Edouard’s mouth was as round as his eyes.
“You need to get out of here, you and Berta. Tonight. I will take you to Switzerland with me. That’s all I can tell you, except that if you stay, you will die.”
“But why? How will we die? I need to know more about this!”
Macurdy put his hands on Edouard’s shoulders. “Look at my aura, Edouard, and trust me. I beg you!”
Edouard looked a long moment, licked dry lips. “How do we get out?”
“At midnight, I want you to open the window and throw out the fire rope, then climb down. If Berta cannot climb down, tie it beneath her arms and lower her over the window sill.”
“But how do I get her? That will be after lights out.”
“You are the Herr Doctor Professor. The guard will allow it. Just do it.”
Edouard look unconvinced. “What if she doesn’t want to go?”
“She will. She told me before how much she longs to escape this country.”
“She will never go without Lotta. You do not know Lotta; she is new here, a child 10 years old. She is like Marie; she does not speak Colonel Landgraf has told me something of her history; her experience of life has been-ugly. Berta is very good for her.”
“Then lower her, too. And when you get outside, move as quietly as you can. There may be guards, but there is no moon. Go to the forest and wait for me at the edge, near the stable.” Macurdy glanced toward the door. “I haven’t much time,” he said, and from an inside pocket, took the folding stiletto he’d been issued in the 505th. “If Eich wakes up, and he probably will, he will try to stop you, cause an alarm. So use this first, through an eye socket into the brain. To the handle. If you simply cut his throat, you’ll be a bloody mess.”
He paused, then added, “Edouard, I know this is hard for you. But if you cannot do it for yourself, do it for the child. Give her a new life, with Berta.”
He pressed the weapon into Edouard’s hand, fearing as he did so that this man could never murder someone in their sleep. That’s all you can do for them, he told himself. From here it’s up to Edouard. He clapped the German on the shoulder, then opened the latrine door and peered into the room. No one was there, so he left, closed the door behind him and reactivated his cloak.
Edouard Schurz stared at the door that had closed in his face. Then, for a long moment, he regarded the small but deadly instrument in his hand, as if it might bite him. Before returning to the recreation room, he put it under his pillow.
Feeling more confidence than ever in his cloak, Macurdy returned to the first floor, meeting no one enroute except the unknowing guard on the second-floor landing. In the first floor corridor, he was alone except for the rather distant guards at the ells. His ear against Landgrafs door heard nothing. Still listening, he scratched softly, then tapped with a finger nail. Again nothing, so he took the set of lock picks from a tunic pocket. The bolt opened with an audible “cluck,” and Macurdy glanced left and right down the corridor. No one had hear Opening the door, he went in and closed it behind him, grateful that it swung inward.
The blackout curtains were drawn, and the corridor well enough lit that light wouldn’t show beneath the door, so he switched on the ceiling light. Now, he thought, scanning around, where …
Shock gripped him, followed by a sure of excitement: On a table in front of the window lay the right orange chute and ballast bag, and on top of them, the coil of fuse and the drawstring pouch. Quickly he stepped to them, and with hands that shook, opened the pouch, checked the contents, then tucked it into a tunic pocket. The coiled fuse he stuffed into a thigh pocket. Then, after a long deep breath, he tightened and relaxed his muscles to steady himself, and stepped quickly to the door. Again he heard nothing, but as the first floor was carpeted, that simply meant that no one was talking nearby in the corridor.