Chapter 12: The Bar in the Basement

In this chapter:

· Discovery

· A proposition from Britain

· Rendezvous

· A good-bye

· Radio translation

· A shoot-out

It was very tiring spending a full day inside, doing nothing but making love to a man, Elsie quickly discovered.

She was so exhausted that she couldn't bring herself to do more than lay naked on her hotel room bed, lazily smoking a cigarette.
In the bathroom, shaving his face in front of the mirror, Hugo stuck his head out the door for a moment just to see what she was doing. She rolled over and sighed, staring up at the ceiling. She crossed one leg over the other and started to feel her eyes droop.

He smiled and went back to his shaving.

Finally managing to drag herself to a sitting position, Elsie decided that a shower was in order. Her muscles were aching and she felt weak and sweaty. Perhaps a bath would be better.

She pulled herself to the edge of the bed and very slowly made an attempt to stand up, putting out her cigarette on the way up. She swayed a little as she stood up, groaning as she did, feeling slightly off-balanced. Hugo poked his head out from the bathroom again and laughed at her lack of co-ordination. She scowled at him for making fun of her, and slowly made her way towards him.

She turned on the taps to fill up the bath, let the water run over her hands and then brought them up through her hair, flattening it too look a little less messy.

Feeling arms around her waist, she made a sound of protest.

"You just don't quit, do you?" she asked, pulling out of his grasp.

"What's wrong?" he chuckled.

"I'm so tired, I could collapse right now. But I'd rather it be in the bathtub than on the floor."

He smiled at her and she kissed him.

Their lips parted as she gasped, catching sight of her back in the mirror. It was the first time she had ever truly seen the scars from the whip. Some of them crisscrossed and a few stood out more than others, but in Elsie's eyes, they were simply a reminder of her worst experience.

Hugo gently turned her head to face him instead of the mirror, his eyes offering her some comfort. She smiled at him weakly and remembered the bath behind her. The water had reached the three quarter mark, and she felt that was about sufficient. Turning off the taps, she got in and sank down into it, relaxing immediately and feeling the ache in her muscles slowly ebb away.

A stomach cramp hit her suddenly and she breathed in sharply through her teeth.

"Everything okay over there?" Hugo asked, carefully taking the last of the shaving soap from his face.

"Yeah," Elsie lied, rubbing her lower abdomen with a grimace. It seemed to help, as the cramp began to ebb away, allowing her to finally enjoy the warmth of the water and the feeling of cleanliness spreading over her body. She pulled herself forward before putting her head completely under the water and rubbing her hands through it to wash it as much as she could.

Hugo watched her as she came back up out of the water. She rubbed her face with a towel and leant back, closing her eyes. He left the bathroom and settled back onto the bed, lighting up a cigarette and waiting for her to come back out.

She did so about a half hour later, wrapped in a white towel while her hair lay wet against her neck and back. She was about to take the towel off to dry her hair, when there was a knock at the door.

Hugo made a movement, about to get up, but Elsie gestured with her hand for him to stay where he was.

Looking through the peephole, she frowned and unlatched the door.

Utivich's eyes widened as he saw her with barely anything covering her body. She crossed her hands over her chest self-consciously and raised an eyebrow.

"Utivich?" she asked, waiting for him to explain what he was doing at her hotel room.

"Yeah?" was all he managed to reply, as his eyes moved from her to the room beyond. He spotted Hugo on the bed and his eyebrows rose ever-so-slightly higher.

"Hey!"

She clicked her fingers in front of his face to get his attention and he seemed to come out of his state of shock.

"What? Oh, sorry. Uh, Lt. Raine sent me to get you...and Stiglitz too, I guess. He's calling a meeting. I think our holiday's finishing up a little earlier than we expected."

Elsie made a sound of disappointment.

"Where are we meeting?"

"Well, he told me to take you there, rather than give you directions and risk you showing up late."

