Rhineland Inheritance Read online

  “That means the treasure must be located around here!”

  “It means that Slade might think something might be in these parts,” Beecham corrected. “If there really is any, which I’m still not certain about.”

  “What about the cross?” Sally countered.

  “One cross is one cross, not a mountain of gold. But yes, I’m willing to admit that there is at least a chance you are right.”

  “A big chance,” Sally said triumphantly.

  “A dangerous one,” Beecham amended. “If there really is a hunt going on around here, and Connors and Slade both know they’re racing against the clock, you can bet your life they’ll deal savagely with any ground-level opposition.” He glanced at his calendar and went on. “The handover to the French is scheduled for early next month. After that, this will be French-controlled territory, and anything they find will be as far out of Slade’s reach as the dark side of the moon.”

  “So do we tell the kids to hold off the search?” Jake asked.

  “You can’t do that,” Sally protested. “What if Connors does find something?”

  “He might anyway,” Jake pointed out. “He’s got a big organization behind him.”

  “But you’ve got contacts closer to the ground,” Sally argued.

  “You’ve seen Connors’ tactics,” Jake replied. “How would you feel if somebody was seriously hurt?”

  “The kids will just have to be very careful,” Sally said. “And they will. Because you’re going to keep an eye on them.”

  “I think she’s right,” Colonel Beecham said. “As long as they proceed with extreme caution, I think it should be all right to let them see what they can find. I would hate like the dickens for Connors to end up with a lever to elevate himself to general.”

  “So would I,” Jake agreed.

  “Talk to them, Captain,” Beecham directed. “If they understand the danger and agree to go ahead carefully, good. If not, call it off. It’s your shot either way.”

  Once they had been dismissed, Jake headed straight for the exit. Sally caught up with him. “Where are you going?”

  “I want to see if there’s anything around the feeding station that can be salvaged.”

  “Wait, I’m coming with you. I need to check on the créche.”

  “Not so fast,” Pierre said. “None of us should go anywhere alone. If any one of us needs to go somewhere, we take an escort. Extreme caution starts with us.”

  “Agreed,” Sally said.

  “That’s fine with me,” Jake murmured, his eyes on Sally.

  “All right, then. Let’s go.”

  When they pulled up in front of the créche, a great crowd of youngsters was milling about the street in front of the feeding station. Jake climbed from the jeep and said glumly, “I guess I’d better go break the news.”

  “Maybe we can work out something by tomorrow,” Sally said hopefully. “A cold meal or something.”

  Pierre stood on the jeep’s running board and searched the crowd. “What are those soldiers doing over there?”

  “And those trucks,” Sally added, pointing to a pair of green canvas tops beyond the gathering.

  Just then a voice bellowed out, “All right, all right! Nobody gets nothing until we see some order around here. Corporal!”

  “Yeah, Sarge?”

  “You and a coupla men line these jokers up.”

  “I thought you told me to keep a lookout for the creeps in white hats.”

  “So line ’em up and keep looking. What are you, some kinda moron?”

  “No, but I don’t speak the lingo.”

  “Then, use your hands. They got eyes, don’t they?”

  Jake looked at a wide-eyed Sally. “What’s going on?”

  “Isn’t that Sergeant Morrows?” she asked him.

  “Food,” Pierre announced, sniffing the wind. “Somebody is definitely cooking something.”

  They plowed through the mob, crossed the rubble heap, and came upon a sweating Sergeant Morrows with three frantic helpers. When the sergeant saw them he straightened and said, “Say, it’s about time—I mean, glad you could get here, sirs. Hey, Miss Anders. Sure could use some help with these kids.”

  “What’s going on here, Sergeant?”

  “We heard what they did to the chaplain, sir. Me and some of the boys, we decided we couldn’t let the kids go hungry.”

  One of the soldiers helping Morrows asked, “How’s the chaplain, sir?”

  “Dr. Weaver says he’s going to be okay,” Jake replied. He pointed at the gleaming new kettles and stands, the heaps of produce, the shiny steel platters and other equipment and asked, “Where did all this come from?”

