“Frau Hess, my name is Frieda Klein, and I work with your daughter, Elise, at Charité Hospital.”
“I’m an extremely busy woman, Fräulein Klein—what is this about?”
Frieda took a tremulous breath. “Has Elise ever … ever spoken about me? Or my husband?”
Clara blinked. She put down her silver pen and looked Frieda in the eye. “You’re the nurse who married the Jew,” she said, putting the pieces together. “I’m sorry, but I work in Intelligence—I have nothing to do with deportations.”
“I’m not here to talk about my husband,” Frieda insisted. “Or, at least not directly. I’m here to talk about Elise. What she’s been doing.”
Clara’s eyes narrowed. “My daughter? What has she been doing?”
“Something that—if it were found out—would bring great embarrassment to the Abwehr. And to you, in particular.”
Clara leaned back in her leather chair. Her gaze was cold. “I’m listening.”
“I will tell you everything I know,” Frieda continued. “But only on the condition that Ernst won’t be hurt in any way. That he won’t be sent away. Save him—and I’ll tell you everything.”
“My dear,” Clara said with an icy smile. “Why don’t you sit down?”
That night, Maggie and Gottlieb had another argument.
“You’re still here?” he asked, coming back to the apartment at the end of the day. He’d been to Mass at St. Hedwig’s and then to the Berlin Boxing Club, to take his anger out on their heavy bags and several unfortunate sparring partners.
Maggie met his gaze. “Yes, I’m staying to do the interview. And if I get the job, I’ll be staying indefinitely.”
“You,” he said, stabbing a finger at her, “are a reckless fool!”
His rising temper caused his face to turn red. Even his oversized ears were red.
Maggie was stunned by his intensity. “No, I’m not,” she countered. “It’s exactly what I was trained to do. Appraise a situation and act accordingly.”
“Those are not your orders!” Gottlieb exploded. “You’re supposed to follow orders!”
Maggie was becoming frightened, but knew she couldn’t show it. If she showed any fear or uncertainty, she’d be on the next SOE plane to England. “My orders have room for improvisation,” she retorted. “I’ve already given word I won’t need a pickup tomorrow, and that I’ll send word on Tuesday.”
“Every day you stay here, every message we transmit, puts us all in danger!”
Maggie’s temper finally snapped. She’d had it with Gottlieb, with the Nazis, with all of Germany, with its stupid protocols, cruel rigidity, and endless rules. How could anyone with any sense have let it get this bad? “It wouldn’t be necessary for me to be here at all if you people had stood up to Hitler in ’thirty-three.” There, it was ugly, and she’d said it. It was out.
Gottlieb looked as stunned as if she had slapped him. “They wouldn’t just hurt us, you know. They’d hurt our families first. I have a mother and three sisters. Do you think I want to see them questioned by the Gestapo? Tortured? Beheaded?”
Maggie instantly regretted her impulsive outburst. Of course it wasn’t just Gottlieb at risk. She was jeopardizing all the people he cared for, the people he loved. “I’m sorry, Gottlieb. I’m sorry that your family’s in danger. I’m sorry your country has been led astray by these monsters.”
“Germany’s not the only country with monsters,” he countered, enunciating each word furiously. “You in America have the Ku Klux Klan, Henry Ford, and Father Coughlin—it’s not as if the United States is a utopia of any sort. And let’s not forget the MS St. Louis.”
Maggie flushed. He was right, of course. “But that’s why we need to act—why I need to act. I’ll let you in on a little secret, Gottlieb. To the men in those positions, we secretaries, janitors, cleaning ladies, receptionists—we’re all invisible. They simply don’t see us. We’re there to be used, no more human than a telephone, or a typewriter. And because they think we’re the same as furniture, they let slip all kinds of things around us.”
“Not Germans.”
“Germans, too,” Maggie countered.
Gottlieb stood and went to the kitchen cupboard. He reached for a bottle and two glasses. “You are not doing this. You’re not putting yourself, and the few members of the resistance we have, in danger.”
“Gottlieb—I’m smart, I’m trained, and I have the courage to do this.”