Chapter 22 Chapter Twenty Two

What are you kidding?I never imagined that I would end my life like this! The condescending Sergeant Belken had already aimed his gun at Major Portman. His face was filled with excitement that had been suppressed for many years. I knew he was very serious. At this moment, the major didn't show the slightest fear, but let out a soft "Huh", and I saw his gaze pass over the person in front of him and fall behind the crossbeam slanting above.At the same time, the sergeant also noticed that the man in front of him had a strange look on his face. He realized something, and quickly turned around and raised his arms——

The gun rang, and blood burst from the surface of the black cloth! The gun in the sergeant's hand fell to the ground, and he stared wide-eyed looking for the enemy behind him.Blood trickled down his sleeve like a little red snake.The expression on his face couldn't tell whether it was surprise or anger. I held my breath, and it felt like time stood still. boom!Another shot hit the sergeant in the neck. He fell heavily on the ground pressing the wound, with a roaring sound in his throat, and blood kept gushing out from his fingers.The major quickly ran over to help him up, and pulled out a handkerchief to stop the bleeding.

I stood up slowly, my legs were numb, and my palms were covered with cold sweat. Joseph Guied showed his young face from behind the large beam in the living room. The sniper rifle in his hand was emitting a little smoke, and his eyes were fixed on the man lying on the ground. "Come down," I yell softly, picking up the weapon that nearly killed us. The major was trying to suppress the blood vessel, but Sergeant Belken's aorta was broken by the amount of bleeding from his wound.I stared at the face with convulsive muscles, blood was already gushing out of his mouth, he couldn't say anything, he just grabbed the major's clothes and climbed up to his chest.The bright red handprints were branded on the collar of the shirt and on the skin, very dazzling.

The sadness, anger, madness, and despair in this man's eyes are intertwined into a suffocating color!Is he regretting everything he will gain and lose?What he worked hard for all his life has come to naught at the last moment. Is he cursing God at this time? The major turned his back to me, and I couldn't see the expression on his face at this moment, but I knew he was trying to treat his brother who was half blood in vain, and he didn't care about the blood oozing from his back. Joseph climbed down from the beam and stood opposite us, saying nothing. At this time, a strong smell of blood floated into my nose, and the sergeant began to cough violently. He grabbed the major's collar with all his strength and raised his upper body, and whispered something into his ear intermittently in German, and then Laugh out loud.The laughter hit the major's side face with spurted blood, it was hoarse and vague, but it still made me want to tremble.

After a minute or so the laughter died away and the sergeant dropped his head and looked at me with his last happy expression on his mouth. "Is he dead?" Joseph asked. The major slowly lowered the sergeant to the ground and nodded. I walked over, gently pressed his left shoulder and squatted down: "...I'm sorry, Rostock..." Although the killing of Sergeant Belken was for Marisa, I knew what it meant to the major. The man had no expression on his face, but he just made a "stop" motion with his big blood-stained hand: "Stop talking, Shaerte, please count on me!"

He stood up and looked at the young man opposite, and asked him calmly: "Now may I think that you have avenged your sister, Mr. Guiad?" "Yes." Joseph replied calmly, "God bless!" "Then you have no objection to letting me dispose of the corpse?" "If you can promise not to cause trouble in the future!" "certainly." The major took off his overcoat, which was spattered with a little blood, wrapped the body in an upholstery cloth, dragged it into the kitchen, put it in a cupboard, and washed his face and hands with clean water.I watched him doing all this silently, and suddenly felt very uncomfortable in my heart.

However, Joseph did not continue to pay attention to the major's actions. His face was less impulsive than two years ago, and even more calm than when we met last time. It made me feel familiar and strange. "Thank you for the letter you entrusted to me." He said to me. "Now my sister can rest in peace. We have finally avenged her." "I promise you will not let the murderer go!" "But... you can't be a 'swan' anymore, Mr. Earl." There was a thunderclap in my ear, and I looked up at him abruptly. His eyes are complicated, but not contemptuous: "Haven't you noticed it yourself? Maybe even my sister can see it clearly. You'd better... change your name..."

I didn't speak, I just felt a blank in my mind. Joseph looked in the direction of the kitchen and put his gun on his back: "In the past few days, the guerrillas and I will wait for your news at the back door of the Valette Theater. If everything is really as arranged by Sergeant Belken, we will There is a chance of success.” I don't know how hard it took me to say "yes" to him, but when he disappeared down the path among the pine needles, the major was standing behind me. There was an undisguised pain on his face, and his brows were slightly furrowed.At this moment, I wanted to smooth those wrinkles, but just as I raised my arms, I was already hugged into his arms.

