Spook's Gold (34 page)

Chapter Thirty Five

Lemele was amazed to find that the train was crowded; she had to search through four carriages just to find a free space for one person. She deposited her bag on the seat by way of reserving it, showing her police identity to the people sitting on either side and ordering them to watch her bag and make sure that no one took the place. Both of them, a middle aged woman who appeared to be travelling alone and a younger woman accompanied by an elderly man, nodded vigorously. She was unaccustomed and uncomfortable with exercising authority in this manner, but this was a necessity.

When she returned to the carriage a few minutes later with Marner, none of them were happy to see that her travelling companion was a German officer. Lemele eased him down into the seat and he fell instantly asleep. By the time that she had stepped back into the corridor, there being no other vacant seat and no one willing to give her one, he had slumped over sideways and was snoring open-mouthed on the older woman’s shoulder. The look of horror on the woman’s face caused Lemele to turn away to hide her fit of giggles, and she was not surprised when the woman left the carriage a minute later with her suitcase in hand, in search of another seat. This was perfect for Lemele, who promptly woke Marner and moved him across into the seat vacated by the woman so that he could lean up against the sidewall of the compartment to sleep. She then sat down in the space where he had been. All in all, a good result.

Whilst they waited in the stifling heat for the train to get under way, Lemele inspected the other passengers in the carriage. With the exception of the elderly man, the others were women and children. There were three children in the compartment, all of whom eyed Marner warily. Lemele smiled at the eldest boy, who was approximately ten years of age, but on spotting this his mother told him to look out of the window.

The journey towards Rennes passed quietly and agreeably for Lemele. Having been labelled and associated with Marner by the other occupants of the carriage, they avoided eye contact with her. Whilst irritating on one level, at least it meant that she was not obliged to make small talk that might lead to questions about where they were going and why. From the background chatter of the others she established that the majority of them were going to destinations south and west of Normandy to wait out the battle that they assumed was going to sweep across the region as the Allies moved to take Paris.

When the train guard came through the carriage an hour after they had departed from Conches to check tickets, she held out her police identity and Marner’s papers stating only “Police business.”

“But do you have tickets?” asked the guard, uncomfortable but determined to stick to the regulations.

“No,” stated Lemele. She then replaced the papers back into her bag, folded her arms and closed her eyes as if to sleep, subject terminated. Unable to see his face, it took all of her willpower not to open her eyes to look. She heard him sigh and, when he asked the others in the carriage for their tickets, knew that she had won.

Before leaving Conches Lemele had checked the list of stops along the route and had decided that they would get off at Chateaubourg, which was the last station before Rennes. Hopefully this would reduce the risk of a security check such as they had encountered at the station in Evreux. Her assumption was that security would be very tight at Rennes, it being the largest town in the east of Brittany and in particular a hub for travel in the region which included major military installations such as the submarine bases at Brest and Lorient. Her main problem was that she was unfamiliar with the region and its geography. The vague outline of the plan was therefore to leave the train at Chateaubourg and circulate around the outskirts of Rennes by minor roads, distance and mode of transport yet to be defined. They would then take a train onwards from a minor station on the other side of Rennes.

She was fully aware that this sketchy level of detail hardly warranted the grand title of ‘plan’. They hit a major problem when they arrived at Chateaubourg station. Lemele had woken Marner and hauled him to his feet as soon as she had sensed the train slowing for the stop, shouldering their bags and shoving him out of the compartment and along the corridor towards the toilet cubicle. It seemed to be permanently occupied; the door was locked although there was silence from within. Instead, they moved further along to the very end of the corridor where they were out of view of the occupants of the nearest compartment. Lemele had come to the conclusion that for the next phase of their journey he would attract less attention if he were not swaddled in bandages. So whilst she quickly unwound the yards of white cotton from his head and neck, she explained what she proposed to do. He groggily agreed with her proposal and helped to put the bandages into his bag, donning his uniform cap.

There was a shock waiting for them when they pulled into the station where they were to leave the train. The platform was teeming with Wehrmacht and their barking, snarling dogs. Immediately that the train stopped it was boarded by SD officers, whilst the soldiers remained on the platform stopping and detaining anyone who got off. The SD worked their way rapidly along the carriages and Lemele had to fight a rising panic; were they going to be caught so easily after having got this far?  Still frantically searching for an idea when the SD entered their carriage, she almost collapsed with relief when they apologised to Marner for the delay and the trouble, asking if he had seen two civilian men in their twenties for whom they were searching. Marner told them no, wished them good hunting and the SD moved on.

Lemele and Marner debated whether they should still get off at this station. Her concern was that it might appear suspicious that they had waited a couple of minutes before descending from the train. It became a moot point when a whistle blew and the train jolted into motion.

As the train clacked on through the countryside, Lemele guessed that it must be only ten minutes at most until they rolled into Rennes. Therefore, when the train suddenly braked and then slowed to a halt, she did not hesitate. Handing him his bag, she opened the door to the exterior landing at the end of the carriage and stepped out, motioning him to follow. Checking from both sides of the landing, looking up and down the length of the track, she could see no apparent reason for the stop. The beginning of the urban sprawl that was the outskirts of Rennes was visible a few kilometres in the distance.

On the south side of the train was a road running parallel to the track; on the north side was a lush green field bordered with trees and bushes. Selecting the latter on the basis that it would provide some cover whilst they oriented themselves, certainly better than standing on an open road in full view of the train passengers, she prompted Marner to descend on that side and then help her down.

