Cold Lonely Courage (Madeleine toche Series Book 2) Read Online Free

alley, smoothing her hair and torn clothing. Her palms and knees were bloody. She could not go to the market this way. Grasping the handle of the cart, she started from home.
    Madeleine walked fast as a plan formed in her mind. I will kill him, she thought as she embraced the prospect of revenge. That bastard will pay in blood. I swear it on my brother’s grave; I will avenge my honor and Yves’ death.
    “How were the prices today?” Jean-Pierre said as Madeleine walked back into the kitchen. He didn’t look up from his cutting board until Madeleine sat down. Jean-Pierre paused and looked over at her. She was sitting quietly, her eyes on her hands.
    “Madeleine, what’s happened?” he asked, setting down his paring knife, seeing her torn clothes and scraped hands.
    “I have something to tell you Papa, but you have to promise to listen before you do anything.”
    “I promise,” he answered.
    “The SS officer that spoke to me at the market, the one I told you about?”
    “I remember. What’s this about? Did he insult you again?”
    “Papa, you have to listen to me. I can only tell this once. I can’t tell Mama. The officer assaulted me in the old tire factory. He grabbed me out of the alley and forced himself on me. I thought I was going to die, Papa. But I didn’t.”
    “I’ll kill him, Madeleine. I’ll walk up to the pig and shoot him in the street and as many others as I can before they get me,” Jean-Pierre said, his face twisted with rage.
    “No Papa, it has to be me. He raped me. If you do it, they’ll come and drag Mama and me out in to the street and shoot us after they’ve raped us both. He promised me that would happen. I was terrified but now I’m enraged. I have to kill him or I’ll never be able to live with myself. He’s the enemy and they killed Yves. I don’t care, I can’t stand it anymore, whatever I do I’m going to kill them and I’m starting with him.”
    “No Madeleine, I can’t lose another child. You’ll be caught. I’ve killed many men. One more won’t make any difference,” Jean-Pierre said, putting his arms around Madeleine. Tears of anguish ran down his face.
    “Papa, I was so scared I thought I’d never see you again. I don’t want to live that way. If I die fighting, then at least it will be defending my home. I need to learn how, and I need help killing that man. If you don’t help me, I’ll find someone who will. The army’s gone. Only the Resistance can do anything and they’re not going to act just because I got raped. It could take weeks to contact them, even if I knew where to start. I need your help. You were in the war when you were my age. Teach me how to shoot and we’ll find a way to get him alone.”
    Jean-Pierre closed his eyes and slowly lowered his head as the truth took hold of him. She’d follow this path, the same path he followed as he went to the trenches full of youthful expectation and vigor, he thought.
    “Then you need to know what you’re running towards, Madeleine Toche. I’ve seen it and if I’m going to help you, I’m going to tell you what it is. But not here, not right now. We can’t tell your mother. I won’t be able to stop her. She’ll go to the police, and they’ll do nothing but pretend to investigate. The Vichy Police serve at the pleasure of their German masters. They’re supposed to protect us and enforce the law, but they won’t care. Then they’ll burn us out or arrest us and we’ll end up in a camp or dead in an unmarked grave. We have to be patient. I can teach you to shoot my pistol out at the old farm. I’ll tell you what you need to know. But until then, remember this, the first time you look into a person’s eyes as you kill them will terrify you. After you have killed dozens or hundreds you will see their faces in your dreams because they will never leave you. You’ll walk on the edge of madness at times and it will only be your will to live that keeps you killing, listening to their screams