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Chapter 21

21

On the way down Nerudova Street, Jana berated herself. How could she even think of taking on a man like Heydrich? If he hadn't been suspicious of her before, she had no doubt he was now. She'd jeopardised everything by her inexperience and na?vety. Fear twisted her stomach in knots, not just for herself but for Papa, Babi, the children, everyone who knew her. Heydrich was head of the Gestapo and once they got involved…

She shuffled home on weak, boneless legs and slumped into the armchair at the bookshop, her mind whirling with scenarios of horrific outcomes.

That evening over their meal, Papa remarked on her sombre mood. ‘What's wrong, sweetheart? Something is weighing on your mind.'

She shook her head, saying she was merely tired; he would be sick with worry if she told him what had happened. But he persisted.

‘Talk to me, Jana. We're already both involved in illegal activities and I've suspected for a long time you're up to something at the castle. '

But she wouldn't be drawn into conversation. She went to bed early, citing a headache.

When she woke the next morning, she was filled with dread at the thought of seeing Heydrich and considered staying at home, claiming to be sick, but that would achieve nothing. She dragged herself from bed and left home before her father woke.

When she arrived on the first floor of Salm Palace, Miss Jezek informed her she would not be required to clean Heydrich's office as he would be away for a couple of days and his room would remain locked. Jana sighed inwardly, grateful at this short reprieve.

Throughout her early shift as she pushed the carpet sweeper over elegant rugs and polished the crystal chandeliers with a long feather duster, thoughts of Andrej sprung into her mind: his hot lips sweeping the length of her neck, his hands plunging into her hair after flinging her hat from her head. The force of desire that pulsed through her was something she'd never experienced before. He had even said he had feelings for her; but he'd also made it clear that their relationship was to remain professional. She was eager to meet him again as arranged and share her discovery of Heydrich's letter referencing a ‘solution,' even though she wasn't supposed to discuss information with anyone. But she and Andrej had already crossed that line and she no longer wanted to work in complete isolation.

Later that same morning, the book club was due to meet. As Jana was preparing the chairs, the bell above the door rang and she looked up to see Karolina with her daughter. She glanced at her watch; Karolina was twenty minutes early .

When Jana went to greet her, she was shocked; Karolina's eyes were red and swollen, her face drawn.

‘I'm sorry I'm early, but I'm not staying for the book club today,' she said in a raw voice. Then, placing a hand on her daughter's back, she told the child, ‘Run along and find a nice book.' The girl skipped away and Karolina turned to Jana. ‘I don't want her to hear what's happened to her father.'

‘My goodness, whatever is the matter?'

‘Petr has been arrested. It's bad, I'm afraid.' Karolina swallowed a sob.

‘But why?' Jana put a hand on Karolina's arm.

‘It's been coming for a while. I knew this would happen but he wouldn't stop. I begged him but he wouldn't listen.'

Jana remembered how withdrawn Karolina had been at the last book club. She waited for her friend to continue, fearful of what she would say.

‘He's been writing anti-Nazi articles and distributing them in an effort to activate more resistance. I don't know what they will do to him. If only I knew how to help him, if only…' She broke down in tears and Jana wrapped her arms around her, murmuring words of comfort.

‘There must be something we can do. Don't despair.' She knew the situation was dire, but her thoughts turned immediately to Andrej, who she was due to meet that evening. He was Karolina's only hope. She suggested that Karolina leave her daughter at the bookshop to play with the other children who'd be arriving shortly. Then, later, either Jana or one of the other mothers could bring the little girl home.

‘Thank goodness I have friends like you,' said Karolina, wiping the tears from her eyes.

‘I'm here for you,' said Jana. ‘We all are.'

Jana went through Mama's wardrobe, examining the clothes that she and Papa hadn't been able to bear to give away. After Mama's death, Papa had suggested Jana should wear the clothes, but Jana had thought that too sad. Now, however, she decided her mother would have approved of Jana's resistance activities and would've been delighted that her clothes were aiding Jana in her disguise. She picked out a smart, black, wool coat and a traditional embroidered headscarf that would keep her auburn hair out of sight.

After weaving her way through the back streets of Prague, she arrived at the nightclub, waiting till the street was empty before she rapped on the door.

Despite her resolution to keep her feelings in check, her cheeks flushed when Andrej's face appeared. He waved her inside.

Andrej had found a small oil lamp which he'd place on a round table, and the two of them sat opposite each other. There was a charged tension between them immediately and Jana knew they were both thinking of their passionate kisses last time they'd been together.

