The Linden Tree Read online

  ‘Be careful,’ I whispered, and then I wrenched myself away. ‘Go on then, if you’re going …’ I said unsteadily.

  He rescued his absurd hat from the ground where it had fallen, blew the dust off it, touched my cheek with his fingers, gave me a lop-sided grin and then set off at a steady lope along the zig-zag path and up the hill towards Marberg.

  I had completely forgotten Scott. Remembering him now, I pushed through the bushes and found him sitting beside a spring. He climbed slowly to his feet, looking guilty and defiant as I approached.

  ‘How are you?’ I asked.

  ‘Fine now, thanks, Alison.’ He hesitated, and then said it in a rush: ‘I hate to tell you this, but I overheard what you and Nicolas were saying. I wasn’t deliberately eavesdropping, I promise, and I didn’t look – but I heard what Nicolas was saying about the man in the castle, and about the grey-haired guy and everything. I know I ought not to have listened, but I felt too groggy to move away. I’m very sorry.’

  Considering that I had heard every word of his conversation with Nicolas, I could hardly blame him. ‘You couldn’t help it, Scott,’ I said quickly. ‘But you do realize that it was all very confidential? It’s most important that you don’t tell anyone why Nicolas is here.’

  He squirmed impatiently. ‘Of course I won’t,’ he affirmed. ‘I mean, I shan’t see anyone to tell, anyway. I’m going to stay right here with you until you leave with Nicolas in that car. Hey, he is an intelligence agent, isn’t he?’

  I smiled at the gleam of excitement in his eyes, and evaded his question. ‘I’ll certainly be glad of your company, Scott,’ I said, ‘if you really don’t mind staying, but I think I’ll go and look for the car now, and hide near it. I don’t want to get involved in anything else.’

  Scott moved stiffly at first as we went up the path, but his encounter with Nicolas seemed to be a source of pride rather than indignation. To have been flattened by a real live intelligence agent, and to have the bruises to show for it, was clearly going to be a better story to take home than the one about lending his tent to a destitute actress.

  We found the car, well-hidden among trees and bushes at the side of the dirt road that led down from the Dürer watch tower towards the valley. The dusty road was deserted. This was obviously a comparatively little-used gate in the town walls and at the moment, judging from the distant sounds of music, the entire population was enjoying the festivities in the market place. It seemed that Nicolas had chosen an ideal time for springing Dr Lorenz from the castle.

  We concealed ourselves behind some bushes. Scott lay beside me on his stomach, peering through the foliage towards the stone gateway, tense with excitement. Given half a chance, I thought, he’d be off to join the action.

  I was glad that I didn’t know the details of what Nicolas was going to do. Obviously the castle had an armed police guard, festival or no festival, and smuggling Dr Lorenz out was going to be dangerous and difficult. But at least Nicolas hadn’t Kurt to contend with as well –

  I sat up, feeling my cheeks go cold as the blood drained from them. ‘Oh dear heaven –!’ I whispered.

  Scott nudged me in alarm. ‘What’s the matter?’

  My mouth had dried with fear. ‘I’m an idiot!’ I croaked. ‘I never thought … Here I’ve been, smugly assuming that because I didn’t give Nicolas away to Kurt, that’s the end of that particular problem. But it isn’t, of course! Nicolas is right, Kurt is after him. He told me in East Berlin that there were men on this side of the border who would very much like to get their hands on Nicolas, if only they could find him. And if they were prepared to go to the length of setting me up to point him out, then they must want him very badly. That means that Kurt will still be after him!’

  Scott’s eyes had rounded. ‘You mean he wants to kill Nicolas?’

  I shook my head. ‘Worse, almost. He wants to take him in for questioning. Nicolas must have all kinds of information, and God knows what they’d be prepared to do to get it out of him. So Kurt’s probably hanging round the castle now, waiting for Nicolas to break Dr Lorenz out. He’ll recognize him then, he’s bound to.’

  Scott jumped to his feet. ‘I’ll go and warn Nicolas,’ he said excitedly.

