Free Children of the Dusk by Janet Berliner, George Guthridge Page B

obviously skilled. If only the Altmark were not sailing so soon, or if at least she had some guarantee that he would be on it when it returned with fresh supplies and, according to the plan, a new load of Jews.
    "How do I feel? Hot, scared, irritable, and not a little terrified. What about you?"
    "I feel...apolitical." He put an arm affectionately across her shoulders. "And more than a little philosophical. But then I usually do...which is doubtless why they've kept me so long at sea. I'd bore my patients to death if they didn't have to listen."
    Releasing her, he stood back and looked at her carefully. "Your hair," he said. "What did you--"
    "I cut it. It's my hair!"
    Tyrolt chuckled. "Seems reasonable to me," he said. "I trust the Herr Oberst will not be too upset."
    Miriam shrugged. She had bigger things to think about, like what it was going to be like giving birth here, with only Franz, an inexperienced corpsman, to help. The guards' stares drilling into her back made her feel all the less secure. Whom did they hate more, she wondered, the Jewish prisoners, or the Jewish wife of the colonel in charge of operations?
    Not that she was Jewish anymore, according to the Reich. Hitler had decided that she had been "orphaned at birth and stolen by the Jews." She was a Rathenau, he said, only by name, not blood.
    An unlikely charade, but not all that uncommon. One of Hitler's top generals had been Jewish, she was aware; his heritage had likewise been changed by official decree. Political and military need overruled prejudice when the situation warranted. She had consented to the decree, even to the making of a propaganda film in which she renounced Judaism "and all its evils," not only to save her own life and possibly Sol's, but also to put herself in a position where she might help other, less fortunate Jews.
    Many of the prisoners did not consider her Jewish. "Better death than denial," she had heard whispered. And the guards, she was sure, considered her just some "Jew whore masquerading as a German."      
    As for Hempel's opinion of her, she thought, seeing the major walk into view, that could doubtless fill a book. He was flanked by Captain Dau from the Altmark on one side and by Misha on the other. Slapping his billy club against his palm, he ambled across the compound. Immediately, some of the guards formed behind him. They were Totenkopfverbände--members of the Death's Head Unit--and the ugly looks on their faces showed they wished to live up to their name.
    "Disgraceful," Hempel said. "I have never seen such behavior in an officer. Babying Jews . Pandering to their every demand. A religious service! What next?"
    "Alois told me, 'A holy Jew is a happy Jew,' whatever that's supposed to mean," the ship's captain replied. "Well, I've washed my hands of it. I've no authority here over how he trains his animals, two or four-legged, but it won't go unnoticed in my report, I can assure you of that. I tell you, it borders on treason!"
    "He crossed that line a long time ago," Hempel said stiffly.
    Almost involuntarily, Miriam linked her arm through Tyrolt's and put her head against his shoulder. She needed someone strong to keep her from lashing out at Hempel. Yet she could not help but continue to wonder what motive really lay behind Erich's orders that the Jews be treated humanely--as long as the work progressed on or ahead of schedule. She wanted to credit him with compassion, but she could not quite convince herself that he hadn't long since shed whatever modicum of it he might once have had. Could he think it possible that she would give her heart to him if he demonstrated some newfound ability to love?...or had he transcended that particular need and replaced it with some new conceit?
    Maybe it was much simpler than that. Perhaps he had become afraid enough of the wrath of his God that he was willing to go to any lengths to obtain forgiveness, even if it meant infuriating Hempel into killing them all. Or could that