Avram reached back through the gateposts and clenched his son’s arm. “No more talk of that.”
“Then at least go into the E-Block. You can lead the women into Poland.”
“No more, Jonas!” Avram looked back over his son’s shoulder and whispered, “
Jonas turned and saw the young woman standing behind him, tears glittering in her dark eyes. Hannah was in her arms.
“Open your hand, my son,” Avram commanded.
Puzzled, Jonas slipped his hand between the gateposts. He felt something small and hard like seeds pressed into it.
“Those are diamonds,” said Avram, finding Rachel’s eyes. “Yes, I kept two for myself. But I give them now to your daughter. Give yours to Jonas as well, Rachel. He will need them to buy passage to Palestine.”
Rachel had all her diamonds ready, but when she saw the shoemaker give up his stones for Hannah, she pressed only two into Jonas’s hand.
After pocketing the diamonds, Jonas drew the bloody SS dagger from the sheath at his belt and held it out to Rachel. “If anyone tries to stop you in the alley,” he said, “use this. Move close to them and strike quickly. Aim for the upper stomach.”
Rachel took the dagger and held it beneath the bundle that was Hannah.
Avram turned his back to the fence again. “Listen to me, Jonas,” he whispered. “When you get to Palestine, take this child to your mother. Tell Leah to raise her as if she were your sister. You understand?”
Jonas struggled to gain control of his voice. “Yes.”
He was about to take the little girl from Rachel when he saw three SS men standing at the back gate of the camp. They were in easy sight of the open ground the women would have to cross to reach the E-Block. “Look!” he whispered.
“My God,” said Avram. “What are they doing?”
Jonas couldn’t make out faces or rank badges, only two men standing inside the gate smoking cigarettes and talking to the sentry who stood outside. He checked his watch. 7:35. He should be driving out of the front gate now.
“Do you think they’ll go away in time?” Avram asked.
“I don’t know. Father, walk with me to my car. With you in that uniform we can drive right out of here.”
Rachel grabbed Jonas’s arm. “You can’t do that! You can’t leave Hannah behind!”
“We’ll take her with us.”
Awakened by her mother’s panic, the child whimpered softly in the darkness. Avram touched Rachel’s arm. “Have no fear,” he said. “Jonas, forget the men at the gate. Take this child and go. The E-Block was a long chance anyway.”
Jonas stared at the three SS men, his mind whirling.
Avram held up the dead corporal’s machine gun. “If they don’t move, I will try to kill them.”
As Avram spoke these words, Jonas spied two more SS men. They were standing in the shadow of the hospital wall, examining the polished black Mercedes that had mysteriously appeared in camp. In that moment Jonas knew he would not reach the gas cylinders in time. It would be McConnell or no one.
He slipped through the gate and hugged his father as tightly as he could, as if to cling to the moment for the rest of his life. “I will never forget you,” he said in a choked voice. Then he snatched away the dead sentry’s gun and threw it onto the snow. “That weapon isn’t silenced,” he said. “Take this.”
He handed Avram his Schmeisser.
Avram made as if to speak, but his voice failed him. A brief light flickered in his eyes, something very much like second thoughts, but he pushed his son away. “Go!” he said.
“Have the child ready,” Jonas told him. “If I’m alive in five minutes, I’ll be back for her.”
42
Jonas Stern marched across the frozen Appellplatz like Erwin Rommel inspecting the Afrika Korps. His only weapon was his Walther PPK; he’d given his silenced Schmeisser to his father and his SS dagger to Rachel Jansen. Whenever one of the SS men smoking at the back gate inhaled, an orange glow lit the upper half of his face. By this light Stern saw that two of the guards were privates, the other a sergeant major. The men still had not noticed him.
“
Sergeant Gunther Sturm looked up in amazement at the gray-green uniform and Iron Cross First Class. An angry SD colonel was the last thing he expected to encounter at Totenhausen’s back gate.
“Standartenfuhrer!” he cried. “Heil Hitler!”
The privates quickly followed his example.
Stern raised his chin and looked down his nose at the bull-necked sergeant. “You are Hauptscharfuhrer Sturm?”
Sturm’s eyes widened. “
“Don’t look so frightened. I have bigger fish to fry than you. I am here to arrest Major Wolfgang Schorner for conspiring to reveal state secrets. I shall require your assistance, Hauptscharfuhrer, and that of these men as well. Obergruppenfuhrer Kaltenbrunner in Berlin will appreciate your help.”
Sturm’s stubbled face went slack, then brightened with malicious glee. “Standartenfuhrer,” he said unctuously, “I’m not one to complain about a superior, but I have had suspicions of my own about the Sturmbannfuhrer.”
“Why did you not report these suspicions?”
Sturm was momentarily at a loss. “I’ve been searching for proof, Standartenfuhrer. One does not accuse a holder of the Knight’s Cross lightly.”
“Herr Schorner will not wear the Knight’s Cross much longer, Hauptscharfuhrer.”
Sturm looked at the two privates, astonished by his good luck. “What do you want us to do, Standartenfuhrer?”
Stern glanced at his watch: 7:37. The women would begin moving in thirteen minutes. Now he regretted giving up the silenced Schmeisser. “Here is the situation, Hauptscharfuhrer. We believe Allied commandos intend to attack this camp tonight to assassinate Herr Doktor Brandt and destroy his laboratory. We believe Schorner arranged this attack through contacts with the Polish Resistance.”
Gunther Sturm could barely contain his excitement. “The Herr Doktor was right!”
“SD reinforcements will arrive from Berlin within thirty minutes,” Stern went on. “But with your help I will immediately arrest Schorner and remove him from the camp, to prevent him from assisting these commandos in any way. Are you ready?”
Sturm jerked a Luger from his belt and shook it in the air. “I know how to deal with traitors, Standartenfuhrer. If Schorner resists, I’ll blow his head off!”
Stern nodded. “Bring these men as well. Schorner is a dangerous man.”
Sturm looked suddenly uncertain. “I must leave one behind, Standartenfuhrer. The commandant could have me shot if I left this gate unguarded.”
Stern glared at the private who stood on the other side of the wire. “This is your last smoke break,” he said. “Don’t take your eyes off of those trees. The commandos will almost certainly attack from the hills. Is that clear?”
“
The gray-faced private whipped around instantly, his eyes on the dark trees that had seemed benign only a moment ago.
“To the headquarters, Hauptscharfuhrer!”
Stern walked a step ahead of the two SS men as they crossed the Appellplatz.
“Perhaps I should have my dogs patrol the back fence?” Sturm suggested.
“No need for that yet,” said Stern. The last thing he needed was attack dogs prowling the area of the E-
