Night had fallen after hours of bitter daylight, the brutal winds only getting worse. She stared around at her team, a group of men with black masks. The mask on her face looked like an old doctor's, it had a metal beak and black spectacles screwed on it to disguise her eyes. No light shone through them. She wore an old black military coat that she had dyed from it's former gray tone years ago and had worn during her time in Russia, the tassels beginning to break apart on the cuffs and a hood sewn into the collar to cover her vibrant hair.
"I'll go in first," she said, the mask distorting her voice into a darker almost masculine tone. "You all can follow in a half hour. I want to minimize the casualties as much as possible."
They nodded, none of them speaking. She felt her stomach twist in discomfort, the way these men acted, she didn't understand why it was so bizarre. Her guard was on full alert, every noise she heard, every breath the men made she paid attention to. She could hear their joints cracking as the stretched their arms and watched the movements their faces made under the masks they wore which stretched over their features like rubber with mash over their eyes.
She had been told they were Hoffman's men but she could recognize any of their voices when they had spoken to her during the briefing. Were they not talking now because they had sensed her concern? How much had Hoffman told them about her?
Quietly, she got up and opened a sewage grate, climbing into it. She walked through the murky water until she found a ladder, the only creatures guarding the entrance were rats and spiders as the scurried away at the sound of her feet. It didn't take her long to figure out that the ladder lead into a storage room. She didn't understand the things in the room. A pound of hair laid on one of the shelves next to some potatoes that were beginning to grow roots. Her brows knitted in confusion under the mask as she left the room. A huge part of her didn't want to understand where that hair was from.
Hoffman had never explained what was going on in the camps besides the amount of death. She could smell it from miles away, she hated to admit to herself how well she knew that smell.
The sound of footsteps became more apparent as she walked through the facility. The hair on the back of her neck stood up as a man came up behind her but she quickly ducked and flung him into a nearby wall. It didn't take her very long to incapacitate every solider in the building.
She watched as the soldiers she had brought with her drove off with cargoes full of victims and prisoners of war. One of the men had said that the prisoners of war would be taken to an Allied Base in Italy and the victims would be taken to neighboring countries and safe houses. Relief came to her in waves as they continued through the country, going after one camp at a time. She could see the hope in the people's eyes and she felt better than she had in awhile. The amount of the regime's labour force drastically fell overnight. As she flew back to England, she saw little fires throughout the countryside, each camp would be a pile of ashes by morning.
Back at the home, she went through old files she had taken from the facilities before getting ready for bed. It was already five in the morning, she could barely focus on the words in front of her anymore when she had received a telegram from Hoffman. It was jumbled which was to be expected, she tried to decipher it. He had used songs from the past few years to spell something out. She counted out the amount of letters before realizing that many of the words had an odd amount of letters in them. Turning to her side, she grabbed a pen and paper and started jotting down possible messages. Her brows furrowed as she twisted her fingers in her hair. This couldn't be happening already.
Hydra left Reich Nov
This was never about getting back at Hydra but she couldn't deny feeling some pride in knowing she had done damage to their operation. Only to know now that they had abandoned the Third Reich months ago. It was January now.
Sleep hadn't come easy but eventually she allowed her mind to become silent. Once she woke up around noon she took a fast shower and checked on everyone in the house. She spoke with one of the older women briefly who carried a bag of laundry
"Will you be seeing the American again?" She had asked her, a twinkle in her eyes. Genevieve smiled.
"Why do you ask?" She woman playfully slapped her shoulder.
"What do you mean?" The woman become much more animated as she waved her hands in the air. "You're so young! Have a night one the town- go dancing! You can't just stay cooped up in this house until the war ends."
"Maybe once I've stitched up my skirts," Evie said with a sigh, trying to walk away until the woman grabbed her arm and pushed a pile of clothing into her arms.
"Consider it done, Miss." She raised an eyebrow as Genevieve racked her brain for another excuse.
"But what about the children? I can't just leave. Things need to get done-"
"Schwartz has three pots of soup on the stove and loaves in the oven that should be plenty for dinner tonight. Mr. Avidan has the children entertained with books tonight. That Peter Pan book again before bed." The woman lead her into the hallway as they spoke, eventually other people from the household began to appear around her, mostly the other women.
"No, I can't just leave," she realized after sometime of going back and forth that the woman had been dropping things into her hands, on top of the pile of clothes. Tubes of lipstick and jewelry, eventually she saw a pair of heels beginning to block her view. One of the children has flung pieces of paper into the air shaped like hearts, many of them sticking into her hair. She turned to the other woman as she stood in front of a doorway. "What do you think you all are doing?"
One of the woman smiled behind her as she shoved her into the room, locking it from the outside. "Giving you a push!" She could hear them laughing as people began to disperse. "That man will be here in an hour so I'd hurry up and get ready if I were you. You've got plenty of stuff to sort through!"
Some of the children were still laughing as they sang to each other. Little Aliza even joining in.
"Evie and James," they started, loudly trying to get everyone to sing at the same time."Sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G."
"There will be none of that," she shouted through the door, only to hear their laughter get as loud as their singing.
"First comes love, then comes marriage," she rolled her eyes. She grabbed a few of the tubes of lipstick and went to the mirror, placing them next to her hair to see if one of them would go with her complexion.
"Then comes a baby, in a baby carriage!" The lipstick fell out of her hands as it hit the floor with a thud.
