They had no idea where they were by the time it was fully dark, and they hadn’t stopped to eat all day. They finally sat down and ate some of their meager supplies, then sipped some of the water. Pru figured they had a long walk ahead of them the next day. They weren’t far from a road, and heard a German patrol go by that night.

By then, everyone on the base knew what had happened, from the fighter pilots who had seen it all, and reported to the base immediately, to the commander of the evac unit. The nurses were worried about them. They hadn’t had a plane go down in months, but at least their fighter escort said there had been no sound of ground fire after everyone bailed out of the plane. It was a tense night while everyone waited for the two nurses and their crew to show up somewhere and make contact.

By midmorning the next day, the pilot, copilot, and corpsmen had made it to a safe house on the border. They had been picked up and were back safely by that night. But Emma and Pru still hadn’t turned up. Lizzie, Audrey, Alex, and Louise were worried sick about them, as were the other nurses in their squadron. Two days later, three since they’d bailed out of the plane, they were officially listed as missing in action by the War Office, and Pru’s parents were notified. Two more days, and their squadron leader was fairly sure they’d been picked up by a German patrol or there would have been some sign of them along the way. They used a reconnaissance plane, and the other C-47s were keeping an eye out for them. They were the first women who would have been picked up by the Germans. By six days after bailout, it seemed fairly certain that they were either dead or in a German prison camp by then, and had probably been moved deeper into Germany.

Lizzie felt sick every time she thought about it, and Ed was suffering from extreme guilt for having taken a day off. He and Lizzie had found a small inn near the base, where they could rent a room and spend a few hours together, enjoy the pleasures of the flesh, and give wings to their love.

A week after Pru and Emma had bailed, it seemed certain that they were either prisoners or dead. In either case, their whole squadron was deeply shocked and mourning two women who were so greatly appreciated and beloved by their colleagues.

Ed and Lizzie were coming back from the mess hall on the eighth day, looking ravaged, when a farmer’s truck drove onto the base carrying bales of hay, and two bedraggled figures hopped off the truck. Ed stared at them and gave a shout. He screamed to anyone who could hear him.