Konigsberg, Safe House
July 23, 1944, 0015 hours

Vladimir's team had reached the outskirts of Konigsberg after dark and abandoned their vehicle outside the city, feeling it was less conspicuous to arrive at the safe house on foot. They had been keeping to the shadows and avoiding any human contact as they searched for the proper location. Vladimir had heard of Konigsberg before, but he did not realize how big a city it was – or that it actually was a seaport. He could smell the sea when the breeze blew.

"I think this is it," Tadeauz said, pointing to a non-descript cottage that was located in a quiet section of the city.

Vladimir nodded. "I think you are right," he said. "They should be expecting us."

"There are no lights on," Jacinta remarked.

"Not surprising," Vladimir said. "They would not want to draw attention to themselves." He pointed the other nearby houses whose windows were dark.

"Do we go up?" Grzegorz asked.

Vladimir looked around. Seeing nothing moving, he nodded. "Let us go," he said, inching forward towards the house.

When they reached the door, Tadeauz knocked quietly. After a moment of silence, he knocked again. Vladimir began to feel worried. They should be expecting us. Why aren't they answering? Tadeauz was about to knock again when they heard some rustling on either side of them.

Before he could look around, Vladimir felt himself being propelled against the house, his face pinned between the rough wood and a strong arm. He heard some scuffling and grunts and assumed that the rest of his team was being treated similarly. Then he heard a raspy voice say, "If you struggle, you will die, schwein." It was said in German, though the accent was foreign to Vladimir.

"You are expecting us," Vladimir gasped, replying in German. Then he switched to Russian, "We are the ones you are expecting from Rastenburg."

The arm pushed harder against him. "Silence!" the raspy voice said, switching to Russian. "Do not attempt to pacify us by speaking that language."

"Tadeauz, what is going on?" Vladimir head Jacinta say, her voice tinged with fear. "I thought we were supposed to come here."

"Quiet!" commanded the raspy voice. "We will go inside where we can talk, and deal with this one for you."

The door opened and Vladimir was propelled into the house, coming to a stop when he slammed into the far wall of the hallway. Before he could orient himself, he felt the side of his head explode. He crumpled to the floor, unable to grab anything to prevent the fall.

"Who are you and why are you with these people?" the raspy voice asked angrily.

"He is with us," Tadeauz said. "We were sent here after we were compromised in Rastenburg. You should have received word to expect us."

"We did," raspy voice replied.

"He is with us," Tadeauz said again. "He is our leader."

"In that uniform?" raspy voice scoffed. "Then maybe you all will die with him."

Vladimir suddenly realized the reason for his rude reception. He was still wearing his SS uniform. These people obviously were not expecting that, and do not believe that he would be a member of the group. "Excuse me," he said, his voice cracking. He tried to get up, but he was harshly kicked and fell back to the floor.

"That uniform is what got us here," Tadeauz said, stepping between the man with the raspy voice and Vladimir. "You will not hit him again."

Raspy voice laughed. "Strong words from someone in your position," he replied. The rest of the group from the safe house had already removed the weapons from Vladimir's team and were standing around the tiny group.

Tadeauz said nothing, but reached down to help Vladimir to a standing position.

"If you are who you say you are, tell me the recognition code," raspy voice demanded.

Tadeauz opened his mouth to reply but was stopped when raspy voice pointed a gun at him. "Not you, him," he said, waving at Vladimir.

Vladimir was leaning against the wall, his head still reeling from the initial blow. He wiped a trickle of blood from the side of his mouth and recited the recognition code.

"See, he knows the code," Grzegorz said with some hostility.

"You could have told him," raspy voice said. "And how do I know that you are the people we are expecting?"

"I gave you the recognition code," Vladimir said. "Yes, I am wearing an SS uniform. But as you can hear, I speak Russian without an accent."

"That means nothing," raspy voice said.

"Are you stupid?" Tadeauz exclaimed.

Raspy voice immediately lashed out to strike Tadeauz. Vladimir reached out and grabbed the man's arm. "Nyet!" he yelled. "You will not touch them – you will deal with me."

Raspy voice yanked his arm away and swung the rifle around, causing the butt to smack Vladimir on the side of the face. Vladimir went staggering back against the wall, but did not fall. "The next time you touch me," raspy voice said, "I will shoot you."

Vladimir had taken enough of this. "Do you have a radio? Radio The Center … NOW!" he said forcefully.

"Why should I?" raspy voice asked.

"If you want verification that we are who you expect, you will radio them now," Vladimir repeated. "They will be expecting me to check in when I arrive."

"Maybe you just won't arrive," raspy voice commented, causing Jacinta to gasp.

Vladimir shook his head. "That would be a very unwise decision," he replied icily. "I will say this again - get on the radio to The Center … now."

Raspy voice shrugged and made a motion to one of his men. The man knelt on the floor and began prying up floorboards. Soon he had pulled out a small radio transmitter and set it up. Raspy voice motioned to another of his men, who came over to glare menacingly at Vladimir. "If he moves, shoot him," raspy voice commanded.

Raspy voice tuned the radio to the proper frequency and began tapping out a message. After pausing a moment, he tapped some more. This continued for a minute until he turned to Vladimir. "Your radio code?" he asked.

"Sam," Vladimir replied.

Raspy voice seemed to nod slightly and began tapping again. His face turned to a frown as he listened to the response. Turning to Vladimir again, he asked, "Do you have papers?"

Vladimir nodded and began to reach into his pocket. He was immediately slammed back against the wall and held there. The man pinning him to the wall reached into the pocket and extracted the papers, handing them to raspy voice. "You should be more careful," raspy voice said to Vladimir.

"And you should get on with this," Vladimir shot back.