  I leaped after him and hauled him back by the sleeve of his denim jacket. ‘Don’t be silly,’ I snapped. ‘Nicolas knows well enough what danger he’s in – he had a very effective technique for taking my mind off the subject, that’s all. No, you stay here. I’m going to see if I can find Kurt and head him off. I can persuade him that I made a mistake before, and that I know where Nicolas is, and then take him somewhere else.’

  Scott stood tall, with his fists on his narrow hips. ‘And then what will you do?’ he demanded belligerently. ‘Besides, Nicolas told you to stay here! I’m going to head off Kurt!’

  ‘You’re doing nothing of the sort –’ I began, but his eyes were sparkling as he looked up at the towers of the castle thrusting high above the walls of the town.

  ‘How are you going to stop me?’ he demanded.

  I seized his hand and we both ran.

  Chapter Twenty One

  The sun was low in the west and the narrow cobbled streets of Marberg were already in shadow as we hurried up into the town, but the windows high in the steep gables of the medieval houses winked and shone as they reflected the last golden brilliance of the day.

  I made straight for the square in front of the castle. It was virtually deserted, apart from the two armed Vopos on guard outside the great closed doors. There was, though, another man standing discreetly behind the overflowing geraniums of the stone fountain.

  ‘That’s him,’ whispered Scott excitedly as we peered round the massive carved wooden corner-post of one of the houses on the edge of the square. ‘That’s Braun. So he is up to something! I tell you what, Alison, they’re going to bring that wine cask back to the castle and then Nicolas is probably going to smuggle the doctor out in the empty waggon! Or hanging underneath it, or something! Isn’t this great?’

  I was too tense to indulge him. Besides, he was no longer a child. ‘No, it isn’t!’ I snapped. ‘This isn’t a game, Scott, it’s deadly serious. Look, will you please run up towards the market place and see if there’s any sign of the waggon, and particularly of Nicolas? Only don’t let him see you. He has enough on his mind at the moment without worrying about what you’re up to.’

  Scott sobered and raced off. He was back within minutes.

  ‘It’s what I thought,’ he reported. ‘The waggon’s on its way back here with the cask, only there’s no procession now. Everyone’s living it up in the market place, apart from the half-dozen who are bringing the cask back. And Nicolas is one of ’em.’

  I drew a deep breath. ‘Right –’ I said.

  Scott stared at me expectantly, waiting to hear my plan for drawing Kurt away; but the fact was that I had no plan. I knew what I had to do, but I was too much aware of the dangers involved to think coherently about the best way to do it. Fear churned my mind as it churned mystomach. All I could say to myself was: ‘Oh dear heaven, what am I going to do?’ and ‘Oh Nicolas …’

  It wasn’t that drawing Kurt away would be difficult. I might not be a brilliant actress, but at least I felt competent to convince him temporarily that Nicolas was elsewhere. The question was, what did I do with him once I got him away?

  Give him the slip among the crowds in the market place? Perhaps. But the only result of that would be that he would suspect my intentions and return immediately to the castle. And I couldn’t keep him occupied long enough to ensure that Nicolas and Dr Lorenz got away, because then I should be trapped myself. Nicolas might wait for me by the car, of course, but that would probably jeopardize his plan for getting across the border, and then all of us would be trapped …

  Scott was watching me, frowning. His boyish excitement had been replaced by a wholly adult seriousness.

  ‘I don’t know if you’d like to hear my idea?’ he offered diffidently.
/>   Already we could see, at the far end of the street that led down from the market place, the slow rolling approach of the oxen. I listened as Scott quickly told me his plan. I didn’t like it at all. It put him in considerable danger. But as he pointed out – with a new, masterly gleam in his eye – there was no time for me to argue.

  ‘All right,’ I agreed reluctantly. ‘Only for goodness’ sake –’

  He didn’t wait to hear my injunction and I didn’t bother to finish it. We parted, speeding in different directions, and I had the satisfaction of seeing Kurt’s mouth drop open in surprise as I raced up to him and seized his arm.

  ‘Oh, Kurt,’ I panted, ‘thank goodness I’ve found you! I’ve been looking everywhere!’

  ‘You have?’ he asked suspiciously. ‘Considering that you put me on to the wrong man this afternoon –’

  I waved the matter aside impatiently. ‘You don’t imagine that was deliberate, do you? I realized my mistake immediately and called to you, but you didn’t hear. So I followed Nicolas myself, and I know where he is now … Only you must hurry if you want to see him!’

