In Satan's Shadow Read Online Free

as long as the cars are sealed.”
    “How do I gain access?”
    “A train from Genoa to Freiburg will stop a kilometer northeast of the Basel terminal two weeks from today at midnight.”
    “I thought trains passed through, but didn’t stop,” York said.
    “That’s correct. But a herd of cattle crossing the tracks will force the train to stop. It will take exactly seven minutes for the cows to be moved.”
    “So I have seven minutes to board the train?”
    “Exactly seven minutes,” Max emphasized. “The last car of the train has a trap door in the floor, mid-length. The cargo area above has been packed with a space large enough for you to sit in, a small cave in a sea of crates.”
    “I get off the train in Freiburg?”
    “Yes, adopting the role of Michael Becker, wearing your sergeant’s uniform, boarding a passenger train to Berlin. The real Michael Becker has an aunt and uncle who own a farm twenty kilometers outside of the city. You’ve been convalescing there for six months. That’s how long Michael Becker has been in captivity.”
    York arched his eyebrows. “I’m impressed, Max. You’ve thought of everything.”
    “You better hope I did, old boy. If I didn’t, you’re a dead man.”

 
    CHAPTER 3
     
    April 15, 1943
     
    Amsterdam, Holland
     
    No one saw them remove the rail from the track that led to Berlin. Four men, sweating in the spring chill, took the long iron bars and went to the next section. They put the flat end just under the spike and, with the opposite end now elevated, they all leaned downward, prying the spike from the timber a centimeter at a time. Forty kilometers from Amsterdam, they had chosen a rural location, and a sloping curve, to sabotage the train.
    They were surprised when they heard voices, more light laughter than words, the sound coming closer as seconds passed. They grabbed their iron bars, scampered down a small embankment, and hid in the edge of the trees.
    The men looked at each other anxiously. Their work was not complete; they needed more time. And anyone could see that the tracks had been tampered with.
    The voices became clearer, a man and a woman, not yet visible.
    The leader looked at his watch. It was 5:05 p.m.
    A few minutes later they came into view, a German soldier and a young Dutch girl, smiling and holding hands as they strolled down the tracks, young lovers hiding from a world that wouldn’t approve.
    The men waited, watching anxiously. The pair blocked their escape path. If they saw the missing rail, they would tell the authorities. Then the Nazis would find them.
    “The train will still crash with only one rail missing,” a man whispered. “We should find a different way out.”
    The leader again glanced at his watch. “Just to be sure, we should remove two,” he said patiently. He considered their predicament and the risk they faced. What if there were others following the young couple? “We’ll wait ten minutes. No more.”
    “What if they see the rail missing?”
    The leader paused, watching the couple as they came closer. He was determined not to fail. “Then we have to kill them.”
    The German, no more than twenty, stopped abruptly. He turned to the girl and kissed her. She responded, wrapping her arms around his neck, her eyes closed.
    The leader frowned. “We have to make them leave or they could be here all night.” He thought for a moment, deciding what to do. “Come, follow my lead.”
    He strutted from the trees as if he hadn’t seen them, the others following, not knowing what to expect. They went to the track and looked in the distance, away from the couple.
    “I’m sure the stream is just across the tracks,” he said loudly. “And I swear to you, it’s the best fishing around. I will show you.”
    They walked down the embankment, talking loudly, scanning the trees on the other side, searching for a stream that didn’t exist.
    The soldier and girl pulled away from each other, shocked at the intrusion, their