Illyrian Summer (7 page)

She waited while he took one of the hired cars out of the garage. When Daniel was driving down the long winding road toward the Pile gate, he began to chuckle.
“
I beat Edmund that time, didn
’
t I? As though I
’
d let him go to this place, Krasnograd, and take you with him and leave me behind! I haven
’
t forgotten this is where the famous Adam Thorne lives.
”

“
We haven
’
t any news about him yet,
”
she answered calmly.
“
Or from Radmilla.
”

“
Perhaps we shall find out when we get there. But I
’
m certainly not leaving him a clear field where you
’
re concerned.
”

“
A clear field?
”
she echoed, hoping that Daniel would not notice that her face had suddenly flushed scarlet.
“
How would that affect me? I thought you said that he was once in love with Melanie.
”

“
Oh, he may have changed since those days. Anyway, I
’
m not taking any chances.
”

“
So you mean that you
’
re going with the unit mainly to see that I don
’
t flirt with Adam? I thought you made a great fuss about wanting to help the injured or homeless!
”

“
So I do! I want to help, but I
’
d be a fool if I didn
’
t take some precautions to protect what I
’
d like to think are my own interests.
”

In the early evening Melanie came to wave goodbye to the party as they set off.

“
You
’
re quite mad, Edmund,
”
she called,
“
starting at this time of day. Why not wait until the morning?
”

“
That would be another day lost,
”
he answered.
“
We don
’
t know how long the journey will take.
”

“
You
’
re all in for a terribly uncomfortable ride,
”
Melanie observed.

“
Au revoir, Sarah!
”
Melanie
’
s cool voice penetrated Sarah
’
s preoccupation with settling herself in.
“
You certainly have a heap of men to look after you. Are you going to enjoy being the only girl in the party?
”

“
I expect to be too busy to bother about that,
”
Sarah replied with one of her most charming smiles. There were times when for the moment she became a match for Melanie
’
s needle-sharp baiting.

“
If you do happen to see Adam somewhere around there, do give him my love. He
’
s almost sure
t
o be in the thick of rescue parties, or building huts or something of the sort.
”

Sarah was instantly deflated, although she tried to convince herself that she was nettled more by Melanie
’
s callously lighthearted references to assistance in a stricken town than by the idea of passing on Melanie
’
s love to Adam.

A little crowd of people had gathered around the minibus and the truck, and Sarah and Daniel did their best to cope with the extra packages, the scrawled messages of greeting and goodwill to Krasnograd.

When the two vehicles were on the move, Sarah said,
“
I hope I
’
m going to find these addresses—or the people they belong to.
”

She had been deeply touched by the hopes and faith of those villagers that their friends or relatives had escaped disaster, and inevitably her thoughts swerved to Adam. How much hope could she sustain that he was alive and well, and if he were, what chances would there be of meeting him again?

On the long night journey, as the roads through the mountains became rougher, sleep was almost out of the question. Sarah, wedged in her
corner
among a variety of parcels and stores, tried to doze. When a particularly violent jolt knocked her head against the sharp
corner
of a box, Daniel sympathized and took the opportunity of shifting some of the packages and sitting next to her to cradle her head on his shoulder.

For a moment she resisted, but then thought it silly to make a scene in the middle of the night. After all, Daniel
’
s shoulder was more comfortable than wooden boxes.

When they reached the outskirts of Krasnograd the next day the roads were congested with refugees leaving the city. Wagons, ox-drawn carts, even bicycles carried the family
’
s possessions while men, women and children trudged by the side. In the fields or on the rough hillsides hundreds of people were already camping out, afraid that, although they
’
d escaped death in one violent earthquake, further shocks might bring more buildings crashing down upon them. There were few tents; most people could only group their mattresses and belongings in the open air around a few cooking pots and whatever fire they could make.

When darkness fell Sarah could see that one part of the town was dotted with moving lights, like fireflies. Gas and electricity supplies had been cut off, leaving nothing but oil lanterns or other lighting people could contrive for themselves. The center, however, was ablaze with searchlights, but Sarah realized that this meant that rescue work was still going on.

Daniel was eager to go down to the center and explore.

“
We
’
d better wait until daylight,
”
Edmund suggested.
“
It
’
s bad enough to find your way in a strange city in the dark, let alone one where there are great holes in the roads, and pavements have gone altogether.
”

Daniel objected.
“
Waste of time,
”
he declared.
“
We could be down there at least making inquiries and seeing what
’
s wanted. Then we could start first thing in the morning giving out the food and other things we
’
ve brought.
”

“
The police won
’
t let us go pottering about by ourselves,
”
Edmund pointed out.
“
They have enough injured people to look after without half a dozen foreigners breaking their legs and having to be carted off to hospitals already overcrowded.
”

“
Sarah and I will go,
”
Daniel persisted.

