“Why?” I asked, and immediately wanted to bite my tongue for asking questions.
“Protocol. Ask the youngest one. Ask the female. They assume if you’re a child or a woman you will be more easily intimidated and more likely to tell the truth, rather than the story you were told to tell. They will be harsh. Rude even. And desperate. Looking for a last chance to make their mark before the Allies inevitably push them back yet again. This makes them more dangerous than ever. So be smart.”
“Okay,” I said, a tremor in my voice.
“What’s my name?”
“Maximillian Brunner.”
“Spell it.”
I did as he asked, he nodded, and then opened his door while I followed suit on my side.
The boat was a small walk from the car. Down a path, through some trees, and then I could hear it, the clunk of the oars being jostled by the water below.
The silhouette of a man appeared and I sucked in a silent breath. Klaus, our contact. A moment later my valise was taken from me and a hand, calloused and cold, took mine and helped me into the rowboat that would take us north, farther into Germany, and closer to the place I’d once called home.
It was colder on the water and my teeth chattered as the men got situated, each grabbing a set of oars while I shifted the pile of what seemed to be blankets beneath me.
“Unter,”Klaus said, his voice gruff.
Under?
I turned and looked to Lee, now Max, on the seat behind me.
“Lie down,” he said quietly. “Beneath the blankets. Out of sight.”
Carefully, so as not to rock the boat too much, I did what I was told, grateful to have so many layers around me, insulating me, but not liking being blind to where we were going.
I felt the boat tilt as we pushed off from the bank, and then we were gliding along through the pitch-black, the only sounds the muffled slap of water against the sides of the boat, and every so often an oar scraping gently along the edge. I prayed we wouldn’t get caught, but more than that, I hoped we wouldn’t capsize. The water would be too frigid to fight against, and death would be slow and much too cruel.
I wasn’t sure how long we’d been on the water, but my body began to ache from being curled in one position on the hard, cold boat floor. I shifted carefully, repositioning my legs and hips, arms and shoulders. Above me I thought I heard the sound of voices whispering, but when I stilled, there was nothing.
The rocking of the boat as it glided across the water began to lull me and I started to drift, my eyelids closing, my breath slowing, until I was asleep.
“Scheisse.”
I woke to the word, whispered with intensity, and waited, listening.
A bark in the distance and shouting. The shifting of feet on the floor of the boat.
“Lena.”
For a moment, I forgot my new name.
The blankets covering me were pulled back and I was staring up into the face of Max. “We’ve been spotted,” he whispered.“Vorbereiten.”
Prepare.
I pulled in a shaky breath as I sat up, my body aching with the effort, and glanced over my shoulder to where the commotion was coming from, terrified by the half-dozen flashlights cutting through the darkness in our direction, voices calling out for us tostoppen.Kommen.Footsteps hurrying toward us. The sound of bodies pushing through the brush as Max and his friend maneuvered the boat toward the riverbank, calling back our compliance.
As soon as the boat touched ground, a light was shone in my face and I was hauled by my arms by two men and pulled up the steep slope of the embankment until I was standing alone at the top, my accomplices having been left in the boat, four soldiers pointing guns at them.
“Identification,”one of the men barked at me.
I nodded and pointed to the boat.
“Meine tasche,”I said, my native tongue rolling off my tongue as though I’d never stopped speaking it.
