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Chapter 8: Secrets and Plots
"Morning Feli" Ludwig yawned. It was the following day and the morning Sun slowly trickled into their apartment.
"M-morning" Felicano stuttered, as he tried to smile, 'C'mon Feli, you've gotta smile, you can't give him a hint you were following him yesterday. Remember, everything's still normal.' he thought.
Ludwig looked at Feliciano. Noticing that the man was slightly trembling, Ludwig's eyes lightened and asked him, "Are you ok?"
"Y-yeah, never better." Felician nervously replied.
Ludwig still wasn't convinced, but he shrugged it off, "Alright then." Ludwig picked up his mug and took a sip of his coffee, "How was your day?" he asks.
"Great, nothing much happened, just wandered the city." Feliciano replied.
"Oh," Ludwig paused, "thank God you didn't get lost."
"Nope, I had a guide, well technically I had two." Feliciano said. Ludwig froze for a second, before Feliciano continued, "What about you, how was work?"
"Nothing much, just helped my boss with some paperwork." Ludwig replied calmly.
"Ok then, what are you doing today?" Feliciano asks.
"Work," Ludwig said, before taking another sip of his coffee.
"Again?" Feliciano whined.
"It's a Thursday." Ludwig responded.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that, I guess I better get ready." Feliciano said as he dashed into the bedroom, desperately trying to escape the dining room for fear of exposing himself. He shut the door behind him and slumped, 'what am I going to do, how am I gonna keep this up' he thought. Realizing he needs to try, Feliciano got up and started looking for clothes that look professional enough and not covered in pasta stains, he needs to at least give the illusion of normalcy, whatever normal means.
Rudolf Oder smiled to himself. Just a few week ago he was toiling as an agent of the Gestapo in Berlin. Now, he's Kommandant of a major POW camp. Although he misses catching the odd criminal here or there, especially resistance members, he still prefers this job more. After all, there are more victims here, victims to twist mentally until they break, victims he can make squeal like a pig. And you never know, maybe one of them held vital information he can report to Berlin. And from there, the possibilities are endless, he can even be promoted to a bigger and better concentration camp. He snickered silently, one can only dream.
Rudolf continued walking when he spotted a blond man leave the decrepit shack near the mess hall. After carefully examining the man, he smiled to himself, this would be his first victim, "Hey you, stop." He barked.
The blond man looked around in confusion before spotting Rudolf slowly approaching him and his eyes went wide. Rudolf smiled, this was the reaction he's been hoping for.
"Who are you?" he barked.
"Matthew Williams, sir." he stuttered.
"What were you doing over there?" he questioned.
Matthew shook his head, "Nothing." Seeing that the man didn't believe him, he repeated himself, "No, nothing"
"Nothing?" Rudolf said, with a creepy smile slowly forming on his pockmarked face.
"Yes sir." Matthew replied silently.
"Hmm, don't you think it's odd to go into a shoddy looking shack and do nothing?" the man asked rhetorically.
"No sir." Matthew calmly stated.
The man froze and crept closer to Matthew's ear, his hot shallow breath raised goosebumps on Matthew's neck "Do you think I was born yesterday?" he whispered. "You were doing something in there, and I'll get to the bottom of it. I'll give you another chance, what were you doing over there?" His voice starting to harden.
"Just daydreaming." Matthew admitted.
"Daydreaming?" Rudolf mocked. He smiled to himself, 'this is too easy.'
"What a load of lies, I'll get to the bottom of this, spy." He spat. "And besides, shouldn't you be working?" He asked.
"Um…" Matthew began.
"Well, have you got anything to say…spy?" the man spat the last word out with as much revulsion as possible.
"Good afternoon sir!" Gilbert happily yelled out, as he sauntered over to the pair.
Rudolf growled, he was just getting into it when this guy interrupted him, 'damn him' he thought, "Hmm, who the hell are you?"
"Gilbert Belischmidt at your service." he stated as he gave a small mocking bow to his Kommandant.
"Well get on with it then, I don't have all day." the man snapped as he tapped his foot impatiently.
"You're getting a call from headquarters sir, something about medals and promotions and stuff." Gilbert said.
