“Yes.”
He kissed her softly. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“Do you? You’ve never said that before.”
“I know-I’m telling you now in case I don’t survive this trip,” she said in her usual matter-of-fact tone. “You’re the best man I’ve ever met, by a factor of ten. You’re brainy, but you never put people down. You’re gentle and kind, but you’ve got courage enough for an army.” She touched his hair. “You’re even nice-looking, in a funny way. What more could I want?”
“Some girls like a man to be well dressed.”
“Good point. We can fix that, though.”
“I’d like to tell you why I love you, but the police could get here any minute.”
“That’s all right, I know why, it’s because I’m wonderful.”
Harald opened the cabin door and tossed the blanket in. “You’d better get on board now,” he said. “The less we have to do once we’re outside in plain view, the more chance we have of getting away.”
“Okay.”
He saw that it was going to be difficult for her to get into the cabin. He dragged a box over, and she stood on it, but then she could not put her injured foot inside. Getting in was awkward anyway-the cabin was more cramped than the front seat of a small car-and it seemed impossible with two injured limbs. Harald realized he would have to lift her in.
He picked her up with his left arm under her shoulders and his right under her knees, then he stood on the box and eased her into the passenger seat on the right-hand side of the cabin. That way, she could operate the Y-shaped central control stick with her good left hand, and Harald, beside her in the pilot’s seat, would be able to use his right.
“What’s this on the floor?” she said, reaching down.
“Hansen’s gun. I didn’t know what else to do with it.” He closed the door. “Are you okay?”
She slid the window open. “I’m fine. The best place to take off will be along the drive. The wind is just right, but blowing toward the castle, so you’re going to have to push the aircraft all the way to the door of the castle, then turn it around to take off into the wind.”
“Okay.”
He opened the church doors wide. Next he had to get the aircraft out. Fortunately it had been parked intelligently, pointing directly at the door. There was a length of rope firmly tied to the undercarriage which, Harald had surmised when he first saw it, was used to pull the aircraft. He got a firm grasp on the rope and heaved.
The Hornet Moth was heavier than he had thought. As well as its engine, it was carrying thirty-nine gallons of petrol plus Karen. That was a lot to pull.
To overcome its inertia, Harald managed to rock the aircraft on its wheels, get a rhythm going, then heave it into motion. Once it was moving, the strain was less, but it was still heavy. With considerable effort he pulled it out of the church into the park and got it as far as the drive.
The moon came from behind a cloud. The park was lit up almost like day. The aircraft was in full view of anyone who looked in the right direction. Harald had to work fast.
He undid the catch holding the left wing against the fuselage and swung the wing into position. Next, he flipped down the foldaway flap at the inner end of the upper wing. That held the wing in place while he moved around the wing to the front edge. There he turned the lower wing pin and eased it into its slot. It seemed to catch against an obstruction. He had encountered this problem when practicing. He wiggled the wing gently, and that enabled him to slide the pin home. He locked it with the leather strap. He repeated the exercise with the upper wing pin, locking it by stowing the jury strut.
It had taken him three or four minutes. He looked across the park to the soldiers’ encampment. The sentry had seen him and was walking over.
He went through the same procedure with the right wing. By the time he had finished, the sentry was standing behind him, watching. It was friendly Leo. “What are you doing?” he said curiously.
Harald had a story ready. “We’re going to take a photograph. Mr. Duchwitz wants to sell the aircraft because he can’t get fuel for it.”
“Photography? At night?”
“It’s a moonlight shot, with the castle in the background.”
“Does my captain know?”
“Oh, yes, Mr. Duchwitz spoke to him, and Captain Kleiss said there would be no problem.”
“Oh, good,” Leo said, then he frowned again. “It’s strange that the captain didn’t tell me about it, though.”
“He probably didn’t think it was important.” Harald realized he was probably on a loser. If the German military were careless, they would not have conquered Europe.
Leo shook his head. “A sentry must be briefed on any unusual events scheduled to take place during his watch,” he said as if repeating from a rule book.
“I’m sure Mr. Duchwitz wouldn’t have told us to do this without speaking to Captain Kleiss.” Harald leaned on the tailplane, pushing.
Seeing him struggle to move the tail, Leo helped him. Together they swung the back around in a quarter-circle so that the aircraft was facing along the drive.
Leo said, “I’d better check with the captain.”
“If you’re sure he won’t mind being woken up.”
Leo looked doubtful and worried. “Perhaps he’s not asleep yet.”
Harald knew that the officers slept in the castle. He thought of a way to delay Leo and speed up his own task. “Well, if you’ve got to go all the way to the castle, you could help me move this crate.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll take the left wing, you take the right.”
Leo shouldered his rifle and leaned on the metal strut between the upper and lower wings. With the two of them pushing, the Hornet Moth moved more easily.
Hermia caught the last train of the evening from the Vesterport station. It pulled into Kirstenslot after midnight.
She was not sure what to do when she reached the castle. She did not want to call attention to herself by banging on the door and waking the household. She might have to wait until morning before asking for Harald. That would mean spending the night in the open. But that would not kill her. On the other hand, if there were lights on in the castle she might find someone with whom she could have a discreet word, a servant perhaps. And she was nervous about losing precious time.
One other person got off the train with her. It was the woman in the sky blue beret.
She suffered a moment of fear. Had she made a mistake? Could this woman be following her, having taken over from Peter Flemming?
She would just have to check.
Outside the darkened station she stopped and opened her suitcase, pretending to search for something. If the woman were tailing her she, too, would have to find a pretext for waiting.
The woman came out of the station and walked past her without hesitating.
Hermia continued to fumble in her case while watching from the corner of her eye.
The woman walked briskly to a black Buick parked nearby. Someone was sitting at the wheel, smoking. Hermia could not see the face, just the glow of the cigarette. The woman got in. The car started up and pulled away.
Hermia breathed easier. The woman had spent the evening in the city, and her husband had come to the station to drive her home. False alarm, Hermia thought with relief.
She started walking.
Harald and Leo pushed the Hornet Moth along the drive, past the petrol tanker from which Harald had stolen fuel, all the way to the courtyard in front of the castle, then turned it into the wind. Leo ran inside to wake Captain Kleiss.
Harald had only a minute or two.
He took the flashlight from his pocket, switched it on, and held it in his mouth. He turned the catches on the left side of the fuselage nose and opened the cowling. “Fuel on?” he called.
“Fuel on,” Karen called back.
Harald tugged on the pull-ring of the tickler and worked the lever of one of the two fuel pumps to flood the carburetor. He closed the cowling and secured the catches. Taking the flashlight from his mouth, he called, “Throttle set and mags on?”