stop Stern except by killing him or turning him in to the SS — both moral impossibilities.
Smith had counted on that.
So here he was, cowering in the cellar of a frightened German nurse, unable to escape Germany without Stern’s help. The nurse intrigued him. She was the furthest thing imaginable from his idea of a spy. Had it been she who smuggled out the sample of Sarin that he’d tested in his Oxford lab? It was certainly possible. But if so, what had motivated her to take such a risk? In the absence of facts, he found himself certain that Anna Kaas had endured some great tragedy at the hands of the Nazis. Why else would she risk her life to fight them? Very few Germans had.
Her reluctance to embrace Brigadier Smith’s plan had surprised and pleased him. She must have been excited at the prospect of action, especially after months or even years of living a double life, always under threat of discovery yet never seeing any benefit from the risks she took. But now that the day had arrived, she seemed appalled by what “London” had decreed must be done. Before leaving the cottage, she’d looked back at him and said, “It’s odd, isn’t it? The Nazis say we must kill Jews to save the German people. Your Brigadier Smith says you must kill Jews to save the Jewish people. I wonder . . . do any of these men care about saving individual human beings?” A simplification, perhaps, but she had gotten to the heart of the matter. Maybe together they could convince Stern to abandon the idea of killing the prisoners.
Perhaps they could work out a compromise.
McConnell gripped the arm of the sofa. Something had made a crashing sound upstairs. He heard a quick scream, then voices. He felt along the sofa cushion until his left hand closed over the folding stock of his Schmeisser. He’d never thought he would really use the weapon, but if SS men were coming for him—
A shaft of light sliced down through the darkness.
He pointed the submachine gun at the top of the stairs.
“Are you down there?”
A woman’s voice. Anna. But she was not alone.
“Come on, Doctor!”
Stern.
McConnell exhaled in relief. Keeping the Schmeisser in his hands, he climbed the steps to the kitchen. He arrived in time to see Anna pour a glass of vodka and drink it in a single swallow. With trembling hands she poured another.
“What’s the matter?” McConnell asked. “What happened?”
“I frightened her,” said Stern, leaning in the foyer doorway. “I tried to get in earlier, but you wouldn’t answer the door. I didn’t want to break in, because I thought you might shoot me. I waited for her, then shoved in behind her when she opened the door.”
“Where the hell have you been all day?”
Stern walked over to Anna and drank a shot of vodka from her bottle. “Rostock,” he said, and wiped his mouth.
Anna’s glass clinked on the countertop. “You are insane! Why did you go there?”
Stern took another swallow of vodka. “It was too windy to make the attack. Besides, I knew we’d never reach the coast without being caught if an alarm was raised. Not in daylight.”
“But how did you get to Rostock?”
“I stole a car from the village.”
Anna shook her head. “You are mad.”
“I returned it to its owner,” Stern said casually. “But never mind that. When you got here, you dropped your bicycle and ran to your door. Something had frightened you long before you saw me. What was it?”
Anna looked away from him and drank from the glass. “You were right last night,” she said. “Totenhausen must be destroyed, whatever the cost. It is an abomination.”
McConnell stared at her in confusion.
“Tell me what happened,” Stern demanded.
She took a step back, retreating from Stern’s sudden intensity. “There was a killing today.”
“Is that unusual?”
“Only because it was a prisoner who killed an SS man.”
“What?”
“It was a woman. The Blockfuhrer of the Jewish Women’s Barracks. She stabbed a corporal in the neck with a gardening spade. The biggest brute in the camp.”
“Why did she do that?”
“The guard was beating another prisoner to death. A Jewess from Amsterdam.”
Stern shook his head angrily. “This Blockfuhrer was also a Jew?”
“No. But she and the Jewess were friends.”
“Did the Jewish woman die?”
“No. I got her away and sent her back to her block.” Anna half-turned away and looked at the floor as she spoke, as if she were being forced to reveal some terrible family secret. “Hauptscharfuhrer Sturm went berserk after seeing that his man was really dead. With Brandt and Schorner gone, he was the senior officer in camp. He ordered immediate reprisals. Two women were hanged from the Punishment Tree, and eight more shot by firing squad. Ten people murdered.”
Stern grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. “Jews?”
“No,” she said, her voice barely audible. “Polish Christians.”
Anna pushed past him and sat down at the table, the glass still clenched in her hand. “If Schorner hadn’t returned from Peenemunde, I think Sturm and his men would have murdered every prisoner in the camp.”
“Major Schorner imposed order?” Stern asked, standing right over her.
“More than that. He ordered Sturm confined to quarters. That man has the nerve of the devil.”
“But why would he do that?”
“I think it’s something personal between him and Sturm. Something to do with the woman.”
“The woman who killed the SS man?”
“No, the Jewess who was beaten. I think Schorner has pressured her into some sort of sexual arrangement.”
Stern looked pointedly at McConnell, as if to say,
“I don’t think he cares about that,” Anna said. “There is something else between him and Schorner. Sturm really hates him.”
“What kind of crazy camp is this? Is there no discipline?”
She shook her head slowly, unshed tears pooling in her eyes. “It’s worse than anything you can imagine. Herr Doktor Brandt is in charge. Technically he is a lieutenant-general in the SS, but he has no military training. It is said he’s a personal friend of Himmler. There are three other SS doctors — two captains and a major — to fill out the officer complement. Major Schorner is head of security. After that it drops to Hauptscharfuhrer Sturm and his men.”
“No midlevel officers?”
Anna shook her head. “That’s the way Brandt likes it. He wants doctors around him, not soldiers.”
At last Stern moved away from her and began pacing around the table. McConnell sat down so he wouldn’t have to keep stepping out of his way.
“What would happen if I attacked the camp now?” Stern asked.
“The same as last night,” Anna said in an exhausted voice. “You’d miss half of the SS garrison because Schorner has them out searching for parachutists, but you’d kill all of the prisoners. Not only that, since you told me about the wind I’ve been thinking about it. The wind at the camp blows faster than on this side of the hills. It blows down the river.”
Stern made a frustrated sound in his throat.
“Also, Brandt had not returned from Berlin when I left.”
“
“Probably, but it could be quite late.” Anna stood up and went to the sink, where she ran some water over a cloth and held it against her face. “The whole camp has gone mad,” she said through the rag. “Himmler’s visit set
