Black Cross

hope. “We should go into the village. There’s—”

“Nonsense,” Sabine said. “A little coffee would be fine. I live on coffee and cigarettes these days. Walter too. You can’t imagine how busy he’s become. I feel like I’m married to the Party. The few hours he is home he does nothing but write speeches. No time for the children. To them Gauleiter is a dirty word. Their father’s the biggest man in town and they never see him.”

Anna began boiling water for coffee.

Sabine lit a cigarette and drew deeply. She let the smoke escape in little puffs as she talked. “The social scene in Berlin is practically nonexistent now. The Fuhrer spends all his time in Rastenburg, in East Prussia. What’s the point of being Nazi royalty if the king is never in town? Tell me, Anna, have you met any delicious officers at the camp? That Major Schorner is quite the hero, I understand. They know him in Berlin.”

Anna shook her head distractedly. “I really have no time for that. Dr. Brandt keeps us working.”

“Brandt,” Sabine spat. “That man gives me the chills. Locked away day and night operating on Jews and God knows what else. Still, Walter says he’s a genius, whatever that means. I suspect it means he’s impotent.” She cast her jaded eye around the kitchen, then into the bedroom. Anna was reaching for a coffee mug when her sister said, “Do I smell a man, dear?”

Anna froze. “What?”

“A man. You know the smell. Sweat and old leather. Come, Anna, are you hiding a sturdy little SS lover in your virginal bower?”

Anna forced a laugh. “You’re mad, Sabine.”

Sabine stood up and pointed to the counter. “Mad, am I? You little sneak. I suppose you wear that to scare the burglars away?”

Anna felt her heart stop. In the corner beneath a cabinet lay Jonas Stern’s Sicherheitsdienst cap.

“The SD, no less,” Sabine said, picking up the cap. She ran her finger along the green piping. “Secret police. That fits, since you’ve been keeping him secret from me. And an officer, dear. Who is he?”

At the moment Anna realized she had no idea what to say, the cellar door crashed open and Jonas Stern burst into the kitchen wearing his SD uniform. He pointed his Schmeisser at Sabine.

“Ach du lieber Hergott!” she cried. “There’s no need to get so excited. I don’t care if you’re married. Anna deserves all the fun she wants.”

“Sit down!” Stern yelled. “Now! In the chair!”

Sabine’s expression changed from mild amusement to anger. “You’d better improve your manners, Standartenfuhrer,” she said tartly. “Or I’ll have my husband speak to Reichsfuhrer Himmler about you.”

“I don’t care who your husband speaks to,” he snarled. “Put your fat ass in that chair!”

Sabine looked at Anna for an explanation, but Anna had covered her face with both hands. McConnell stepped into the room wearing his SS uniform.

“What’s going on here?” Sabine demanded. “Someone had better explain.”

In the silence that followed, Sabine Hoffman fully apprehended the wrongness of the situation. She had never been slow on the uptake, and she sensed lethal danger now. Like a startled cat she snatched the coffee pot off the stove and hurled the boiling water at Stern, in the same motion darting in front of McConnell to reach the foyer and freedom.

Stunned by the water, and afraid of hitting McConnell, Stern fired late and high. The slugs from his silenced Schmeisser shattered some cabinet doors, but Sabine was already in the foyer.

Before Stern could follow and finish her, McConnell dove through the door and leaped onto the woman’s back as she tore at the door handle. Sabine whirled, clawing and screeching like a wildcat.

“Stop it!” Anna screamed. “Sabine, be quiet!”

McConnell threw himself backward and whirled, crushing Sabine against the foyer wall and stunning her enough that she fell to the floor.

Anna threw herself over her sister to keep Stern from shooting her. “Lie still, Sabine! Don’t say anything!”

Stern was trying to push his way into the foyer, but McConnell shoved him back into the kitchen. “You don’t have to shoot her!”

“You heard her!” Stern shouted. “She’s planning to stay here tonight. We can’t risk her ruining everything. She’s got to be eliminated.”

“She’s my sister, for God’s sake!” Anna screamed from the foyer.

“She’s a Nazi!” Stern yelled back.

McConnell held up his hands to keep Stern from charging the foyer door. “You can’t kill her sister, Jonas!”

“I can’t?”

McConnell pushed him back. “Look, the attack is only three hours away. We can tie her in the basement. She won’t get out.”

Stern looked past him. “Too much depends on this, Doctor.”

McConnell spoke very low. “If you kill her, there’s no telling how Anna might react.”

“We don’t need Anna anymore either,” Stern said, his eyes cold. “All we need is this cottage.”

McConnell lowered his hands but leaned close to Stern. “If you hurt Anna,” he said, “I will kill you. And if you manage to kill me first, and I don’t see that gas factory, Brigadier Smith will have your balls for breakfast. You understand? There’s no need for more bloodshed. Let’s just tie her in the basement.”

“You can’t hide here anymore anyway, you bastard!” Anna shouted at Stern. “Brandt ordered a house-to- house search of Dornow!”

McConnell and Stern looked at each other, their mouths open.

“How long do we have?” Stern asked.

When Anna didn’t respond, McConnell said, “Anna, please, how long?”

“Sturm’s men could be in the village already.”

A knock on the door silenced them all.

All but Sabine. She screamed at the pounding. “Help me! Help!”

McConnell jerked Anna off of her sister and dragged Sabine into the kitchen.

“A Kubelwagen!” Stern said from the window. “They must have coasted up the lane! Get your rifle, Doctor!”

Stern pushed Anna up to the front door and motioned for her to reply. He stood behind her with the Schmeisser, ready to spray the entire foyer with bullets if necessary.

“Who’s there?” Anna called, her voice near to breaking.

“Weitz,” came the muffled reply.

Anna sagged against the door in relief. She motioned Stern back into the kitchen, then opened the door.

Ariel Weitz pushed past her and closed the door behind him. “What the hell goes on here?” he asked. “Who screamed? Whose Mercedes is that?”

“My sister’s. What are you doing here? Are you crazy? Sturm and his men could be here any minute.”

“You’re the one who’s crazy,” Weitz snapped. “Taking Greta’s car? Now, take me to them.”

“Who?”

“Them. The commandos, or whoever is going to make the attack. I’ve got to speak to them.”

Anna looked anxiously over her shoulder.

Stern stepped up to the door of the small foyer with his Schmeisser leveled. “Who are you?”

Weitz looked at the SD uniform in shock. “I am Ariel Weitz, Standartenfuhrer. I apologize, I’ve obviously come to the wrong house by mistake.”

“He’s no SD officer!” Sabine screamed. “Help me!”

Weitz forced himself not to look beyond the Nazi specter before him.

“You’re Scarlett, aren’t you?” Stern said. “Smith’s other agent in Totenhausen. It’s you who calls the Poles.”

Weitz looked to Anna with petrified eyes, then back at Stern.

“You’ve come to the right house,” Stern assured him. “What have you to tell me? Hurry!”