“Stop him! Stop him!”
Otto froze. The voice came from across the street and had a tone of authority that projected even at that distance. Everyone else on the street stopped as well, looking at the source of the command. It was a tall man wearing a black leather coat and party pin on his hat – running surprisingly fast for one in street clothes.
“Stop him! He’s a Jew lover… collaborator!”
A well dressed man in spectacles – also running – the apparent victim. Two policemen quickly appeared and cornered the fleeing man, his glasses flying on the street from the collision between his three pursuers.
Otto could only watch as the Nazi party man began kicking the newly captured citizen, with the policemen joining in with their fists. Germany’s now a dangerous place… even for Germans. Otto thought as he slowly began to take a step to move on. He slowed to a stop when noticing he was the only one walking away. Don’t want to stick out too much. Remembering what Commander Fleming drilled into them. Apparently it was an unwritten rule now that one must watch enemies of the state being beaten.
As the man was then dragged off, the rest of the crowd dispersed. Otto then followed suit yet was unaware of another man who started at the same time. Otto was also unaware this man had followed him since leaving his apartment.
Damn Nazis. Otto muttered in his mind as he glanced down the street where the three were still beating the man while dragging him away.
Son of an English journalist who met his wife while on assignment in Danzig, Otto spoke perfect German and had followed the political situation in Germany ever since he could understand his parents discussing it. He just turned 24 and was finishing Dorchester University when the Nazis took power. Recruited by British Intelligence for his proficiency in German, he later learned he was recommended by one of their best agents in Germany – his mother. Thanks to his mother’s side of the family, it was easy to make him appear he was a German citizen since he was indeed born in Danzig.
Lt. Kriederman signaled a taxi to take over following Otto while he entered another cab. He did not want to follow Otto completely on foot, but rather trade off with others so his victim would not sense he was being tailed so closely.
“To Muellerstrasse near the Kloepp House.” The driver nodded to Kreiderman and cranked the car in gear. They passed the other taxi whose driver, a subordinate of Kreiderman, acknowledged the switch with a wave of his hand.
“Otto!” Bettina called out as Otto entered the crowded grill house that specialized in any part of a pig. “Otto, here!”
They embraced warmly as if they had not seen each other in years. Otto decided if he was going to ask her, he would get to the point right away. After all, this was the reason he wanted to meet her now. “Bettina, my love. I have a very important job to do, and when I’m finished, I will have to leave Berlin. Bettina, I want to take you with me.”
Bettina wanted to answer “yes” immediately since the way he asked sounded like a marriage proposal. But two things bothered her. “Leave? Where?”
“I can’t tell you now, but I’m going out of Germany and may be gone a long time and… I don’t want to be away from you now.” Otto reached out both of his hands and clasped hers. “I want you to be with me.”
“I would love to, Otto. But I don’t think I can… not now.” Bettina was thinking about her ill mother and Goebbels’ knowledge of her family secret. A secret that, when revealed by Goebbels himself, would prevent her from crossing any border. Ironically, Otto’s secret preventing him from telling her his reasons and where he would end up.
“Why do you think you can’t leave?” Otto asked, hurt. He somehow envisioned she would answer ‘yes’ immediately.
“I – My mother. With her illness, I can’t leave her alone.”
“I’ve friends on the Baltic who said they would be happy to take care of her until this is all over.”
“Yes, but…”
“But… what?”
Bettina’s heart began to triumph over the boundaries set by her mind. Her desire to leave with Otto, to escape Goebbels stranglehold and abuse of her suddenly became a reality. “Otto, Goebbels knows something about my family that could destroy me… and you. If I leave, even if I could leave Germany, he will have my mother taken away.”
Otto’s heart would simply have Bettina’s mother simply leave with them, but he knew this would be impossible. “We’ll work something out, we’ll get her in hiding on the Baltic… tomorrow. Goebbels wouldn’t think to look for her there – she doesn’t have connection to anyone or to the place.”
A face in the window near their table disappeared and gave a cold chill throughout Otto. It was as if he had caught a glimpse of death himself. While his conscious mind did not notice the man glancing in the grill house from the sidewalk at first, his subconscious immediately did.
“I think we better get out of here, Bettina.”
“Well, you are a bit on the short side, but you have a nice form and great stomach, I just hate beer bellies.” Ewa stroked Krafft’s stomach and pressed down several times just below his navel. “I hate beer bellies.” She said, as if even seeing a man’s flabby stomach reactivated a horrible memory from her early childhood.
“Then I shall watch my intact of beer.”
Ewa exhaled quickly. Although beginning to understand Krafft’s humor, a question in the back of her mind prevented humor to enter her thoughts. “Karl Ernst?” She snuggled up to him, not waiting for an answer, “Why are we attracted to each other?”
Krafft took a deep breath, but did not answer.
“Is it because I am Libra, and you have a Libra moon?” Ewa, still stroking Krafft’s body, could feel a slight jump of shock jolt throughout his entire body.
“You, have looked at my horoscope?” Krafft’s tone sounded as if he had been deeply betrayed or violated. His mind raced through the possibilities, which came to only one logical conclusion. “Did Fesel allow you to look at my chart?”
Shocked for a moment, Ewa was confused that the man who had created, analyzed and interpreted thousands of horoscopes would be so sensitive over his. “Why, no.” She answered honestly. “Last month when we celebrated your birthday at work, I found out you were now 40, so looked in that ephemeris book for all planet positions for May 10th, 1900. Of course I don’t know the math to cast a horoscope, but I was able to see where the Moon was that day.”
Krafft’s normally steady emotions, disrupted over the past months, now alternated even more between a feeling of horror and being thoroughly impressed. Horror overcame him at first since someone looked at an aspect of his chart without his permission. Being that it was Ewa who did so however, the action touched him. She thought that deeply to look into his stars? Had her interest for him reached such a level? Even after years of marriage, Elaine never asked Karl Ernst Krafft anything about his horoscope.
Krafft eyed the shadows created by the window’s diffused light over Ewa’s face. She looked more beautiful than any woman he had ever seen – in person, film, or painting. His mind returned to her, and what she wanted.
“And what would you like to know about a Libra Moon?”