The Hunt

brightly painted garage doors. He pulled down to one of them and blew the horn. A minute went by, then the door rolled open. Gebhart pulled into the garage. The door closed behind. He waited for a minute or so in the dark, then turned o the car lights.

The garage was small and empty except for the car. Gebhart nodded toward a door that led into the house.

“Go through there,” he said. “Viel Gluck. I will not see you again.”

He held out his hand and they shook..

“Thanks, Werner. Viel Gluck to you too.”

He entered the house and went up a short flight of stairs and through the sparsely furnished kitchen to the living room. Wolffson was alone there sitting on a large packing crate. There was no furniture except for a single floor lamp with a fringed shade. An ashtray filled with butts sat beside him.

“Welcome, Herr Keegan. Pick a box and sit down.”

“Moving in or out?”

“In, actually. We travel light, Ire. Sometimes we have to leave everything behind. So, we have to kill some time. We will be here awhile.”

“Mind telling me what’s going on?”

“We have an excellent contact at SS headquarters. Early this morning, Vierhaus ordered your arrest. Specifically you are charged with espionage.”

“Ludicrous.”

“But true. And if they catch you, you are a dead man either way.”

“The whole thing is insane. It doesn’t even make good sense.”

“That is right, it is insane. But it makes sense to them.”

“So what’s the plan?”

“We will leave at dark, drive to Munich. We know back roads where there is little traffic. It takes longer but we will be there before dawn. There will be three of us. You, me, and Joachim.”

“Do I have any say in the matter?”

“What is your choice, ire? Go to the American embassy? No way to get our once you are in, you could spend eternity there. If you remain in Berlin they will most certainly catch you and after your skirmish with the Gestapo they will most certainly kill you. Or go with us. We will have you out of Germany in forty- eight hours.”

“Why Munich?”

“We have a strong organization in Munich and we need to spend the day there. Much safer to travel at night and it will take us two nights to get to the Swiss border.”

so we’re going into Switzerland, then?”

“Yes. We have good friends there and we know the safe places to cross. If everything goes well, you will be a free man by day after tomorrow.”

Keegan lit a cigarette and thought about the alternatives. Of course, Wolffson was right. Nothing could be gained by staying in Berlin.

“I keep thinking once I’m out of Germany I lose any hope of helping Jenny,” he said finally.

“If she can be helped, I promise you we will do everything in our power to get her out,” Wolffson said.

“How about escape?”

“Virtually impossible. We have tried three breakouts. All failed. Twelve people died.”

Wolffson ground out a cigarette and Went to the window, peering through the drapes and checking the street.

What a way to live, thought Keegan. Constantly on the run, never trusting anyone, knowing if you are caught some blond moron will cut off your head in the basement of Landsberg prison.

Finally Wolffson turned back to Keegan.

“What will you do when you get back to America?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Keegan answered. “This has all happened so fast. I suppose try to wake people up to what’s really happening. Maybe try to raise money for you. Try to do something to help.”

“And what will you tell them they do not know already? People hear what they want to hear, Ire. And right now they do not want their conscience challenged. Much easier to ignore it.”

“I have influential friends, Avrum. I may be able to do something.”

“Politicians?” Wolffson shook his heal. “They will not help you. They lean with the people and the people do not want to hear about our troubles. They have their own problems. Believe me, I know.”

Wolffson stretched out on the floor with his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. Several minutes passed in silence.

“There is only one way to impress anyone with the horror that already exists here,” Wolffson said finally.

“What’s that?” Keegan asked.