Free The Lavender Keeper by Fiona McIntosh

aware of three strangers who had appeared behind him. His eyes widened atthe beekeepers’ nets they wore to hide their faces. ‘Who are you?’
    Fougasse nodded unhappily, and at his signal the strangers pounced on Luc and Laurent. There wasn’t even time to yell. Big, hard hands clamped across their mouths and they were forced onto their bellies.
    ‘I ask your forgiveness, Bonet. This is not how I would wish to conscript you,’ Fougasse said. ‘But I have no choice, if I wish to save your life as I promised your father I would.’ And from his pocket he produced Luc’s birth certificate. ‘This is all you need from your home. I deeply regret that you cannot help your family but I am acting on your father’s orders. We do not hold your ancestry against you, but now is a very good time to prove your patriotism to France.’
    Luc roared his anger but the hand on his mouth muffled all sound.
    The church pealed the hour. Eight. The cicadas began to tune up, and above the drone of a lone bee, Luc could hear the voices of village children playing and a vehicle groaning up the makeshift road.
    Luc stopped struggling. A car?
    ‘Hush now, Bonet. Let your eyes tell you everything you need to know.’
    Below them Luc saw a van rumbling into Saignon village.
    He twisted beneath the men and glared at Fougasse.
    ‘That is Landry and no doubt someone from the SS,’ the baker said, his face leaden with regret. ‘They have come to arrest your parents, sisters and grandmother.’
    The callused hand pressed even more firmly over Luc’s mouth.
    Fougasse continued. ‘Somebody from the village contactedthe authorities in Apt and reminded them that a Jewish family had returned to Saignon last week, fleeing from Paris. The snitch even suggested that the family was inciting hatred against the Germans.’
    Laurent managed to speak. ‘Rubbish! The Bonets are important to the village. No man would do such a thing.’
    Fougasse shrugged. ‘No man, maybe, but a woman perhaps,’ he replied. ‘Catherine Girard has brought this on your folk.’
    Luc bit his captor’s hand and his mouth was released. ‘Prove it!’ Luc snarled.
    ‘Take the other one,’ said Fougasse curtly, with a nod to his companions.
    Laurent, struggling, was carried away. One man remained. Luc was shocked to see he carried a revolver.
    ‘I regret this,’ Fougasse said. ‘I am doing this because your father asked me to. Come, you need to bear witness. Can I count on you to remain silent?’
    Luc nodded.
    ‘If you give us away, we are all dead, Bonet, including your friend. You do not want our blood on your hands.’
    Luc stared grimly back at Fougasse, who seemed satisfied with Luc’s silence.
    They moved quietly and swiftly to a point where they had a clear view past the fountain to Luc’s house.
    Men had spilt out of the van. Among the uniforms of the French police, Luc could see a different uniform; it was the colour of a grey dove but worn with boots that were impressively tall and shiny.
    ‘Gestapo?’ Luc wondered.
    ‘Worse. SS,’ Fougasse confirmed. He pointed to the rooftops.Luc frowned. ‘Follow me. It’s the only way we can get closer. Are you sure you can do this, Bonet?’
    Luc stared at him, his jaw working, his expression intense.
    ‘I have to trust you to be silent. To reveal us is to give our lives uselessly to a German bullet.’
    ‘That’s my family!’
    Fougasse regarded him, his expression not without pity. ‘It is too late for them now.’
    Luc couldn’t respond. His mouth was open, his eyes felt glazed. He was suddenly unable to move.
    ‘But you can avenge them,’ Fougasse finished.
    Luc’s knees buckled. He crouched; he needed to think, needed to have a plan. He needed a gun, damn it! But the baker was well ahead of him.
    ‘Don’t even consider it now,’ Fougasse warned. ‘I promise you, I would have warned your family, but we only had moments. I would sooner kill you myself than break my oath to your father. Now, this is