"So it's that important?" Elsie asked. She stepped back into the room and made her way towards the bathroom to get changed. It looked as though she would have to change into more appropriate clothing. Pulling out her old Basterds outfit, she looked at the dress she had picked out for that day and sighed. Well, it had been fun while it lasted.

"I'd say so. But I don't think Lt. Raine was very happy about it. He said 'Fuckin' OSS' and 'Fuckin' Brits' a lot while he was giving me orders."

Utivich's reply sounded uncomfortable, which was likely due to the way Stiglitz was staring at him.

"Brits? What the hell do they have to with it?" Elsie asked from inside the bathroom as she changed.

"He wouldn't tell me any details. He wants to tell us all at the same time."

When Elsie appeared once more, now dressed in her usual pants, coat and scarf, Utivich cocked his head and gave her a strange look. It was like she had magically transformed back into 'Original Elsie' in the space of a minute.

She sat down at the end of the bed to put her boots on, looking around the room as she did so, wondering where the hell she had put her weapons.

Hugo got up, too, and began to put his own shoes on.

Utivich was trying hard not to think about what the two people in front of him had most likely been up to in the room.

"Alright, let's go," Elsie said, heading out the door with Hugo not too far behind. Utivich remained where he was for a second before realizing that they were ready to leave.

"You don't have to act so weird, you know," Elsie told him, "Move your fucking ass out of my god damn room."

Utivich did so quickly, leading them out of the building, towards one a few blocks away. It was very small and sat in a secluded area of the city. The streets around it were empty. It was the perfect place to hold a meeting about American/British military strategy.

Everyone else was already inside and glanced up as the new arrivals entered the dilapidated house.

Donny stood next to Aldo with his arms crossed, looking very intimidating. Unlike Hugo, he hadn't shaved since they had arrived in the city, and had a pretty decent amount of growth. He was looking particularly wild.

He could tell from Elsie's glowing complexion that she'd been having a pretty decent time lately. She offered him a little smile, but he was feeling too agitated to return it. He'd gotten very drunk the night before, and Aldo's sudden meeting call hadn't allowed him to sleep it off quite yet.

"A'right," Aldo began, "I got word from the boss, today. Looks like we ain't gonna be stayin' here a week after all."

Everyone groaned.

"I know, I know," Aldo sympathized.

"Fuckin' British," Hirschberg commented.

"We're goin' on a little rendezvous mission tonight. There's a little town not far from 'ere called Nadine where we're meeting up with a Brit and one o' their spies. Now, seeing as there ain't many of us that can speak a fuckin' word of German, I'm gonna be needin' you, Wicki," he nodded to Wilhelm and then to Hugo, "and you, Stiglitz, to be goin' in there dressed as Nazi officers."

Both men nodded compliantly.

"What about Elsie? She can speak German," Kagan pointed out.

"She's gonna be helpin' us on the other end of things, translatin' what goes down in this 'bar' we're supposed to be meetin' 'em in. Now, ya'll are probably wonderin' the point in all this. It seems the Brits've got a plan that'll bring this war to an end."

Everyone in the room, including Aldo, looked doubtful of there being much truth to this.

"But I say, we may as well humor 'em for a bit. Hell, if it does bring this fuckin' thing to an end, all the better for us."

They all nodded.

"All we gotta worry about for now is makin' our way to the rendezvous point. After we meet up with the Tommy, we're gonna find out more about whatever it is that we're getting into. Questions?"

There were none.

"A'right. Leave your shit where it is, we'll come back for it later. We're moving off now."

"Now?"

Elsie couldn't stop the word before it escaped her lips.

Aldo turned to her with a frown, "Why? You got a problem?"

"No," she replied with a frown. It was just so soon. And she was pretty much ready to sleep for a solid day.

The trip to the town of Nadine really wasn't as long as they had all expected, especially since Donny and Aldo had stolen a couple of cars to drive them there.

They abandoned the vehicles in an empty paddock towards the back of the town, and walked towards an unsteady looking building that had probably seen its fair share of air raids. The British connection was meeting them inside.

