Tamar (10 page)

“This came when? This morning, at the Marionette House?”

“Yes.”

“What about getting here? Did you have any problems?”

“I . . . No, it was fine.”

Dart picked up the medical bag and emptied its contents onto the table, then reached inside and felt around for the catches that released the false bottom. He took out the revolver and the sheet of paper, shoved the gun into his coat pocket, and spread the paper out on the table.

“I haven’t deciphered it. I thought if we did it together, we might be able to code a reply straightaway.” He looked up at Tamar. “If that’s what you need to do.”

When they’d finished, Dart dropped the pencil onto the pad and stared blankly at the message. “Well,” he said, “that makes as much sense to me now as it did before. I hope it means something to you. What’s Operation Pegasus?”

Tamar stood up. The light from the window had shifted now, and the sitting room had started to gather darkness. “It’s a bloody headache, that’s what it is. Come on, let’s tidy up in here and go outside. Bring your coat.”

Tamar led him to a rough bench at the end of the washhouse. The level landscape in front of them was still blurred, but the autumn light was now strong and golden. Dart caught the scent of fallen apples.

Tamar said, “When Operation Market Garden screwed up, a lot of Allied troops went missing. They weren’t among the dead, and they weren’t captured. Somehow they managed to sneak through the German lines and hide. Some are with our people; others are God knows where. Some are in a bad way. The British would like them to go home for a nice cup of tea. That’s Operation Pegasus. And someone has to make it happen.”

“And that someone is you.”

“Yep. Hendriks briefed me for it, among other things. There are about two hundred men out there, maybe more. Julius, the head of the resistance in Ede, and a guy called Banjo are the only people who know where most of them are.”

“Do you know either of them?”

Tamar shook his head. “No.”

“And London say they haven’t been able to make contact with Julius for eight days.”

“That’s right.”

“Great. And you’ve got to get these people back across the Rhine at . . . what’s the place called?”

“Renkum,” Tamar said.

“Do you know it?”

“Not really. I was there just once. It’s right on the front line, though. It’s a fair bet that the Germans will be dug in along the river. I have to hope that the local guys know exactly where.”

“So what are you going to do?”

Tamar squinted at the sun. “I’ll have to go to Renkum, I suppose. Talk to people. See what’s what.”

“When?”

“Soon. In the next few days. I’ll talk to Trixie tomorrow. I’ll need guides. Albert Veening should be able to give me some names. Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. Come on, I’ll give you a quick tour of Sanctuary. It looks better in daylight.”

In the little barn, Tamar went to one of the stalls that had once housed the farm’s horses and dragged a couple of bales of rotting straw away from the boards that formed the rear wall. He jiggled and pulled at two of the boards and lifted them away, revealing a narrow space between the woodwork and the outer brick wall. He reached down into it and produced the tin case of medical supplies.

“Take as much of this as you can carry. I suggest you leave some of it here, as a reserve. Take the bandages, though. And these.” He held out the brown bottle labelled
ASPIRIN
. “You know what they are?”

Dart took the bottle. “Of course.”

“Go easy with them, though. Okay?”

“Sure,” Dart said, and put the bottle in his pocket.

Tamar thrust his arm into the gap again and produced a fat wad of guilders. He handed them to Dart. “Money.”

Dart riffled the notes and whistled. “Hey, I’m loaded. I’ve never had my hands on this much cash before.”

“You’ll need it,” Tamar said, rummaging once more. “Sister Agatha will be having to shop on the black market soon enough, and it’s not cheap. Now, here’s a box of ammo for your revolver. And some tea. This is coffee. Can you get that lot into the bottom of that magic bag of yours?”

“I think so.” Dart grinned. “Sister Agatha will think another angel’s arrived at the funny farm.”

“What?”

“Nothing. It doesn’t matter.”

Tamar jammed the boards back into place. “There’s more food and clothes and other stuff you should have. I’ll get Trixie to bring it to you a little at a time. Or you could drive the ambulance over, if you feel up to it. You can sort that out with Albert.”

“Talking of Dr. Veening,” Dart said, “were there any cigarettes in the canister? He’s getting through mine like there’s no tomorrow.”

Tamar laughed. “I bet he is. You’d think he’d know better, wouldn’t you? Anyway, there’s plenty.”

