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“But violence attracts those who like cruelty,” he added, as if he could read her thoughts, or guess them. “When the fight gets tough, we use what we can.”
Somewhere ahead of them there was shouting, but this time no gunfire.
Aiden pulled her to a stop. “That way.” He pointed, and without saying anything more, he started out again. Not quickly, but at a steady pace, as if they were not fugitives. They must not attract attention by obviously heading somewhere. Anyone obviously fleeing would be noticed. They avoided all the main thoroughfares, rather seeming to meander as tourists might. Several times they circled round places where there were soldiers, taking the longer, more circuitous route, but always getting closer to the docks.
They stopped for a break and something to eat. He looked at her anxiously. “Are you all right?”
Elena was tired. Her legs ached and she was glad to sit down, but she was no longer as frightened as she had been in the beginning. They had seen no more violence. They were in a better part of the city. It was almost as if nothing had happened, except that they were growing closer. The years apart had melted away, like a dream in the night, gone with daylight’s return.
As if he recognized her thoughts, he said, “It’s like old times, isn’t it?” He put his hand out across the table, in the café where they sat, his palm up and open.
She reached out and touched his fingertips. It was a gesture of communication, rather than ownership. It was comfortable, as between equals. That was so different. She used to feel so much as if he were the leader, and she was privileged to follow. Now she kept up, she had her own value. She smiled back at him.
When they left, the sun was lower, the shadows longer across the pavement and into the narrow streets. Perhaps that was a good thing; they were definitely close to the waterfront now. This was the oldest part of the city: not the smart, rich area with the exquisite views, but the old industrial port.
They walked along a narrow pavement toward the dock. There was not far to go. It seemed that if anyone was trying to stop them, they had given up.
“This was a good idea,” she said softly.
“Less than a mile to go and we’ll start looking for boats waiting to take the evening tide.”
“Do you know the tides?”
“Of course.” He smiled with black humor. “I knew this might happen.”
“What does the Fatherland Front want to do, other than have Austria join Germany? How is that not a political decision?”
“Big political decisions aren’t made without getting the people on your side first,” Aiden said with a laugh in his voice. “Sometimes it takes one decisive action, and then people accept it and follow. That’s what the Fatherland Front wants, and Chancellor Dollfuss does not.”
“And England doesn’t.”
“Of course not. England wants Hitler stopped wherever possible, or most of England does. That’s why we have to get home. At least one of us must get this list of financial contributors to MI6. Given our experience, we know that wars are expensive. A waste of steel, of brick and stone. Above all, of lives.”
They were in a shadowed alley. At the far end of it, a figure moved rapidly, then seemed to disappear.
Aiden pulled Elena to a stop almost roughly.
She did not move quickly enough to avoid being yanked, and almost lost her balance. “What is it?” she whispered suddenly. The calm was shattered, the momentary island of certainty.
“Someone at the end of the alley. A man. He moved as if he didn’t want to be seen,” Aiden replied, his mouth close to her ear.
“Maybe he’s frightened, too,” she suggested.
“I don’t think so.” His voice was low, tense. “There’s not much difference between the hunter and the hunted, but it’s there if you know. Stay behind me and be ready to move the second I say.”
Closer to the wall now, they both moved forward, almost inching along the shadowed stone, occasionally glancing down at the chipped pavement.
A man moved across the street, the lowering sun bright on his face for a moment. Then he was gone. He did not even glance toward them. Were they invisible in the shadow of the wall? Or did he simply not care?
Elena stayed as close as she could to Aiden.
They were almost at the end of the street when the shot rang out, shattering the silence in the narrow space. It slammed against the stone wall above Aiden’s head, just slightly too high to strike him.
He froze.
Elena stood half behind him, her heart thumping wildly.
“Keep still,” Aiden whispered.