Terrible strength, very terrible strength! He hugged me tightly, buried his head on my shoulder, as if to suffocate me.Guilt and sadness surged up from the bottom of my heart like a tide. I closed my eyes and felt extremely bitter in my mouth. I slowly put my arms around the major's back, the warm liquid burned the palm of my left hand. It was still dark when I got back to Paris, and in my hotel room I bandaged the major's old open shoulder wound.His shirt was wet in a large patch and the neckline was stained, making him unwearable.I put his coat on and sent the waiter to buy a new one.

He smoked silently, as if he didn't want to talk.But when I apologized to him again, he smiled and touched my face with his left hand. "Don't say 'I'm sorry', Chartres, there's no need for that." The major's tone was flat, "I knew it would happen sooner or later. Can you believe it... Actually, because of the angle, I didn't see the Joseph Guied. When Heinrich raised his hand, I just wanted to divert his attention and kill him." "Rostock..." I looked at him in surprise. "It's true." The major stroked my cheek tenderly, "Because at that time, the only person I wanted to protect was you..."

Slowly, the things in front of my eyes blurred, and finally some hot things gradually overflowed and slid across my face. ——Change your name, you can no longer be a "swan"...you can no longer be a "swan"... I buried my head in my hands, trying to hold back the lumps that rose in my throat. "Chart, what's the matter?" the major asked hastily, grabbing my jaw and lifting my head.I saw the confusion in his eyes fade to disbelief after a brief flicker, and finally gleam with joy. "Thank God..." he whispered in a trembling voice, hugging me again. Yes Yes.We've... completely made peace. ... The clock in the room struck eight, and the waiter brought a new shirt for the major. I helped him put it on, and told him to pay attention to the situation in the SS branch; if Sergeant Belken was telling the truth, then Nothing can go wrong before Wednesday; if he is telling lies, then we must beware of his pre-set traps. "Your colleagues may soon find out that the important person in charge of this case is missing, so we don't have much time. And—" I handed the major the pistol, "—if even you are under surveillance, Then don’t participate in the operation after two days.” The major paused when he opened the door, then turned his head and showed a relaxed smile: "Do you think I can leave you when I'm in danger, Chart?" "I was serious." "Me too." The major took my hand, "I've thought about it: no matter whether you succeed or fail this time, you can no longer stay in Paris, and sooner or later I will be involved in the 'Swan' case and Heinly Xi’s disappearance was suspected. So if you can successfully rescue your mother and the others, I will go with you, whether it is to join the Machi guerrillas, go to Switzerland, or go to the United States, or even join the Allied forces, I will always be with you .” "...Okay." I couldn't take my hand back, "Okay, if you can..." However, the reality will never go as smoothly as we imagined.At about ten o'clock the next morning, a note was delivered to me in a bread bag: "The transit time has been advanced by one day, the rest remains unchanged, be careful!" Signature is a simple initial "L" I grasped the news sent by this adventure tightly, and I knew very well that even though Sergeant Belken died, he still left the snake venom in our bodies-he really planned to let us rush to nothing from the beginning, and there was no Not the slightest bit of kindness.So now everything has to be prepared in advance, we only have one chance! I rushed to the Valette Theater as quickly as possible, delivered the news to the guerrillas, and reconfirmed the action plan and preparations.At that fork in the road, we parked a disguised delivery truck on the slope in the middle in advance, and when the first prison truck passed, we rushed down to intercept the second one, and the people in ambush behind the newsstand would attack the second one. A car's tires strafed, bringing it to a halt, and then the ten men in the truck split into two groups to deal with the unsuspecting German soldiers. I didn't count the major because I'm not sure if he was actually part of the escort as expected; the trap. I barely slept through the night and got into the truck at about eleven o'clock and made it to Eilat Lane. The sky was gloomy, filled with gray clouds.There were very few vehicles passing on this secluded road, and occasionally a few people on bicycles passed the intersection slowly in front of us without paying any attention to us. I felt a little cold and rubbed my numb fingers.Joseph who was sitting opposite silently took out a pair of gloves and handed them over.Somewhat surprised, I took it up and said "Thank you"; the young man seemed to have lost a lot of hostility in my eyes, but I knew it would take time for him to fully forgive the major. When our waiting became more and more irritating, a small voice came from afar, and the young man who had been watching from the window with a telescope called out in a low voice: "Come here, come here." Everyone drew their guns, and Joseph stuck out his head and gestured to the newsstand. About 3 minutes later, our truck rushed down the slope, and I heard the sound of brakes and the sound of gunfire coming from outside!The boys jumped out of the car and started shooting at the Germans in the cab. Joseph and I threw two grenades