Winter's Bullet Read Online Free Page A

out for sure.’
    Tygo walked across to the big fireplace. Stooping down, he ducked under the mantelpiece and flashed his torch up the narrow vertical passage. The chimney did not go straight up, but kinked to the right, not uncommon in such a large house.
    Tygo knew he had no choice but to climb. Since he had worked for Krüger he’d been forced into every nook, cranny and crevice in the old houses of Amsterdam. He had swum in flooded basements, crawled into hidden priest holes, found hidden rooms – some even had families living in them.
    The soot continued to fall as he made his way up the chimney, his legs braced on either side of the wall. He had wrapped a rag around his mouth to stop himself coughing. As he went higher, the chimney began to narrow and he found he could climb a little faster.
    â€˜Well, Frettchen?’ Krüger called up.
    â€˜Nothing yet,‘ replied Tygo. He reached up with his hand, and instead of brickwork, he found a ledge. He pushed with his legs, and his head and shoulders cleared the top of it. In the gloom he reckoned the chimney opened out into some sort of void, about the height andwidth of a coffin. Tygo leant forwards into it with his legs pressed on the chimney wall behind him. He pulled the torch from his trouser pocket and flicked it on.
    Two of the iciest blue eyes he had ever seen stared back at him out of a soot-blackened face. A girl.
    The cold, hard shock of it stopped his heart for a second. Then his body instinctively jerked back, and before a scream of surprise could form in his throat he was tumbling back down the chimney.
    He landed with a heavy thump on the stone hearth, and lay there, winded, his elbows skinned. A fresh shower of soot shot down on top of him.
    â€˜Well, what is it?’
    Tygo’s mind was racing. In that split second he had seen both fear and desperation in those eyes – it was like staring at a helpless animal caught in a trap. He felt like that every morning when he woke, and every time he ventured out alone.
    The words came out instinctively: ‘Nothing, sir.’
    â€˜Nothing? Then why did you just fall down the chimney?’
    Again, Tygo said the first thing that popped into his head. ‘There’s a dirty great crow up there in a nest. It flew into my face.’ He pulled himself to his feet. ‘See for yourself if you don’t believe me.’
    Krüger stared at him for a moment. ‘Well, it would seem we are too late on this particular occasion.’ He glanced around the room a final time, his expression one of disappointment mixed with frustration. ‘There is nothing more to be had from this place.’
    He marched out of the room and Tygo shook the soot from his hair. That’s where you’re wrong , he thought, glancing up the chimney. But there was only darkness and silence.

CHAPTER 5
    T hey returned to Euterpestraat in silence. Krüger was obviously brooding about his failure to find the wretched jewel, and Tygo was lost in thought about his extraordinary discovery and what he should do about it.
    Günter drove past the entrance towards the rear of the building and down a ramp into the basement where the Gestapo kept their vehicles safe from the winter weather and sabotage. A car bomb had been used recently to kill a local party leader.
    Krüger marched up the steel stairs till they reached ground level. He turned to give Tygo the once-over.
    â€˜Go and clean yourself up, for God’s sake, and throwthose clothes away. You’re no good to me looking like a sweep. Ask the quartermaster for some fresh clothes on my authority.’
    Tygo nodded, miserable on the one hand to be once more inside this hateful place, but happy at the prospect of a shower and fresh clothes. The place was blissfully warm too.
    The hot water hit him like sharp hot needles, and he stood under the shower for a good five minutes. It was nicest thing to have happened to him since the last shower