“
We could try to inquire about Radmilla and her family,
”
Sarah put in. Actually, she was even more anxious to find out about Adam and hoped someone would tell her the fate of the steelworks.

In the end Edmund agreed, but warned Daniel not to make rash promises about vast quantities of food or clothing.
“
We
’
ve brought all we could, but it still isn
’
t much,
”
he said,
“
and our truck hasn
’
t yet turned up. It may be in another parking place.
”

Sarah collected her passport, visa and other authorization documents and tucked them safely in her handbag. She had left behind in Dubrovnik all her more flimsy clothes and brought only a couple of pairs of sturdy trousers and a cotton shirt or two with a green anorak handy in case the nights were cold.

Occasional lines of red oil lamps showed where the roadway had cracked and disappeared into rubble. People sat on the pavements in front of houses they were now forbidden to enter.

Sarah did her best as interpreter, but soldiers on guard at the barricaded streets shook their heads and gently pointed out that no one was allowed into the worst-damaged parts except in daylight.

Daniel was explosive in his ange
r.
“
Tell them we only want to help!
”
he burst out. Sarah put a restraining hand on his arm.

Daniel grumbled all the way back to the car park.
“
Nothing is more frustrating,
”
he declared,
“
than to come to a place like this, ready to help, to do anything, to work all night if necessary, and then be told to come back in the morning.
”

“
We must remember we
’
re foreigners, Daniel,
”
Sarah said patiently,
“
and until the authorities know something about us and what we
’
re here for, we must expect to come up against delays or difficulties.
”

“
Edmund will laugh,
”
Daniel replied bitterly.
“
He
’
ll give us a knowing smile—oh, he won
’
t say
‘
I told you so
’
in so many words—but he
’
ll mean it all the same.
”
Sarah concentrated on picking her steps among the rubble. It was childish of Daniel to complain every time he didn
’
t get his own way.

By the time the three arrived back at the car park, Edmund and Ricardo had prepared a meal, and again Sarah felt guilty because she had not been
there to help. Her going off with Daniel on what turned out to be almost a wild-goose chase might lead the others to believe that she was trying to evade her share of the work.

The men had also erected two of the tents as sleeping quarters.

“
You, Sarah, will sleep in the minibus,
”
Edmund ordered.
“
The two drivers will sleep in the truck and the rest of us in the tents.
”

In the light of the minibus headlamps Sarah saw Daniel
’
s mouth open to make some protest, but ail he said was,
“
When we unload some of the stores, there
’
ll be more room to stretch out.
”

Sarah cleared a space on the floor of the minibus, tucked herself into her sleeping bag and was asleep almost before she had settled herself. It seemed no more than a few minutes before the early-morning sun slanted mistily across the massed vehicles in the car park to wake her. As she stood eating buttered rolls and drinking coffee, she could see the appalling devastation even from this distance above the town. Jagged parts of buildings stood drunkenly above piles of masonry, a tramcar lay on its side halfway down a hilly street, telephone poles leaned at odd angles with their wires festooned and tangled around them.

Above the ruins hung a great cloud of white dust, almost dimming the sun.

Already Edmund was instructing the two cameraman as to the shots they were to take.

“
What do you want me to do first?
”
Sarah asked him when he paused in his instructions.

“
Find this food depot and see what arrangements you can make. If they want us to unload and take the stuff down there, we
’
ll do so, but we don
’
t want to take it to the wrong place and have to cart it somewhere else. So be sure you fix exact instructions.
”

Cranes and bulldozers, army trucks and ambulances lurched along the rubble-strewn streets where pavements were littered with glass. Shop windows had spilled their contents into jumbled disorder. Books and washing machines, radios and dresses, shoes and food—all were flung into heaps and were now covered with white dust.

Sarah
’
s throat and eyes burned with the dust, but she struggled on to find the depot for receiving stores and food and an inquiry bureau.

She had no success. A tent with an awning had been set up in the main square, but the lists of survivors were incomplete. Many people had already left the town of their own accord, or might be camping outside or even gone to another part of the country to start a new life elsewhere. There had not yet been time to check the names of injured or missing. Nobody knew anything about the steelworks or any of the English staff.