  He stared, uncertain. ‘I’ve a pretty good idea that I’ll be able to see him soon if I stay exactly where I am,’ he said slowly.

  I shook my head, acting the part of a scorned woman for all I was worth. ‘But that’s just what he wants you to think – I know now how devious he is! Oh Kurt, I don’t know what he’s up to, but he’s treated me abominably and I want you to stop him from doing any more harm. He’s hiding now in a little shed at the foot of one of the watch towers in the wall, waiting for someone or something. If we approach quietly along the wall you’ll be able to take him by surprise – but we must hurry!’

  I seized his arm. I was getting perilously close to hamming my part, but I could hear the rumble of the iron-bound wheels of the waggon and I knew that it would be in sight at any minute.

  ‘Please, Kurt,’ I begged. ‘Please!’

  He glanced at the closed door of the castle and appeared to do a quick calculation. ‘Which tower?’ he asked.

  ‘Oh – the fourth from here, clockwise, if we go up the nearest stairway.’

  ‘Not far, then – it won’t take long.’ He made up his mind. ‘All right, my dear, you lead the way and show me the shed where he’s hiding just as soon as you see it.’

  I ran for a stone stairway that Scott had pointed out to me, in a corner of the square. It led twenty feet up to the wooden walkway on the inner side of the town walls, a gallery roofed with red tiles, that led from tower to tower.

  Once on the top, I ran in the direction away from the castle, and the boards of the walkway juddered as Kurt Braun came belting after me.

  One of the towers loomed up ahead, the first, conical capped. The walkway ended at a dark stone arch in the tower wall. I plunged through, then checked to adjust my eyes to the gloom. I was in a small bare circular room with stone walls and an uneven flagged floor; one steep spiral stairway led down through the thickness of the wall to the base of the tower and another up to the top, while a further arch in the opposite wall led out to the next walkway.

  Kurt was close on my heels. I ran on to the next tower: number two. I was panting now, with fear as much as with exertion.

  In the darkness of the second tower I stumbled and Kurt came closer. ‘Can you see the shed yet?’ he demanded.

  I gestured ahead towards the next tower but one. The walls curved inward, giving a good view, but some houses hid the base of the fourth tower from sight. Just as well, I thought grimly. The shed was only a figment of Scott’s imagination.

  Kurt nodded, slipping his right hand inside his jacket, and motioned me on. It was a shorter distance to the next tower, the third. I took it as fast as I could, my feet bouncing off the boards, willing Kurt to follow me in a blind rush as he concentrated his attention on the fourth tower.

  I took the last few feet from the walkway into the arch of the third in a single leap, flinging myself to one side as I entered the obscuring darkness. Kurt was coming after me, his face grim, his hand emerging from the shelter of his jacket. I saw him for a second, silhouetted against the light, with a gun in his raised hand. And then he had crossed the threshold and Scott went charging from beside me like a human cannonball, head down, and rammed into Kurt, knocking him off balance.

  My gasp of warning to Scott coincided with the crack of the gun. There was an angry noise as the bullet ricocheted from wall to wall, a splat as it buried itself in the boards of the next walkway, a clatter as the gun hit the stone floor. I ducked instinctively, my hands to my face as dust showered and flakes of stone spat viciously within the confines of the tower room.

  Kurt grunted something, his arms flailing as he tried to regain his balance. I could see his face in the gloom, contorted with rage. Scott was crouched near one wall. With a gathering roar of anger Kurt launched himself at the boy, who waited until the last possible moment before throwing himself out of Kurt’s path.

  The man’s angry bellow changed its note as he saw what Scott’s body had been concealing. He strode for an instant on air as the stone spiral stairway opened up beneath his feet and then he dropped, scraping and sliding and bouncing from wall to wall as he pitched from top to bottom.

  Scott and I were late for the rendezvous with Nicolas, but I couldn’t hurry. I felt dazed and cold and rather sick. I was bleeding from a gash on one arm where a flying stone had cut me.

