by Alexa Kang
She shook her head.
"You don't drink?"
Watching them, Tyler's face twisted and flushed with anger. Tessa turned the amulet faster and harder as she turned her attention away from them to the bottle of liquor on the table. She had seen this type of whiskey before, but where? She focused her eyes on the label, trying to remember. Yes. It was a fine bottle indeed. In the 33rd Field Hospital's underground storage where the medical supplies were kept back in Anzio, Jesse had come to her with one just like it.
"Unless, like all the other girls, you can't hold your liquor."
"Who says I can't hold my liquor?"
Jesse. She remembered now, the way he had looked at her with his captivating eyes. So dark and intense. How blind she had been. She thought he looked at every girl that way. She took the amulet out of her pocket and caressed it softly with her thumb.
"How do you get your liquor supply anyway? What do you do with it? Drink it yourself, or pass it around to the other soldiers?" She remembered asking him.
Not bothered by her string of questions, he had only smiled. His dashing smile was as clear to her as yesterday.
"I trade them for what I need to get for our boys. Sometimes, I'd even offer to share it with the woman I love."
The warmth of his voice, so out of reach.
A cold draft passed into the barn. Feeling the chill, Tessa curled her freezing toes inside her boots and stared at the direction from where the draft had come. The barn door was unlocked. It squeaked open and shut as the night wind blew. No one else seemed to have noticed.
"You're shivering," Pfeiffer said to Ellie, his voice starting to slur. "You should have some." He offered the whiskey to Ellie again. "It'll keep you warm. It'll relax you." With hesitation, he put his hand on hers. Ellie's lips quivered, but she didn't pull her hand away.
A wave of nausea hit Tessa in her stomach. Tyler couldn't watch anymore. Subconsciously, he had wrapped straws of hay around the palm of his hand. The hay was wrapped so tightly around his fist, his knuckles had turned white.
The barn door creaked open with the wind. Through the crack, Tessa peered outside into the darkness.
Anthony. He was out there. If she were to see him again, she had to find a way to escape. There was no one left to help her.
Quietly, she felt for the small gun she had hidden in her jacket. The barn door remained ajar.
Pfeiffer held the drink up to Ellie's face to let her smell the whiskey, but she shook her head. Ellie wasn't one who liked to drink.
Gracie didn't like to drink either. "Gracie can't drink. She has no tolerance. Not like you."
No, Jesse. Not like me.
Tessa turned her eyes back to the table. His face flushing from the alcohol, Pfeiffer had dropped all pretense of decorum. He whispered to Ellie in a mix of German and English, his lips only inches away from her neck. "Have a drink with me," he coaxed her. Clearly uncomfortable, Ellie tried to push the liquor away without upsetting him.
Lightweight. Tessa sneered in her mind. Even she could outdrink him.
Get him drunk, a voice urged her from within. She squeezed the amulet and put it back into her pocket, then said out loud to Pfeiffer, "I'll drink with you."
The sound of her voice startled him. He squinted at her, as though he had forgotten she was in the barn.
"I'll drink for Ellie." She got up off the ground and went over to him. Without waiting for him to react, she took the drink from his hand.
Bottoms up, Jesse. She emptied it with one swallow. "Give me another one."
His interest piqued, Pfeiffer poured her a shot. "You want more?" He gave her a sly, condescending smile. "Be careful. This is strong."
"I know it's strong." She looked him in the eye and finished the next shot. The liquor went down her throat like electricity through a lighting fuse. Emboldened, she picked up the bottle, refilled the cap, and held it toward him. "Your turn."
The Nazi snickered. He downed the shot, then turned the cap upside down to show Ellie that he hadn't left a single drop. Tessa watched his eyelids droop as he laughed.
"Have you had enough?" She poured another shot from the bottle. "Don't force yourself if you can't handle it."
"Are you insulting me?" He grabbed the cap from her and downed it. "You next." He handed the cap back to her.
"Tessa!" Ellie shook her head at her.
Not worried, Tessa took a seat across the table and poured herself another shot. Sipping the liquor, she asked, "Oberst. Tell us. What are your plans when the war's over?"
