“Thank you, Polly. I heard him this time.” Elizabeth found the switch and turned on the headlight. A beam of white light swept up the road ahead of her, nearly blinding her with the contrast.
“Blimey!” Polly yelled. “I’d forgotten how bright that is. Hope there’s no Germans flying overhead!”
“If there are,” Elizabeth called back, “we’ll have George to thank for our demise.” Concentrating now on getting to the windmill as fast as she could without spilling them all onto the road, she opened up the throttle and swept up the coast road. Her turn into the lane caused a moment of panic when the sidecar brushed against the hedge and bounced along the grass verge before she found the pavement again.
George yelled something and Elizabeth called out to Polly.
“What did he say?”
“You don’t want to know, m’m,” Polly called back.
Elizabeth allowed herself a faint smile. There was no doubt George was having a rough ride, but if it meant finding Sadie and the other two women before harm came to them, she was quite sure he would forgive her.
Her smile faded. That was if they found them. The more time that went by, the harder it would be. Something told her it had to be tonight, or they might not see Sadie, Nellie, or Florrie again.
“I spy with my little eye something beginning with F.”
Nellie stretched her legs out in front of her and groaned. “I’m getting tired of this silly game. I’m hungry, too. I’ve had nothing but a pork pie since last night.”
“P’raps they’ll bring some food back with them when they come back,” Florrie said hopefully.
“Don’t bet on it.” Nellie started drumming her heels on the wooden floorboards to get the circulation back in her legs. “Now they got what they wanted from me, I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t come back.”
“They’ve got to come back.” Florrie pointed to the ground below. “They left their bicycles here. I don’t think they’re going to drive a Jeep all the way back to North Horsham.”
Nellie stared at her. “How’d you know they come from North Horsham?”
Florrie looked smug. “I heard the ginger-haired one say they’d need the bicycles to get back home and the fat one said he hated the thought of riding all that way to North Horsham.”
“They’re getting really stupid,” Nellie said, scowling. “I can’t believe we’ve been imprisoned up here by such a bunch of idiots.”
“I still can’t believe you helped them get on the base.”
“I didn’t help them much. I told them about that broken fence post because it’s all the way back behind the rec center. If they try getting to the main quarters from there they’ll run into the guards.”
“Well, we’re not going anywhere for a while, so we might as well keep playing ‘I Spy.’ It will pass the time.”
“I hate that game.” Nellie yawned. “Besides, it’s getting dark. I can’t see what you’re spying.”
“Well, just finish this one. It’s a good one, and you don’t have to see it to know what it is. It begins with F.”
Sighing, Nellie tried to concentrate. “Floor?”
“No.”
“Fruit.”
“There’s no fruit in here!”
“How’d you know if we can’t see nothing?”
“I know. Now guess again.”
Nellie groaned. “I can’t. I’m too hungry to think. I give up.”
“It’s me! Florrie!”
Nellie glared at her. “You can’t spy yourself!”
“Why not? I-” Florrie broke off as a faint creak echoed up from below. “What’s that?”
“Probably rats,” Nellie said gloomily.
Florrie gave a little squeal, then cut it off with a hand over her mouth as another creak was followed by a scraping sound.
Nellie tensed and crept to the edge of the ledge. She could see a thin sliver of light between the doors. “Someone’s out there,” she whispered.
“They can’t be back already,” Florrie whispered back. “They only left a few minutes ago.”
“Shh!” Nellie shifted closer to the edge. Her eyes widened when she saw one of the doors easing open, an inch at a time. Signaling Florrie to be quiet, she pointed at the door.
Florrie slithered forward on her backside until she could see over the edge.
As they watched, the door opened even wider and a figure slipped through. For a moment or two there was complete silence, then a voice called softly, “Nellie? Florrie? Are you in here?”
“Oh, my God. Sadie!” Nellie jumped to her feet, almost sending Florrie over the edge in her excitement. “Up here! We’re up here!”
“Thank heavens,” Sadie said more loudly. A beam of light from a torch hit Nellie in the face, momentarily blinding her. “What the heck are you doing up there? The whole village has been looking for you two.”
“Well, they didn’t look very far-that’s all I can say. Move that torch off my face. I can’t see a bloomin’ thing.” Nellie dangled her legs over the edge while Florrie jumped up and down making little squealing noises.
“You’d better get down here”-Sadie walked over to where the ladder leaned against the wall-“before them musketeers get back. Where were they going, anyhow?”
“They’ve gone to the base. And they’re not the musketeers. They’re just a bunch of silly schoolboys up to no good, that’s all.”
Sadie dragged the ladder over to the ledge. “Are you telling me little kids trapped you both up there?”
Seeing Sadie’s grin, Nellie said hotly, “They’re not so little.” She’d have said a lot more, except just then the ladder slammed against the ledge, sending up a shower of dust that made them both cough.
“Go on,” Nellie said, giving Florrie a little push. “You go first. Make it fast, will you? I don’t want to be here when those hooligans get back.”
“That’s if they come back here.” Sadie stood aside and waited for Florrie to climb down. It took her a long time, since she stopped at each rung to feel the next one below her.
Seething with impatience, Nellie waited for her to get to the bottom. “Well, their bicycles are here and they have to get back to North Horsham somehow. Unless they plan on waiting for the bus tomorrow.”
“So what are they doing on the base?”
“Dunno, they wouldn’t tell us. But they sent a Jeep over the cliff last night and stole another one, so they’re not going to just shortsheet the beds, are they. Whatever it is, it’s bound to cause some kind of damage.”
“We ought to notify the Yanks, then,” Sadie said.
Nellie barely waited for Florrie to get clear of the ladder before she scrambled down it. “I don’t suppose you’ve got anything to eat on you?” she asked hopefully.
“Sorry.” Sadie hauled the ladder back in place. “I didn’t think to bring anything. To be honest, I really didn’t think I’d find you.”
“How did you know where we were?” Florrie asked, brushing dust and bits of hay from her skirt.
“I was up the top of the windmill, looking out that little window, and I saw this Jeep go tearing across the field. I guessed it was the musketeers-at least we thought they was musketeers-so I watched until they went through the gate and up the lane, then I came looking. This barn was the only place they could have hid someone, so here I am.”
“You took a chance, coming out here on your own,” Nellie said, impressed at Sadie’s bravery.
“I’m not alone. At least, I wasn’t.” Sadie brushed her hands together, then wiped them on her skirt. “Polly was with me. I don’t know what happened, but when I got back down she’d disappeared. I went looking for her, and I thought I heard her scream, but then I went to get my bicycle and hers was gone, so she must have gone back home.”
“Probably got scared,” Florrie said, nodding. “I don’t blame her. I was scared to death. I thought we were going to die.”