Wolf buttoned his shirt clumsily and replaced his pistol in his belt. Rachael forgot her modesty and let the sheet fall from her, but the blood-burst on the streets had broken the spell of love-making. Wolf braced his back against the iron bedstead and dropped his face on his knees while she dressed. She cuddled up next to him, laying her head on his lap, and they stayed numbed and quiet until the last of the cries faded from their hearing.
“Where are the trains going?” she whispered shakily.
He shook his head.
“My father says they’ll stop soon, but I don’t believe him. There’s talk about death camps.”
She began to tremble, and her face and hands felt icy. He tried to comfort her.
“I don’t mean to be like this ... It was only—I was so frightened when you didn’t come back in time for Stephan’s bar mitzvah. I’m always dreaming of the trains. I dream they’re taking Stephan. Wolf, he’s taking too many chances. Make him stop.”
“How can I argue with him to be against what we are trying to stand for?”
“What do we stand for? What in God’s name do we stand for?”
“I don’t know, really. My father might be able to put it into certain words. So can Rabbi Solomon. I just want to live and I want you to live. I guess that’s all I really stand for.”
In a little while she became calm.
“Someday it will all be over, Rachael. It must end sometime.”
“If I could only be your wife. If I could only have your baby. Wolf, if either of us goes on the trains, I want you to know how very much I love you.”
“We’re going to come through this ... Rachael.” Then his voice saddened. “My father talked to Rabbi Solomon about marrying us secretly, without your father knowing. He won’t do it.”
“Why? It’s only because my father would never agree—”
“To Rabbi Solomon it would mean he would be taking the side of the underground against the Civil Authority. You know how the Orthodox are about finding hidden meanings in hidden meanings. Besides, I would want the world to know you’re my wife.”
“I try so hard to remember my father the way he used to be, but I think I hate him. I swear, sometimes I almost wish he were—”
“Shhhhh ...”
Sounds on the roof sent them into a grip of fear. Wolf rolled off the bed, yanked Rachael off, and shoved her behind him into an alcove. Someone was rattling about overhead. An indistinguishable figure appeared at the skylight in the kitchen ceiling. It tugged at the trap door. Wolf withdrew his pistol, cocked it, and aimed it on the skylight. The trap door groaned open, sending in a burst of light and air. A pair of legs lowered and a figure dropped to the floor.
“It’s Stephan.”
Stephan got to his feet, rubbing his wrist, which was tingling from the impact of breaking the fall. “I’m sorry to have to come here,” he apologized, “but Uncle Andrei needs you right away, Wolf.”
“Where is he?”
“At the loft over the stage, Workman’s Theater.”
Wolf fought his way into his shoes, slapped his cap on, and peered out of the window. Nightingales patrolled the street below.
“You’ll have to go over the roofs,” Stephan said.
“You two get on the roof and stay till after dark,” Wolf ordered.
Rachael obeyed silently, fearing words would bring on a betrayal of tears. A kitchen table was shoved under the skylight. Wolf climbed on, leaped up, caught hold, and struggled through. He closed his eyes for a moment as he saw the sheer drop. The sharp heights always brought on dizziness. He lay flat on his belly and reached down into the kitchen. Rachael hoisted Stephan into Wolf’s hands. She came through last. Wolf closed the skylight and pointed to cover behind a chimney. Stephan and his sister crouched behind it and watched Wolf disappear over the top of the ghetto.
It took him an hour to negotiate the mile over the roofs, down stairs, sprinting through exposed courtyards and over intersections, diving into the cover of friendly basements.
Wolf knew instantly it was a very important meeting, for Simon Eden was there with Andrei and Tolek Alterman. Andrei and Simon had kept apart to lessen the chance of their both being captured. It was the same with the other leaders. They came together under an urgency, for the informers had unearthed dozens of hiding places on Black Friday.
Simon spoke to Wolf and Tolek. “The Germans are lying about the deportations. One of my people has been able to observe the Umschlagplatz. For six days now the same forty-four cars have come and gone. Figure it. The trains pull out every day at three o’clock. They return by eight o’clock the next morning. Seventeen hours’ travel. Eight and a half going. Eight and a half coming back. Subtract an hour’s unloading time. Subtract an hour to turn the train around. Consider today’s travel conditions.”
“Summary,” Andrei said. “It is our educated guess this train is not traveling more than seventy or eighty kilometers beyond Warsaw.”
Tolek rubbed his jaw, drew a mental picture of Warsaw’s environs. “There is no labor camp or combination of them inside this radius which can continue to take six thousand new people every day.”
“Exactly.”
“As you know,” Simon continued, “my runner system was almost shattered on Black Friday. I lost almost all my people on the Aryan side.”
Andrei handed Wolf and Tolek packets of money. “There’s a guard playing at the Tlomatskie Gate. Go out in fifteen-minute intervals at six o’clock and meet at Gabriela’s flat. She will have a railroad maintenance engineer there. He will place you in observation positions along the rail line.”
When they had gone Simon Eden asked Andrei about new arms. It was the same story. No arms. No money. No help from Roman or the Home Army. Evasions. Frustration. They had only five hundred soldiers left after Black Friday.
Andrei looked at his watch and said it was time for him to leave too.
“Must you go to Lublin?” Simon asked.
“Yes.”
“If there was a way to command you not to go ...”
“No, Simon.”
“Are you certain you can get into this camp?”
“I don’t know for certain. Ana tracked down my old company sergeant. A good soldier, that Styka. I have faith in him. He has been working on it for two weeks, Ana brought the message that he can get me in.”
“Andrei, if we lose you ...”
“What’s to lose, Simon?”
Simon flopped his big hands to his sides. “What’s to lose? I’ve been in a fog for over two years. I try to tell myself all this is untrue. It is not happening. I’m numb, but we survive on instinct.”
Andrei slapped his back.
“Well,” Simon said, “wishing you luck inside Majdanek is rather ludicrous these days. Does Gabriela know?”
“No. I promised her not to keep secrets, but I cannot bring myself to talk about this trip to Lublin. But the minute I come through the door tonight, she will no longer be fooled.”
“I envy you, Andrei, having that kind of love. Andrei, for God’s sake, get back here safely. I can’t keep going without you.”
“See you around, Simon.”
Chapter Seven
ANDREI RUBBED HIS EYES wearily and brought them to focus beyond the unwashed window. The train poked past a hamlet of thatched shanties surrounded by the rye fields of the flat Lublin Uplands. It was a long, slow trip. Late afternoon before he would reach Lublin. Good old Styka. He had come through.