The Division of the Damned (27 page)

"Arak, the doctor is not my
Master
,
he is my superior for t
his
mission
—
”

”
—
and therefore he is your
Master
." Arak finished for him, dry faced and serious.

"No, yes, oh whatever you wish.”

Henning and Rohleder calmed down when Von Struck asked Arak what he was supposed to report on.

"That is for your
Master
.”

"Of course."
Even Von Struck had started to see the funny side and he smiled to himself. "We have to talk about how we should continue after you get back.”

"What do you mean?"

Both Rohleder and Henning looked at him too.

"When you go back, we’ll have a smaller number of soldiers and therefore we will have more manoeuvrability. We can afford to leave the quarry and move.”

Henning was impressed. "Did you just think that out or have you been planning this for a while?”

Rohleder butted in aggressively
.
"What about the civilians?”

"They’ll have to make up their own
minds what they’re going to do
—
”

"So we just leave them, do we?" He was angry and Von Struck recognised the danger signs. Rohleder had over the last few weeks lived in a make-do family environment and he did not want to let it go. The boy and his mother had come to mean a lot to him, too much in Von Struck’s opinion, but he had already thought about the problem.

"Listen, we’re going to have a couple of days on our own. I want to use these days to scout out a few alternative positions.  We’ll scout out the places
;
it shouldn’t be too hard. There will only be a few of us and you can escort the civvies westwards towards our lines. Ok?”

Rohleder nodded his assent. He wasn’t happy about the change in their situation but he knew he had to accept it.

"Right,
b
oss, I’ll go and see what they want to do.”

"Mick
—
" Rohleder turned back to Von Struck. "It’s up to them what they do. Don’t try to make their minds up for them.” He nodded and walked away.

Arak had slipped off during the exchange.

"Boss, I still can’t get over the fact that I just heard Jurgen call Rasch, 'The Master'."

Von Struck laughed and they both went to his tent to pore over the map. "Obviously we need to know what numbers they’ll be coming back in but I propose we use the cave systems we found here and here," he said, pointing at the map.

Henning nodded, trying to envisage the areas they had already covered in their recent searches.

Chapter 32

He approached the old man first. Rohleder didn’t particularly like him but, as the recognised head of the party, he knew that if he could bring the old man to his way of thinking, the whole party would follow.

His plan was to take them West into Hungary and send them north-west up to Bohemia. Michael had a friend who owned an arms factory in Prague and was sure he’d put the two of them up.
It all hinged on what the old man said.

"This looks a good place
,
too
.”
Henning was pointing at the map when Rohleder burst in, fuming. "That old Nazi bastard, I can’t believe it, I really can’t.”

Von Struck turned to him
.
"What’s wrong? What did he say?”

Rohleder was breathing heavily and the anger blazed in his eyes. "He doesn’t want to leave here. He wants to stay and hide. His horse is lame, he says, and they don’t have any rations. I told him he can’t stay here because Ivan is coming but he doesn’t want to know.”

”Calm down. Let him stay. I don’t even like him,” Von Struck placated. "What did Stephi and Paul say?”

Rohleder looked mystified
.
"I didn’t ask her. I thought she’d just do what the old man said.”

Henning smiled kindly. "Go and talk to her. She may have come here with him but she’s your responsibility now, and the boy. They need you to tell them to get out of here.”

Rohleder nodded his head while Henning spoke to him. He looked to Von Struck who concurred and gesticulated with his thumb for him go.

Stephanie and Paul were washing clothes when he found them. He felt unsure, as if this was the Litmus test of her feelings. He knew rejection would kill him. He coughed to gain their attention and, when they looked up to him, he spilled out everything he wanted to say in one breathless burst.

"We’re moving out but the old man wants you all to stay here. I know a man, well a friend really, in Prague that could put you both up for a while. I can take you to Hungary but then you’ll have to make it on your own until you get
there. I’ve got his address and
—
”

"You’re leaving?” The concern in her voice broke through his anxiety about rejection and he stopped to gather his thoughts.

"Yes, but I’ve been given some time to help you for a couple of days. We’ll head for Hungary and hopefully we can find a couple of horses.”

She was silent, looking down at the floor. Paul hadn’t said a word and he too looked down at the ground.

"Like I said," he continued.
"I know somebody in Prague who could help. He owes me and I’ll write a letter for you to
give
…
”
He broke off as she looked up and he saw the tears in her eyes.

"Can’t you come with us?”

He shook his head, not trusting himself to speak.

"Why?” shouted Paul and he ran off into the undergrowth.

"You’ve got to leave here. When Ivan gets here, they’ll find you all and then it really will be too late.”

She was crying into her washing. Rohleder stood helpless and uncomfortable
,
awaiting her decision. She sniffed and looked up. "I’ll start to pack, and will you please get Paul? Talk to him. He needs you to talk to him and promise that you’ll come to us in Prague.”

He smiled once and went to leave.

"Michael?” He turned back. "Thank you, thank you for everything. You’re a good man and I can’t say that I’ve met too many good men recently.”

"No. Thank you. Before I met you I’d forgotten that I was a man at all.” He left her to fold their clothes.

