Setting up the radio, she contacted HQ. When she deciphered the message that came back, her heart banged loudly in her chest. Sibbie was safe. Arnie would be informed of their new camp and instructed to make contact. No mention of Paulo, but then he wasn’t an agent, so maybe they wouldn’t give any details of whether or not he was all right.

Thank God. Now all I want is for Arnie to come and tell me that Paulo, too, is safe.

Within an hour André turned up. His face was ashen. Marjie stared at him. ‘What’s happened? Where’s Ethan? Is . . . Gisele all right?’

‘I want to speak to you in private, Marjie. Please come with me.’

Marjie felt sick to her stomach – something had gone wrong. Please don’t let it involve Monty.

Once they were out of sight and earshot of the others, André said, ‘Gisele’s in the truck. She is responsible for the death of Ethan and is a traitor to our cause.’

‘What? No. No, André, tell me it isn’t true. What happened?’

‘When we neared the Spanish border, someone fired a shot at us, which hit Ethan and killed him. I stopped and a man came out from behind the rock the shot was fired from, shouting to Gisele to jump off the back of the truck. He had his gun trained on me. I ducked, set the truck in gear and raced towards him. He disappeared behind the rock and I turned the wheel violently, just missing the rock. Gisele fell backwards and must have banged her head. It knocked her unconscious. I drove like a madman, swaying all over the road, trying to miss the shots he fired at us. When I had gone a good few kilometres, I stopped to check on Gisele. She was coming to and didn’t make any sense. I tied her up. I brought her back here, because we must make her talk. We must know who her accomplice is, so that we can deal with him. Everything is at risk.’

Shocked to her core, Marjie frantically racked her brain for a solution. She’d made a mistake, she knew that. If the real traitor hadn’t been her brother, then she would have dealt with the whole situation differently. She should have done, for she knew how powerful love could be. She should have known that sending Gisele back to Monty would give him time to manipulate her, using Gisele’s feelings for him. But she had trusted Gisele.

‘What do you think we should do, André?’

‘We need to know who her accomplice is. Louis will get it out of her. He is sadistic, he’ll make her talk.’

Taking a deep breath, Marjie took the most difficult decision she’d ever taken in her life. ‘I know who it is.’

‘Marjie?’