"Lieutenant Archie Hicox," he introduced himself to Aldo, who shook his hand with indifference.

Lieutenant Hicox was a handsome man in his early thirties. He was brimming with classic English charm and seemed slightly disconcerted by the behavior and language of the Americans.

He was particularly confused by the presence of Elsie who, being the only woman in the group, stuck out like a sore thumb. He had been given a very brief version of her story and how she'd come to be a member of the Basterds – the kind of 'brief version' only someone who wasn't there could tell. Still, it was strange to finally meet her. He hadn't pictured her as the seemingly delicate girl standing before him, and he was particularly surprised by the way she seemed perfectly at ease amongst the group toughened soldiers.

Aldo sat down by the broken front windows of the building's upper floor and took out his snuff box, snorting up some of the powder from inside.

"So what's goin' on here, Hicox?" Aldo asked.

"Uh, well, your two German born men and I are going to meet up with our contact in La Louisianne, the bar just across the road there, dressed as uniformed Nazi officers," Hicox began.

"Yeah, I can see that," Aldo replied, nodding over at Wilhelm and Hugo who were both already in costume.

"And if everything goes according to plan, we should be able to get the information she has for us, and we'll leave without any trouble."

He sounded pretty confident about that.

"She?" Aldo asked.

"Yes. Our informant is Bridgette von Hammersmark. The German film star."

"Why the fuck is she on our side for?" Aldo frowned, not liking the fact that the outcome of this whole thing was resting on the shoulders of someone who was betraying their own country. Not that he cared that she was a traitor to Germany, but anyone willing to turn their back on their homeland was untrustworthy, in his opinion.

"The question isn't why, Lt. Raine, but how. How can she help us in the effort to win the war for our side? She has very important information, the fate of which all our lives may depend on."

"That's a bit dramatic, don't ya think?"

Hicox cast a glance at Aldo before leaning against the frame of the window and looking down at the bar below them.

The Basterds were standing, or in Donny's case lying, around in wait. Elsie didn't have a very good feeling about this whole plan. She glanced at Wilhelm, who was smoking with a thoughtful look on his features. Sensing her gaze he looked up and offered her a reassuring smile. He looked quite odd in the Nazi uniform, but at the same time the pseudo-Nazis all looked very prim and proper. With the exception of Hugo.
His collar was unbuttoned and his uniform a little wrinkled. He couldn't care less. He despised the clothes he had on him. They were a symbol of everything he hated.

To take his mind off it, he was sitting in his own little alcove, sharpening his knife against a leather strop. Elsie observed him, transfixed with the slow and steady movement of the shining blade.

Lying on an old bed nearby Donny watched her as she folded her arms and leant against the doorframe. She caught his gaze and moved to sit down on the bed next to him, instead.

Hicox turned around to survey the men and one woman that made up the Basterds. From the stories he had heard, he was surprised to see them sitting and standing so calmly and quietly.
He spotted Hugo sharpening his blade, and approached him with slight trepidation.

"Stiglitz, right?"

"That's right, sir," Hugo replied, glancing up from his work.

"I hear you're pretty good with that." He gestured to the knife.

Hugo didn't reply, instead continuing to bring the blade up and down in a meditative motion. Elsie was observing the exchange between the two with amusement.

"You know, we're not going in there looking for trouble. We're simply making contact with our agent. Should be uneventful. However, on the off chance I'm wrong and things prove eventful, I need to know that we can all remain calm."

In a perfectly timed manner, Hugo paused from what he was doing and looked Hicox directly in the eye.

"I don't look calm to you?"

Elsie bit her lip to keep from laughing, and Hugo looked over at her with a knowing smirk.

"Well, when you put it that way, I guess you do," Hicox replied.

With good judgment, he moved away from Hugo and returned to his spot by the window. He turned to Aldo, who was still watching the street below for any sign of movement.