He knew where Paul had hidden so he made a beeline for it. It was the hollow trunk of a once mighty oak. Only the outer shell remained. The soft inside had been stripped away by time and termites. It was open to the heavens as the branches had all starved and rotted away, and the only entrance was a crack in the outer layer. He’d run to the tree but now he stood outside and thought about what he was going to say.

He started with the first thing in his head
.
"Paul?” No answer. So he tried again.

"Why do you want to leave us?"
came
the soft question in answer.

"I don’t want to leave you, but I’ve got to." His heart leapt to his throat and he was once again taken by surprise by his emotions. "But I promise I’ll come for you and your mother. I promise I will.”

"You won’t. My dad said he’d come back and he didn’t. He never came back and we had to leave everything behin
d. Now you want to leave us and
—
”

Rohleder briefly wondered about his father and then
said
in one breath, "Listen, I’ll ride with you both until we get to Hungary and then I’ll send you both up to Prague. I’ve got a friend there. He owns a factory that makes weapons, guns and cannons, and he’s very rich. He can buy sweets and you can stay with him until I get there. When I get there, we’ll all go to Germany and live together on a farm.”

Paul had come out of the tree and was looking up at Rohleder. "No, in the city, so I can go to the cinema."

Rohleder, who hadn’t yet seen him, was rudely jerked out of his musings. "Ok, in the city. Hanover, is that city enough for you?”

"Yes, swear that you’ll come to see us and that we’ll all move away from the Russians.”

He nodded sombrely. "I swear.”

Paul nodded and smiled up at him.

"That’s better. No need to be sad. I’ll be gone for a while and I’ll come for you. We can all live together, like a real family." Rohleder realised that he had never wanted something so much in his life and he swore to himself to do right by the pair of them.

"Yeah, like a real family," Paul echoed wistfully.

Chapter 33

The plan was simple. Barring Rohleder, they would go out in pairs and reconnoitre the various positions they had seen over the last couple of months. When Arak and whoever he had with him came back they would brief him on the whereabouts of every hid
ing place. During the day, the c
ount’s men would sleep and Von Struck’s men would either stand guard for them, as they had done, or go out on fighting patrols deep inside enemy territory. The vampires would hit the targets further afield than the horsemen, the idea being that Ivan would find it hard to put a fix on any one area of operations.

Arak agreed with the idea after a tra
nce-like conversation with the c
ount and promised to bring explosives and extra ammunition with him when he came back. The only sticking point was the civilians.

"Are the civilians still under your protection?" Arak had asked.

"Yes. Don’t even think it, Arak.”

"It’s a long journey and some haven’t taken sustenance in days because they haven’t been on any raids.” There was no pleading or threat involved, just the ice-cold reasoning of the hungry predator. He spoke of the refugees as if they were provisions for the journey.

"They are German civilians and they will not be touched. Is that clear, Arak?”

Arak grudgingly nodded. "Your instructions are clear. So long as you’re here, the civilians are not to be touched. We will obey your orders," he said over his shoulder.

"You’re damned right you will!" Von Struck was mainly angry at Arak’s dismissive air but he soon forgot the comment when Henning came with the list of pairs for the patrols.

"Do you know what
, Wolfgang?" H
e sighed. "I can't wait to get out in the field again. This quarry was a useful hide but it’s so claustrophobic, it’s a health threat.”

Henning smiled. "I can’t say I’m looking forward to fighting again but I am looking forward to getting out of here and away from them." He indicated the mine with his head.

Von Struck nodded, acknowledged the groupings on the list and said, "Let’s go and see Michael off.”

Henning laughed.
"Yeah, the lucky bastard.”

Arak came back three days later with ten men. They were his oldest and most trusted warriors. The extra numbers had been a weight on his shoulders but now he was alone with just the ten and he felt free. Free to hunt.

The civilians left two days after Rohleder and Stephanie. They packed everything onto their wagon and harnessed the horse. Polite goodbyes were observed and Muschinski gave the little girls a small
piece of chocolate each that he’d saved from his ration pack. They silently made their way through the opening in the quarry and out into the wood. The women had never really trusted their SS uniforms and only Rohleder and Muschinski had managed any sort of rapport with them.

The old man stopped at the entrance and turned around. He drew himself up to stand to attention and saluted them. "Heil Hitler!" he exclaimed and waited, like a statue, for their answer.

Von Struck relented. "Heil Hitler," he muttered and lifted his arm in a half-hearted parody of a response.

"Good luck
,”
Henning whispered. "You’re going to need it.”

"We’re all going to need it, Wolfgang, so don’t wish it away on people we’ll never see again.” It was Berndt Grand, as dour and cynical as ever.

"I feel sorry for the kids, to be honest. That old Nazi will just lead them into trouble,” Muschinski joined in.

Von Struck had the last word. "I don’t want to sound callous but they’re not our problem now. They’ve gone but we’re still here, so let’s get our things together and sort out where we’re going to survey today.”

*  *  *

They worked toget
her surprisingly well with the c
ount’
s
men. By day they left a guard at their location and rode out to the villages to show that there was a German troop in the vicinity. Von Struck spoke with Arak briefly every morning before patrol to discuss the next overnight location and the various other administrative problems that might turn up. They were given radios to keep in contact but they were useless in that they didn’t hold enough range or battery power. Up to that point they had not bumped into any Red Army soldiers and Von Struck was confident that the remoteness of the area was a major factor in their not being detected.