Adelaide had never seen anything like it before, was still in shock herself at seeing anyone behave that way. She’d felt the terror inside him as if it were a real, breathing thing.

“I don’t want you to get upset with me, because it’s the last thing I want to do, but if it comes to it, and he seems sound of mind, we might not be able to stop him from leaving.”

Addy could tell from the gentleness of her sister’s words that she expected her to be upset about it. But if she were entirely honest, it was something she’d already thought about. Peter had terrified her when he’d kept insisting he be allowed to surrender, muttering like he was actually demented, the whites of his eyes flashing the moment he’d gained consciousness. How could they help him if he didn’t want to be helped?

“What if we do, though, and then he tells them what we did? About Harry?”

Elise sighed. “I know, I’ve thought of that, too. But short of knocking him over the head or shooting him myself and burying him in the garden, I don’t see what our other options are if he still feels that way next week, or next month even. And we can’t exactly keep him hidden if he doesn’t want to be here, he’ll jeopardize our safety either way.”

Addy shut her eyes, wishing they didn’t have to consider something so horrid. “What’s going to happen to us? If we’re found out?” she asked. “What would the Germans actually do to us?”

Elise caught her hand. “Listen carefully to me, Addy. If we’re discovered, we say that we helped them because they were on our doorstep in the middle of the night and we felt vulnerable as two women here alone. We feared for our safety. As long as we both stick to the same story, we’ll be fine.”

“You’re certain that will work?” She couldn’t tell if her sister was simply trying to make her feel better.

“We’re two young women on our own who were put in an impossible situation. We simply say that we were scared, and we weren’t able to physically restrain two men with brute force, or defend ourselves against them.”

Addy laughed, despite it all. “Maybe not, but after seeing you in action today, I think you would actually do it if you had to. I was actually pretty impressed with you.”

Elise laughed back, and within seconds they were both laughing hard, heads bent together. It had been an awful day, but laughing made Addy feel so much better, even if only for a few minutes.

“I can’t believe I took a bullet out of a man,” Elise said, head in her hands as she groaned. “Somehow I just did it.”