"My plans?" He mused on the question. "I'll continue the great work of building the German empire, of course. You'll see. You'll all see. We'll be the strongest race among all humankind. For myself though…" He gazed at Ellie. "A family. Children. Beautiful, strong, healthy children." Ellie looked away, but his smile grew wider.
While he talked, Tessa filled the cap to the brim with more liquor. Unsure of what Tessa was trying to do, Ellie gave her a puzzled look. Tessa motioned to her to offer the drink to Pfeiffer. Although unsure of Tessa's intent, Ellie nonetheless did as Tessa prompted.
"Thank you." Pfeiffer took Ellie's hand and drank the liquor she was giving him. "You have such beautiful hair. Like gold." He lifted a lock of her hair and smelled it, then closed his eyes and dropped his head onto his arm on the table.
Tessa's heart pounded. This was it. Now was her chance. She moved her hand into her pocket and felt her gun.
Do it. Her mind was telling her. Do it now. She closed her hand around the gun. She didn't know if she could take someone's life.
Another draft of wind blew in. The barn door creaked again. It was now or never. She got up and walked behind Pfeiffer.
"What are you doing?" Ellie asked.
"I'm getting us out of here." She took the gun out and pointed it at the back of his head. Ellie let out a small cry.
Tyler jumped to his feet. "Tessa!"
Tessa held up the gun. Her hand trembled and her whole body shook.
"Tessa, wait!" Ellie said, in shock.
"We can't wait. This is our only chance. The door's open." Tessa tried to steady the gun with both her hands. "I'm not going to die. I'm going back to Anthony." She took a deep breath.
On the table, Pfeiffer stirred. He opened his eyes. When he saw Ellie's frightened face, he turned his head. Fury rose when he saw the gun. Shaking, Tessa took an involuntary step back. Pfeiffer lurched at her. Tessa hardened her heart and pulled the trigger. The power of the shot thrust her backward and threw her off her feet. The bullet struck Pfeiffer in the head, and he dropped and fell onto the table. Blood oozed down his menacing face. Ellie cried out and fell back into her seat. Shocked, Tyler stared at Pfeiffer. The Nazi monster was dead.
Tessa's hands, arms, and her entire body shook. Her ears rang from the blast of the shot. She killed him. She killed another person.
"What's going on here?" Oskar slammed the barn door open. Before anyone else could react, Tyler lunged at him and grabbed his rifle. In their struggle, a shot went off. The bullet hit Oskar in his neck. Blood spurted out from his throat and he fell to the ground. By the time Tessa reached his body, he was already dead. Tyler stumbled backward, aghast.
Their scuffle brought Tessa back to her senses. She closed Oskar's eyes. "We killed them. We have to run. Now." She stuck her gun back into her pocket, picked up Oskar's rifle, and gave it to Tyler. "Take it."
Tyler accepted the rifle, still too shocked to speak. Tessa grabbed Ellie by the arm. "Come on."
Without knowing where they were going, they ran out of the barn. In the dark of the night, they raced down the trail away from where the Nazis had set up camp.
Foolish! Tessa thought as she ran. How could she be so foolish? The Blade would never have tried to escape without a plan. She had no plan. Where would they go? She didn't even pay attention to the roads when the Nazis drove them here.
Distracted by her rash of thoughts, she tripped. "Ahhh!" she yelled and fell to the ground. Her kn
ees banged against the hard, frozen earth. Her angel amulet slipped out of her pocket.
"Tessa!" Ellie ran to help her up while Tyler turned back around toward her. She ignored them and reached for the amulet. In a frenzy to retrieve it, she knocked it further away and it rolled down the ditch on the side of the road. "No!" she climbed after it.
"Tessa!" Tyler cried. "We gotta run!"
"I dropped my amulet. I have to find it."
"We don't have time."
"Tessa, forget it. Let's go!" Ellie pleaded.
"I can't. You two go without me." Tessa slid down the ditch. On her hands and knees, she searched frantically for the amulet. Where was it? How could she lose it? She wanted to cry.
Ellie and Tyler looked at each other, then jumped into the ditch with her. "What does it look like?" Tyler asked.
