She heard the front door open. Slow, heavy footsteps grew louder as they came close to the cellar door. Something heavy above her slid across the floor, the initial squeal of wood on wood made her clench her teeth. Then, the trapdoor to the cellar opened. A silhouette lingered in the opening.
“Come up now,” Locard said, his words gentle and encouraging. He left the door open and disappeared from view.
Rosette slipped the trowel into a pocket of the dress she’d stolen the day she left Hiram and the others. She climbed the ladder out of the dark cellar.
Locard sat at the kitchen table, struggling with a silver lighter. After a couple of tries, flame erupted. He lit the candle on the small table and slipped the lighter back into his pocket. The dim light accentuated his pale skin and the dark bags beneath his eyes. He hadn’t shaved and sleep did not appear to be his ally.
“Please, sit.” he said, directing her to take the seat opposite him.
She remained standing.
“Please. I have news of your children.”
Rosette circled the table and took a seat at the table, praying the wariness of this man was not a sign of the news he had to share. “Are they alive?”
“Yes,” Locard said.
“Where are they?” she asked. “I beg of you to tell me!”
“I’ll tell you,” he said, “in return for information.”
“All right. What do you want to know?”
“Who freed you from the convoy in the Pyrénées?” Locard said.
“I can’t tell you that,” she said.
“And where did he come from?” he continued.
“I can’t—”
“Quid pro quo, Madame Bertrand. You tell me what I need to know, and I’ll tell you what you want to know.”
Rosette shifted in her chair, uncomfortable with her options.
“If you answer my questions, I’ll do everything in my power to get your children to safety.”
“What about the families of the other women who escaped with me?”
“I’ll do what I can. Can’t promise more than that. Getting two children out is a lot easier than a couple dozen families, especially adult men.”
Rosette looked into his eyes, thought she saw sincerity behind the weariness. And something else. Fear?
“Who freed you and the other prisoners? I need to know, please.”
“Something has happened, hasn’t it?” Her bitter heart raced, as if it knew what happened. “What is it?”
For a moment, he looked down at his hands. His eyes grew glassy, as if he held back tears. “A powerful weapon has been used,” he said. “Nothing we have ever seen before. On the radio, they are saying hundreds of thousands of people are dead. How can a single explosion wreak so much havoc? Waging war with such weapons is madness. France will be destroyed!”
Rosette couldn’t take her eyes off of him. He worries for his people, just as I worry for my own.
“I can see it in your face. You know something.”
Rosette shook her head, not knowing if he’d understand. “Do you know what Hitler plans for the Jewish people? What is to happen to them when they get shipped out of France?”
“Nazi labor camps in the East.”
“No,” she said. “We go to extermination camps where they plan to gas us like an infestation of rats. The Nazis plan to kill every single Jew in Europe. And the Vichy are helping them. You are helping them commit one of the greatest crimes in the history of the world.”
“You have proof?” Locard asked.
“Hiram showed us proof.”
Locard leaned toward her. “Hiram?”
The information was free, she couldn’t take it back. “That’s his name, the man who helped us. He comes from another time, another place. He is Danette Halphen’s great-great-grandson.”
“Impossible,” Locard said. “Mrs. Halphen is only in her early thirties.”
“Do you have a better explanation for what happened in Saarbrücken?”
“No, but neither do I believe that the man you call Hiram has one of Mr. Wells’ time machines. I’m not just a detective, I’m a forensic investigator. I’ve studied science. Time travel is impossible,” he said.
“You’ve heard of the scientist Albert Einstein?” When Locard nodded she continued. “Well one of our group is a physics teacher, and she says that Professor Einstein has theoretically proven that time travel is allowed. Hiram proved it to us in a much more practical sense.”
“But-,” his eyes narrowed. “I never mentioned Saarbrücken.”
Rosette shrugged. “That was the plan. By bombing the bridges and rail crossing near Saarbrücken, Hiram hoped to stop the Holocaust Trains, at least temporarily, until the Americans and British can invade.”
“Holocaust Trains?” he asked.
“The mass murder of Jews in Europe by the Nazis will be known as the Holocaust. The trains that carry the Jews east from France and the Low Countries will be called Holocaust Trains.”
“Does this man Hiram have more of these weapons?”
“Yes, many more.” She let him think for a moment, then said, “Now you tell me about my children before I tell you anything else.”
Locard sighed, his weariness growing. “Your children were sent to separate camps by the police. Leverette to a camp for men and boys near Marseille, called Camp des Milles. Sophia to Frontstalag 194 in the town of Vittel, in the Vosges Mountains. Both children are relatively safe for the moment.”
“And the rest of the families from Camp Joffre?”
He settled back in his seat, took a heavy breath. “On July 22nd the Jewish detainees from Camp Joffre were sent to the concentration camp at Drancy. This past Friday, most of them boarded a Holocaust Train, as you call them.” Rosette’s heart caught in her throat as Locard continued.
“The train approached the French-German border when the explosion occurred, so your plan—”
“Hiram’s plan,” she interrupted. “I thought my children were safe in Saint Chamond.”
“I understand,” he said. “After the explosion, the train was diverted to the south to Vittel - the nearest available option. The prisoners are being transferred from the train to the Camp in the morning. My contact tells me the guard on patrol is light. I assume it will be supplemented by the guard assigned to the train.” Locard paused, and then smiled. “My superior, Captain Petain, is not happy they are still in France.”
33
1100 hours, Monday, August 10, 1942, northeast of Loches, Indre River Valley, Indre-et-Loire Department, Vichy France
Hiram and Captain Trembley spent the morning reviewing the intelligence reports Trembley brought from England. Most of France’s “Army of the Armistice” and Army Air Force soldiers were stationed in North Africa, along with about half of France’s Navy. The remainder of the French Navy was reported in port at Toulon, on the Mediterranean Coast.
“Hiram,” Agnes said, hesitant. The Babel Fish translated the rest of her words. “There’s something you should see.”
Engrossed in one of Trembley’s maps, Hiram thanked her. He heard whispering behind him.
“Hiram,” Trembley said, “I think it’s important.”
For a second time, Hiram realized he had shooed Agnes away. He handed the map back to Trembley.
Agnes looked at Trembley and then to Justine for guidance. Justine put a hand on Agnes’ back and pushed her forward. She handed Hiram her C2ID2 display unit.