Titisee, Germany — Thursday 11 November 1915

Hans and Fred set up the table at the rear of the lorry in Titisee while David walked through the market to check the prices at the other stands. There was a small crowd gathered when he returned, and he smiled as he recognised some faces from the previous week. After sorting through the plaques, he selected the two 17 Pf ones and hung them on the sandwich board pegs.

Sales were steady, and all three were kept busy serving the customers and replacing empty bins. During a lull, David looked at his watch. Quarter to eleven. Herman should have been here long before now. He counted the bins on the table and in the lorry. Still nine left, twenty-one gone. Another hour and a bit. Where's Herman?

"I'm going across to check the gasthaus patio. He may have misunderstood. I had told him we'd meet him here at ten, but that was while we were having lunch over there." David shook his head. "Clarity in communication. Essential."

David returned eight minutes later with a concerned expression. "Not there." He let out a loud sigh. "Let's continue here. Finish these bins, then sort it out over lunch."

A few minutes to noon, they took a table on the gasthaus patio and were sombre as they sipped their beer and waited for their food. David broke the silence. "Maybe he lost count of the days. That's the most optimistic reason. What are other possible explanations? Let's think quietly for a while, then we'll discuss them before we consider our courses of action."

The fraülein arrived with their plates of Würstchen mit Sauerkraut und Kartoffelsalat as they continued their silent thinking, then David said, "The worst I can think of is that he's been apprehended and is being held as a spy." He saw the nods from Hans and Fred, and he continued, "He might have fallen and injured himself too seriously to make it back down to here on time."

"He may have become disoriented and lost his way." Hans tilted his head, then continued, "The terrain's too easy for that; it's a main canyon, more-or-less east-west with no significant side valleys. If he had lost his compass, the sun would be simple to use." He looked up at the few scattered clouds and pursed his lips. "Tough to get lost in this area on a day like today."

The three of them carried on a quiet discussion as they slowly ate, none of them showing much of an appetite. David stared into his half-finished beer. "We've no answers, and we'll not get any sitting here. Let's carry on with our plans, Hans, but your prime mission is now to find Herman or to determine what might have happened to him."

Hans nodded. "Herman was interested in searching for fissures and faults in the Hirschsprungfelsen to see what we might collapse onto the tracks. His other intent was to look at the cliff structure around the bridge over the Ravenna Gorge. I'll start with the area around the Hirschsprungfelsen. He was going to go along the ridges on the south side of the canyon. The map shows the terrain there to be easy going, gradually climbing to three hundred metres above the valley floor."

"It's only three miles from here to the gorge and another three to the Hirschsprungfelsen." David took a sip of beer, then sat quietly for a while before he spoke again. "We'll come here for fourteen thirty tomorrow and again Saturday on our way back. Don't come tomorrow if you have nothing to report."

Hans looked down at his partly eaten lunch and nodded slowly. "I should finish this. I'll need the energy. Hope to see you tomorrow."

During their drive back toward Sonnenhang, David discussed the details with Fred. "I'll not report him missing yet. It's too soon to reach that conclusion, and it would serve only to spread concern that might be unfounded. Let's consider him delayed. There's likely a good reason we've not considered."

"He may have sprained an ankle."

"Possibly his route back to Titisee was blocked by a patrol, or even by a platoon exercising on the ridge. He may have taken a detour and became disoriented." David let out a loud breath. "Let's not spend all our time worrying about this. Instead, let's focus on our mission and how to continue from here. We can't change what might have happened, and until we know what that was, we can't do anything about it, anyway."

During tea at Sonnenhang, David announced to the group that Herman had failed to meet them as planned. "He was to join us at the market in Titisee by ten. We waited until half past two before we left. I'm sure there's an easy explanation, so let's keep our thinking positive on this."

He scanned the dour expressions, then continued, "Hans will be searching for him, and we'll meet at the Titisee gasthaus tomorrow or Saturday afternoon, depending on how quickly he finds him."

Triberg, Germany — Friday 12 November 1915

Fred and Greg set up the table in the Triberg market while David checked the competitors' prices. "Even higher this week," he said when he returned. "One is set at thirty-two. Small quantity, but good quality, and she was making sales. Let's start at thirty-two. We can always reduce the price if sales are slow."

At nine twenty, Franz arrived. After greetings, David took him walking through the market for a debrief. "There are guard posts all along the route. I'm not sure how many, but they seem to be at every second or third tunnel. Also, many patrols along the tracks."

"So it's going to be difficult here as well. We saw guards at each of the viaducts along the way to Blumberg."

"Difficult only if we work at track level. I saw no guards, nor any trace of them having been along the steep slopes above them. I stayed a hundred and fifty to two hundred metres up the east side and followed the rail line north. Forested the entire way, with many crags and lines of bluffs."

Franz continued his description. "There are several good possibilities, but the best seems to be the cliffs just before Niederwasser. I saw many deep cracks and fissures in the rocks. There's one place where we could cleave a massive slab to send thousands of tons of rock onto the tracks. I set up my camp about fifty metres above it. Close water, good shelter and well hidden."

"That's great news. Are you satisfied we can effectively cleave it?"

"It appears easy. The slab is eight to ten feet thick, and the crevice behind it is a good thirty feet deep before it clogs with duff. A good chimney climb both down and back up. I easily pushed a stick four feet into the duff at the bottom. It'll take a lot of explosives, but we can send a forty by seventy-foot piece moving down over the unstable slopes below. Probably take a lot more with it as it goes. I calculated the slab itself is a little over two thousand tons."

"Do you need to do anything further there now?"

Franz motioned back toward the lorry. "No, that's why I brought my pack with me. I don't think we have any need to be there again until we're ready to set the charges. No sense giving them a chance to spot us."

David smiled as he nodded. "That's wise thinking. Herman may not have been as fortunate. We don't know. He didn't show up yesterday in Titisee. Hans is now looking for him, or for clues on what might have happened. We're hoping it's as simple as a sprained ankle."

"Do you want me to go in and help look?"

David blew out a loud breath and ran his fingers through his hair. "We'll find out in a few hours. We'll be going to Titisee on our way back this afternoon. Hans is to meet us at the gasthaus if he has anything to report. We'll decide then."