She swallowed and diverted her attention to recent events, starting with Heydrich's letter.

Andrej looked aghast. ‘You read one of his letters?'

She wasn't sure whether to be proud or indignant at his surprise but continued to discuss the contents.

‘What do you think Heydrich means by Madagascar?'

Andrej paused in thought, rubbing his chin before he spoke.

‘Before the war broke out, Germany's aim was to expel Jews from the country, stripping them of their wealth and belongings before they left. The persecution, humiliation and violence were part of a plan to make life untenable for the Jewish citizens in order to drive them out, or arrest or murder them. But now the war's begun, all the borders are closed and they are trapped within the Reich.'

‘So now they are forced into Ghettos around Europe,' said Jana.

‘Exactly, but the Ghettos are at bursting point and problematic for the Nazis. There were rumours of a plan to send all the Jews away to some place, another location, an island or?—'

‘Madagascar,' finished Jana.

He nodded. ‘I heard an SS officer talking about it after he'd downed half a bottle of Becherovka at Christmas. But the cost and logistics of such an operation make the idea infeasible, of course.'

‘So the Nazis are looking for another solution, like Terezin.'

Andrej pushed back from the table and started to pace, something Jana now recognised he did when agitated.

‘But Terezin is a small fortress. What happens when it's full?' he said, more to himself.

Jana told him about her talk with Miss Novak from the Red Cross, but stopped short of recounting how she'd approached Heydrich on the subject; Andrej would reproach her for being reckless and she didn't want him to worry about her even more.

‘One last thing, Andrej. A friend of mine needs your help.' She sighed at the thought of poor Karolina.

‘Go ahead,' he said, halting his pace and leaning on the bar to light a cigarette.

After she'd told him about the arrest of Karolina's husband, he hastily stubbed out his cigarette. ‘I'd better get to the police station straight away. Once he's in the hands of the Gestapo, there is nothing I can do. '

As they made their way to the door, Jana said, ‘I must be able to contact you if I need you.'

She thought she saw a flicker of amusement in his eyes and her neck grew warm. ‘I mean, if I have some urgent information.'

They needed some type of code like the one she had with the bookmarks. The idea came in a flash.

‘I always have a display of bookmarks in the shop window.'

‘I know; very pretty ones you make yourself.' He smiled.

‘That will be the sign. If I remove them all, it means we need to meet.'

He looked at her with admiration. ‘You're getting good at this. I can walk by each day on my way to the police station. If the bookmarks are gone, I'll meet you at the club that evening at seven.'

She smiled, proud of herself.

‘But every time we meet, there is a risk we'll be seen. So only in an emergency,' he added.

She touched his arm lightly. ‘Shame, I thought we could meet here in the dark three times a week for illicit goings-on.'

Her words made him blush; something she hadn't seen him do before and she thought it made him look charming, slightly vulnerable. She would try it more often.

As the last time, she left the nightclub first, and Andrej shortly after.

As she hurried home to prepare dinner, she worried about Karolina and her husband, hoping that Andrej could help in some way.

There was nothing remarkable about the middle-aged woman who approached the cash register with the book she had chosen. Her face and clothes were non-descript, and Jana, distracted by thoughts of Andrej, would never have remembered her had the woman not slid a bookmark across the counter; Jana's own bookmark that she'd previously given a contact with a concealed message. Startled, she shot the woman a look. Jana's display in the window had signalled she had urgent news, summoning this contact within three days.

Coded book quotes were exchanged, and Jana retrieved the bookmark she had waiting beneath the counter: hidden were her notes on Heydrich's letter to Himmler and his ominous words about a solution.

Her stomach flickered with nervous excitement. Would the message she received be a new assignment? Till now, she'd only been required to note Heydrich's arrival in the mornings.

As soon as the church bells outside sounded midday, she flipped the sign on the door to closed , grabbed The Gardener's Diary , and hid herself at the back of the bookshop.

Half an hour later, she'd deciphered the message and was leaning back in the armchair, pondering over the new instructions. She was to monitor when Heydrich drove himself, was driven by a chauffeur and when there was an escort car. Any of these variables, she'd noticed were possible on any given day. But was there a pattern, or did it all hang on the erratic whim of Heydrich?

It was obvious that the resistance was monitoring all Heydrich's and probably other top SS officers' movements too. She had long suspected there were several spies at the castle, who, like her, had filtered through the security checks when being hired. The enormity of being tasked to spy on the top man weighed on her. Her new instructions had sparked her adrenaline. But something else too: an uneasiness about the resistance's intentions .

