Code Name Sapphire by Pam Jenoff

Author:Pam Jenoff
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Park Row Books
Published: 2022-12-02T20:34:07+00:00

20

Micheline

Micheline walked into the darkened movie theater. A mottled black-and-white film played across the screen as she carefully chose a seat. The theater was empty except for a few German soldiers on leave and a young couple looking for privacy in the last row. The smell of stale popcorn and beer took her back to the trips to the cinema she had made with Matteo as a child. How she wished now she might linger in the cool, dark space and forget for a while, but there was no time. A man she did not recognize came down the aisle to her row. He used a crutch and moved with a slow, awkward gait. He slid into the row and sat down next to her, reeking of alcohol. He pressed a piece of paper into her hand. Just as quickly and without a word, he left again, leaving her alone.

She exited the cinema and stepped onto the Frère-Orban Square. Making sure that there was no one standing close, she uncurled the slip of paper and read it under a pool of yellow light cast by the streetlamp. 13 Bonderstraat, Dienstag, the message said, signaling the location closest to the barn in Lafelt where the airman was meant to be hiding, and that she was to retrieve him on Tuesday, tomorrow.

Micheline was more apprehensive than usual, now that the convoy of other airmen had been arrested. Whoever had betrayed them might have revealed the whereabouts of the wounded man as well. Part of her considered not going. But she couldn’t refuse. She had made a promise to rescue the airman in exchange for Hannah’s exit. Though the first part of that plan had fallen apart, there was still a downed flier out there, and she couldn’t renege now and leave him stranded. She would take her own precautions, however, by going a day earlier than expected. She would leave tonight.

Micheline lingered on the street corner, waiting now for lights to go out in the tower of Saint Joseph’s Church, a signal that it was late and dark enough to depart safety. Nightfall—and the cover it provided—was essential. When the church lights went dark, Micheline started from the square toward the alley where her motorbike was parked, walking it with the engine off until she was far enough away from the crowded neighborhood where the sound might attract attention.

Micheline reached the outskirts of the city, taking the side roads to avoid the police checkpoints. She drove faster now, the icy wind sharp across her cheeks. Lafelt was just under forty kilometers from the city, and she wished that she could make the whole trip by motorbike, but it was not ideal for transporting the airman. Instead, she drove to the rail station in Kortenberg, a suburb east of the city, and parked her bike behind it. There was an old Citroën in the station lot, which the network kept for errands such as this one. She found the key in the tire well and started the engine.

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