Jude, the bartender, left me to clean up after we closed. Before he walked out, he shot a cryptic look at the kitchen door. I quickly forgot about it as I wiped down the tables.
My mind reeled around the Resistance activity, the cries of the accused villagers as they were dragged to city hall for questioning, and Viktor. I focused on the anguish of the families of the supposed partisans, but the Berchten's words drowned out the pain of my countrymen.
All I could imagine were what his eyes must have looked like before the war. I wondered what could have been had we met earlier or even later in life. Perhaps then, things could have been different. I stopped my thoughts hard as heat rushed to my face. I sounded like one of those stupid girls I had seen on the arms of many an enemy officer that night.
I wrung out my dishcloth and glanced over at the bar. The letter lay there with the photo of Peter’s wife. Viktor had left me a physical reminder of my sins. Meandering over, I brushed a fuzzy curl from my forehead with damp fingers. I eyed the envelope as though it were a bomb. What I had done and anything else the Resistance would ask of me was for my homeland. Patriotism washed away any blood guilt.
Slapping the cloth onto a nearby table, I strode from the room with a snarl. I stomped into the dim kitchen, a strange sound stopping me in my tracks. In the faint light from the window above the sink, I could see the form of a large animal. It rose onto its haunches, growling low and iridescent eyes glimmering. Spiky black hair sprouted between alert ears. A wolf.
“Don’t scream, it will just upset him,” a woman’s voice rose phantom-like from the kitchen table.
I swallowed hard, “What do I do?”
The stranger leaned forward towards the oil lamp at the center of the table. She struck a match and lit it, the yellow glow illuminating the angles of her long face. Despite her years, the Cat was still a very beautiful woman. Her large, sea green eyes blinked calmly as she sat back in her chair.
“You could come sit with me,” she purred, retrieving a pack of cigarettes from her coat, “He won’t attack unless I tell him to, a truly wondrous creature.”
I eyed the animal. When it wasn’t draped in shadow, I could tell it was more likely half wolf. However, its size and the vicious curves of its fangs were no less impressive. The animal settled beside the Cat’s chair, resting its muzzle on top of bearish paws.
“Come, come,” she waved me over pointing to chair across from her.
I obeyed, lowering myself cagily into the seat.
“Do you like dogs?” She asked, holding the pack of cigarettes towards me.
“No,” I replied bluntly as I took one.
She laughed, striking another match and lighting it for me, “I believe I am going to like you, Miss Roux. Honest. And you give simple answers, yes or no. Black or white. This is good. Gray is much too messy.”
I took a drag a smoke and avoided her eyes. A week earlier I would have agreed with her whole heartedly. Things had become foggy very quickly.
“And you are lovely but not beautiful.”
I snorted, “Thank you?”
The Cat smiled patiently, “What I mean is that you are appealing enough to get what you want but not so beautiful as to arouse suspicion.”
“Not beautiful like you,” I replied candidly, flicking the ash onto the floor.
“No, but it will serve you better,” The Cat arched a murderously expressive eyebrow.
I knew her name was Hannie and that she was rumored to be a native of Berchta where she had begun her underground activity. Once Regena was invaded, she started with the partisan groups in the north but had found more loyalty in the south.
“Tell me, do you know anyone who was there that day? At the retreat of Drumon?”
My heart thudded at the mention of that battle, “My brother.”
She was silent for a moment. I glanced up to find her luminous eyes studying me with pity. She wet her lips with a sigh, “And I take it he did not survive?”
I shook my head and blew out a puff of smoke, the tobacco calming my nerves.
“Do you know how? Was it during the retreat over the river when the Berchten planes were dive bombing our men being ferried to safety? Or perhaps by gas-“
“It was a machine gun," I snapped, not wishing to reopen the wound, “That’s what the letter from his friend said.”
Hannie nodded solemnly, “It still makes you angry, this is good.”
“Of course it angers me-“
“Then you’re going to need to hang onto that anger. Nurse it like a child, Georgiana,” Hannie leaned forward in her seat, her eyes intent on my face, “Because what we are going to ask you to do is dangerous. You will need your anger to fuel your bravery.”
My brow furrowed as I stamped the cigarette out on a tin plate in front of me, “What do you want of me?”
“Most girls your age are put to work as curriers, delivering information from one Resistance leader to the next. Give you a couple years and hard experience, you might help as cover for an assassination. But you are here at the right time for something more. Do you know what was on that train that we bombed last night?”
Other than a wounded man named Peter Maier, I hadn’t given it much thought. I shook my head.
“The Berchten Emperor has been racing to develop a weapon that could end the war and bring about his final victory. I cannot go into the details except for the fact that in the sea between Regena and Nubinor, there in a drilling rig. They are collecting and processing what is known as deuterium oxide or heavy water. It is the key ingredient in conducting their experiments," Hannie smirked, "Now all their precious barrels of the stuff being transported on that train will never get to Berchta.”
The hair on the back of my neck rose, “But what kind of weapon?”
“A bomb like the world has never seen.”
I shifted in my seat, my head spinning, “What does this have to do with me?”
“We have been working with Antican intelligence. They are planning an attack of the heavy water plant. However, the Berchten scientists conducting the experiments down there are here now in Belnon. We don’t know their names but they survived the train attack as we expected.”
“But I heard no one lived-“
“That was a rumor circulated by Berchten intelligence,” Hannie interjected, “We need their information. Names, what they look like, where they are being kept till the Berchtens deem it wise to move them. We only have a short window of time.”
“What would you have me do?”
“Our informer in the village told us that the Lieutenant billeted with your family will soon be made Captain. You have access to his rooms, yes?”
“Gruber?” I shivered, “I can try-“
“There is no trying here. There is much more at stake than your life,” Hannie’s green eyes widened, her nostrils flared, “Your life is nothing, Georgiana Roux. My life is nothing. There is only our cause. You must believe that if you are going to work for us. I myself started as a currier. I do not envy your position, being thrown into such work for your first task. But you must find a way,” Hannie sighed heavily and sunk back into her seat, “As I said, you are lovely. Perhaps you can use that to your advantage?”
My jaw dropped, “You mean seduce-“
“Whatever you must do. You are close to Gruber’s second-in-command as well. We have seen you two together. Viktor Domnin. He is up for a promotion too. I’m sure he would not make it difficult to get what you want if you give him what he wants.”
Face flaring with heat, I sat for a moment in dumbfounded silence, “And what happens if we win the war? I am driven from my home, branded a collaborator and slut then have my head shaved by my neighbors? All for my homeland?”
“Many others have endured much worse, Georgiana,” Hannie stood slowly, “But that would all depend on what good you sleeping with one or both of them would do us.”
The wolf dog jumped up, it’s muscular body lumbering over to the back door before it’s mistress, “We will be in contact with you. Remember, time is of the essence. And don’t forget your sweater before you leave. The night is cold.”
The Cat slipped out into the alleyway, the beast trailing after her. I rapped my knuckles on the table, wondering what I had gotten myself into. As Hannie had instructed, I recalled the cold words of the telegram informing us of Sid’s death. I considered the boogeyman that was the Emperor’s bomb being built to conquer the rest of the known world.
However, the thought of going to bed with someone as odious as Gruber was more repulsive than I could bear. Imagining being with Viktor did not spark the same sentiment in me. That frightened me even more.
I shut out the lamp and walked out of the kitchen. Grabbing the extra set of keys to the pub, and my sweater as Hannie had instructed, I came out from behind the bar. I glanced over my shoulder as though I were being watched then snatched Maier’s letter and stuffed it into my pocket. Quelling a sting of guilt, I locked the door to the Black Gytrash behind me and made my way home.
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