Berlin, Das Brauhaus
July 20, 1944, 1600 hours
Teppel walked into the Brauhaus and looked around. It had been a rough day and he was looking forward to enjoying a nice large beer. He smiled when he saw Heidi, but his smile quickly disappeared when she looked at him. Her eyes were wide and her face looked worried. She hurried across the room to meet him at the door.
"Heidi, what is wrong?" he asked worriedly.
"I do not know," she replied. "I had the same question."
"I do not understand," he said.
"Kurt was here earlier," she said. "He had a message for you."
Hundreds of possibilities ran through Teppel's mind. "What was the message?" he asked.
"He said that you should go to my flat and stay there," she said, he voice tinged with fear. "He said he would come by tonight to talk to you – and that you are in danger."
Panic rose inside of Teppel. "Did he say what kind of danger?" he asked.
She shook her head. "Nein, just that you were to stay away from your own flat and not go out in public," she replied. "Oh Hans, what is wrong?"
He patted her shoulder reassuringly. "Now Heidi, do not worry yourself," he said. "Kurt will tell us tonight."
"You will be all right?" she asked.
He nodded. "I will be fine," he replied. "I will go to your flat and when you get off work, we can be together."
Heidi smiled. "You better be careful," she said. "I have never seen Kurt that worried before."
Teppel smiled back. "Sometimes he worries too much," he replied. He turned to leave but stopped. "Heidi, if anyone comes looking for me, you have not seen me today," he said. She nodded. "You do not know where I am."
She leaned forward and kissed him. "Go," she said. "We will talk tonight and you can tell me what this is about."
- - - - -
Heidi watched Hans leave the Brauhaus. She was scared, and she didn't know why. First Kurt comes in acting all nervous and now Hans gets all scared when he hears what Kurt said. I wish I knew what was going on!
She knew that both men had been worried when their department had been taken over by the SS. They had wondered for the last month whether they would be kept or shipped out to a combat unit. Maybe Kurt found out they were going to be shipped out? Oh, I hope that's not what going on!
She went back to her work as the afternoon patrons slowly made their way in.
- - - - -
Teppel left the Brauhaus and hurried his way across town. He tried not to run, but he felt very vulnerable out in the open streets. He knew that Wagner would not have given the warning if he didn't know something had gone wrong … but what was it? Had they been found out? Were they being transferred away from Berlin? There were many possibilities – none of them good.
As he walked down the street, he continued to think. Heidi has to be told the truth tonight. From the way it sounds, Kurt is off putting his escape plan into place. Damn! I should have taken his advice – I hadn't given it much thought. He began to walk faster. I thought I would have more time … and now my time just might be up.
He continued walking - looking around for signs that he was being followed. He felt as if he had the word traitor tattooed on his forehead for all to see. He was relieved when he could finally climb the stairs to Heidi's building and let himself into her flat with the key she had given him months ago. He hurried into the flat and bolted the door behind him.
After quickly looking around to make sure he was alone, he dropped heavily onto the settee. Robert J. Morrison, you are in a whole heap of trouble. "Scheisse!" he said aloud, slamming his fist into his knee.