  “Turned out Stores had some stuff lying around they didn’t need.” Morrows caught the glint in Jake’s eye and protested, “It ain’t stolen, sir. Honest. Everybody’s real hot over what they done to the chaplain.”

  “Sarge was turning stuff away,” his assistant offered. “Volunteers too. Everybody wanted to get in on the act.”

  “Put a dozen or so guys spread out in front and back, in case the goons show up again,” Morrows said. “I sorta hope they do.”

  Pierre put up a warning finger. “No violence, the chaplain said.”

  “There ain’t gonna be no violence unless they come looking for it,” Morrows replied. “And if they do, it won’t last long. Sir.”

  “Why do you think they did it?” Sally probed.

  “Goons is goons, ma’am,” Morrows replied. “That’s all the reason they need.”

  Sally nodded her satisfaction to Jake and said, “Looks like everything is under control here, soldier. I’ll be in the créche if you need me.”

  “I’ll help out here,” Pierre said to Jake. “Now would be a good time for you to spread the word.”

  Jake nodded, turned to Morrows, and said something he had never imagined he could say to this man. “You’re a good friend, Morrows. To me and to the kids.”

  “Shoot, sir,” Morrows replied, reddening. “It’s a pleasure. Never knew anything so easy could mean so much.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  By the next day, word had spread through the garrison that the MPs who raided the feeding station had actually been after Jake and Pierre. Reinforcements had poured in. A guard routine had been set up for both the feeding station and the créche. At Sally’s insistence, another jeep had been requisitioned from motor pool, and a pair of brawny PFCs followed Jake and Pierre wherever they went.

  When they stopped in front of the créche that afternoon on their way to a meeting in Freudenstadt, Pierre told him, “You go ahead, my friend. I’ll wait out here.”

  “What is this?”

  Pierre shrugged. “Only a fool continues fighting after the battle is lost. Sally has chosen the victor.”

  “If she has,” Jake declared, “she hasn’t told me about it.”

  “Give her time,” Pierre said. “If either of us stands a chance, it’s you.”

  Jake walked down the stairs and pushed through the créche door. Sally was kneeling in a corner of the room, so involved with a trio of young girls that she did not notice his arrival.

  On her face was the same look of unguarded tenderness she had had when speaking of her dead fiance. A flame rose unbidden within Jake, one so strong it threatened to turn his heart to cinders. There was no defense against this fire. Nowhere to run, no way to escape, not without pushing this woman from his life entirely. And that he could not do. Not even with logic whispering endlessly in his mind, she is not for you, not for you, not for you.

  Jake watched her, wanted her, and wondered if there was even a chance, the slenderest of threads, that he might take the place of a man who was no more.

  He feared her answer as he feared the pain of having her catch sight of him, and watching the tender expression disappear. As quietly as he could, Jake started back out the door.

  “Jake?”

  Reluctantly he turned back. Sally was already standing and walking
forward, smiling and happy to see him. At the sight of her shining eyes, he felt as if a knife were being turned in his stomach.

  “Are you off for your talk?” she asked. “Where do you have to go?”

  “Freudenstadt.”

  “I wish I could hear you speak again,” she said with real feeling. “But three of the kids are not well, and Harry promised to stop by later.”

  “I understand,” he said quietly.

  She searched his face. “What’s the matter, Jake?”

  The simple fact of her calling him by his name was almost too much to bear. He inspected the ground at his feet and said softly, “I have to go.”

  She didn’t answer. Her silence lifted his gaze. He found her watching him with the stillness of a frightened forest creature. Jake did not stop to think, or wonder, or hope. His desire was too great.

  He bent and kissed her.

  A chorus of high-pitched giggles separated them. Sally managed a shaky smile. “We’ve got company.”

  Jake nodded, not trusting his voice just then. He caressed her cheek, then turned and left the créche.

  ****

  Later that evening Jake knocked on the door of the chaplain’s room. “Mind a little company?”