The two men stood looking at each other as darkness filled the corners of the barn.

Tamar said, very quietly, “I know what you’re thinking. It’s crazy, isn’t it? This. What we’re doing.” He laughed softly. “Like kids playing at shops: here’s your tea, Mr. Lubbers; here’s your coffee.”

“Here’s your bullets; here’s your Benzedrine. Try not to get killed on the way home.”

Tamar studied his friend’s dark eyes. “Exactly,” he said. “Let’s not get killed on the way home.”

The lowering sun had spread a long narrow carpet of light on the barn floor. When they reached the edge of it, Dart stopped and said, “Tell me about Miss Maartens.”

“Marijke? Tell you what?”

“Well, you know. How come she lives here alone with her grandmother, for a start.”

Tamar looked at the brilliant doorway. “Her parents are dead; she never knew them. They died within a week of each other when she was a few months old. The flu epidemic of 1921. Marijke shouldn’t have survived, but she did. Her grandparents brought her up. She’s lived here all her life.”

“I thought she might be adopted, or something. She doesn’t look . . . well, she could almost be Spanish. Or Italian.”

“I suppose so. There’s a story that the original Maartens were gypsies. Marijke rather likes the idea.” He took a step towards the light, but Dart had another question, the one Tamar had been expecting.

“And there’s no husband, boyfriend, anything like that?”

“No.”

Dart looked at Tamar, raising his eyebrows suggestively. “Really? I find that surprising, don’t you? You’d think the local men would be like bees round a honeypot.”

Tamar was brusque. “There’s a shortage of men in this country; didn’t you know that?” He tried to soften it into a joke. “Well, apart from the ones in German uniform.”

Perhaps it was shame that made him consult his watch and say, “Look, it’s getting a bit late. Stay here tonight and eat with us. We’ll work out a reply to the London signal, and you can go back tomorrow after you’ve sent it. It’ll be safer.”

“Sounds great. I’m bloody starving, as a matter of fact.”

“Good. Come on.” Tamar stepped through the doorway and had to screw up his eyes against the late sun’s scrutiny.

They ate in the kitchen, in the mellow light of a tall lamp. Beetroot soup with coarse bread, then rabbit stew with wild mushrooms, mashed potatoes, and cabbage. With some difficulty — the stove was cooling — Julia Maartens made pancakes and served them with jam. Dart had to force himself to eat slowly, heaping praise on the old lady’s cooking between mouthfuls. No one else spoke much during the meal, and it dawned on Dart that this must be a house of silence most of the time. Although Oma — he’d started to call her that because Tamar did — wasn’t deaf, Marijke frequently communicated with her wordlessly, using her grandmother’s system of signs and gestures and facial expressions. It was fascinating to watch, this speechless dialogue. And Dart noticed that Tamar was already starting to use it. He’d make a little gesture to tell Oma that something was delicious. He’d look at Marijke in a certain way, probably to check that she felt comfortable about having these two dangerous outsiders at the table. And she would reply with a quick smile, a tilt of the head. Dart decided that this meant, “Yes, I’m worried, but it’s okay. We are all in this together.”

Dart was surprised that these silently shared conversations didn’t make him feel excluded. The lamp had turned the table into a warm yellow island, and he was on it with the others, not a castaway in the surrounding dark. He felt . . .
safe
. He had to examine the word in his head to make sure it was right, because he couldn’t remember the last time he’d used it to describe himself. And in time he would learn the wordless language that the others used. In time he would do that. Because he wanted very much to share the secrets of Marijke Maartens’s night-black eyes.

When Marijke began to gather up the used plates and dishes, Oma lit a candle and went down into the cellar. A few minutes later she returned, carrying an earthenware bottle of jenever. She poured a good measure into four little blue-and-white china tumblers, making a small, shy ceremony of it.

Tamar grinned at Dart. “This is in your honour, my friend. A special treat. I wouldn’t want you thinking that we live it up like this every night.”

The gin burned going down, but it left in the mouth a trace of dark fruits gathered long ago. It also loosened Dart’s tongue. He found himself talking about the Marionette House and giving fairly hopeless impersonations of Pieter Grotius’s glove-puppet routines. Julia Maartens, in a flurry of gestures that Marijke translated, told them all how, on market days before the war, Bibi and Pieter used to put on little shows outside the shop to attract customers. Her hands danced invisible puppets on the tabletop.

