The head of the platoon raised his cudgel and hit the man in the stomach. He fell to the ground with a groan. The leader gave him a couple more kicks before turning to his men.
“Fall together!”
Jurgen immediately moved to the front. He always did this, only to take a discreet step back to let someone else lead the charge-or take a bullet or blade. Firearms were now forbidden in Germany-this Germany that had had its teeth removed by the Allies-but many war veterans still had their regulation pistols or weapons they had taken from the enemy.
Standing shoulder to shoulder in formation, the storm troopers advanced toward the back of the tavern. The Communists, scared out of their wits, began to throw anything they could get their hands on at their enemy. The man marching next to Jurgen was struck full in the face by a glass jug. He staggered, but those marching behind caught him, and another came forward to take his place in the front rank.
“Sons of bitches! Go suck your Fuhrer’s cock!” shouted a young man in a leather cap, picking up a bench.
The storm troopers were less than three meters away, within easy reach of any furniture thrown at them, so Jurgen chose this moment to fake a stumble. A man came forward and joined the front.
Just in time. Benches flew across the room, there was a groan, and the man who’d just taken Jurgen’s place slumped forward, his head split open.
“Ready?” cried the head of the platoon. “For Hitler and Germany!”
“Hitler and Germany!” the others cried in chorus.
The two groups charged at each other like children playing some kind of game. Jurgen dodged a giant in mechanic’s overalls who was heading toward him, striking his knees as he passed. The mechanic tumbled, and those behind Jurgen began to beat him mercilessly.
Jurgen continued his advance. He jumped over an upturned chair and kicked a table, which smashed against the hip of an old man wearing glasses. He fell to the floor, dragging the table with him. There were still some scribbled bits of paper in his hand, so the baron’s son deduced that this must be the speaker they had come to interrupt. He didn’t care. He didn’t even know the old man’s name.
Jurgen went straight over to him, taking care to tread on him with both feet as he made his way toward his real target.
The young man in the leather cap was fending off two storm troopers using one of the benches. The first of the men tried to outflank him, but the young man tipped the bench toward him and managed to get him in the neck, knocking him down. The other man lashed out with his cudgel, trying to catch the man unawares, but the young Communist ducked and managed to bury his elbow in the storm trooper’s kidney. As he doubled over, contorted with pain, the man broke the bench over his back.
So this one knows how to fight, thought the baron’s son.
Normally he would have left the toughest opponents for someone else to deal with, but something about this skinny young man with sunken eyes offended Jurgen.
He looked at Jurgen defiantly.
“Come on, then, you Nazi whore. Afraid you’ll break a nail?”
Jurgen sucked in his breath, but he was too cunning to allow himself to be affected by the insult. He counterattacked.
“I’m not surprised you’re so keen on the Reds, you scrawny little shit. That Karl Marx beard looks just like your mother’s backside.”
The young man’s face lit up with rage and, hoisting up the remains of the bench, he charged at Jurgen.
Jurgen had planted himself broadside to his attacker and he waited for the attack. As the man lunged at him, Jurgen moved aside and the Communist fell to the floor, losing his cap. Jurgen hit him in the back with his cudgel three times in quick succession-not very hard, but enough to take his breath away while still allowing him to get to his knees. The young man tried to crawl away, which was exactly what Jurgen wanted. He drew back his right leg and kicked hard. The toe-capped boot struck the man’s stomach, lifting him more than half a meter off the ground. He fell back, struggling to breathe.
With a smile, Jurgen laid into the Communist viciously. His ribs crunched under the blows, and when Jurgen stood on his arm, it snapped like a dry branch.
Grabbing the young man by the hair, Jurgen forced him to rise.
“Try saying what you said about the Fuhrer now, Communist scum!”
“Go to hell!” the boy babbled.
“You still want to say stupid things like that?” shouted Jurgen, incredulous.
Grabbing the boy even more tightly by the hair, he raised his cudgel and aimed it at his victim’s mouth.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The boy’s teeth were nothing but a handful of bloody remains on the tavern’s wooden floor, and his face was swollen. In an instant the aggression that had fed Jurgen’s muscles ceased to flow. Finally he understood why he had chosen that particular man.
There was something of his cousin in him.
He let go of the Communist’s hair and watched as he fell limply to the floor.
He doesn’t look much like anyone anymore, Jurgen thought.
He raised his eyes and saw that all around him the fighting had stopped. The only ones left standing were the storm troopers, who were watching him with a mixture of approval and fear.
“Let’s get out of here!” shouted the head of the platoon.
Back in the truck, a storm trooper Jurgen had never seen before, and who hadn’t traveled with them, sat down beside him. The baron’s son barely looked at his companion. After such a violent episode, he would usually sink into a state of melancholic withdrawal, and he didn’t like anyone to disturb him. Which was why he snarled with displeasure when the other man spoke to him in a low voice.
“What’s your name?”
“Jurgen von Schroeder,” he replied reluctantly.
“So it is you. They told me about you. I came here today especially to meet you. My name’s Julius Schreck.”
Jurgen noticed the subtle differences in the man’s uniform. He wore an insignia with a skull and crossbones, and a black tie.
“To meet me? Why?”
“I’m setting up a special group… people with guts, skill, intelligence. Without any bourgeois scruples.”
“How do you know I have those things?”
“I saw you in action back there. You went about it cleverly, not like the rest of this cannon fodder. And then there’s the matter of your family, of course. Having you on our team would give us prestige. It would distinguish us from the riffraff.”
“What is it you want?”
“I want you to join my Stosstruppen. The elite of the SA, who answer only to the Fuhrer.”
24
Ever since spotting Paul at the other end of the cabaret club, Alys had been having a terrible night. It was the last place she had expected to find him. She looked again, just to be sure, as the lights and smoke could lead to some confusion, but her eyes had not deceived her.
What the hell is he doing here?
Her first impulse was to hide the Kodak behind her back, ashamed, but couldn’t maintain that position for long as the camera and flash were too heavy.
Besides, I’m working. Hell, that’s something I should feel proud of.
“Hey, nice body! Take my photo, gorgeous!”
