his eye.  Inside them were neatly folded army uniforms, which he tossed out and quickly replaced with blankets, weapons, boots and a few miscellaneous medical supplies.  He wasn’t really sure what they had stored back in the catacombs, but he figured those things would be useful.  He knew for a fact they definitely needed blankets – and even if
they
didn’t, Seb and Emilia did.  For his own sanity, he needed to avoid any further nights with his arms wrapped around Emilia.

‘Seb!  We need to get out of here!’  Michel’s head popped up over the edge of the tailgate.  ‘We’re taking too long.’

Seb passed down the first hamper to Michel, whose eyes bulged.  ‘You’re joking, right?’ he hissed.

Seb grinned and climbed gingerly down from the truck, the second hamper balanced in his arms.  They both sidled around to the street side of the truck where Thierry was waiting, a couple of rifles shoved down the front of his pants.

Thierry stared at the hampers, his eyes popping incredulously.

‘Don’t worry about it,’ Seb whispered, before Thierry could protest.  ‘If we’re quick, we can get across the road and out of sight before the guard’s any the wiser.’

‘Alright, but let’s be quick about it,’ Thierry murmured.  He pointed at the castors on the hampers.  ‘Those wheels are going to make too much noise.’

‘Then we’ll carry them until we’re around the corner.’  Seb stood between the two men and handed Thierry the front of his hamper, keeping hold of the back himself.  Then he grasped the front of Michel’s hamper in his other hand, wedging himself between the two hampers.  Between the three of them they should be able to manage the combined weight.

The wheels wouldn’t have been a problem, of course.  Seb could have easily masked any noise, but Thierry and Michel would probably have been suspicious of the lack of sound and if he didn’t mask their hearing, they would have been terrified of being caught.  Seb did, however, make sure they were all invisible.  The two men darted nervous looks over their shoulders every few steps until they were all safely down the road and around the corner.  A few short alleyways later and Michel breathed an audible sigh of relief when they descended down into the welcome darkness of the catacombs.

Still unfamiliar with the twists and turns of the tunnels, Seb followed them to the cavern that had become base camp. 

‘This is one gutsy, and possibly stupid, guy,’ Thierry announced to the cavern at large. 

Everyone looked up, and Seb noticed Emilia eyeing him inquisitively.  She gave him the once over, her eyes running the length of his body, and satisfied he wasn’t hurt in any way, he watched her shoulders relax imperceptibly.  He’d never considered she might worry about him the same way he worried about her and it made him feel good to know she cared.  And there he went again with the crazy thinking!

‘What happened?’ Jean rose from the table, where he’d been making notes on the planned attack.

Michel pushed forward one of the hampers and reached back with both hands for the one Seb was holding.  ‘We came across a couple of supply trucks and decided to do a little looting.  But it seems Seb here doesn’t know the meaning of
little
,’ he explained with a quick grin in Seb’s direction, which Seb returned with a self-deprecating shrug.  ‘He managed to raid all of
this
!’

Jean walked across the room to look over the haul.  ‘I’m not saying I’m not grateful for more supplies, but that was a hell of a risk.  What if you’d been caught?’

That hadn’t been a possibility, but he couldn’t tell Jean that, so he tried to look shamefaced.  ‘You’re right.  I was reckless.  My apologies.’

Jean clapped him on the shoulder.  ‘It takes guts to do what we’re all doing.  You did alright, son.’  He looked at Michel.  ‘Let’s get this stuff sorted and put away.’

With the attention safely off him, Seb wandered over to Emilia and sank onto the stool beside her.  She nudged him in the side, her eyes knowing.  ‘Good work,’ she said quietly.  ‘They have so little down here.’

He nodded.  ‘I got plenty of blankets.  You’ll be a bit more comfortable tonight.’

Her eyes seemed to laugh at him.  ‘Oh, I was perfectly comfortable last night.  You make quite a delicious blanket… all strong and manly, but so gentle and warm!’ she teased. 

Seb glared at her resentfully.  ‘Why do you get such a kick out of making me squirm?’

‘Because you always seem so contained and aloof,’ she said promptly.  Then she laughed.  ‘It’s kind of fun watching you come unravelled.  And before you get all uppity, ask yourself this – how would you feel if I stopped teasing you?’

‘Grateful, happy… relieved!’ he rattled off.  But the truth was, he sort of liked her banter and liked being able to tease her back.  It was the way they operated and it seemed to work.  If he was honest, he preferred it to the intensity of working with Megan.

‘Really?’ Emilia asked, her brow arched and a smile still dancing around the corners of her mouth, not the least bit put off by his rebuff. 

He sighed, defeated for the moment.  What was the point in lying to her anyway?  She always seemed to know the truth.  ‘No, not really.  If you stopped,
I’d
have to stop and where would be the fun in that?’

‘Exactly!’

‘Do you tease Justin this mercilessly?’ he asked curiously.  He shouldn’t have asked, but he wanted to know what her relationship was like with the other guy in her life.  Even though he couldn’t be with her himself, there was a small part of him that wanted to believe she had a better time with him than with her boyfriend.  Okay, a really big part of him.  He wasn’t proud of it, but that was just the way it was.  No point pretending otherwise.

‘Uh, no.  He doesn’t take to teasing all that well; he’s a bit precious like that.’  She flashed him a mischievous grin.  ‘Which is probably why you cop so much of it.  I have to behave myself with Justin, but it kind of builds up inside, you know, and it has to be let out.  Not that there’s been much cause to tease lately.’