Later, after more gin, Dart told tales of the asylum. He got to his feet and enacted the lunatic called Gerard trying to trap cloud shadows with his boots. At one point he looked at Marijke and saw her smile. He felt as if he had conjured the sun to come out at night. He flopped back into his chair and lit a cigarette, then immediately launched into an account of the mad old lady who called herself Sidona and talked with angels. Tamar stirred himself and joined in. Soon the two men were inventing ever crazier conversations between the madwoman and various messengers from above. Julia Maartens listened to these fantasies with a sort of horrified delight. Once, when Dart and Tamar were being especially outrageous about the goings-on in heaven, she crossed herself. Dart noticed this; were the Maartens Catholic, then? Marijke’s eyes moved from one man to the other, fixing on Dart longer than on Tamar, watching him.

The evening died gently, like a torch with an exhausted battery. The four of them sat slumped around the table, full of food and laughter, staring into the black-edged flame of the oil lamp. When Tamar stood up, the sound of his chair on the floor tiles startled them all. He put his hand on Dart’s shoulder. “Time for a security patrol, I think. You’ll need your coat.”

Dart smiled up at him happily. “I’m not cold.”

Tamar leaned down and spoke softly into his ear. “Get your coat. I think your gun is still in the pocket.”

Dart struggled to his feet. “Ah. Right.”

When he returned from the hall, the two women had gone and Tamar was lifting a Sten from the chest beneath the blacked-out window. Dart was dumbfounded: how could things change so quickly? His spirits dimmed.

They walked around the farm silently, checking the buildings. When they reached the bench outside the washhouse, Tamar sat, the Sten angled across his chest, his legs stretched out in front of him. Dart remained standing, his hands in his coat pockets, gazing at the moon. It was high and almost full now, with the familiar startled expression on its face. Below it, against the level black horizon, distant orange and white lights flickered and died, again and again. Faint booms reached them, soft as footfalls on a bedroom floor.

“Good night for a drop,” Dart said. “Do you think there was that much antiaircraft fire when we came in?”

“I don’t know. Must have been, I suppose.”

Tamar’s voice was flat. Obviously this was not what he wanted to talk about. So Dart tried again.

“I’m beginning to work out what Oma is saying. Sorry, that’s a stupid way of putting it. You know what I mean. I suppose that after a while it becomes natural. It must have been hard for Marijke, though, don’t you think? No parents. Growing up with a grandmother who couldn’t speak.”

“She didn’t.” Tamar crossed his legs and clasped his hands over his knee. He didn’t look up. “Julia wasn’t born dumb,” he said. “She stopped speaking just over two years ago.”

“Really? What was it, cancer or something?”

“No. Shock, trauma, whatever the proper word is. Nothing physical, anyway.” He lifted his face now, looking past Dart, half his face in moon shadow. “This is something you should know, I suppose. The Maartens have relatives, sort of cousins, who’ve got a farm near Loenen. The two families always helped each other out at busy times of the year. So in late September ’42, Johannes, Marijke’s grandfather, took his wagon and one of the horses over there to help bring in the sugar beet crop. The field they were working in was a fair way from the farm, and by the time they’d picked up the last load, it was almost dark. Johannes and a boy who was on the wagon with him were about halfway back to the farm when they ran into a German ambush.”

Dart waited, silent, while Tamar lit a cigarette, cupping the flame in his hands.

“The Germans had intercepted a signal from London about an arms drop. They were reading all our radio traffic back then. Christ, they were sending most of it. But you know all about that. Anyway, they’d set up this ambush for the reception committee. They were expecting our men to move the guns on a couple of farm carts, probably under a load of sugar beet or whatever. Which is exactly what happened, as a matter of fact. But unfortunately for Johannes, the Germans had read their maps wrong. They should have been on a road three kilometres to the east. When Johannes came along, they didn’t bother asking questions. He took a bullet through the throat and another in the right lung. When the horse panicked, the boy was thrown onto the ground. He broke an arm and a leg. He was still screaming when a German shot him in the head.”