“Just? I wish it were that simple.”

“If you can’t do it, I understand.” I struggled to keep the disappointment from my voice. Krys didn’t owe me anything anymore. “Thanks anyway.” I started away, thinking about how I was going to tell Sadie I had failed her.

“Wait,” he said. I turned back. “Let me see what I can do.”

“Really?”

“No promises, but I’ll do my best.” A wave of hope and gratitude rose in me. Despite our quarrels and the difficulty finding food, Krys was willing to try. I could see his mind working, trying to figure out how to make the impossible happen. “Give me a few hours.”

I looked up at the night sky, trying to calculate how much time we had. “She has to go back before daybreak.”

“Where does she go underground?”

“There are concrete steps down to the river near Podgórze. About twenty feet to the east of there, you will see a sewer grate. Do you want me to come with you to get the food?”

“Yes,” he said bluntly, an unmistakable note of affection in his voice. The woman who had summoned him for me was behind the bar again, and though we were too far away for her to hear our conversation, I could feel her watching us. “But I don’t think that’s our best plan. You go with your friend and hide her somewhere safe. I will meet you by five o’clock by the grate with whatever I have—if I can find anything at all.”

Before I could thank him, he turned and walked through the door behind the bar. I started out the front door to find Sadie.

When Sadie saw me emerge from the café and step into the alleyway, she straightened from behind the garbage cans. “Any luck?” I could see her searching my arms for the food she so desperately needed. “You don’t have it,” she said, crestfallen.

“It’s coming,” I promised quickly, and her face brightened. “Or at least, my friend Krys is going to try,” I corrected, not wanting to get her hopes up in case he failed.

“You told him about me? But, Ella, you promised.”

“I know. I’m sorry. It was the only way. He can be trusted.”

But her panic did not lessen with my reassurance. “He could tell someone. I have to go back and warn the others.”

I took both of her hands in mine. “Sadie, stop. You trust me, don’t you?”

“Yes, of course,” she said, without hesitation.

“Then you can believe me now. Krys isn’t going to say anything. He’s part of the Polish Home Army,” I added, betraying Krys’ secret as well in my effort to reassure her. “He is fighting against the Germans. He isn’t going to tell, I swear it. And he can get what you need.” Or at least, I hoped he could.

The explanation seemed to calm her. “How long?”

“He needs a few hours. Let me get you back to the sewer and I will bring you the food as soon as I have it.”