Henderson's Boys #07 - Scorched Earth by Robert Muchamore

Author:Robert Muchamore [Muchamore, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Kindle
ISBN: 9781444914085
Publisher: Hachette Children's Books
Published: 2013-02-06T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY

‘How far are we walking?’ Henderson asked, as he glanced around warily.

Gaspard had led him out of the Gare de Rouen and now they were on a cobbled street. Areas close to stations usually had checkpoints, or at least a German presence, but the local garrison was busy dealing with the aftermath of the bombings and securing the route for the 108th.

‘Twenty minutes, maybe.’

Henderson wondered if Gaspard was giving him the run-around, knowing that his resistance colleagues would soon find the two bodies in the station café. But on the other hand, it was natural for a resistance group to keep their supplies somewhere remote.

‘If you’re messing with me …’ Henderson said.

Gaspard cracked a sly smile. ‘You’ll kill me in a horrible way, blah, blah, blah … I’ve heard your spiel already, Englishman.’

The walk took them out of the city centre, passing main roads closed down for the 108th. They saw no military vehicles, because most had arrived before daylight, while the Tigers and their escort vehicles were unlikely to hit town for another couple of hours.

‘We have to cross the river,’ Gaspard said.

Three of Rouen’s road bridges had been shut off for the 108th. The fourth was a melee of locals, queued back a kilometre with bicycles and handcarts. But trains crossed the river too. A pair of railway policemen nodded reverentially to Gaspard as he led Henderson across the Seine via a metal gangway alongside train tracks.

‘It’s still not too late,’ Gaspard said, as he held a hand over his cap to stop a warm river breeze from blowing it away. ‘I’ll put you on the next train to Paris. My people wouldn’t dare follow you into Ghost’s territory, although it would be wise not to return to Rouen after what you’ve done.’

Henderson laughed. ‘But I’d report back to my superiors and tell them to stop supplying your group with equipment. Give me some equipment. With luck I’ll get myself killed, and you’ll have no more bother.’

Gaspard had lost two men, but still laughed at Henderson’s logic. At the end of the bridge the two tracks split, with some heading east to Paris and others hugging the side of the river. An express steamed past as Gaspard clambered over a patch of weeds and kicked away gravel to expose a rectangular metal cover.

He strained as he pulled it up. Henderson thought Gaspard was opening a drain, but a metal ladder led down to a narrow concrete chamber with a puddled floor.

‘You first,’ Henderson said. Then, as his eyes adjusted to the gloom below ground, ‘What is this?’

‘There was once an engine shed here,’ Gaspard explained. ‘There were tracks above and this was an inspection pit.’

Henderson was impressed that Gaspard’s resistance circuit had such a perfect hiding place. The floor was damp, so metal racks had been run along each side. The neatly organised contents must have come from several hundred containers, dropped by different Allied nations. There was tinned food and milk from the USA, canned beef

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.