  “Good grief, no. Come in, Jake, come in.” The chaplain beckoned Jake forward. “How on earth they expect me to sleep so much is beyond me.”

  “I can’t stay long,” Jake said, drawing up a chair. “Pierre’s waiting for me downstairs.”

  “Nothing could help pass the time better than a chance to be of use to somebody,” Chaplain Fox said. “What’s on your mind?”

  Jake recounted the discussion with Colonel Beecham and the others. “I’m beginning to think there really may be something to all this. And it’s got me wondering. I kept thinking about all those kids, and what they’ve got to look forward to, growing up in a place like this.”

  But Chaplain Fox did not reply directly. Instead, he watched Jake for a long moment. “Is that the only thing that’s bothering you?” he asked.

  Jake sighed and examined his hands in his lap. He shook his head.

  “Is it Sally?”

  A nod this time.

  “Do you love her, Jake?”

  Another nod.

  The chaplain leaned back and said to the ceiling, “Sally is a wonderful girl. She has so much going for her—gorgeous looks, a wonderful smile, brains, a good heart.”

  “I know,” Jake said quietly.

  “But she still has not come to terms with her past, Jake. You know that as well as I do. She holds on to her pain, and do you know why?”

  “She’s still in love with him,” Jake replied.

  “Of course she is. She will love him until the day she dies. But that doesn’t mean that she has to stop living, not unless she chooses to.”

  “Are you sure you should be telling me this?” Jake asked.

  “Sally and I have often spoken this way. I’m quite sure she would agree to my sharing it with you, and if not, then it’s my fault, not yours. No, our dear Sally is frightened, Jake. She has loved and lost, and the pain has seared her deeply. I believe that she sees in you the opportunity to love again, and is terrified.”

  “Scared of me? I’d never do anything to hurt her.”

  “Not willingly, no. But you’re a strong man, Jake. A man of action. A man of power. She is both attracted to you and desperately afraid that you will take some risk, make some wild and dangerous step that will take you away from her.” He watched Jake’s reaction. “Do you see what I am saying?”

  Jake nodded slowly. “She pushes me away so completely that I think maybe it would be better for both of us if I stopped trying.”

  “Safer, perhaps, but not better. Not for her, in any case. I have no fear for you, Jake. None at all. You will weather this storm. But Sally may not. Beneath that rough exterior is a sad and lonely young woman. I think she needs you, Jake. More than she realizes.”

  “I wish it were true.”

  “I’m fairly certain that it is,” Chaplain Fox replied. “I fear that if she succeeds in pushing you away, she will return home and find what she thinks she needs. A safe man, one who never takes any risks whatsoever. Someone who always wears a hat when it’s raining, who does everything by the book, who wants nothing more than to live a life of domestic tranquility. Sally is not that sort of girl, no matter how much she might try to convince herself otherwise. You’ve seen how she is, Jake. You know. She would be smothered by such an existence. Something of the nervous beauty we both admire in her would be extinguished. I fear the fire and depth within Sally would simply fade away.”

  Jake ran his hands over his face. “I wish I knew what to do.”

  “Be strong,” Chaplain Fox replied. “Do you have a Bible?”

  “Somewhere.”

  “I suggest you take it out and read it. Study the words of other wise men, men of strength who also loved God. Read about men and women who found the ability to withstand adversity by placing their trust in Him. Start with Proverbs, then the first book of Kings, some of the Psalms, the gospel of John, then the letter to the Romans.”

  “And then report back to you in the morning, right?”

  Chaplain Fox smiled. “Ask the Lord to guide you. Not to gain what you want, though. You need to understand from the very outset, Jake, that He is not some bellboy, at your beck and call. Ask Him to guide you. Ask Him to show you how you can serve Him and so come to know your full potential, your true destiny. For that glorious completeness can only come to those who have given their lives to Christ.”

  “That’s a big step,” he murmured.

