Beyond the Shadow of Night(57)

Josef asked him a question in German. He didn’t reply. Josef asked again, more firmly. Now Adolf replied. Asher couldn’t understand, but there was no doubting the fear in the man’s voice.

Josef and Adolf exchanged a few more words, then a deep frown sat itself on Josef’s forehead.

“What is it?” Rina said. “Tell us what Adolf said.”

Josef pursed his lips for a moment, then drew breath and spoke in a measured tone.

“He heard a little of what the guards outside were saying. He said they kept mentioning the kitchen wall, how it doesn’t look right from the outside.”

Even the warm, flickering candlelight could not imbue the faces Asher saw with any confidence. They all bowed their heads, rubbed their chins, scratched their heads. Anything but speak the unspeakable.

“We have to be honest here,” Josef said after a few minutes. “Perhaps we should move. There are other hiding places—ones Adolf, Anatoli, and I know about.”

“You think we’ll be safer there?” Rina asked.

Josef looked at the other men. He faced Adolf and opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly turned to Anatoli. “I’m sorry, Anatoli, I forgot. You have a bullet wound?”

Anatoli screwed his face up slightly and pushed one side of his jacket over his shoulder, revealing a bloody shirt. “I think it’s just a nick,” he said.

The amount of blood implied otherwise, Asher thought. Yes, this was a brave man, but one in need of medical attention.

Josef and Adolf talked some more in German, then Josef addressed the others.

“From what he heard, Adolf thinks they will come back here later, perhaps take some measurements. He suggests we pack up what food we have and leave here as soon as possible, and I have to agree. If they find us, they’ll kill us.”

The others nodded.

“I could do with some iodine and bandages,” Anatoli said. “What about the hideout in the basement of the medical center?”

Josef nodded, then asked Adolf, Rina, and Asher. All agreed.

“Good,” Josef said. “We’ll wait ten minutes for things outside to settle, then go there. In the meantime, we celebrate quietly. We all did well today.” He looked over to Asher, and even by the flickering light of the candle, Asher’s unease at killing must have showed. “It’s hard, I know,” Josef said. “You know you’re snuffing the life out of someone—someone with a wife, a mama and papa, perhaps children.”

“I think it’s more that he’s lovesick,” Rina said.

Asher told her to shut up. There was a little laughter. Asher joined in.

“Ahh,” Rina said. “He’s pining for his violinist girlfriend.”

“No, I’m not,” Asher said. “Well, perhaps a little.”

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Josef said. “I miss my wife every minute of every day.” He let out a frustrated sigh and gazed into the darkness. Then he forced a smile onto his face and said, “This violinist girl of yours, she’s not the black-haired one who used to play on the east side of the sector every day, is she?”

“How many black-haired girl violinists do you know within the sector?” Asher replied.

“Asher, don’t be rude,” Rina said. “Please excuse my brother.”

“No, no,” Josef said. “It’s a fair point. She’s a good musician, and very pretty too.”

“You mean, she was,” Asher said with more than a hint of bitterness.

“Was?”

“She . . . she disappeared a few months ago.”

“You mean, she disappeared from the Jewish sector.” Josef cast a questioning glance over to Anatoli. “Isn’t that what you told me?”

Anatoli nodded. “I heard that the nuns smuggled her out.”

Asher crawled over and grabbed him by the arm. “What did you say?”

“I don’t know for certain. I just heard.”

Rina scolded Asher once more from the other side of the room.

“I’m sorry,” he said to Anatoli. “But please, tell me what you know.”

“I don’t think they told me her name.” He paused, recalling. “But I think she used to play in some café run by her parents before they put the wall up.”

“Café Baran?”

“Yes.” Anatoli nodded, uncertain at first. “Yes, that was it. Café Baran.”

“So, what nuns are you talking about?”

“There are Catholic nuns in Warsaw,” Josef explained. “The authorities trust them and they’re, shall we say, sympathetic to our cause. They’ve smuggled hundreds—perhaps thousands—of children out of the Jewish sector, and quite a few adults too, usually because they’re sick and in need of medical attention.”

“And where is she now?” Asher asked them both.

Josef and Anatoli both shrugged. “We have no idea,” Josef said. “I take it this girl means a lot to you?”

Asher hesitated. Rina spoke for him.

“He was in love with her. Well, as much as anyone can be in love in this place.”

“I’m sorry we don’t know any more,” Josef said. “But we have contacts. We can ask.”