Alphabet House Read Online Free

plane or one of the patrols that had inevitably already been dispatched to ferret them out.
    They simply wouldn’t have a chance.
    They ran for some time without stopping. Their movements were clumsy. Every bootstep in the frozen earth sent a jolt up their spine. James didn’t look too good and he was deathly pale.
    Far behind them came a gentle hum. They glanced at each other. From in front of them came another sound. A different sound, more like a heavily loaded train.
    ‘Did you say the railway line was to the south of us?’ panted James, pressing his ice-cold hands to his chest again.
    ‘God, James, I said I wasn’t sure!’
    ‘Some navigator you are!’
    ‘Should have spent ages poring over the map rather than heaving you out of that idiotic Yankee soup tin?’
    James didn’t answer. Putting his hand on Bryan’s shoulder, he pointed towards the bottom of the greyish slope that stretched in both directions, and from which came the unmistakable pumping sound of a steam engine. ‘Maybe now you have a better idea where we are?’
    A single nod from Bryan made him relax. Now that they knew where they were, the question was whether that would help them. They squatted down behind some bushes prickling with dry, dead branches. The straight stretch of track lay like thin stripes in the white landscape. The distance to the railway was about a quarter of a mile and the ground was fairly open.
    So they had been south of the railway line all the time.
    ‘Are you OK?’ Bryan tugged gingerly at James’ fur collar, so he turned his head and faced him. James’ pale skin colour made the contours of his skull stand out more clearly. He shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention back to the railway line.It was growing gradually lighter and the shadows in the hollow of the slope took on animated shapes. A magnificent yet terrifying sight. Small gusts of wind carried up to them the sound of the enormously long train. Carriage after carriage glided past like a deadly lifeline between front and fatherland. Snorting armoured engines, endless goods wagons protected by big guns, machine-gun nests hidden behind sandbags and greyish-brown troop carriages from which no light escaped through the rolled-down curtains. As soon as the train had passed, new sounds heralded another one on the way.
    There were only a few minutes between each transport. In this short space of time, during which their knees were beginning to go to sleep beneath their doubled-up bodies, thousands of human lives must have passed by. Exhausted, battle-scarred veterans heading westwards, frightened and silent reserves heading eastwards. Just a few bombs on this stretch daily, and the Russians’ job on the hellish Eastern Front would be a bit easier.
    Bryan felt a tug at his sleeve. James put his finger to his lips and sat perfectly still, listening. Now Bryan could hear it too. The sounds came from behind them on both sides.
    ‘Dogs?’
    Bryan nodded. ‘But maybe only in the one group.’
    James turned down his collar and straightened up a bit. ‘The other group is motorized. That was the humming sound we heard before. They must have got off their motorcycles where we crossed the ditches.’
    ‘Can you see them?’
    ‘No, but it won’t be long.’
    ‘What should we do?’
    ‘What the hell
can
we do?’ James squatted down again and rocked back and forth. ‘We’ve left tracks even a blind man could follow.’
    ‘We give ourselves up, then?’
    ‘Do we know what they do with shot-down pilots?’
    ‘You haven’t answered my question. Should we give ourselves up?’
    ‘We’ve got to go a bit out into the open so they can see us, otherwise they might think we’re up to no good.’
    Bryan felt the treacherous slap of the wind as soon as started down the slope after James. It made his cheeks tingle.
    A few rapid strides and they were out in the open. They stood waiting, facing their pursuers with their hands in the air.
    Nothing happened to begin