“I know,” Adam said, feeling as if she'd climbed inside his mind. How had she known? “You mentioned a husband. What happened to him?”
Elisa's eyes turned darker. She kept her gaze on the ground in front of her and hurried her steps. “He is dead. All of my family is dead. Except Adin.”
Stunned and wishing he hadn't asked, Adam started to apologize. “I'm sorry. I…”
“The Milice took them.” Her tone was venomous. She glanced at him. “The Germans.”
“You don't know they're dead for certain then.”
“I know. They were taken to the camps.” She glanced at Adin, who still slept on Adam's shoulder. “The gas and the ovens.”
“The gas and ovens?”
“Yes.” She gave Adam a quizzical look. “You Americans do not know?”
“I'm not informed about what our government knows or doesn't know. I've only heard rumors about prison camps.”
“They are extermination camps.” Elisa shook her head. “The world watches while people die. Jews or anyone who helps them are the Gestapo's targets. Some are arrested and tortured. It would be better to die.” She turned hard, hateful eyes on Adam. “There…at the camps Jews are killed and burned in ovens.”
The ground felt as if it dropped out from beneath Adam, and he stumbled. Nausea swept over him. Did the U.S. government know?
“Thousands, maybe more, of my people are dead.” Her eyes became awash with tears. “Why did you Americans wait so long?” Before Adam could speak, she held up her hand. “No. Do not say. There is no answer.” She moved ahead, putting an end to the conversation.
Late in the day, a grinding and screeching din echoed from beyond a rise. Rumbling accompanied the clamor. The ground trembled. Adam and Elisa stopped.
“What is it?” Adam asked in an anxious whisper.
Elisa didn't answer. Motionless, she listened. “Germans!” She scooped up Adin, who had been walking beside her, and ran to the edge of the road. There were no trees or brush—no place to hide! “Come!” she called, galloping toward the rise.
“Where are you going? They'll see us!” Adam called.
Just as a tank crested the hill, he dove off the road and lay flat. “They'll see us!” he hissed, looking about for a hiding place.
“This way!” Elisa called, dropping to the ground. Staying low, she crawled forward. Adin clung to her neck. She stopped abruptly and pushed him into the side of a bank. She followed him, disappearing into the earth.
“What in the world?” Adam asked, hustling after them. There must be some kind of tunnel or culvert or something, he thought.
Elisa peeked out of a drainpipe. “Come. Come. Quickly!”
Adam doubted it was wide enough to allow for his frame, but he had no choice, so he slid in, feet first. Lying on his belly, he pushed himself backward. By the time the tank rumbled above, he had managed to squeeze completely inside. Elisa and Adin hid behind him. Lying in the darkness, Adam prayed.
Adin whimpered and Elisa shushed him, then in a soft voice said something in French. The child quieted.
A pair of black boots marched past. Holding his breath, Adam pressed his face down in his arms, hoping he had moved far enough into the pipe so he lay hidden in deep shadows. His heart hammered against his ribs.
Another soldier passed, then more. The men were talking, sounding confident and in high spirits. Adam wished he understood the guttural language. Minutes felt like hours, but finally the soldiers and their war machines moved on, leaving the three outcasts in their dark burrow.
Adam climbed free and stretched tight muscles. “I wonder where they're heading.”
“One of the soldiers said Paris. They are preparing for an attack on the Americans. Hitler says Germany will move on America.”
“They wouldn't dare do that.”
“The Germans dare. They do as they choose.” She faced Adam, meeting his eyes. “They will not stop.”
Adam felt a surge of apprehension. No. They wouldn't attack, not on American soil. Even as he considered the possibility, he remembered Japan. They'd done it. His thoughts went to his family. Alaska was vulnerable. What would happen to Laurel and William if the Japanese or Germans attacked there? They're alone. I shouldn't have left them.
Just before dark Elisa, Adin, and Adam risked sneaking into a barn close to the roadway. Black clouds had blotted out the sun and thunder rumbled. Rain was likely, and Adin was already weak. Even a simple illness could kill him. Exhausted, they dropped onto a pile of hay and burrowed in to fend off the cold night air.
Weary, Adam lay staring into the dusk, listening to the last whistles of birds settling in for the night, the whisper of the wind, and the first splashes of rain on the barn roof. The smell of hay and munching animals was comforting. It reminded Adam of home.
He studied Elisa and Adin in the fading light and felt a deepening kinship with them. Unable to explain the connection, he decided it must be a natural result of needing each other, a kind of solidarity. Father, please let nothing harm them, he prayed before sinking into a cavernous sleep.
The next morning Adam was prodded awake by something cold and wet. He opened his eyes and looked straight into the face of an inquisitive black dog. “Hello fel…” he started, then noticed a pair of boots and a shotgun directly behind the animal.
He sat upright. A large man who looked to be about thirty-five and wearing overalls stared at him. He was clean-shaven and wore a small cap.
The man said something in French.
“I don't understand,” Adam said.
Elisa sat up. Brushing hay out of her hair, she spoke to the man in French, then told Adam, “He wants to know who we are. I told him we are just travelers who needed a place to sleep. I said our car broke down a couple of miles from here just before dark.”
The farmer spoke again.
“He does not believe us,” Elisa said, then responded to the man. Adam heard their names and the word American.
