“If you say so.” Deborah relayed his direction to Justine and Emma who jumped in to help. Within twenty minutes they had disassembled the motorbike into small enough pieces. They lowered the disassembled motorbike through a portal. An hour later, the components for seven modified bikes lay out before them.
“How long to put them all back together?” Hiram said.
“An hour, maybe two per device,” Emma said, Deborah translating. “It’s harder than taking them apart.”
“She thinks they can get it done in about ten hours,” Deborah said.
“I’ll help,” Hiram said as he stooped down beside one of the sets of parts.
Emma said a few words to Deborah.
Deborah laughed. “She says this is woman’s work. You have an attack to plan.”
Hiram looked around at the six women now surrounding the copied bike and robot parts. He dared not doubt their ability to complete this task after all they’d been through. Besides, he needed to get rid of his headache. “So be it. We leave tonight,” he said.
17
0915 hours, Tuesday, August 4, 1942, south of Périllos Pyrénées-Orientales Department, Vichy France
“Rosette’s gone,” Deborah said. Hiram looked up from the map he studied on the C2ID2.
“You’re sure?” he asked.
“She didn’t show up for breakfast. When Simone went to look for her she found her C2ID2 attached to a log, so we can’t track her electronically. She probably left right after her watch at three o’clock this morning. Looks like she took an M22 and a pair of night vision goggles. Should we send a drone looking for her?”
“We need to get the M22 and NVGs back before they end up in French hands. Put Agnes on it. She’s the best drone operator we’ve got. Any ideas where she’s headed?”
Deborah was already walking away. She called back, “Towards Vichy. Back to her family.”
Hiram tried to turn his attention back to his C2ID2. Barbara and another of the women◦– Isadore by the sound of it◦– argued behind him. He guessed Isadore blamed Barbara for Rosette’s departure. Barbara’s “kill them all” mentality had set most of them on edge last night. Most of these women once lived among the French Gentiles. They shared afternoon tea with the neighbors, watched as their children played together in the yard. Even after all the French had done to them, they did not wish death on their estranged friends.
He set down the C2ID2 and headed toward the commotion. Deborah, on her way back with news, said a few loud words to the group, then kept walking. They quieted and headed toward Agnes, all eager to find their missing comrade.
“Agnes launched a drone.” Hiram returned to his seat and picked up the C2ID2 auxiliary display. Deborah sat down beside him, close enough that her shoulder pressed against him, ensuring a good view of the monitor. “What are you up to anyway?”
“Trying to figure out the safest route to Saarbrücken, or as close as we can get,” he said. “I thought the road maps were bad. Look at these rail maps.” The drawing showed huge gaps in the tracks. The tracks either remained unfinished or the map reflected an incomplete picture.
Deborah traced the railway with her finger from the flagged location of their camp all the way to Saarbrücken. “Why Saarbrücken?”
“From what I remember of my father’s research, all the Holocaust trains from Drancy pass over the Saar River and through the major rail junction in Saarbrücken on their way to Auschwitz. It’s also a major transit point for German supplies.”
Deborah looked at him, hopeful. “You think detonating one of your nuclear bombs in the area will stop the trains leaving Drancy?”
“I hope so. The loss of the Saarbrücken railhead puts more pressure on the other major crossings into France. With any luck, the prisoners at Drancy will be a low enough priority that they’ll get pushed way down the cargo lists.”
“Saarbrücken is a long way from here.”
“I think we can handle it, thanks to Emma and Justine’s ingenuity.”
“And when you say ‘we’” Deborah looked at him sideways as if expecting him to finish.
“Me, you, Danette, and Vera.”
“Vera?”
“Have you seen her operate a drone?” Hiram said. “Almost as good as Agnes, whom I have other plans for.”
“I should have expected that. What about the others?”
“To stop the war, multiple targets need to be eliminated near Hitler’s Atlantic Wall. The quickest way to carry out those attacks is to split up into smaller groups. Seven teams should be sufficient. The bikes have two seats. And, we can squeeze two into the sidecar. Up to four in each team. Call them Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, and Hotel.”
“I’ll assume we belong to team Alpha.”
“I need you with me to translate radio calls since not all the teams have English or Hebrew speakers, Vera can focus on interpreting the drone data and–”
“And you don’t want to leave Danette behind,” she finished for him.
Hiram said, “You got it.”
“Where are we sending the others?”
“Towards the coast. Somewhere along the Loire River near Tours should do until we hear Sarah and Maria have made it to England. We need to keep them on this side of the demarcation line from occupied France. Everything depends on Sarah talking to General Eisenhower.”
“Agnes found Rosette, about 20 kilometers west of here, near Padern,” Deborah said, Agnes and Nora standing by her side. “I’m not sure why she’s going west. Maybe because we expected her to head north.”
“So much for scooping her up on the way. We can’t waste the night chasing her down. Agnes◦– keep her in view and switch out with Nora if you need a break.” Hiram waited for Deborah to translate.
Agnes nodded in acceptance of the task. Nora stood by her side ready to assist.
“We leave at full dark. We don’t have a lot of time to spare.”
2015 hours, Tuesday, August 4, 1942, southeast of Orange, Vaucluse Department, Vichy France
The train rolled down the tracks thirty meters ahead. Hiram watched through his NVGs, alert for any signs of slowing. They made good time, almost eighty kilometers per hour, but it was still a long way to Saarbrücken. He enjoyed the feel of Deborah’s arms wrapped around him from behind, her helmet resting against his back. His goggles flared when he looked to his right. Vera, seated in front of Danette in the sidecar, focused on the C2ID2 screen. The sensitive goggles reacted to the light from the display. He reminded himself the light was barely visible beyond the sidecar to anyone not wearing NVGs. Still, it made him nervous.
The train ahead clack-clacked as it rattled over the rail junctions, audible over the railbike’s quiet electric engine. The BMW’s previous internal combustion engine had been powerful, but too noisy to carry Alpha team this close to a train. Cannibalizing the combat robot had been a stroke of genius.
A sudden, piercing whistle cut through the night, the sound familiar and unforgettable. He cut the engine’s power and slammed on the bike’s brakes, the rubber tires squealing along the rails as the bike came to a halt.
Danette and Vera scrambled out of the sidecar and disappeared over the opposite side of the tracks as Hiram and Deborah dove off the railbike. Hiram and Deborah fell to the ground and rolled down the slight embankment, stopping in a muddy puddle as the first bomb detonated further up the line. Ten seconds later the ground shook as a second bomb hit much closer.