RETURN TO HEADQUARTERS

There was a large crater in the road, and what was left of Wolff and his car was crushed against the trunk of a sturdy oak, but we didn’t stay to inspect the damage. It took us a while to recover from the blast and by the time we were on our feet, some of the men from Feldstrasse had come to investigate the explosion.

We left the way we had come in, all of us stunned, our ears ringing and our bodies aching.

‘What now?’ Lisa asked.

‘Home?’ I replied. It seemed like the only thing to do.

‘I feel like … like I should … I don’t know,’ Lisa said. ‘Like I should feel worse. That Wolff’s … you know.’

‘Dead?’ Stefan said.

Lisa nodded. ‘It’s our fault.’

‘No it isn’t.’

‘But if we’d reported the bomb …’ she said. ‘I don’t feel bad though. Is that wrong?’

‘I don’t feel bad either,’ I said to her. ‘Anyway, you did try to tell him, remember? When he caught us outside. You tried to tell him and he should have listened to you.’

Lisa nodded again.

‘So let’s go home.’ I reached out and held her hand.

‘You have to take me back, first,’ Stefan said.

‘What?’

‘You have to come back to Headquarters with me. You have to lock me back in the cell.’

‘No. We—’

‘Don’t you see, Karl? I can’t be out of that cell. They’ll think I escaped and then I’ll have to hide and you’ll still be in danger, and Mama and Oma and Opa …’ Stefan shook his head. ‘I have to go back.’

‘I won’t lock you in.’

‘He’s right,’ Lisa said.

‘But what if they do something to you?’

‘I can’t just run away, Karl. They’ll come after me. After you too. And Mama. You need to lock me up so they can release me like they released the others.’

‘What if they don’t?’

‘They will.’

I couldn’t help thinking about how he had been taken away the last time, though. Maybe, if they took him away again, he wouldn’t come back.

‘No one knows what just happened,’ Stefan argued. ‘No one but us. Don’t you see? If I run away, they’ll come after me, but if you lock me back in the cell, no one will ever know what happened. They’ll just think Wolff went out in his car and hit an unexploded bomb. You’ll all be safe.’

I tried to argue, but as always, Stefan was right. So we headed back to Gestapo Headquarters and went down into the cellar. Stefan hugged me and returned to his cell.

The key was still in the lock, and the bunch jangled when Stefan helped close the door. He turned and looked at me through the bars.

‘Lock it. Then get your things from upstairs and leave the keys. No one can know you were here.’

‘What if they don’t let you out?’ My mind was filled with doubt. ‘What if they do something to you?’

‘Like what? They’ve already beaten me and shaved my head. What else are they going to do?’

‘I—’

‘Go,’ he said. ‘Now.’

‘Come on.’ Lisa took my arm and pulled me away from the cell. ‘Before someone comes.’

I nodded and wiped my eyes, and followed Lisa up the stairs. At the top, I stopped and turned to look at my brother for what I thought might be the last time. I wanted, more than anything, to let him back out, but that would only lead to trouble for everyone.

He looked so brave when he raised a hand to us and we left him.

‘Get our things,’ Lisa said, heading straight to the front door. ‘I’ll keep watch.’

With a heavy heart, I jogged to Wolff’s office. The Führer watched from his picture on the wall as I collected my bag and shoved everything inside. My hands were shaking and I was fighting back the tears. I couldn’t stop thinking about Stefan in the cell downstairs.

When I had collected everything, I turned to leave, but stopped when something caught my eye. There, on the corner of Wolff’s desk.

Three brown folders.

I hesitated, looking from the folders to the door, then back again.

Take them.

I ran to the desk and grabbed the folders. I flicked each one open, seeing the arrest forms we had signed, then stuffed them into my bag along with everything else.

And that’s when I had an idea. If only there was enough time.

Do it.

Rushing around the desk, I pulled open the top drawer on the left and rummaged through the empty brown folders and documents.

Nothing.

‘Hurry up!’ Lisa shouted.

Without pausing, I slammed the drawer shut and yanked open the one below it. Another pile of papers nestled in there, but they were of no use to me.

‘Karl!’

I tugged open the bottom drawer and immediately saw the forms I was looking for. I could hardly believe they were real.

‘Karl! What are you doing?’

I snatched one from the top of the pile and put it on the desktop as I kicked the drawer closed. Leaning down to look at the document more closely, I reached out for Wolff’s pen.

This was my chance to do something right. Perhaps—

‘Quick!’ Lisa ran back from the front door. ‘Someone’s coming. We have to go.’

‘One minute.’ It was a risk, but there might just be time.

‘Now!’ she hissed. ‘I can hear them coming!’