As I hid in the shadows of the alleyway now, my heart pounded with a mix of nervousness and anticipation. Any moment, I expected Krys to appear, his strong silhouette against the moonlit sky. We would have to go into the sewer to find Sadie, which I dreaded, and rescuing her and the others would be difficult and dangerous. But once we had gotten them to safety, Krys and I could leave and start our life together.

Only he never came.

Time passed slowly as I waited for him to appear. Once I thought I saw a shadow at the entrance to the alleyway. But it was just a passing car. The clock above the church chimed half past midnight and then one—and still Krys did not arrive. I tried not to panic, to think of all of the reasons he might have been delayed. Perhaps his errand to find the munitions took longer than expected, or he was forced to find a different way to the grate to avoid the Germans, as I often had been.

As more time passed, though, my excuses became harder to accept. When the clock chimed two, I knew that something was wrong. I could not simply stand here and wait any longer. But I could not go into the sewer and rescue Sadie without Krys; I did not know his escape plan. I had to find him.

As I started from the alley, I tried not to panic, to imagine a not-terrible explanation why he had not come. He had been so certain about meeting me to help Sadie, and about our leaving together. Something had happened, something awful, I was sure of it. I had to find out.

I hurried toward Barska Street. The café was shuttered at the late hour, so I made my way around the back of the building to the piwnica, where Kara stood behind the bar, serving beer to a few lingering patrons. When she saw me, her expression turned guarded. I could tell from her hollow expression that something awful had happened.

“What is it?” I demanded. “What happened to Krys?” I was too loud, not discreet enough. But in my panic, I did not care.

Kara pulled me behind the bar and into the storeroom where she had hidden Sadie the day I’d gone to the hospital looking for Sadie’s mother. “Krys has been arrested.”

Arrested. The word reverberated around my brain like a bouncing ball. “But how?”

“He and two of our other men went on a reconnaissance mission to try to recover the munitions. They discovered the munitions had been taken by a local street thief who had happened upon them while searching for metal scraps. He was planning to sell them to the Germans. They tried to intercept him before he could hand the munitions over, but it turned out to be a trap. The wretch had been paid to lure Krys and the other men to the Germans. One of the men managed to escape, but Krys and the second man were arrested.”