The following morning, Jana found herself glancing out the window a hundred times on the off chance she spotted Andrej passing by. His shifts were irregular so she never knew when to expect him, but he'd promised to check her window display for a sign if she needed to speak to him urgently; all she had to do was remove all the bookmarks and go to the nightclub to meet him.

She'd slept badly, worries assaulting her from every angle: Lenka, the children with Babi, Heydrich and his so-called ‘solution', and how she or the Red Cross would gain entry to Terezin to find out what was really going on. The only thought that had distracted her from her tumult of fears was the kiss she had shared with Andrej, but this too kept her from sleep, as yearning, hot and fluid, had coursed through her, covering her skin with a sheen of sweat.

The morning at the castle had passed by without incident as Heydrich was still out of the office which Jana was relieved about. Now back at the bookshop, she was unnerved and longed to talk to Andrej. Yes, it was breaking the rules, but her new assignment had thrown up a lot of disturbing questions.

She paced around the bookshop, moving books around, then placing them back again in the same place. A few customers came and went but no one bought anything. At lunchtime, she closed the shop door, went into the kitchen to fetch some bread and cheese and hurried back to the cash desk where she ate her lunch staring out the window. The food gave her indigestion and then in a spurt of determination, she rushed to the window and scooped up all the bookmarks. She simply had to see Andrej that evening.

The sun came out in the afternoon, highlighting the dirty window pane. Fetching a bucket of water from the kitchen and some old newspapers, she slipped on her coat and went outside to clean the glass. From there, she had a good view up and down the street and as she worked, her heart fluttered with anticipation that she would see him.

He didn't come.

Disappointed, she returned the bucket to the kitchen, rinsed it out, and took the dirty newspapers to the rubbish bin in the backyard. Maybe he was walking past right now whilst she was in the backyard; he would notice the absence of bookmarks and meet her that evening at the nightclub.

Later, a group of children occupied her at the back of the shop and she was unable to keep an eye on the window, but she felt sure he'd have passed the shop by the time she locked up. Before she left, she twisted her hair and tucked it under a plain, brown beret. She took a compact mirror from her hand bag and studied her pale skin and the black circles under her eyes. It was a shame she had no makeup with her. She pinched her cheeks and her lips till a pink tinge appeared and left the shop.

As she crossed Old Town Square, her head down, she tried to analyse her emotions. Did she want to see Andrej to discuss Heydrich, or did she have other reasons? Unbidden, an image of her and Andrej kissing and touching in the dark nightclub darted into her mind. She sighed inwardly; she was over-thinking everything and it was exhausting.

Dusk was creeping into the alleyway where only one streetlamp emitted an insipid glow. Her heels clicked along the cobblestones as she passed the tall, shadowy buildings. A dog barked in the distance. Alone in the street, she hurried to the nightclub door and rapped the iron knocker softly. It was just past seven so he was bound to be here. Any moment, his face would appear; her pulse quickened. Would he smile at her? She liked his smile: wide, generous lips. He should smile more often; in another place and time, he would be smiling as he listened to her talk, as he looked at her, as she kissed his cheek and stroked the back of his neck.

There was no sound of footsteps or the clunk of a bolt. She knocked again, louder this time, glancing up and down the street, nervously. Her knocks echoed on the other side of the door. Surely, he'd seen her sign; he wouldn't let her down. Had he passed the shop before she took the bookmarks out of the window? Sometime in the morning? But she'd been staring into the street all morning, looking for him. Was it possible she had missed him?

The familiar sound of army boots on cobblestones startled her. Her mouth dry, she looked up to see two Wehrmacht soldiers approaching her.

The older soldier frowned at her. ‘What are you doing here, Fr?ulein ? If you are wanting a drink, you're out of luck. The bar is closed.'

When she didn't reply, the younger soldier looked her up and down. ‘She's touting for business, sir.' He smirked.

‘I'm doing no such thing,' Jana said indignantly. ‘I've merely lost my way.'

‘Let us escort you, then,' said the older man, surveying the building behind her. ‘I thought I heard you knocking on the door,' he added, narrowing his eyes as his gaze slid over her.

‘I–I wanted to ask for directions,' she stammered.

‘Show me your papers.'

She fished her pass from her handbag and held it out. He shone a slim torch over her details, taking his time, making her tremble. She caught the younger soldier's smug expression and looked away. Steady, breaths, Jana. Your papers are in order. Don't show your fear.

‘Very well. Follow us.' The soldier returned her pass and she was led away down the alleyway.

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