Black Cross

“Nothing will remain.”

Fifty meters away from Klaus Brandt, Major Wolfgang Schorner poured a glass of brandy and sat on his sofa. Ariel Weitz had only just delivered Rachel to his quarters, as tonight’s work had kept him much longer than usual. It had been a messy business, but now he could relax. Rachel nodded once to him, then moved toward the sofa, her fingers automatically lifting her shift over her head.

Schorner rose quickly and pulled the garment back into place. “Wait a moment,” he said. “I have something to tell you. Something you will very much want to hear.” He led her gently to the wing chair.

She sat with her hands folded on her lap and waited.

“Have you ever heard of Eindeutschung?” Schorner asked.

Rachel shook her head.

“Eindeutschung is a program for the reclamation of Nordic-Germanic racial elements from the occupied eastern territories. In this program, children between two and six years of age who exhibit Nordic traits — as yours do, especially the boy — are taken into one of the Lebensborn homes. Today, I am happy to say, I was able to obtain a promise that space could be made available for your children at the home in Steinhoring.”

Rachel’s pulse quickened. “What is a Lebensborn home, Sturmbannfuhrer?”

“Ah, I forget. You have been isolated. Lebensborn is the Fount of Life Society. It was established by Reichsfuhrer Himmler to assist unwed mothers of pure racial stock in delivering and raising their children. The facilities are models of cleanliness.”

“And these homes . . . they accept children of parents who are not of ‘pure’ racial stock?”

“They do, yes. It’s a matter of biological selection. But I have already vouched for your children. The senior man at Steinhoring is a friend of my father.”

“I see.” Rachel thought for a moment. “What happens to these children after they reach the age of six?”

“Oh, they are adopted long before then. The demand far exceeds the supply.”

“The demand? Who demands them?”

“Why, good German families of course. Frequently families of childless SS officers.”

Rachel closed her eyes.

Schorner could not contain his excitement. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner. It’s the perfect solution!”

“They would be raised as Nazis?”

Schorner looked put out. “As Germans, Rachel. Is that so terrible?”

“I would never see them again.”

A strange smile played over Schorner’s lips. “Children are not the only ones taken into the Eindeutschung program, Liebling.”

Rachel cringed at the intimate word. Her relationship with Schorner had been nothing like she’d expected. Rather than simply using her for sexual relief, he seemed intent on creating some grotesque parody of domesticity.

“What are you saying?” she asked, trying not to trust the glimmer of excitement she felt. “I could go with my children?”

Schorner’s smile disappeared. “That would not be possible. However, all is not lost. I shall be reassigned very soon. My parents are still alive in Cologne. I believe it might be possible for me to take you there and have you employed by them as a servant, as part of Eindeutschung.”

“But I am a Jew, Sturmbannfuhrer.”

“Stop saying that! Papers are easily enough had, especially in the current situation. Do you want to survive or don’t you?”

Rachel stared at him in wonder. It was a measure of the gulf between them that Schorner could sit there and offer what he thought was salvation, while she saw only grief and pain. “Sturmbannfuhrer, I do not consider life without my children worth living.”

Exasperation flared in Schorner’s voice. “They would be given the best of care in a Lebensborn home!”

“Until they were adopted by an SS family.”

“Of course!” He forced himself to calm down. “Listen . . . who knows? Perhaps after the war we — you — could locate the adopting parents and convince them to. . . ” Even Schorner fell silent at this ridiculous fantasy. “Rachel,” he said firmly, “my ability to protect your children at this point is negligible. You must decide soon. The alternative is—”

“What?”

“Must I say it? Brandt’s work here is nearly done. After that . . . I cannot tell you more.”

“I cannot decide this! I must have time to think.”

“But your children would survive. Isn’t that what you want?”

Yes! cried a voice in her mind. The war will be over before long, and the Nazis will lose. You could find them! You could tell every woman in the Circle what you are doing, so that after the war people would know you were telling the truth. Perhaps you could even mark the children in some way, give them a small scar to help prove they were yours after the war. They would probably have forgotten you, of course, and they might have changed a bit under the influence of SS parents, but—

Rachel leapt to her feet. She was too torn even to make sense of her own thoughts. “Do you require anything further of me, Sturmbannfuhrer?”

Schorner moved toward her, then stopped himself. “No. You may go. But think about what I told you. These are desperate times, Rachel. We must not close our minds to radical solutions.”

She stared at him for a long time. Then she turned, walked to the door, and knocked for Ariel Weitz.

Anna swept back her hair from the dampness at her neck. She was lying naked beneath the duvet she had brought to the cellar from upstairs. Two pale candles on the floor gave the only light. McConnell lay on his back, with her head in the crook of his arm.

“It will be dawn soon,” she said. “Maybe we should go up the hill. If Schorner catches Stern, we won’t get another chance to carry out the attack.”

McConnell pulled her closer. “Don’t worry about that.”

“Why not?”

“Because even if those bastards caught Stern — which they won’t — they couldn’t make him talk. Not in a week. That nut would slash his own throat with a broken bottle before he’d talk, just to spite them.”

She laughed softly in the darkness.

“Why don’t you try to sleep?” he said. “I’ll watch over you.”

“I cannot sleep,” she said. “The way this has all happened . . . you and me . . . the Wojiks being caught . . . what we must do tomorrow — I can’t force it out of my mind long enough to sleep. And it will all be over soon enough, in any case.”

McConnell turned and looked into her eyes. “Do you think Stern came here with orders to kill me?” he asked, giving voice to his suspicion for the first time. “If I was captured, I mean.”

Anna’s face grew somber. “I think he did, yes.”

“The cyanide capsule, right?”

“Yes. They always give one. Especially to someone like you, who is valuable because of what they know. I guess they were afraid you wouldn’t take the capsule if you were captured.”

He rose up on one elbow. “But I was captured, Anna. Last night. Stern told me not to tell you. The point is, he didn’t kill me. He could have — easily — but he didn’t. He killed two SS men instead.”

She stiffened. “The missing patrol? Stern killed them?”

“Yes.”

“Ach, where are the bodies?”

“The sewer in Dornow.”

“My God. Schorner is bound to find them before tomorrow night.”