"It's celestite," Tessa said.
"It's what?"
"It's a kind of gemstone," Ellie said. "It's white."
"White? Great. We're looking for a white gemstone in patches of snow."
In desperation, Tessa felt the ground with her hands. In front of her, the moonlight reflected off a piece of shining object. The amulet! "I found it!" She snatched it up, but Tyler pushed his hand over her mouth and muffled her. He shoved her with such force, she fell onto her back against the ground. She tried to speak, but he hushed her with his eyes and shook his head. He had pushed Ellie down too, holding Ellie still with his other hand over her mouth.
Tessa's heart nearly stopped when the hums of a utility vehicle passed by above them on the road. They lay still against the ground for a long time, too afraid to move even though the vehicle had driven away. Finally, Tyler let go and collapsed. "That was fucking close."
Regaining her breath, Tessa held the amulet against her heart. Her heart was still beating out of control.
"They would've seen us if we weren't down here, right?" Ellie asked. Neither Tessa nor Tyler answered. The idea was too terrifying to think about.
"Let's move along the ditch and see how far we can go," Tyler said.
In the ditch, they continued on their way. Slower and more cautious this time. When daylight broke, they came to an empty stable. Too tired to go on, they went inside. In a corner, they huddled together and crashed asleep.
29
Coming to the edge of the Colmar forest, Anthony led his troops down the path toward Schlenzingen, a small German village less than a mile away.
How he had made it this far, Anthony did not know. Since the news of Tessa's disappearance, he had lost the drive to go on. Victory, escape, survival. What did it matter? He had come to war with the hope of fighting for a better world, but how would his world be better if she was gone?
While his own hopes dwindled, the Allies continued to make gains. After his battalion's arrival at Colmar, the Seventh Army had succeeded in pushing past the German West Wall. No outside forces in history had ever broken through this invincible military fortress. The Germans were failing. As the number of their troops diminished and their ammunition and supplies were depleted, the tactical advantage of the West Wall's web of intercrossed pillboxes was neutralized. The enemy could not match America's military prowess.
The prospect of winning the war gave Anthony no solace. The one thing that kept him going now was Klaus. As fate would have it, the army's latest intel had reported that Klaus had retreated this way. With the Orion strike team and his entire regiment behind him, his job was to capture the German commander once and for all.
Anthony welcomed the order. He wanted to get Klaus. He wanted to make Klaus pay for all the damage he had caused. He would make it his life's mission to get the German scoundrel. For Warren. For Jesse.
After that?
If he couldn't find Tessa, or if she was dead, the thereafter wouldn't matter anymore.
The Orion strike team marched out of the woods into a long field covered with a thick layer of snow. There was no sign of life anywhere except for a little empty shack standing at the clearing at the end of their path. A gust of wind blew past as Anthony observed the area with his binoculars. At first, all he saw was a sheet of white. But something was off. The snow-covered plain seemed to be rolling. It reminded him of what the beach looked like when the tide moved in. The whole ground seemed to be moving.
"What in the world…," Jonesy exclaimed. He, too, was looking out into the field with his binoculars. As the movement closed in, the threat soon became clear. Advancing toward them were eight Tiger tanks, all painted in white. The tanks were followed by a formation of marching soldiers. One hundred of them, maybe two hundred. Anthony could not tell. So well camouflaged in their white winter uniforms, they blended into the landscape like waves in a white ocean.
"Bring our mortar units up!" Anthony shouted. The enemy's surprise attack had thrown his company into a sudden emergency. Two American tanks and an artillery tractor pulled out of the forest. A machine gun squad rushed to quickly set up the lone artillery tractor by the little empty shack. The infantry soldiers moved up immediately, bracing for the fight.
A blast blew past above Anthony. The treetops behind him exploded, taking with it the machine gun squad beneath before they could finish unloading their shells. The force of the explosion flipped the artillery tractor to its side and obliterated part of the shack. Remnants of the shack flared up in flames. The surviving soldiers near the tractor dove away and ran for their lives.