The man's eyes lit up for an instant,"Uh well, um thanks." He was about to leave when he realized that Matthew was still standing beside him, "But I still need to put this Williams guy to work."
"Why sir?" Gilbert asked
"You know why? All low ranking prisoners must work."
Gilbert smiled and raised his hands, "Alright then, whatever you say sir." He turned to Matthew and winked, "you heard what the man said, let's go." Gilbert paused before putting emphasis on his voice, "Lieutenant Williams."
The man blinked, "L-Lieutenant. Did you say Lieutenant?" he stuttered.
"Well, yes sir I did, see it's right here on his badge." Gilbert chuckled as he taped Matthew's badge.
The man's face soured, "Alright then," He looked around before barking his command, "Put him back in the mess hall or something I don't care, as long as you get rid of him."
"Will do sir." Gilbert chuckled as he saluted him. The man gave a small grunt before walking away. When he was quite a distance away, Gilbert smiled, "bye Kommandant." he silently mocked him.
"Thanks." Matthew said.
Gilbert smiled as he asked Matthew, "Hmm, what for?"
"For getting me out of that mess." Matthew said as he rubbed the back of his neck, "Although I've got to admit, tricking him into leaving was kinda smart."
"You understood that?"Gilbert looked amazed, most POW's barely understand a lick of German, which made life difficult for guards, but Matthew seemed proficient enough.
"Yeah, I took German back home, and continued learning it with the military during the war." Gilbert's eyes were still wide. "Guess it paid off in the end." Matthew concluded.
"I'll say. That's awesome." Gilbert cried. Matthew chuckled to himself, it seems that this German wasn't that bad, I mean, why else would he rescue him...twice.
"Well, I've got a confession to make,"Gilbert continued.
"What do you mean?" Matthew asked.
"Running into you was an accident. They told me to deliver a message to the Kommandant, and I happen to run into you."
"Oh…"
"But…the part about medal and decorations was a bit of a lie, the actual message was something more boring and procedural. But I kinda figured that if there was something to distract him, its medals and promotions. That guy's desperate for a promotion." Gilbert grinned, as he felt proud that his devious plan worked.
"I can tell." Matthew softly stated.
The two walked in silence as the mess hall slowly came to their field of view. Their boots squished and splashed in the wet caked mud soaked by the freshly fallen rain.
"More comfortable around me?" Gilbert asked.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Matthew questioned.
"Well, our nations being enemies seems like a valid excuse." Gilbert grinned.
"That's true, but you rescued me twice now, so I guess you're a good guy." Matthew smiled.
"Nope, not a good guy, an awesome guy." Gilbert said before going into fits of kesesese.
"Thanks again." Matthew said.
"No problemo Matt," he smiled cockily, "After all, it's the awesome me's job to save the damsel in distress."
Matthew looked confused for a minute, "Damsel..." Then realizing what Gilbert was implying he tried to respond, "But, I'm not a damsel."
Gilbert just laughed, "kesesese, whatever you say Mattie, whatever you say."
The two seemed more comfortable with each other than the last time they met, and everything was perfect to Gilbert, until...
"Mattie! Mattie! Where are you?" a loud voice called from the mess hall.
"Is that Alfred?" Gilbert asked.
"Yeah."
"He's kind of loud." Gilbert said, a sour expression forming in his face..
"I know."
The door to the mess hall burst open as the enthusiastic American nearly tackled Matthew, "Hey Mattie, I've been looking for you everywhere, I got to the mess hall and you weren't there so naturally my heroic instincts kicked in and…" Alfred trailed off as he realized that Matthew wasn't alone.
"Oh hello there." Alfred said cordially, completely replacing the child Gilbert saw a few seconds ago.
"Um, hi" Gilbert said awkwardly.
"So, I assume your Gilbert?" Alfred asked.
"The one and only." Gilbert tried to grin.
"Oh," Alfred frowned as he crossed his arms on his chest.
The moment felt tense as the two stared at each other.
Gilbert growled internally. Sensing that Alfred didn't like him and not wanting to start a fight, Gilbert tried to find an excuse to leave, "That reminds me, I have to be somewhere. I'll catch you around Matthew and…friend."
