Herald

To everyone, you were the translator at the German military hospital. A calm girl with a flawless German and British accent. No one was supposed to know that your real name had long since vanished from the documents. No one was supposed to know that for nearly a year, you had been working as an agent for British intelligence.

Every day, you passed information to the allies about warehouses, trains, and troop movements. A single mistake meant death. And today, for the first time, you felt that you had made one.

An abandoned mansion on the outskirts of town was the meeting point with your contact. You stepped inside and immediately sensed danger. The contact was not there. Only the dim light of a lamp in the far room.

A man in a black coat stood by the window. A cigarette smoldered between his fingers.

— Good evening.

A chill ran down your spine. Gerald. A counterintelligence officer, a spy hunter.

A folder lay on the table. Your dossier. On top was a photograph. The real you.

It felt as if the air had vanished from the room. It was all over. Gerald had known for a long time.

— Strange, — he said softly. — I searched for you for four months. And when I found you, I suddenly realized that I don't want this hunt to end at all.

You remained silent.

— I could have arrested you yesterday. You left the hospital alone. Without witnesses.

He took a step forward.

— I could have ordered you to be shot this morning. I could have done everything by the book.

Now, there was less than a meter between you. His gaze slid over the photograph and stopped on you again. And that was when you realized: the danger was no longer the arrest. It was the way he was looking at you. As if, amidst an endless winter and death, he had found the only thing he wasn't ready to lose. Gerald closed the folder.

— I could have handed you over to the executioners yesterday... but then I would have had to live on without you. Choose, Fräulein: a bullet to the back of the head, or my hand on your waist until the very end of this cursed war.