Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12 Paul followed Maman and Mr. Spire as they carried Victor to another room. Paul grabbed Victor's hand. Victor gave his hand a little squeeze, but didn't open his eyes. "Paul," Maman said gently. "Stay with the others." Paul tried to go in the room anyway, but Maman started to shut the door. Ellie managed to whoosh in just before she closed it tight.

Paul's whole body was shaking. Somehow, he made it back to the radio room. Mrs. Bernard took Paul gently by the hand. "Your mother has helped wounded soldiers before," she said quietly. "Our group has helped rescue nearly fifty Allied pilots who crashed around Le Roc over the years. She knows what to do." Paul sat down at the table, where Pierre was telling Mr. Leon what happened. "There were two guards in front of the barn, just as we expected," Pierre said. He had his boot off. His ankle was swollen like a melon. It looked broken, or at least very badly sprained. "We snuck in through a side door. But we didn't realize there was a third soldier in back. As we were leaving, he spotted us. And then they all came after us. Marie got two of them. And I got the third… but not before he shot Marie." Pierre shook his head, tears streaming down his face. "It's my fault. I should have seen him."

"No," Mr. Leon said sternly. "You cannot blame yourself." "I didn't even know Victor had been shot," he said. "He said nothing. And I hurt my ankle during the fight; I was worrying about myself. But then, after about a mile, I could see that Victor was about to drop. He was shot in the shoulder. It's bad." Mr. Leon's face looked calm. But his fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles were white. "Jacques," Pierre said. "There's something else. About the Nebelwerfers…" "What?" Mr. Leon said. "They weren't there. The barn was empty except for some boxes of ammunition. The Nebelwerfers must have been moved." Pierre pulled out a notebook with a swastika on the cover. "Victor managed to swipe this from a desk. Hopefully it tells us where the weapons are. We planned to go to find them ourselves. But now…"

Mr. Leon took the notebook. "Pierre," he said. "You did everything you could. We have a long night ahead of us. We must gather our strength for what's to come." Mr. Leon and Mrs. Bernard began to study the notebook that Pierre had brought from the warehouse. Paul looked over Mr. Leon's shoulder. Pierre was right. The notebook was a careful list of all the weapons, with a map showing where they were placed. "Their code for Nebelwerfer is NbW," Mrs. Bernard told them. "Look for that." They paged through the book. "There!" Paul cried as Mr. Leon flipped a page. "Good eye, son," Mr. Leon said. "Looks like they've put them on the cliffs, over the beach." Maman had said that this nightmare was about to end. But Paul now wondered if a new one was about to begin.