“I’ll confirm arrangements for safe passage for them and run down the munitions. Then we can help Sadie and go.” He made it all sound so easy.

“I’ll find Sadie and the others and let them know. She should be at the grate in an hour or so.”

Krys shook his head. “I’m afraid it won’t be that simple. I told her to stay hidden and not come to the grate, no matter what.”

I took a deep breath. “Then I have to go down and find her myself.” I tried to sound confident. But my insides quivered. I had not been able to bring myself to go into the sewer there before. How was I going to manage it now?

“Ella, no. The pipes are mined.”

“Mined?”

“I only just found out after the munitions were taken. The Germans have begun to mine the tunnels to fortify the city. They mean to detonate them when the Allies eventually come, but it would be all too easy to trip one of the wires ahead of time.” I thought then of Sadie and the others. How many times had they walked those tunnels, unaware that they could be blown to bits at any second? “So you see why you can’t go down there.”

“If Sadie’s in that kind of danger, I need to go now more than ever,” I countered.

“At least wait for me to go with you. You can’t rescue her until we have somewhere for her to go. I have to go to my team first and make sure they’ve found the munitions. And I have to arrange safe passage for Sadie and her friends. Let me do that and I will meet you by the grate in the alley at midnight.”

“But that might be too late. We have to get to Sadie and her friends now.”

“It’s the best we can do. I know that you can’t go back to your house because of Ana Lucia. You can stay in my room upstairs until it is time to go to Sadie.”

“And then once she is safe, you and I can leave for Warsaw together. Perhaps we could even get married.” The old dream flickered in my mind.

“I hope so,” he said, with less certainty than I would have expected. For a second, my old doubts returned; perhaps he did not feel the same as I did. “I love you with my whole heart and I want to marry you. Everything is just so uncertain now. I won’t make a promise to you that I can’t keep again.” It was not his feelings for me he doubted, but the future itself. “But know this, Ella: I will wait for you. I will come for you. And no matter what happens, I will never leave you again.” His words meant more than any marriage vow possibly could have.

He kissed me once long and hard and then started away.

24

Ella

That night I waited by the sewer grate in the alleyway behind the church as Krys had instructed. After leaving him, I had spent most of my time in the barren room on the top floor above the café. I had wanted to try to see Sadie, or at least walk the streets of Kraków one more time before I left the city forever. But I didn’t dare do anything that might risk my being seen by Ana Lucia or her associates or otherwise risk our plan.