Free Blood Line by John J. Davis Page A

the area where they were hiding that had come from the last radio transmission the two men made. She searched the entire first day for the two men, finding them just before the curfew siren. This mission was one of the times she used her combat training.”
    “Wait. What does the OSS stand for, and what do you mean she used her combat training?” Leecy asked.
    “The OSS was the Office of Strategic Service, an American secret intelligence agency that was the predecessor of the CIA. By combat skills, I mean she had to kill a man.”
    “What? Just stop, okay? I’m having a hard time believing my Granny Granny killed anyone. And I thought her group was there to help the German Jews, not American intelligence officers.” Leecy said.
    “Well, first of all, she did kill a man in Frankfurt, and several others in other missions. Secondly, the OSS officers were part of the effort to end the war and stop Hitler. Her group had heard about the situation and wanted to rescue the two OSS men. Whatever the reasons for taking action, the point is she took action. In a war, not everything is cut and dry or black and white. Lines are blurred and hard choices are made, because they have to be made.”
    “I get it. I think. It’s just not the Granny Granny I knew,” Leecy said.
    “This is why I worried about telling you my secrets for so many years.”
    “No, Mom; it’s not like I’m upset or anything. It’s just hard reconciling my memory of her with these stories. Back to the story.”
    “Okay. When Leona found the two Americans, they were both injured. She used her medic training to bandage the wounds and gave them food and water to build their strength. Leona told me that on the evening of the third day, they’d planned to make their way south out of Frankfurt to the airfield she’d used in the other mission. But a German civilian found her out.”
    “What? How?”
    “The German Military knew they were somewhere in this neighborhood and made daily announcements of a reward if they were turned in. So when this local man stumbled into the ruins of the building where they were hiding, she knew they were in trouble. She saw the look of recognition come over his face. She spoke German fluently and tried to convince the man that her cover story was true, but she could sense he didn’t believe her and was just waiting to get away and turn them in. So she offered herself to the man. She seduced him,” Valerie said.
    “Oh my god!” Leecy exclaimed. “How terrible!”
    At that moment the Jeep came to a full stop in front of a downed tree. Valerie turned off the Jeep.
    “Leona told me she let the man embrace her and take her down on the floor, and as he removed his pants she stabbed him between his ribs, puncturing his heart with a dagger she kept hidden in her clothes. The two Americans used some of the dead man’s clothing to complete their disguises, and the three of them left the building. With their false papers in hand, the three of them walked through the remains of the city for miles before they were picked up by some locals and given a lift on the back of a horse-drawn wagon. And speaking of walking, it looks like that’s what we’re going to be doing,” Valerie said as she pushed open the driver side door and got out of the Jeep.
    I was still in my semi-reclined position against the back door of the Jeep when Leecy turned to face me, asking, “Is she serious?”
    “About what?” I answered.
    “About Granny Granny killing a guy like that?”
    “Oh, yeah; she’s quite serious. Wait till she tells you about her years with the Mossad.”
    “Who are you people and what have you done with my parents?”
    I was pushing open the rear door when I answered her, saying, “I love you too, sweetheart.”

Chapter 4

Chapter 4
    Leecy and I joined her mother at the front of the Jeep to stare at the fallen tree blocking the road.
    “Well, it’s too big to move out of our way, so we’ll have to walk. I figure we have