Chapter Six
February 1 Angelique
A few miles ahead of them, Angelique woke up. At first she stared around her, not understanding where she was, the mists of a dream of a happier time fading from her mind. Dry sobs broke from her as she tried to reach out to her Mama and Papa, but to no avail.
She squatted on her heels and rocked back and forth with her arms wrapped around her, wailing her dead parents, who had been killed in a German air raid in France, and her shattered life. “Why keep struggling?” she asked herself. “Why not just lie down and die?” She was so tired, tired of living, tired from walking, tired of living from hand to mouth. But she shuddered at the thought of wild animals gnawing on her bones and straightened up. She wiped her eyes and composed herself, ate some breakfast, took off her outer set of clothes, shouldered her bag and set off again, walking towards the rising sun.
The day turned hot again, and she had to take shorter walks and longer breaks today, the previous day’s trip taking more of a toll on her weakened strength than she realized. She stumbled up and down the slopes, trying to keep herself oriented by the sun. Once she fell on her hands and knees. She stayed there for several minutes, her head hanging down, the merciless sun beating down on her. She listened to the siren call of her weakened body: just lie down, just rest, just sleep. But from somewhere inside of her came the determination that she would not let the hated Boche defeat her. She needed to get up and keep moving. If she kept moving, she would win, and they would lose. She struggled to her feet and started putting one foot in front of the other, her scraped knees adding to her misery.
The sun was high when she topped a rise and saw below her two buildings. At first her numbed mind couldn’t comprehend what she was seeing, and then she saw the front end of a German halftrack sticking out from behind one of the buildings. Terrified, she spun around and looked into the cruel face of an Arab standing behind her. She screamed and fainted.
Her faint must have lasted only a few moments, because when she came to she was still lying where she had fallen and was surrounded by five men, three Arabs and two Germans. One of the Germans was speaking in French to the Arabs, “Check and see if there is anyone with her.” Two of the Arabs obediently scampered off, but the one who had captured her stood his ground.
“She is mine,” he stated with his jaw thrust forward. Before anything more could be said, the other German noticed Angelique’s open eyes, said something in German and yanked her to her feet. She stood there swaying while the first German, a sergeant, glared at her and asked in French, “Who is with you?” He shook her slightly to give added force to his question.
“No one, I am alone,” she answered confusedly, wondering what she had stumbled into.
The two Arabs returned and reported, “She is alone, no one is traveling with her.”
She tried to shrink away from the Arabs’ wolfish looks at her while the German in charge chewed his lip in worry. “Major Lindisl is not going to like this,” he muttered in German to his companion, who shrugged, trying to appear unconcerned and replied, “The question is, what happens to her now?”
“We should hold her for the major,” the sergeant replied, albeit with an uncertain look at his Arab allies. They had gathered around her, their meaning plain on their cruel faces and lustful eyes. She stifled a scream as she tried to pull away from them, her desperate eyes searching for an escape.
The sergeant stepped forward and ordered authoritatively,” Leave her alone, the major will want to question her.”
That brought howling protests from the three Arabs but the sergeant snapped back, “You were hired to be guards, now attend to your duties!”
One of the Arabs snapped back, “If we don’t get her, we will leave!”
The sergeant was in a quandary, Major Lindisl would undoubtedly want to know why she was here, but if he were to find the Arabs gone, possibly telling other Arabs what was here, well, he shuddered to think of the consequences to himself. He hesitated and then shrugged, comforting himself with the fact that the major could interrogate her afterwards. “Ja, you can keep her tonight, but you will be on guard now in case anyone followed her.”
Angelique, horror-stricken at what she was hearing and overcome by all that had happened to her, fainted again. After some more discussion, one of the Arabs carried her into the smaller of the two buildings, roughly tied her up and left.
She struggled to consciousness some hours later, at first not knowing where she was at. Her exhausted body had taken over and she had slept. Her throat was parched, and when she looked around, she saw her canteen hanging on the back of a chair. The Arab had tied her hands in front of her, so she was able to squirm over and get the canteen. She sat on the floor and held the canteen between her knees while she unscrewed the top, and then carefully took sips of water, letting the moisture penetrate the tissues in her mouth and throat.
After satisfying her thirst, she listened carefully, but all was quiet. She examined the knot on her wrists and then used her teeth to loosen and then untie her hands. She made short work of the rope around her ankles and stood, swaying until she regained her equilibrium. Softly, she made her way to the closed door and cautiously cracked it open and peaked out. Nothing. She pulled the door open further; still, all was quiet and not a sign of anybody.
She slipped out and made her way to the side of the building, which could not be seen from the larger building. Again she scanned the countryside, still all was silent. She started to scramble up the slope, but heard a surprised yell from her right. Abandoning all efforts at being quiet, she started running as fast as she could. From the corners of her eyes she saw the motion as two Arabs ran to intercept her, one from each side of her.
She didn’t stand a chance as they ran her down, her weakened body unable to run fast enough to get away from the desert-hardened warriors. She screamed as they grabbed her and dragged her back down the hill, struggling all the way. She was still screaming as they hustled her into the building she had just left and tied her securely to the chair. Tired of her screams, one of them tied a gag on her and then they left her, helpless tears running down her face.
Sometime later she was startled when the door was opened and an Arab entered, the door closing behind him. Rigid with fear she stared at him as he examined her ropes, making sure they were tight, all the while making comments about what the night was going to hold. He grinned evilly at her white, shocked face, and then went over to a corner of the room and took down a canteen and was taking a drink when both of them were startled by gunshots outside.
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