The rail track was on a steep embankment that was three metres above the field. If they went down the slope they would become visible to the passengers and, therefore, once on the ground she told him to follow her as she crouched and hobbled as fast as possible over the shingles and ends of the track sleepers towards the rear of the train. In this way they kept close against the wheels of the carriages so that they were below and out of sight of the occupants in their seats.

Nearing the end of the last passenger carriage, Lemele motioned him to halt and be silent; someone was on the landing at the rear and she could hear voices and see cigarette smoke drifting across. She prayed that whoever was there would not move to the edge and look along the side of the train, since the pair of them would make a very curious sight crouching there. After what seemed like an eternity but was only thirty seconds, the train lurched into motion again. As the rear of the last carriage crept past them she dared to look up, fearing that someone might still be there. It was a huge relief to see that it was empty; fortunately for them, whoever had been there had gone back inside.

The train line was heading directly west towards Rennes and they needed to reach the coast to the north-west of the town. In the absence of any local knowledge to give them a reason to take or avoid a particular route or part of the countryside, Lemele proposed that they work their way around the north of the city, based simply on it being the more direct route. Marner docilely nodded his assent, his only interest being to know if she had anything to eat. Again she was concerned that he seemed uninterested in the decision making, in discussing the pros and cons. They had gone from a situation where he was dominant, almost dictatorial in decision making to one where he was entirely passive. Leaving aside that he was not his usual assertive self, easily attributed to his injury, she was being forced to assume a role that she was unaccustomed to playing.

They slithered down the embankment and in the shade of trees bordering the field she handed him one of the cheese-filled baguettes that she had purchased in Conches. The smell of the ripe Camembert made her realise that she too was ravenous and they both demolished the sandwiches with gusto. Lemele had purchased two for each of them but did not tell Marner this, wanting to save something for later since there was no assurance of when they would next find food. She hoped that one of the villages ahead would have a pension or some basic accommodation for the night. But their first priority now was security and avoiding unnecessary questions and attention. Unfortunately they had nothing to drink and so they would have to find something at one of the villages along their route, or take the risk of drinking from a stream or river.

Leaving the cover of the trees, they set off along the rutted dirt track that skirted around the edge of the field, turning onto a gravel path that ran alongside it, heading north. After just a kilometre they joined a road and crossed an ancient and ornate stone bridge over the River Villaine. From the elevated bridge, Lemele could see a small wood ahead straddling the road. Beyond that and above the trees were the roofs of buildings that she guessed was a village.

As they followed the road through the wood towards the village it forced her to confront the fact that she did not have a clue regarding how they were going to get to the other side of Rennes to pick up a train going further west. Realistically, the first rail stop on the other side of the city might be twenty kilometres or more from their current position. She was not equipped, in particular her shoes, for walking any distance. There also remained the problem that they had no papers or permits that gave them any reason or justification to be out here if they were challenged at a check point. This meant that any road was dangerous. Marner’s uniform was useful for bluffing their way around Paris and with civilians who were unfamiliar with the SD organisation, but out here in the countryside on foot he was like a fish out of water.

Lemele paused as they were about to emerge from the wood. It was indeed a village, though large enough to merit a Mairie – the town hall. She decided that it would be best to leave Marner there in the wood; individually they would arouse curiosity in the inhabitants of such a small village, but together, civilian and SD uniform with luggage, they would stand out for sure. So she explained to Marner that he must remain hidden in the trees and that she would be back before nightfall, which was probably two hours away. Hopefully she would have something to eat and drink, as well as somewhere to sleep and some transport planned for tomorrow. He tried to argue with her on the grounds that it might be dangerous and that perhaps he should go instead. Lemele took this obstinacy as a good sign, that he was shaking off the confusion and lassitude that Doctor Corneille had advised might be a side effect of his concussion. In this instance she overrode him, however, insisting that a civilian woman could move around with far less suspicion in a country village.

Together they found him a dry spot to sit down that was well hidden from the road by shrubbery and branches and Lemele reassured him once again that she would be back before nightfall. Back on the road and walking the remaining kilometre to the village, she passed a field that held the black and white dairy cows that had always been associated in her mind with the region. They were sharing their pasture with a half dozen horses. Something that Doctor Corneille had said to her that morning came to her and she strode on, an idea forming in her mind.

----

Later that evening, far later than planned, she re-entered the trees where Marner was secreted. With the sun almost set, this shaded eastern side of the wood had plunged to almost complete darkness beneath the canopy of branches. Lemele could just make out the black outlines of the tree trunks, but no more. The branches were snagging and pulling at her and she was forced to back out of a tangle of brambles that she had stumbled into, one ankle now stinging from the scratches of the thorns. Lemele realised that she must have misjudged the direction and so had no proper idea of where he might be. “Dieter!” she hissed, wondering if he had fallen asleep again.

“Here.”  The reply came from just a few metres behind her, causing Lemele to shriek in fright. Marner stepped out from a dark mass that might be a bush or a clump of trees, lowered and holstered his pistol. “What took you so long?”

“It took me a while to find out the information I needed and then to find the right people. Then on the way back I had to dodge a German patrol; they are very jumpy and enforcing a strict curfew. Rennes was bombed twice by the Allies in the last few days, added to which there are Allied paratroopers being dropped around the region and the Maquis are very active.”  She handed him the spare sandwich that she already had in her bag, together with a bottle of fresh milk that she had obtained in the town.

“Are you not hungry?” he asked, munching on a mouthful of baguette.

“No. I ate in the tavern in the town.”

Fortunately it was too dark for her to see the half-masticated mouthful of food in his gaping jaw. “What?” he spluttered, spraying crumbs. “You mean to say that you left me out here for hours, getting eaten alive by bugs while you had a nice meal, and then you bring me back a stale sandwich!”