Chapter Twenty-Two

The knot in Ava's stomach had never been tighter. She hurried down the pavement, head down, glancing up only to cross the road. At any moment she expected someone to shout out, and to hear the heavy fall of boots pounding on the concrete behind her – her only hope was that the chaos caused by the bombings would work to her advantage. Seeing those men stationed outside her apartment block had confirmed her worst fears – they were looking for her family, which meant that nowhere was safe. It wouldn't take long for word to spread around the office that she'd disappeared; as soon as they emerged from the basement they'd see she wasn't there, and she remembered only too well how quickly Lina had disappeared when she'd been blamed for the missing papers. If they found her? She didn't even want to imagine the interrogation that would follow, or what the sadistic SS men could do to her in an effort to extract as much information from her as possible.

She paused outside the grocer's, glancing around to make sure no one was watching her. The last thing she wanted was to lead the SS straight to Eliana. She was almost certain that no one could know about Eliana's real identity, and she wanted to keep it that way.

Ava waited for another moment to be certain, before pushing past the queue of people with their ration books in hand. They were so desperate for food that even the air raid siren hadn't made them move, for fear of losing their place in line.

‘Excuse me,' she said, as many people grumbled at her and tried to block her from moving past. Ava held up her hands. ‘I'm not shopping, I'm looking for someone. Please, let me through.'

It took her only a moment to spot Eliana once she was through the crowd – she was busy restocking a shelf, her back to Ava. It appeared that the goods were going faster than she could restock, the food supplies in Berlin much more restricted than they'd been even a few months earlier, and Ava could see the desperation in the eyes of those waiting. She expected that she didn't look out of place – only her wide-eyed desperation was for another reason entirely.

‘Eliana,' Ava hissed, ignoring more muttering from behind her as she pushed through the smaller line gathered inside the store. ‘Eliana!'

Eliana turned, smiling when she saw Ava. But she must have immediately read the expression on Ava's face, for her smile disappeared and her eyes widened, and she quickly stepped down from the little ladder she was on, brushing her hands on her apron as she came towards her.

Ava inclined her head towards the other side of the store, grabbing hold of Eliana's arm and pulling her close as they walked to the furthest point, so no one could overhear them.

The way Eliana looked at her, the fear on her face, made Ava want to pull her close and hold her, to reassure her that she would keep her safe. But if she did that, she'd be lying. There was no one who could keep them safe now, no one who could rescue them – they were on their own. If her father's work had been compromised, which she had every reason to believe had happened, then she doubted even he could find a way to help, to follow through with his plan to take the fall for all of them. Ava cleared her throat as emotion pricked at her eyes, thinking of her beloved papa. Will I ever see him again?

‘They know.'

‘They're looking for you?' Eliana visibly swallowed. ‘For me? They know what we're involved in? What your—' She leaned even closer, her lips whispering into Ava's ear. ‘What your family has done?'

‘We have to presume they know everything, that they will be seeking to arrest me, Hanna and my mother,' Ava whispered in reply. ‘I'm certain I wasn't followed, but if they know about my family's involvement, about my involvement, if they know about my father—'

‘Then they could know about my family. And me.'

‘Yes, or they could simply want to arrest anyone connected to us, which includes you because they think you're our family. And they could very well be on their way to the country house now.'

‘The apartment has already been compromised?'

She nodded. ‘There were SS men stationed outside. We have to leave the city; they won't stop looking for us.'

Ava gripped Eliana's hand tightly, wishing things were different, that they could have had longer, that everything had worked out as it was supposed to. She also wished that there was some way they could warn Eliana's family, because right now the Goldmans were in grave danger with nowhere to go. The attic was the first place they'd look if they stormed the house, and there was only so far David could protect them with one gun.

‘We have to leave now, Eliana. There's no time.'

Eliana pulled her hand from Ava's and disappeared from sight. Ava looked around, nervously considering everyone in the queue, although no one seemed interested in two young women with their heads bent, whispering. They were all far more concerned with their stamps and peering around to see what was left on the barely stocked shelves. Food had a way of doing that – before the war, all the old ladies would have been craning their necks to hear what it was they were whispering, and now they argued over sausage meat and bread, their growling, aching stomachs all they cared about.

When Eliana reappeared she was hand in hand with Ethan, who had turned a ghostly shade of white. Ava watched on as Eliana stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek, wishing they had the luxury of time so that she could let them say goodbye properly. Ethan was a good man, and he didn't deserve to lose Eliana like this – it was obvious to anyone watching that they'd fallen in love in the short time they'd had together.

‘I have family just outside Cologne,' he said, as Ava moved closer to them, his voice only loud enough for her and Eliana to hear. ‘If you make your way there, they will give you somewhere to stay, even if it's just for a night to rest. You can trust them, I promise, and as far as I know their home is untouched by the bombing, so they should still be there.'

