One Shot Kill - Robert Muchamore Page 0,67

had to leave.

Jae fell asleep with her head in Marc’s lap, but he stayed awake watching her breathe, trying to fix the way she looked into his head.

He nudged her awake when the sun poked over the horizon. The smile when she woke up and recognised him sent a sob through his body.

‘It’s half five,’ Marc said. ‘I’ve got to start walking if I’m catching the first train back to Paris.’

A pair of tears raced each other down Jae’s cheek as she found her shoes and rubbed a stiff shoulder.

‘You OK?’

‘Stiff,’ Jae said, as she stretched to a yawn. ‘I need a day off, but I’ll never get one.’

‘If all goes well, I’ll be back in Paris on Saturday morning,’ Marc said, as he held up crossed fingers. ‘We might have some spare time before we go back to Britain. I may be able to come here and help for a few days.’

Jae held up her crossed fingers too. ‘I hope it’s not another year. Will you be in trouble for running away from your unit?’

‘Whatever happens to me, you’re worth it. Will you walk part of the way into town with me?’

‘I’d love to,’ Jae said. ‘But cows have to be milked.’

Marc could think of nothing better than being with Jae in a muggy stinking cowshed, but he was the best sniper after Goldberg and had to go back. They both broke down completely during their final hug.

‘I hate this,’ Marc said. ‘I’m sorry I’ve got to go.’

Marc couldn’t bear it any longer, and tore himself away. After a few metres he waved, but then he strode without looking back because he was scared that he’d be unable to leave if he saw her again.

There was nobody on the road this early and fifteen minutes brought the orphanage into view. A lot of people knew Marc around here. It was best that they didn’t see him, so he dived over a wall and walked behind it for a couple of hundred metres.

When he climbed back, he glanced at a cottage. It was tiny, with a whiff of smoke coming out of the chimney. It was summer, so someone had to be inside cooking and that someone had to be Mr Tomas.

Marc had told Jae that he’d be in Paris by the weekend, but the bunker mission was a huge risk and there was a chance he’d get killed or taken prisoner. He didn’t like the idea of being outlived by his former tormentor and he was intrigued by the possibility of an ambush. He’d stayed with Jae until the last possible second and his watch told him he could spare no more than a couple of minutes.

Dry grass crunched underfoot as Marc approached the cottage. He leaned his shoulder to the whitewashed wall and peeked into the single ground-floor room. Tomas stood in vest and boxers, eating bread with one hand, while stirring a large metal pot on the wood-burning stove in front of him.

The window was half open. Marc was an expert knife thrower and even with his clumsily unbalanced pen-knife he’d have had no problem spearing Tomas’ chest from this range. The thought of killing in cold blood troubled Marc, but it was the one way he could help Jae and he detested Tomas more than anyone else on earth.

But Tomas was also one of the most senior Frenchmen working with the Nazi regime. A bloody end might be taken as a sign of resistance activity and lead to German reprisals. So Marc didn’t just need to be quick, Tomas’ death also had to look natural.

He ran around to the front of the house and gave a playful triple knock on the door. As Tomas swore and turned to answer the knock, Marc dashed back to the window. He opened the leaded pane as quietly as he could, then dropped down into the only room on the ground floor, timing his jump to coincide with Tomas opening his front door.

‘Bloody kids,’ Tomas shouted, when he saw nobody there. ‘Dozy nuns! Can’t keep ’em under control.’

Marc grabbed a heavy griddle pan hanging over the stove, and Tomas caught sight of it as he turned around, kicking the door shut with his bare heel while scratching himself through his boxers.

‘You,’ Tomas growled as his eyes opening wide. ‘You cheeky motherless bastard.’

Tomas had been a middleweight boxer in his prime, and Marc wouldn’t be the first cocky orphan to square up and come off worst. But none of those guys