Page 65 of The Berlin Sisters
Ava didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that she could have been taken already. Zelda had said she’d left in the morning, so what if she’d gone to the apartment to wait for her daughters, and been accosted there by the men Ava had seen? ‘I think we should go through the woods, get as close to the house as we can, and then make our way inside through the back door.’
‘It’s our one chance to get Eliana and Hanna,’ David said. ‘I agree.’
‘If we wait, if more men return when we’re in the house...’
‘We move quickly,’ he said. ‘We watch the house, see where the guards are, and then find them.’
Ava swallowed, looking at David, who appeared as uncertain as her, despite his words.
‘Do you have the gun?’ she asked.
He reached into his waistband and took out the pistol she’d given him. ‘I do.’
They had only one gun between them, but this was her home, which meant she knew how to get in and move around inside without being seen. It was her only advantage, and she had to hope that it was enough.
After making their way through the woods and near the back door, Ava was confident that they could get inside undetected. There was only one car parked outside, and she knew that the longer they waited, the greater the risk.
‘You go in,’ David whispered. ‘I’ll go around the front.’
‘No!’ she hissed. ‘You need to come with me. We go together.’ She was already terrified of going in with him, let alone on her own.
‘Someone needs to keep a lookout. If they hear you, if they leave their posts, I can do something to get their attention. You need to go alone.’
‘David, they’ll kill you if they see you.’
He looked into her eyes. ‘You think they’ll treat you any differently? I’m as scared for you as you are for me.’
Ava knew he was right, even though she was loath to admit it. ‘Be careful,’ she murmured, moving to stand from her crouched position, knowing she had to be brave and do this. If it were her inside, she had little doubt that Hanna would risk everything to save her.
‘You too.’
She didn’t wait around to second-guess herself, running as fast as she could to the door. She waited for a moment, listening, before slowly turning the door handle. She’d locked it the day before, but thankfully it opened and she closed it behind her as quietly as she could. Ava could hear the two men talking, and she inched along the wall on tiptoe before darting along the hallway and going up the stairs. She was going to search upstairs first, and she took each step carefully so as not to make the floorboards squeak.
Every breath, every placement of a foot, sent a fresh wave of terror rolling through her body, but she forced herself to keep going, wishing there was some noise in the house so that every tinymovement didn’t sound so loud. What worried her most was that she couldn’t hear anything coming from any of the rooms, which made her wonder if Hanna and Eliana were even up there. Could they have escaped without her or David seeing? Or left with the other SS officers? A shudder ran down her spine. Were they downstairs? She doubted they’d escaped, because the SS officers would have sent for dogs and she knew the men would have searched the forest and hunted the girls down, not stopping until they’d apprehended them.
She reached the top of the stairs and pressed herself against the wall, her heart pounding so loud she was convinced it was audible outside of her body. Ava inched her way along, peering into her bedroom. No one was there. She moved slowly to the next door, a closet, and then tiptoed to her sister’s room. She swallowed, trying to calm her breath as she continued on. There were only three rooms left to check, and she hurried down the short hall that led to her parents’ bedroom.
Hanna.
Ava almost forgot she was supposed to be silent. She ran to her sister, taking in the dishevelled state of her hair, her ripped blouse, her undergarments showing as she fought against her restraints. But it was the cloth stuffed into her mouth and her cuffed hands that upset Ava the most.
She reached her sister, tears falling down her cheeks as she thought of all the hours she’d been up in the room alone, of what might have happened to her while Ava herself was hiding, safe, away from the house. She should have come sooner, should have fought for her the moment she’d seen her arrive.
‘Hanna,’ she whispered. ‘I’m going to get you out of here. We just have to find Eliana, we—’
Hanna fought to speak, groaning as Ava’s fingers worked as fast as they could to untie the crudely tied rag across her sister’s mouth.
‘Ava,’ Hanna croaked, her eyes wild with fear in the way that a cornered animal’s might be, knowing their life was about to be taken. But it was only then that she realised her sister wasn’t looking at her, but past her. ‘Ava—’
The hairs on the back of Ava’s neck lifted when she sensed someone behind her, and suddenly understood her sister’s panic. She froze, fear pulsating through every inch of her body. The sound of a heavy boot-step made her turn, her fear turning to panic as she saw the man standing in the doorway, his lips pulled tightly together. He narrowed his eyes, staring at her. But it wasn’t the anger of his expression that terrified her so much as the pistol he was aiming at her chest.
Heinrich.
She had no doubt that he’d kill her without a second thought. A man she’d once loved so fiercely, but whom she now despised as much as he clearly despised her. And that’s when she saw the half-naked woman in the adjoining room, took in Heinrich’s untucked shirt, watched as Eliana lifted her head from behind him, her nose crusted with thick blood.
‘Heinrich, please,’ Ava began, drawing her gaze back to him, but even she could hear the tremble of fear in her own whisper as she tried to reason with him. ‘Please put down the gun. We’ve done nothing wrong, this has all been a misunderstanding.’
Ava heard her sister move behind her, knew that he would kill both of them in an instant if she didn’t do something to stop him. If only she’d managed to rid Hanna of her restraints, if only they had something to defend themselves with.
