Chapter one

She ran, as fast as she never thought she could. She tried to be quiet but her heavy breath and the sound of her bare feet against the cold floor made it hard to remain unknown. Florence Demetri heard footsteps behind her. Even though she knew she had no chance she kept running. Running for her life.

Up the stairs of the forgotten mill until she had lost count of how many steps there were. The gypsy girl didn't look back, she just kept going further up. But she knew he wasn't far behind.

The stairs ended, she had fled up to a small room where dust covered the small amount of left behind furnitures. Florence searched for a hiding place, as always.

As she noticed the sound of his boots were getting closer, and the time was running out. She managed to get to the opposite side of the room just before the man entered the same way she'd just come from. She was trapped.

The man didn't seemed eager to get her and drag her down from the mill, where his men were waiting for their officer.

Instead he smiled and began to walk toward the shattered window.

"Zigeuner, the german word for gypsy." he started, in french. While he observe the view from the window. "Did you know it originally means untouchable?"

The colonel had turned his eyes from the window. His grey eyes now studying her. As cold as ice.

"How do you know that i'm a gypsy?" at least she could try.

That seemed to have amused him, a playful glimpse showed in his eyes. "I didn't say you were." He pointed out as he took a step closer to her. She shrugged back against the wall.

They stood face to face, only now was she able to see what the man really looked like. He had strains of grey in his short, sand coloured hair. She noticed that he was shorter that most men but still taller than her. He wore a black uniform, with black boots. The ones that had followed her.

So this was the famous Jew hunter, the man so many feared. Fortunately for herself, she wasn't Jewish.

The Jew hunter noticed that she glared at him.

"Oh, how rude of me." he started. "I haven't introduced myself.

I'm colonel Hans Landa of the SS." He smiled at her, but his colourless eyes showed no hint of happiness. "Does my fair lady have a name?"

"I`m Florence." The gypsy girl said quietly while she tried to figure out some way to escape.

"Ah, I see." Hans Landa responded while he walked to the door. "If you could come with me, Florence."

The girl saw the pistol that hung from the side of his uniform, she knew she was defenseless. Florence took some insecure steps toward the door, and the Jew hunter. When she finally arrived at the door she stood next to him.

"After you, mademoiselle." He did a gesture toward the stairs. And she began to walk down. She didn't speak, she just walked. And every step she passed she knew she was a little close to her death.

Soon they were outside the mill, where a dozen german soldiers were waiting. She saw the daylight slippering in through the hole where the front door of the mill should be. It was a grey day. Florence saw the soldiers at the cars a bit away from the abandoned millhouse. Maybe...

As soon as she'd put a foot through the opening she ran. She could feel the faint touch of Landa´s hand on her back when he had tried to grab her, but she managed to slip away. Florence ran away from the mill, behind her she heard the soldiers. She didn't look back. She ran, all her life she been running. Her black hair floating all around her. Into the woods, where the trees protected her. Her heart was beating furiously, and her whole body aching. Still the gypsy girl didn't stop.

…

The german Colonel raised his gun, aiming at the lonely girl fleeing over the fields. His eyes following her as she ran. Suddenly the man lowered the gun.

"Au revoir, Florence!"