  Scott himself admitted to nothing more than a sore head. He was high on excitement and pride of achievement, and insisted on donating one of the cleaner parts of his shirt for the purpose of binding up my arm. Then he urged me on towards where the car was hidden, helping me along whenever I faltered.

  There were two men already in the car, one in the driving seat and one in the back. Nicolas, without his fancy dress, stood waiting for me with a thunderous face.

  ‘Where the hell have you been?’ he stormed. ‘Can’t I rely on you to do a single thing I tell you? And what have you been doing to yourself?’

  I was still too shaken to be able to collect my wits sufficiently to give him the answer he deserved. Scott put a defensive arm round me and tried to explain, but Nicolas cut him short.

  ‘There’s no time to waste, I’ll look at that arm later. A helicopter is picking us up this side of the border, and it won’t be able to wait. You’d better come with us as far as the pickup point, Scott. It’ll be difficult enough to get Dr Lorenz aboard in a hurry, without having to look after Alison as well.’

  I pulled myself together, indignant on Scott’s behalf. ‘But he can’t leave Marberg,’ I protested. ‘You can’t just use him and then leave him stranded! I’ll be all right.’

  ‘Of course I shan’t leave him stranded,’ Nicolas snapped. ‘Take a look at our driver.’

  Scott and I looked. The driver leaned over to open the passenger door, grinning at us hugely. He had abandoned his plumed hat, but still wore the extra outsize buff jerkin that I had noticed in the procession.

  ‘We-ell, hi there, Willy!’ said Scott eagerly. ‘Hey, how did you come to be mixed up in all this?’

  Nicolas motioned us impatiently inside. ‘Here, both of you, in the back with Dr Lorenz. Sorry it’s a squeeze, Doctor. This is the young lady I was telling you about. Right, Willy, as quick as you can.’

  Dr Lorenz looked alarmingly frail; his face was thin and almost as white as his hair, though he was by no means an elderly man. His physical health had obviously been affected by his incarceration, and he was worried by the motion of the car as Willy bounced it skilfully down the dirt road, into the valley and then westwards. But he was perfectly lucid. He glanced at me shyly, and thanked me for changing places with his daughter.

  ‘How was Elisabeth, when you saw her in Berlin?’ he asked anxiously.

  ‘Very well, as far as I could tell. But you’ll see her for yourself when you get to West Berlin, Dr Lorenz. We never managed to complete the second part of the exchange, you see. I’m sorry about that
– I know she didn’t want to leave the East. I hope she won’t hate me for it.’

  His gaunt face slowly relaxed into an unpractised smile. ‘I think,’ he said gently, ‘that she will live to thank you as much as I do.’

  Nicolas turned in his seat to speak to me. ‘You’ve been lucky, you know,’ he said sternly. ‘Oh, I realize that things went wrong through no fault of yours, but you haven’t exactly been co-operative, have you? Even if Braun hadn’t been playing a double game, you could so easily have messed things up by not doing as you were told. You were mad to take that lipstick into East Berlin! And what have you been doing in the town just now? Your shopping?’

  ‘Shopping?’ I exploded.

  ‘Shopping?’ echoed Scott indignantly. ‘Alison has been really great, helping you and all. Let me tell you how she got rid of that man Braun for you – if it hadn’t been for her –’

  He told the story, playing up my part and making light of his own, but he didn’t demur when I corrected the emphasis. When he’d finished, Nicolas turned round sufficiently in his seat to look Scott firmly in the eye.

  ‘You young idiot …’ he said.

  I opened my mouth to protest on Scott’s behalf, but saw the look they were exchanging – adult, masculine, appreciative – and knew that any intervention was unnecessary.

  Nicolas’s long-lashed eyes slid towards mine. ‘As for you,’ he said ominously, ‘I’ll talk to you later …’

  Willy stopped the car just inside a wood on the edge of a quiet valley. The sun had gone down completely, but there was still an hour before dark. Ahead of us lay a level meadow, thick with wild flowers that had already folded their petals for the night. On the far side of the meadow, the land rose to a wooded ridge.

  Nicolas motioned us quietly out of the car and towards the fringe of the wood. He and Willy had to support Dr Lorenz, who seemed very weak, and Scott hovered solicitously behind me. My arm was no longer bleeding, but it felt stiff and sore.