Raspy voice ignored him and began looking at the papers. "There are very good," he commented. "You would almost think they are genuine."

"They are," Vladimir replied with a smile. Raspy voice looked up at him sharply. "They must have asked you to check me for papers," Vladimir guessed. "Did they tell you what should be on the papers?"

"The information checks out," raspy voice replied. He turned back to the radio and began tapping another message. As he listened to the reply, his face molded into a shocked expression and he looked quickly at Vladimir. "They want to talk to you," he said.

Still being pinned to the wall, Vladimir pushed the man out of his way and knelt by the radio. He put on the headphones and began tapping a message. He continued alternating listening and tapping until he removed the headset and handed it to raspy voice. "They have something to say to you," he said.

Raspy voice donned the headset and listened to the message. He then signed off, removed the headset and turned to face Vladimir.

"Did they tell you what they told me?" Vladimir asked, wiping another stream of blood from the side of his face. Raspy voice nodded slowly, his face a stone mask. "Then tell everyone what they said," Vladimir ordered.

Raspy voice cleared his throat. "These are the people we are expecting," he said. "Their transit is top priority."

"And …" Vladimir prompted. Tadeauz looked at him quizzically, and Vladimir began smiling.

"And if they do not arrive to their final destination alive …" raspy voice continued.

"And without any visible signs of abuse," Vladimir interrupted.

"And that," raspy voice agreed. He looked at his men gathered around the room. "We will be sacrificed."

Tadeauz's eyes grew wide. "Does that mean what I think it means?" he asked.

Vladimir nodded. "Yes, my friend," he said. "It means that these men made a big mistake, and now if anything happens to us at any point before we get to our final destination, their lives will be forfeit."

"Even if it is not their fault?" Jacinta asked.

Vladimir nodded again. "That is correct," he replied. "But that is not all they said," he added, looking at raspy voice. "Is it?"

Raspy voice shook his head. "They also said that …" he paused, suddenly looking very nervous. "They said that as long as they are here, we are to follow his direction," he finished, motioning towards Vladimir.

Vladimir smiled and stepped closer to raspy voice. He put his face right up to the man and said, "I could kill you now for the way you treated me." Then he smiled and gave a small shrug. "But that would be a waste of a useful life," he said.

Raspy voice seemed to visibly relax, thankful that his life was spared. Vladimir suddenly reared back and hit the man on the side of the jaw. Raspy voice staggered and fell into a heap in the corner of the room, groaning in pain. "But I do owe you something for your welcome," he said, rubbing his sore knuckles.

- - - - -

The pale sky was brightening as Vladimir sat outside the front door of the house. He had not been able to sleep – the events of the past few days replaying constantly in his mind. Two people dead by his own hand, a farmhouse and barn destroyed and four people uprooted to avoid capture … all because of Vladimir's known association with the man who had tried to kill Hitler. Vladimir sighed and shook his head. "And he was not even successful," he muttered to himself.

He was suddenly aware of a presence beside him and looked up to see raspy voice standing in the doorway. He motioned for the man to sit beside him.

"You are not sleeping?" raspy voice asked softly in Russian as he sat.

Vladimir shook his head. "Nyet," he replied. "Too many things have happened and we are still not out of danger." He looked at the man. "And now you are in danger."

Raspy voice shrugged. "We are always in danger in this line of work," he replied. He paused and took a deep breath. "I feel I owe you an explanation for the welcome you received."

Vladimir shook his head. "Nyet, you do not," he replied. "You were taking precautions, and I was in an SS uniform."

"Still, maybe we were a little, um, too cautious," raspy voice continued.

"I will not argue with that," Vladimir chuckled. "But nothing was broken and everything was straightened out."

Raspy voice held out his hand. "Alexander," he said, introducing himself. "But you can call me Sasha."

Vladimir shook his hand. "Vladimir," he replied. "Some people I have known have called me Sam." He chuckled, thinking of his friends at Stalag 13 who had begun calling him Sam to pass him off as a captured American.

"You might be here a while before you hear back from The Center," Sasha commented. Vladimir nodded. "So I feel I should explain your welcome." Vladimir was silent, waiting for the man to continue. "We have been a little nervous lately," Sasha continued. "One other safe house here in Konigsberg was recently broken up and the agents executed. We do not think anyone talked, but we cannot be sure."

Vladimir nodded. "You were correct to be so suspicious," he replied. He rubbed his sore jaw. "It is just a little painful being on the receiving end of those suspicions!" he said with a laugh.

Sasha laughed. "As you pointed out to me afterwards," he said, rubbing his own jaw. "And since you have been placed in charge …"

Vladimir waved him off. "That will change nothing," he said. "You operate the same as you have been. I will only interfere if it is necessary."

Sasha eyed Vladimir curiously. "Necessary?" he asked.

"You and your team have been here and know what you are doing," Vladimir explained. "If that needs to change because of any orders we receive, then I will tell you. Until then it is … there is a phrase that I learned from an American friend," he said and then switched to English. "Business as usual," he said. "Things will remain as they were," giving Sasha a rough Russian translation of the phrase.

Sasha nodded. Vladimir thought he looked pleased with their conversation. He should be pleased. If I were truly NKVD, he would most likely be dead now after the way I was treated last night. They heard some stirring in the house. "Come," Vladimir said. "When everyone is awake, you need to tell us about the things you do here – what your cover is and what things you have been asked to do."

Sasha smiled. "Have you ever been to sea as a fisherman?" he asked.

Vladimir felt his eyes grow wide. "Fisherman?" he asked. Oh no. First I had to learn how to be a farm hand and now I have to learn how to be a sailor! Life was much simpler when I was just making clothes!