‘Thank you,' Ava said. She needed to thank him for so much – for not only taking Eliana in, but for the help he'd provided to others, and for risking his life. But there was no time, and so she settled for giving him a quick hug once he'd scribbled the address on a piece of paper.

‘Look after her,' he said.

‘I will,' Ava replied, tucking the note safely inside her brassiere so that no one would find it. ‘There's nothing I wouldn't do to save her.'

Eliana switched her hold from Ethan's hand to hers, and the two women hurried from the store, pushing past the line of people who were far happier to move aside for people leaving than they had been to let Ava through when she'd arrived. But they'd barely set foot outside when Ethan ran after them, calling out.

‘Wait!'

Ava turned, her palm still pressed to Eliana's.

‘Take these,' he said, breathless as he thrust a set of keys at them. ‘Take the delivery truck, no one will think to stop you if you're driving that.'

They both looked at the truck, only just visible from where it was parked around the corner.

‘Ethan, if they find us in your truck, they could link us back to your store, and then—'

‘Please,' he said, giving the keys to Ava, his eyes trained on Eliana. ‘Take them. I need to know you have a way to leave the city. Go and save your family.' He paused. ‘I'll find you, Eliana, after all of this, I promise. But you'll never get out of the city in time if you don't take the truck.'

Eliana threw her arms around him as Ava glanced away, kissing him, her fingers tangled in his short curls, until he pulled away and began to walk backwards.

‘Look after her, Ava. Please keep her safe, I'm trusting you with her life.'

Ava nodded, clutching the keys in her palm, and watched as he ran back to the store, turning at the door to look at Eliana one last time. She doubted either of them would ever forget Ethan's kindness; there were good men, and then there were great men, and Ethan was certainly one of the latter. If there was anything else he could have done for Eliana, Ava didn't doubt for a moment that he would do it.

‘You take the truck,' Ava said, pressing the keys into Eliana's hand. ‘You need to drive to the hospital to warn Hanna, and then meet me at the house once you have her. They will know exactly where to look for her, so you must go quickly.'

‘What about you? How will you get there?'

Ava wrapped her arms around Eliana, hugging her tightly. ‘I'll find a way. Please don't worry about me, just get yourself and my sister to the house. All I want is for you to be safe.'

‘You're certain we shouldn't stay together? That we wouldn't be better—'

‘Eliana, there were men waiting outside my apartment block.' Our apartment block – that was what she should have said. Only, Eliana's family were living in her attic, and a Nazi family had been moved into the Goldmans' apartment, surrounded by their beautiful furniture and priceless art collection. ‘They know who I am, they're expecting to find me, but chances are they won't know what you look like. It's safer for you to be alone.'

Eliana didn't look convinced when she broke their embrace. Tears shone from her eyes and she started to slowly back away – so slowly, as if she still wasn't convinced that she should go.

‘You're certain?'

Ava forced a smile to reassure her. ‘I am.'

‘Tell my family that I love them,' Eliana said. ‘If you get there before me, tell them I'm coming.'

Ava nodded. ‘I will, and I'll keep them safe, I know what I have to do when I get there.'

Her father had warned her what could happen, had told her how to react if there were any signs that their work had been detected or if there were suspicions about the Goldmans, only he'd always expected that his work would be discovered, not hers. But everything had changed now that she was on the run. Executing the plan once she got home wasn't the problem; it was how to get there that she was struggling with.

She looked around, spying a bicycle leaning against a storefront. Ava had never stolen anything in her life before, and she most certainly couldn't pedal all the way to Bogensee, but it was a start. Hopefully once she made it so far, she could find a faster mode of transportation to travel the rest of the way.

She stood for a second as she heard the rumble of an engine, knowing that Eliana had started the truck, before walking quickly to the bike and taking it, wheeling it for a second, then throwing herself up on to the seat and riding away. She pedalled as fast as her legs were capable, praying that no one would see her and cry out that she'd stolen it, or chase after her and alert the authorities, but once she'd travelled a few blocks, she was confident she'd gotten away with it.

Now all I have to do is get home. Which was easier said than done. Without the SS seeing me, without someone recognising me, without being caught. Without the Goldmans and her mother being found at the house before she got there.

For the first time in her life, Ava wished she had a gun, because if it came to protecting herself or her mother she didn't doubt that she'd be able to use it.

She pushed even harder on the pedals, panic propelling her forward, sweat curling over her lip and across her forehead as her breath came in fast pants. And that was when she saw a farm truck rumbling along the road, slowing down and then coming to a complete stop at a corner.

Ava saw her chance and changed direction slightly to catch up to it, pedalling up fast behind and managing to jump off her stolen bicycle and launch on to the back without the driver seeing. She tucked down low when it started up again, looking out only to check they were going in the right direction. With any luck, she'd only have to walk part of the way, although she wasn't entirely certain how she'd disembark if he didn't slow down near her turn-off.