On the ground next to Anthony, the radio operator shouted into the radio receiver, "We're under attack! Repeat: we are under attack! We need reinforcements."
The American tank returned fire and cleared a line of enemy soldiers. The hit made barely a dent in the oncoming German troops. Another wave of soldiers moved up and replaced them from behind. A Tiger tank fired a shell and disabled their Sherman. Not finished, the enemy released a second shell. The Americans' other tank, too, blew up. A slew of American soldiers now lay dead on the ground. Snow and smoke clouded everything, and the scene descended into chaos. The battalion of enemy troops advanced closer to them.
Jonesy lunged toward Anthony. "We can't fight this. We need more heavy weapons."
"Agreed. Get everyone the hell back into the forest!"
While Jonesy led their troops back into the woods to escape, Anthony fired his Tommy at the oncoming German troops to hold them off.
"Captain! Go!" Jonesy shouted.
Anthony dashed away after Jonesy. When he ran past the burning shack, a hunch made him look back. He darted behind a tree and peered out through his binoculars.
Impossible! Driving an officer's car behind the waves of white-clad German infantry was the man he had been looking for. Klaus!
He looked into his binoculars again to make sure. A high command officer should not be out front on the battlefield. Yet there he was.
Anthony could not help feel a grudging respect. Klaus was, after all, a worthy opponent. Like Anthony, Klaus protected his men. He had done so when he surrendered his troops back in Montélimar. Here, he would fight alongside his men and lay down his life with them.
Nonetheless, he had killed Warren and Jesse. And for that, Anthony would give his life to avenge them.
In that moment, Anthony also knew. He would have to kill Klaus. Even if he could capture the man alive, this German officer would never disclose any secrets to his enemy. Klaus would give up his own life before he would let his men and his country fall.
Dennison, their company XO, ran up to Anthony. "Captain! We have to fall back."
Anthony looked at Dennison, then the shack. The shack was shattered except for the partially blown walls still burning in flames. The bodies of the former machine gun squad lay like dead fish on the ground. Amidst the ruins, the machine gun remained, undamaged. A pile of ammunition lay next to it. The squad had been killed before they ever had a chance to use them.
"Go back," Anthony shouted to Dennison and started toward the machine gun.
"Captain!"
"I said go back."
/> "No! I'm not leaving you here."
"Leave! Look after everyone. That's an order!"
Dennison hesitated. His disbelieving eyes glared out from his gunpowder-smeared face.
"I said go!" Anthony yelled.
Dennison squeezed his fist, then ran the other way.
The machine gun stood pointing at the enemy. Anthony jumped behind it, aimed it at the group of enemy soldiers coming toward him and fired. The spray of bullets sent those soldiers crashing to the ground.
He paused and looked through the binoculars, searching for Klaus. The heat of the burning flames in the shack behind him thawed his blood and ignited in him a second wind. He fired at another cluster of men. Concealed by smoke, the enemy did not see him. His adrenaline rising, he swept his gun at the lines of enemy soldiers, sending a blaze of bullets into the menacing sea of white.
He continued to search for Klaus. A surge of rifle fire spewed from behind the trees. The rumbles of Sherman tanks grew louder and louder. Good. The cavalry had arrived. His regiment had regrouped and had returned to launch a counter offense.
Anthony fired again. The sputters of the machine gun mixed with rifle shots zipping between the two sides. Unable to detect Anthony's position amidst the noise, the enemy's infantry soldiers fired in the direction of the forest. One of the shots struck the disabled artillery tractor. The forest wind blew, carrying with it a waft of gasoline leaking from the broken gun carriage.
Volleys of shells began to drop from the sky. Anthony looked up. Air support. The American planes had come and were dumping weapons from above. The bombs hit the ground and exploded, creating heavier screens of smoke that further shielded Anthony from the enemy's sight.
The German formation began to break. From the disarray, Klaus's vehicle emerged, driving closer and closer to Anthony until it was within a hundred yards of where he stood.
Anthony's heart pounded. This was it. Now was his chance.
He aimed the machine gun at the man who had come to represent all the destruction in his life. Could this be the end? Would he finally end this war for himself and his men if he took out this man?