Cate knew he was right, but she couldn’t help but wonder why they’d taken the patients. Why not leave them behind? She hadn’t been able to count them, so she didn’t know if any might have been left, and she certainly wasn’t going inside to see for herself.

As the trucks finally rumbled away, the ground vibrating once more, Cate let out a breath she hadn’t even known she was holding. They’d left behind two Nazi soldiers by the looks of it, the rest either going in the convoy or leaving on foot in the opposite direction, and the two who’d been left were patrolling around the perimeter of the house.

“What are we going to do now?” she asked Jack, her voice so low it was barely audible. She wondered what had happened to the ATS girl, whether she’d made it safely to the beach or not, or whether she’d simply found somewhere to hide. If only they’d stayed together, if she hadn’t left in such a hurry like that. Whatever the case, Cate knew she owed the girl her life. Without the warning, she would have been rounded up and taken on that truck, too. She gulped. Or just as easily gang-raped by all those soldiers and discarded before the truck had even left.

And Lilly . . . She fought the image of Lilly screaming at her from the ambulance she’d obviously commandeered. How on earth had Lilly ended up back at the chateau, and transporting injured soldiers on her own at that? She only hoped she’d made it all the way.

“You all right?” Jack asked, his hand catching hers.

She nodded, quickly blinking away her tears. “I’m fine. I just keep thinking what could have happened to me, that’s all.” What could still happen to me.

The knowing smile he gave her in reply made her wonder if he could read her mind, or perhaps he was just worrying about the same thing.

“We’re not safe yet,” he said. “And heaven help us if someone decides they want to drive this ambulance.”

Cate hadn’t thought about that possibility. “What if I somehow found the keys? What if we found another vehicle we could drive?”

Jack’s fingers interlaced with hers, both of them ignoring the drying blood streaked across their skin, and she watched, hopeful, as he stroked his thumb across her hand before finally meeting her gaze.

“No, Cate, we can’t,” he said. “We’d be dead within minutes, maybe an hour at best. There’s a reason no Allied soldiers are left standing here. It’s too late to make a run for it.”