"This Gerry of yours, Stiglitz? Not exactly the loquacious type, is he?"

Aldo looked up at him clearly not finding the man very fun to be around.

"Is that the kinda man you need, the loquacious type?"

Hicox considered this, but gave no reply. Aldo had other thoughts on his mind, "So y'all git in trouble in there, what are we supposed to do? Make bets on how it all comes out?"

Hicox sighed, "If we get into trouble, we can handle it. But if trouble does happen, we need you to make damn sure no Germans, or French for that matter, escape from that basement. If Frau Von Hammersmark's cover is compromised, the mission is kaput."

Wilhelm walked over and offered Elsie a cigarette, which she accepted right away. Letting him light it up for her, she thanked him and felt slightly calmer after taking a drag of it. She didn't know why she was feeling so ill at ease. Donny soon reminded her.

"Hey, speaking of Frau von Hammersmark," he said, "Whose idea was it for the death trap rendezvous?"

He was referring to the bar being in a basement; not the best of places to be, were trouble to start.

"She chose the spot," Hicox replied.

"Well isn't that just dandy?"

Elsie looked back at him and he gave her a playful nudge with his knee.

"She's not a military strategist. She's just an actress," Hicox remarked.

"Well, you don't gotta be Stonewall Jackson to know that you don't wanna fight in a fuckin' basement," Aldo told him, "Fightin' in a basement offers a lot of difficulties, number one being: you're fightin' in basement."

"She wasn't picking a place to fight, she was picking a place quiet, isolated. A place without Germans."

"Hey, Lieutenant," Hirschberg said to Hicox as he was looking out the window, "I hate to be contrary, but I got me a Nazi pissin' on Louisianne at 2 o'clock."

Hicox frowned at made his way over to the window. Sure enough, a young German soldier was relieving himself against the tavern's outer wall.

Aldo looked at the British officer with a raised eyebrow.

"Now what?"

"We continue with the mission as planned," Hicox told him, sounding slightly unsure, "I have the radio strapped on me, so you'll be able to hear everything that goes on in there. It's one way though, mind you. We don't want any mishaps involving someone up here accidentally pressing a button and giving away our cover."

Aldo looked in the direction of his two men that would be following Hicox down into the rendezvous. Both men readied themselves, straightening out their uniforms. Hugo replaced his knife into its sheath and Wilhelm placed the officer's hat he had been holding onto his head.
They were all ready, but before they could leave, Elsie had to wish them both luck.

She hugged Wilhelm, who quietly reassured her that they would be back in less than an hour. She smiled at him as they broke apart, and then she turned to Hugo, who was still standing in the little connecting room.

Elsie stepped inside to meet him, putting her arms around his neck and kissing him for what felt like the last time.

"What's with you?" he asked when she had pulled away.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," she told him.

He didn't seem concerned at all.

"I'll be back soon," he smiled.

Stepping backwards out of the room, she turned and sat back down on the edge of the bed Donny was lying on. He could see the uncertainty in her eyes.

Looking at his watch, Aldo saw it was time for his men and the Brit to go down to the bar. They walked down the staircase, Hicox leading, and descended. She watched the three men cross the road and, after quickly glancing around, enter through the door that would lead them to their contact.

Being the only one in the room able to understand German, Elsie sat by the radio receiver to track the conversations. Aldo stood by her, waiting for any updates. He didn't have to wait long.

"Hammersmark isn't alone down there," she realized.

The next half hour was devastating.

From the fragments of German that Elsie was able to pick up from the hidden radio, she managed to piece together the scene in the underground bar.

Von Hammersmark had been sitting with a group of German soldiers, playing some sort of game. Judging by the laughter, they were having a good time. After excusing herself, von Hammersmark joined the three Allied men at a different table.

"What's going on?" Hirschberg asked loudly with impatience.

"Shhh," Elsie and a couple of the men replied. They were all listening very carefully.

A female voice whispered something to Lt. Hicox.

