Fatal Encounter by Marion Kummerow

Author:Marion Kummerow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Marion Kummerow

Chapter 16

Lotte and her three escorts arrived at the airport and carefully retrieved the radio equipment they needed.

“Aren’t we going back?” Lotte asked, when Johann and the other two soldiers headed for the mess.

“Not yet. We need to wait for the commander. I want to personally inform him about the partisans’ roadblock.” Johann spat out the word partisan like a foul grape.

Heinz and Martin trotted off to greet some soldiers they knew, leaving Johann and Lotte on their own. She picked at her food, the events she’d witnessed still having her stomach tied up and unable to process food.

He noticed and asked, “Aren’t you hungry?”

She shrugged and put the fork away, looking into his warm brown eyes, full of concern for her. It was very different from the cold and steely look she’d seen in them earlier today. “How can they do this?”

“Do what?” He looked confused, but then made the connection to the massacre they’d witnessed. “You mean…? They are under orders to make an example of the people...”

In hopes the resistance forces will capitulate. Lotte silently finished his sentence, knowing full well how the leaders of the Third Reich loved to use terror tactics to control and subdue their opponents. “You could have told them to stop! These people aren’t soldiers. They’re wives, mothers and children.”

“I couldn’t have prevented any of this from happening,” Johann said, keeping any emotion out of his voice. Suddenly his eyes turned cold and lifeless again, and she hated him for it. How can he be so indifferent? I thought he was better than the rest.

“You have rank over these marauding troopers, and yet you refused to rein them in! What kind of man are you? You’re as much a monster as they are!” She jumped up, pummeling her fists into his chest, her voice screaming louder with every word.

“Please, calm down,” he begged her, but it was too late. They’d already caught the attention of the military police, who came rushing to their table.

“Is there a problem, Fräulein?” one of the policemen said and she stared with disbelief into the muzzle of a gun. Being held at gunpoint seemed to become an annoying habit lately.

“I’ll tell you my problem with…” Lotte stopped herself just in time before she told the MP exactly what she thought about the massacre, the Nazis and the Führer. She’d vowed to herself never to act rashly again. Judging by the look on his face she was already deep in trouble. She began to sob. “We…we…were attacked by the partisans earlier and they…oh God…nobody told me I would be held at gunpoint when I became a Wehrmachthelferin…”

A guilty expression crossed the MP’s face and he pointed his gun to the ground, nodding to his colleague to do the same. “Is this true?” he asked Johann.

“Yes, Leutnant,” Johann answered. “We barely escaped and had to divert through the Wola district.” The MP’s brow shot up when he heard the name of the district. Johann continued, “Fräulein Wagner witnessed some of the shooting and I believe she didn’t take it well.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.