Mila 18 - Leon Uris [232]
Terrifying thoughts ran through Alfred Funk’s mind. Damn Eichmann and his mania for rounding up Jews. Damn Globocnik! Damn Himmler! Damn Hitler! They had all gone too far with this Jewish business. But what could he say? What could he do? He looked at the map on the desk. In a few days his army would be assembled. Perhaps ... perhaps when he destroyed the last of the Jews he could enter into the higher form of life the Nazis promised. He restored his calm. To hell with Horst von Epp!
“Shall I tell you something, Alfred?” Horst said, bleary from a rapid emptying of the bottle. “You are a man who understands the mathematics of checks and balances. We Germans respect mathematics. The punishment always balances the crime. We have only eighty million Germans. It is not a sufficient number to bear our guilt. To balance the scale, we pass on our sentences to be served by a hundred unborn generations.”
Alfred Funk began to shake visibly. Words he dared not speak but thoughts he could not squelch were being hammered at him.
“Our names will be synonymous with the brotherhoods of evil. We shall be scorned and abused with no more and no less an intensity than the scorn and abuse we have heaped upon the Jews.”
Alfred Funk pushed away from his desk. He was perspiring badly. He had to take a bath.
Chapter Twelve
ANDREI SAT IN THE back row of the small church of a village on the northern fringe of the Lublin Uplands.
Gabriela Rak knelt before the altar, whispering prayers before a crudely hewn image of a bleeding Christ on the crucifix. She stood, lit a candle on the right side of the altar, knelt at the aisle, crossed herself, and retreated back to Andrei just as Father Kornelli entered.
“The children were exhausted,” Father Kornelli said. “The two girls fell right to sleep. The boy is waiting for you,” he said to Andrei.
“When will they leave?” Gabriela asked.
“In the morning Gajnow and his wife will come and fetch them. It is about ten miles into the forest to their home. Gajnow is a good man. The children will be safe with him. You must of course tell them that they have to learn Catholicism for their own protection.”
“I have told the girls,” Gabriela said. “They are bright children. They understand.”
“I’ll talk to the boy now,” Andrei said.
“You will find him in my room,” Father Kornelli said.
Andrei crossed a dirt courtyard filled with flitting geese and wallowing pigs. He entered the priest’s home. The door to the bedroom was ajar. He opened it a bit wider and looked at the two sleeping girls. One child had only a name they had invented for her. She did not know her name when they had found her. The other was a twelve-year-old daughter of one of the members of the Civil Authority. Deborah had been right. Children were children. This one deserved to have the second chance for life. Andrei shut the door and walked down the short hall to the sitting room and entered. A bed had been made on the couch, but his nephew Stephan was still dressed.
“It has been a long day, Stephan,” Andrei said. “You should get some sleep.”
Stephan looked at him with suspicion.
“Tomorrow you and the girls will be taken on the next stage of your journey.”
“What about you, Uncle Andrei?”
“I must be getting back to Warsaw with Gabriela.”
“You said I had a mission. What is it?”
“Yes ... I’ve come to give you your orders now. Your orders are to survive.”
“I don’t understand you, Uncle Andrei.”
“Stephan, you and the girls will be staying in the forest at the home of a very wonderful old couple.”
“Staying?”
“Yes, Stephan. I’ve come to say good-by.”
The boy’s eyes grew wide with astonishment. “You tricked me!”
“I told you to obey orders without question. That is not trickery.”
“You tricked me. You promised me you were taking me on a special mission.”
“You have a very special mission.”
“No. I won’t stay. I’ll run away if you don’t