at the motorcycle that was catching up. At this time the driver of the first prison car was pushed out, and I saw a bullet hole in his forehead, and then Major Portman leaned out and made a strange gesture towards us. He is here!My heart skipped a beat and I didn't understand what he meant at all! The back door of the prison van was opened, and the five soldiers in charge of guarding the prisoners fired back at us with their rifles. I lay on the ground and saw the major quickly go around and kill them from behind, and then pointed his gun on the second car. Soldiers going up and down. The cooperation in the four directions was just right, and the German army, which was small in number and caught off guard, was quickly defeated, and the three who tried to escape were also shot dead by Joseph from behind.I rushed into the two prison cars as fast as I could, and there were only ten people inside—including Lafon, Simon, who was locked up, and the mother who was lying on the ground with her head in her arms. Her beautiful appearance was extremely haggard, and the fear of the fierce battle just now remained in her eyes, but when she saw that the person in front of her was me, she immediately showed an expression of incomparable surprise. "My God, my God! Chartres, my boy..." "It's me! Mom!" I hugged her, "Are you okay? I'm sorry... we have to get out of here now!" I put everyone on the truck, and the guerrilla boys picked up a few submachine guns and jumped on it.I waved to the major standing outside: "Hurry up, Rostock! We have to leave Paris immediately!" He can go with me, and I'll try to convince the others to accept this defector - he's done us a favor after all... "Chart, you can't go straight to the suburbs from here!" The major said to me standing on the ground without getting into the car, "Now you must go in the direction of Chalon!" Everyone and I were stunned: "Why?" "After I sent that message, I found out that there was a problem! The escort time has always been on Tuesday, and it has not been brought forward! Heinrich's arrangement is to let us think that there is only one trap and let our guard down!" "What's the meaning?" "Don't you see? There are only ten people in the prison van, and they are people who have nothing to do with the escape network. The Countess and these gentlemen know nothing about the underground organization. They are no big deal to the Gestapo and the SS. Useful; but your comrade, I remember that young man named François, they were not in these two cars. If you want to go out of the city ahead, there must be a large group of people in ambush!" Is that why he was gesturing to me just now?Because I noticed something weird! I looked back at the car, and many people looked at the major with suspicion.Laffon, with a bruised nose and a swollen face, held my shoulder: "Chart, when we were escorted out, we did see François and Lou Wangseau being transferred to two other cars, if that's really the case... " "We can't move according to our original plan!" Joseph shouted, "Now we must change course immediately!" "Let's go!" The major looked at me seriously, "You guys should go separate ways, don't use this car! The police will come here soon!" I gritted my teeth and asked each guerrilla to be responsible for one or two people, and divided them into ten groups: "If nothing else happens, we will meet outside Mr. Krenai's farm before eight o'clock tonight, and he will help us first." to Nancy." All the people quickly disappeared at the end of several small roads nearby.I stood with my mother and looked at the major's uniform: "You'd better take it off, it's too conspicuous!" "No." He straightened his hat with a smile, "I won't go with you." "What?" I yelled. "You're crazy! The Germans are all dead and you're the only one alive. Do you think the Gestapo won't suspect it?" "Someone must divert their attention!" Putting the gun into the sheath, the major turned his head towards the truck, "I'll drive it in another direction, and the hounds won't pay attention to you!" "No!" I grabbed him angrily. "This idea is so stupid! You must come with me!" "Okay, Chartre." The major pushed me away, "Don't be such a mother-in-law! Don't forget that the countess is very weak now, and she needs you!" I was at a loss for words and looked at my mother—yes, I don't have time to argue with him about what to do now, I can't put my mother in a dangerous situation! "Let's go! Hurry up!" The major frowned impatiently! I felt panic and fear from the bottom of my heart, and at last I held my mother's arm, and then turned to the major and said, "At eight o'clock tonight, you must be there!" He smiled again: "I promise! And—" he suddenly raised his hat gracefully to his mother, "—madam, you should take care too." Mother watched us silently, and nodded slightly to the major: "Good luck, sir." I helped my mother and left from another road. I heard the sound of a motor starting from behind me. I didn't dare to look back, for fear that my worries and anxieties would be shown on my face. At this time, a warm hand gently covered mine. "Mom..." I looked at her. "Shalt, what's wrong with you?" "What's wrong?" I asked casually without stopping. The mother's tone was a little worried: "I think, you seem to be so sad that you are about to cry..." "No!" I forced a smile, "I was just thinking, maybe I can go through Paris from the Left Bank!" ... I'm sorry, mom.I lied to you! I am praying!Pray to God earnestly - please do bless that person no matter what!