"Friend!? My name is Alfred Jones, and I'm Mattie's brother." Alfred looked offended and shocked.
"Brother?" Gilbert asked. But after looking at Alfred who looked ready to kill him he decided to leave, "Um well, gotta run, see you round Matt." he waved as he took off running.
"Bye Gilbert." Matthew waved as the man disappeared behind the curtain of fog that seems to always surround the camp.
"C'mon Matt let's go to the mess hall." a stone faced Alfred said.
"Sure thing." Matthew replied happily trying to break the heavy atmosphere.
The duo made their way into the mess hall, as a cavalcade of POW's line up to recieve their rations. The two fell in line before Alfred gave a small growl.
"I don't like him." Alfred grumbled.
"Wait, why?" Matthew asked, though he had a feeling he knew the answer.
"Well for one thing, he's a Nazi!" Alfred nearly screamed as he waved his arms in the air hysterically.
"So what, he's rescued me twice now." Matthew tried to reason with his brother.
"Oh, what is it this time?" Alfred crossed his arms, asking him incredulously.
"He got me out of being interrogated by the Kommandant." Matthew calmly replied, trying to vouch for Gilbert.
"The new guy?" Alfred asked.
"Yeah."
"He gives me the creeps. But still, I don't trust him. And besides, I thought I was the hero?" Alfred whined, his mood starting to lift.
"You are, just not all the time, sometimes other people can be heroes too." Matthew said.
"That's true, but not that Nazi bastard." Alfred spat, as he and Matthew received their rations and began heading over to an empty table. As Alfred placed his tray down he smiled, "Although this gives me an idea."
"Whatever it is Alfred, I'm not doing it." Matthew shuddered thinking back to some of Alfred's self-proclaimed 'brilliant' plans.
"Why not, my plans are always foolproof." Alfred replied confidently.
"Like that time you glued the principal to his seat." Matthew said matter of factly.
"Oh yeah, that was hilarious." Alfred laughed.
"No it wasn't, you got caught and then you got me into trouble, and I didn't even do anything." Matthew raised his voice in slight annoyance.
"That was a one-time thing, I mean, heroes are allowed a few mistakes once in a while, right?" Alfred asked.
"Sure Al, I guess." Matthew said as he rubbed his temples to avoid an oncoming headache, "But what's your plan?" Matthew hates to admit it, but he's kind of curious.
"Well, it's obvious that this Gilbert guy likes you, right?" Alfred said.
"W-what do you mean?" Matthew stuttered.
Alfred gave him an odd look, "As in like a friendship sense I guess, I mean no one gets in trouble with their boss unless they were close to them, or wants to be close to them." Alfred concluded.
"So what does this all lead to?" Matthew asked.
"I mean, you can get Gilbert to slip some secret, like a government secret." Alfred smiled.
Matthew's stomach sank, "I don't think I can do that Al."
"Yes you can. Just use wordplay or something. Make him talk, make him say anything." Alfred suggested. When that wasn't working on his brother he tried a different tactic, "You're still a soldier aren't you?"
"Yeah, but…" Matthew started.
"And the other guy is the enemy right?" Alfred interuppted.
"Well…"
"Then it's simple, you have to do what you can for our advantage." Alfred finished.
"But I'll lose his trust." Matthew retorted. He didn't know why, but it felt wrong to betray the man who's gotten him out of situations twice now.
"There's no such thing as trust in war, Matt." Alfred said. "I mean, you never know. If you can make him spill anything, even about this camp, it would go a long way to our cause."
"I guess I can try." Matthew avoided his brother's stare, as he hoped Alfred would drop the topic.
"Good," Alfred smiled as he pat Matt on the back, "And remember, we're always right," Alfred paused, as he leaned in closer to whisper in Matt's ear, "and they're always wrong."
"Yeah" Matthew silently replied as he looked out the barred windows as the rain started to fall. "Whatever you say Alfred."
Historical Notes:
Labour at POW camps: There were a few cases of forced labour in POW camps and in some cases, low ranking soldiers in POW camps in Germany were required to do some light work while being compensated for it. However, in many cases higher ranking soldiers like a Lieutenant were exempt from this.
