‘I understand, Sunny, truly I do. I liked the guy. And you’ll have time to grieve for him properly. But now you have to save our lives – and only you can tell me the way to go. Only you can get us through roadblocks. As it is, I’m terrified this car is about to give out on us – it must have been damaged when the bullets hit the radiator grille.’

‘He stood up to them, Tom. Someone has to stand up to these filthy murderers and bullies – and he stood up to them. You didn’t see the real Anton.’

Perhaps that was the case, but she still hadn’t explained what exactly he was doing, or what his true role was. Those, however, had to be questions for another time. Right now, they had more pressing issues to deal with – namely getting a ten-year-old child to the coast and from there, God willing, across the Baltic to the safety of Sweden.

‘Sunny, please, which way do we go?’

She choked back her tears and wiped her eyes and cheeks with her sleeve.

‘There’s a village ahead. I’ll show you the way from there. Pray to God we don’t meet any checkpoints. I’m in no fit state . . .’

‘We’re bound to – but we got through them before on the way to Kossertheim and the papers seem sound. I’m more worried about the fuel gauge right now. What if we sprung a leak from one of those damned bullets?’

‘If we have to, we can stop for fuel. Emmy ensured we had a requisition form. But I’d rather not – too many questions.’

So they would just have to make a run for it and hope for the best. Wilde put the car in gear and eased away from the kerb. He would keep to a steady pace, no more than seventy kph, both to conserve fuel and to avoid unwanted attention.

From the back seat, they heard a voice. Klara had been silent until now, hadn’t said a word since the events back on the road outside Carinhall. Matthias Rieger had trained her well for all eventualities. But now she spoke up.

‘What happened back there? You still haven’t told me.’

Sunny turned and reached out a hand to stroke her hair.

‘Those were the men who killed your pappi and mutti. We won’t have any more trouble from them.’

‘Did you kill them?’

‘One of them.’

‘I wish you had killed them both. I hate them.’

*