The Light at Midnight: A Historical Thriller Set During the Holocaust by Tom Reppert

Author:Tom Reppert [Reppert, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Helen's Sons Publishing
Published: 2020-11-21T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty

An hour later, Rivka left the interview tent. Lightheaded, Pete felt as if his blood were rushing at great speed. His eyes glistened and he closed them, trying to keep the horrific images from flashing through his head. That such things happened to her, his closest friend, and to Mila, the cousin he loved so much, and to his aunts and uncles, overwhelmed him.

Lt. Col. Granger rose. “I have other patients to see.”

Pete opened his eyes and exhaled a long breath. Soldiers were rolling up the tent walls, allowing a breeze to cut at the afternoon heat. At the other end of the table, Master Sergeant Bailey and the two officers huddled together, going over the list of Nazis involved in the atrocities they’d compiled from the three women. Rivka had identified Max Bauer as not only being at Auschwitz, but also responsible for something called the Einsatzgruppen, Murder Squads who had slaughtered the Jews of Nashok.

Bauer had buried Rivka alive with the thousands of dead, including her mother and sister. And Rivka had crawled out of the grave. Tears filled Pete’s eyes, and he turned away from the officers, suppressing his own urge to run out and kill every German POW himself. Bascom still found it all unbelievable, which it was, even though Pete knew it to be true, but the lieutenant had enough sense to keep his mouth shut for the time being.

Amazingly, Pete thought, Rivka had been a partisan, his wouldn’t-hurt-a-spider Rivka, and not even the youngest among them. She was blowing up bridges, attacking German patrols, and disrupting supplies while he was sitting in high school classes ogling Geraldine. Two years of it. About her time working just with this Sergeant Sokolov, she would say little.

“Blow up things. Keep the Germans busy. That’s all,” she said, clearly being evasive.

Pete would not be the one to press her on more detail though, and no one else did. Then, she talked of Auschwitz and Kaufering. The same as Eleni and Sister Agneta, even to the unspeakable horror of Helena’s baby.

This Rivka, who sat through the hour interview by the JAG and G2 officers, was far different than the one he had known. Not intimidated by them at all, even angry at times, perhaps paranoid as well like the doctor said, not trusting them. After what she’d been through, how could she not be changed?

Once, when Landry had mentioned how the bombing of Germany had stopped on May 8th, the day of surrender, her temper exploded, and she shouted at them that the allies must bomb every German city to rubble.

Another time, Bascom explained how the JAG Corps would bring the offenders to justice, and she laughed at him. Her eyes flashed hatred so pure it made Pete sit back as if punched. “They will escape. And those you do catch will be given a pat on the back for killing Jews. Bomb them. Shoot them on sight. That’s justice.”

Pete and the other Americans had fallen silent for seconds following her tirade.

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