Wuolijoki made a move to follow them and call for help but Freddie roughly pushed him aside. "Stay where you are, little man," he cried, 'or you'll be sorry you ever met us. You can't expect us to stay here and be hanged because we shot a few Gestapo swine to get you that report."
"That's the stuff to give 'em, Freddie," Gregory muttered he had the door open and was peering down the passage to see that the coast was clear when he found Erika beside him.
"I'm going with you," she said. "I must; otherwise God knows when I shall see you again."
It was no time to start an argument and Gregory knew that Erika could be as pigheaded as a mule. The bombing had eased little in the immediate neighbourhood and he felt confident hat if they could get clear of the police headquarters they would soon find equally good shelter elsewhere.
Wuolijoki stood there scowling but impotent. He realized that it was two strong, desperate men against one small one and. snivelling, crepitating lump of fear, so he made no further effort to stop them as they slipped out into the passage.
Having locked the door behind them Gregory abandoned all precautions and taking Erika by the arm walked forward with a quick, confident step. On the stairs they almost collided with a policeman who was clutching a fire hatchet, but the man took no notice of them and hurried past, intent upon his own urgent business. Up in the front hall the crowd of police had disappeared. There was only a sergeant there and he was gabbling furiously into a desk telephone. He never even looked up as they marched out.
On the doorstep Gregory paused. Across the road a building was in flames. Further along a block of flats was a smoking ruin; in front of it lay piles of debris that had fallen into the road: completely obscuring the pavement for about a hundred yards. An ambulance came clanging down the street and the little crowd of fire fighters who were busy opposite began to carry creaming, wounded people out to it.
"Come on," said Gregory, and with Erika beside him he ran down the steps and along the street towards a big square of sand bags which bore a placard that he guessed to be the Finnish equivalent of A.R.P. Shelter.
As they ran the planes were still circling low over the house tops; some were machine gunning the Red Cross workers in the, streets. Further away in the direction of the harbour bombs more were still detonating with a horrid crump every few seconds. Great clouds of black smoke were pouring up into the sky from a number of burning buildings. A one decker bus came careering down the street with another fire fighting squad in it. There, was a burst of machine gun fire from a swooping plane; the driver was riddled with bullets and slumped over his wheel; the bus, now out of control, suddenly swerved, mounted the pavement and crashed through a shop window.
They were half way to the shelter when a woman staggered out of a house just in front of them, carrying a little girl. The child's left foot hung half severed from the leg which was mutilated and bleeding, with only a rough tourniquet twisted above the calf to check the flow of blood. The woman seemed dazed and panic stricken so Gregory snatched the child while Erika and Freddie seized the woman by the arms and they all dashed on together. Machine gun bullets spattered the pavement but they reached the shelter in safety.
The shelter was a converted street lavatory so running water was available and a young doctor with several amateur assistants was rendering first aid to each casualty as it was brought in. Gregory passed the poor little girl to him and the mother was taken over to be treated for shock by a grey haired, uniformed woman whose fine face radiated calmness and courage.
For a quarter of an hour they remained with the little crowd in the shelter while the earth shook and trembled. They found their nerves difficult to control and instinctively ducked at each explosion, but Gregory knew that they were safe down there and he tried to reassure them. He pointed out that the really frightening thing about air raids was the possibility of being terribly wounded by a piece of bomb, falling masonry or a splinter from an anti aircraft shell, so that one might die in frightful agony; whereas once one was in a proper shelter there was nothing whatever to be afraid of. Either they would emerge perfectly sound in wind and limb or, if a bomb had got their names on it, they would never know what hit them but be killed instantly by the explosion or concussion.
Erika realized that he was right, but to her the most appalling thing about the devilish business, apart from seeing the casualties brought in, was the noise. The crack-crack-crack of the guns and bombs was positively ear splitting and although she tried to shut it out by pressing her hands over her ears each detonation seemed like a sledge hammer blow on her reeling brain.
At last the din lessened. Bombs ceased falling, the droning of aircraft overhead faded, the fire of the anti aircraft batteries died down and after an anxious wait of ten minutes the sirens warbled the "'All Clear". The raid was over and the still dazed party staggered up into the street.
"D'you know where the British Consulate is?" Freddie asked Erika at once.
"Why?" She looked at him a little vaguely. "Do you want to go there?"
"Yes. I've been worrying myself stiff all this time about my fiancée, Angela Fordyce. It's pretty certain that she'll have been here with her father."
"The police will be much too busy to worry about us for the next hour or two," Gregory declared, "so there's no point in our splitting up. We'll go to the Consulate with Freddie."
"All right," Erika agreed, "it's not far from here," and they a off towards the harbour:
Great columns of black smoke were still rising from a dozen different points in the city. Here and there the snow in the streets was stained with blood where some unfortunate had been aught by a flying fragment of bomb or a piece of anti aircraft hell. Stretcher parties were hurrying hither and thither while civilians were now coming up out of cellars and air raid shelters: to fill the streets once more and lend a hand if they could, or stare dumbly at the shattered buildings.
It was twenty five to eleven when they reached the British: consulate and on Charlton's sending up his name a message came down from Mr. Fordyce that he would see them at once. They were shown up to a pleasant room overlooking the snow covered garden at the back of the house and found the dark, pale faced Angela with her father.
Just as Freddie's one thought during the raid had been anxiety for her, so hers had been anxiety for him, and both were unutterably relieved to find that the other had escaped unarmed. While he was still holding her hands and staring at her as though he could never take his eyes off her face Gregory introduced Erika to Fordyce and told him as briefly as possible what had happened to them.
By the time Gregory had finished his recital Fordyce looked very grave. "I'm afraid you can't stay here," he said slowly. You see, in the eyes of the Finnish authorities you're criminals, and although Freddie and yourself are both British subjects you're both accountable to the Finnish law while you are in this country. The best I can do for you is to get the Legation lawyer a take up your case and give you all the legal assistance possible."
Gregory smiled. "It's very kind of you, sir, but I hope that Don't be necessary. I'm not proposing to stay here to stand my trial. Now the Finns have got their hands full there's a very good chance that we'll manage to get out of Finland; and, as a matter of fact, we shouldn't have embarrassed you with our presence here at all if it hadn't been for Freddie's anxiety about Angela."
"Yes; I quite see that," Fordyce replied uneasily. "But it may not be so easy to get out of Finland as you think. I haven't been here very long, as you know, but long enough to realize that the Finns have a remarkable capacity for keeping their heads. The air raid was pretty shattering, but even so, I think you'll find they'll endeavour to carry on normal police activities to the best of their ability. It's hardly likely that you'll be able to find a ship which is sailing in the next few hours, and anyway you have no visa to leave the country; so I doubt if you'll get past the port officials. By to morrow, if not this afternoon, they'll all have been notified that you are wanted by the police and will have been told to keep a look out for you."