“I’ll hide it in the windmill. You’re going to need it for the work we’ll be doing in the coming weeks.”

Lena’s stomach lurched. She pulled out a kitchen chair and sat down on it to listen. She didn’t want to hear about the dangerous things Pieter would be doing, yet her need to know outweighed her fear.

“Coded messages will be broadcast from Britain telling you when and where weapons will be dropped,” Wolf continued.

Pieter leaned close. “How will the drops work?”

“When you hear our plane on the designated night, you’ll shine a light into the sky as a signal. Weapons and ammunition will be dropped by parachute, and it will be up to you to hide them in haystacks or manure piles or wherever you can until they’re needed.”

“I assume we’ll have more work to do now that the invasion has come?”

Wolf nodded. “We’ll be asking Resistance fighters to do additional acts of sabotage —derailing trains, cutting telephone wires, destroying bridges —whatever it takes to halt the movement of Nazi war materials.”

“But there are always reprisals,” Lena said. “The Nazis round up men from the nearby communities, and —”

Pieter rested his hand on her shoulder, stopping her. “Wolf knows all about reprisals.”

“Once your cell commits an act, you and your men will need to go into hiding. Not here, but out in the woods somewhere. The Germans have been searching for men in hiding. They’ll surround a town and search house to house. Any men they find are sent to labor camps. I apologize if I’m scaring you,” he said to Lena.

She couldn’t reply. She wondered how she could operate the farm by herself with Pieter gone.

“One more thing you should know. If you’re caught helping downed Allied airmen, you’ll face arrest and execution. And they’ll arrest your wife, as well, to discourage you from helping aircrews.”

Lena wondered what would happen to her children if she was arrested. She wasn’t afraid for herself as much as for them. “That’s a huge price to pay,” she said.

“Yes, but the alternative is much worse,” Pieter said. “If the Nazis win, we’ll live beneath their shadow for the rest of our lives.”

“I’m heading up to your windmill now to hide the radio if you want to join me,” Wolf said, pushing away from the table. “And I left a container of kerosene in your barn.”

“Take something with you to eat,” Lena said. She rose from the table and rummaged in her pantry, wrapping a few items in a dish towel for him.

“I’m very grateful to you,” Wolf said before leaving.