  “The fact that you see it that way is a good sign,” Chaplain Fox replied. “Whether or not this will bring the answer you hope for, I cannot say. That will depend on Sally’s own reaction, and whether or not she, too, is willing to look honestly at herself. But whatever happens, Jake, you will know peace. That I can promise you from the depths of my own experience. You will know peace, and you will know the certainty of His glorious presence in your life.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Jake did not like mornings. Given the choice, he would have preferred to begin his days around noon. A slow, gradual rise to consciousness, followed by a cup of good strong coffee taken on the back stoop. Preferably alone. Jake saw no earthly reason to include other people too soon. His motor took a while to warm up.

  Which was why, when the soldier standing guard duty pounded on their door, Jake could only manage a moan.

  “Captain Burnes. Sorry to bother you, but you’ve got visitors, sir.”

  To Jake’s befuddled mind, the soldier did not sound sorry at all. In fact, it sounded distinctly as if he had spent much of the night searching for just such an excuse to go out and bother somebody. After all, if he had to stay awake for guard duty, why should anybody else have a decent night’s sleep?

  Jake groped around, then realized that his gun was in his locker. Too far to lunge.

  “Sir, are you there?”

  Jake tasted the roof of his mouth and wondered why it had the distinct flavor of boot leather. He croaked, “Tell ’em to come back in the morning.”

  “It is morning, sir.”

  “Wha’ time is it?”

  “Just gone five, sir.”

  Jake groaned again.

  “Sir, it’s some kids. I think you’ll want to see them.”

  Jake found the strength to open one eye. He sought out Pierre’s bunk. No help there. Gentle snores emanated from beneath his friend’s blanket. “You got any java in the guardhouse?”

  “Just the dregs, sir. The pot’s been cooking all night. It’ll look like tar and taste like, well, I personally wouldn’t give it to my dog, sir.”

  “Sounds about right,” Jake said, fumbling for his pants. “Go get me a cup.”

  The corporal came trotting back just as Jake pushed through the door. “Here you go, sir. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  Jake took a slug, and shudder
ed as the tarry black liquid slid down and lit a fire in his belly. “This had better be good, Corporal.”

  “Sir, these kids showed up about an hour ago,” the corporal replied, scampering alongside Jake. “I recognized a couple of them from the infirmary—I put in some hours helping out there. I was afraid if they stood out there much longer we’d have to put them back in there again. I tried to shoo them off, but they’d just back off a pace and say, ‘Kapitän Burnes.’ Like that. I don’t speak Kraut, so there wasn’t a whole lot else I could find out.”

  “How many are there?”

  “Three up by the gate, some more back by the treeline, I’d guess somewhere around two dozen.” The corporal cast him a worried glance. “Hope I did right, waking you up, sir.”

  “You did fine, Corporal.” Jake handed him the empty cup as they rounded the corner and arrived at the main gates.

  The camp was enveloped by the utter dark of night’s final hour, save for the searchlights reaching from each guard tower. The lights flanking the main gates were trained on a trio of boys wrapped in blankets and oversized greatcoats and stomping their feet to ward off the heavy chill.

  “All right, Corporal,” Jake said. “Open the gates.”

  “Sir, Sergeant Morrows explicitly ordered us not to allow either you or Captain Servais to go anywhere outside the camp without an armed escort.” When he saw that Jake was about to protest, he pleaded, “Please, sir. If Sarge hears I let you go out there alone he’ll have me on spud detail from now ’til kingdom come.”

  “All right, soldier,” Jake relented. “Just stay back a few steps. These boys are very—” He searched for the right word, but could only come up with, “shy.”

  At the sound of Jake’s voice, Karl had become fully alert. When the gates were pulled back and Jake walked through, he said, “Tell them to redirect those blasted lights.”

  “But, sir—”

  “Play them out beyond us,” Jake commanded. “And don’t worry. With those kids in the trees nobody is about to sneak up on us.”

  “Okay, sir,” he said doubtfully, and called to the watchtowers.

  The proximity of the light made the darkness even more complete. Karl moved farther away from the corporal, and motioned for Jake to follow. When the soldier started along behind him, Jake ordered, “Stay where you are, Corporal.”