Finding Rebecca by Eoin Dempsey

Author:Eoin Dempsey
Language: eng
Format: mobi, azw3, epub
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Published: 2014-10-28T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

23

Christopher was fresh as the alarm rang. He had resisted Lahm’s protestations the night before and gone to bed early. Lahm was asleep in his uniform above the covers. One of his boots was by the door and the other still on his foot. His belt and baton were on the table. Christopher picked up the belt to place it on the chair. There were teeth marks on the baton. The belt slipped out of his hand back onto the small wooden table. Lahm stirred at the noise, but quickly fell back asleep. It was still dark outside, the shine of the searchlights illuminating the cold air. There was little activity other than the lights and the shadows of sentries patrolling the wire. The convertible two-seat car was parked outside, waiting for him. He would have no support, no armed guard. No others were to know where he was going or why. No preparations were to be made. It was a few minutes up to the office in Birkenau, and once there, he filled the trunk of the car with four suitcases full of money. He signed them out and marked off the ledgers, even though there was no one else there to check. It was all down to him and his word. His word as an SS man was to be enough, or was it?

He pulled the top down, the chill of the morning air biting at his exposed cheeks. He started the car and left. He presented his papers at the front gate and showed his orders. They didn’t search the car, just waved him through. He drove clear of the gates onto the long empty road stretching beyond. It was strange that a world still existed outside. The camp seemed to envelop everything in his mind, whereby it was the entire world. He had only been there a few weeks, but it seemed hard to remember a time before the selections, the gassings, and the executions. The memories of his old life, his life before robbery and death had become his daily currencies, were dissipating like ripples expanding on water, fading into nothing. The prospect of six hours alone with his own thoughts as he drove scared him. The pressure within his chest was building again, and he drove for a few minutes until he thought it safe enough to pull over. He stopped the engine and silence fell upon him. The only sound was that of his breath, ragged and torn. Everything was gray: the sky, the land, the bare trees, and the uniform on his back. He sat back on the seat, gasping for air, trying to swat away the memories as they came to him, trying to keep the image of Rebecca in his mind, desperately trying to believe that she could still be alive. He thought of his father and sister. He started the car again.

The streets of Berlin were busy, clean, and ordered. There were no starving skeletons pushing carts piled with stolen booty.

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