"There's a group of Nazi soldiers in there, celebrating the birth of one of their sons," Elsie translated.

Everyone's faces fell, their expressions twisting into ones of concern and distrust.

"Betcha von Hammersmark knew they would be there," Donny wagered.

More voices came over the radio.

"Hicox wants to leave. Hammersmark told him it would look suspicious if they did, though. Good point. I mean, they are meeting in a bar."

"Elsie, I asked you to translate, not give a fuckin' runnin' commentary," Aldo told her.

Ignoring his comment, Elsie continued listening closely. This time von Hammersmark's voice became much more serious. This was it; the important information.

"The cinema venue's been changed," Elsie explained.

"Why?" Aldo asked at almost the exact time Hicox did.

Elsie waited for von Hammersmark's response.

"Apparently no one knows why. But it's smaller. That'll make it easier to attack."

"This next bit of information is colossal. Try not to overreact," von Hammersmark began.

Elsie was practically on the edge of her seat waiting to hear what this piece of information was, and the others could see this.

"What is it?" Aldo asked.

Elsie put her hand up to shush him.

"Der fuhrer- "

But von Hammersmark was cut off. A very cheerful but drunken voice replaced hers, obviously one from the soldiers' party on the other table.

Elsie was gobsmacked. The mention of Hitler had been absurd, but at the same time it was obviously something that had been completely unexpected by the British and their plans.

"Whoever this guy is," Donny said, referring to the drunken voice on the radio, "he is absolutely schickered."

Elsie listened to the man, trying to make out his slurred words. She realized what was going on and shook her head.

"He's asking her for a goddamn autograph."

The young soldier seemed to receive the requested gift for his new son, but lingered near the table, soon overstaying his welcome. Lt. Hicox made a few suggestions for the young man to go back to his table, but he did not. He seemed more interested in Hicox's accent.

"Forgive me for saying so, sir, but your accent is very unusual…"

Elsie swore.

Aldo looked at her with concern. "What?"

"This kid's just spotted Hicox as the odd one out...and he's drunk, for Christ's sake! Can you imagine if a sober Nazi walks in there? I thought this Brit was trained. They've gotta get outta there," Elsie said.

It didn't take long for Hugo to interject. His shouting voice came through loud and clear over the receiver as he yelled for the man's friends to take him back to their table.

Elsie would normally have found this amusing, but all she could think of at that moment was, 'Their cover's blown. They're not coming out of there'. She felt panic begin to take over, but she did her best to push it away.

Sensing Elsie's sudden change in mood, Donny took a step closer to her.

"Might I inquire?" a new voice suddenly asked.

Elsie froze.

That voice.

She squeezed her eyes closed, swore silently and clenched her hand into a fist.

Of all the obscure bars he could have decided to spend the evening, Hellstrom had somehow ended up in this one.

It was the worst kind of irony.

To the surprise of the surrounding Basterds, she got up from the chair she had been occupying and began pacing from one side of the room to the other. They watched her with curious frowns.

"Elsie, just what are you doing exactly?" Aldo asked her while the conversation in the bar continued over the radio.

She ran her hands through her hair and proceeded to rest her forehead against the wall in front of her.

"It's over", she muttered.

"What?" Donny said skeptically.

"And jus' why the fuck would that be?" Aldo inquired, taking a step towards her.

Elsie didn't give a reply, she simply shook her head. She returned to her post, sitting back down on the chair.

Of course it would all be over now.

Hellstrom would know that Hicox wasn't the real deal.

And if that wasn't what gave them away, the fact that he would recognize Hugo certainly would. It was inescapable.

Hugo clenched his teeth.

It was taking every fiber of his being to keep from sticking his knife into Hellstrom's neck.

The man that sat beside him, though he wouldn't call him a man, had raped Elsie. He couldn't think of anyone else he wanted to kill more.

Sitting across from Hugo, Wilhelm could see the rage seeping out of him. He glanced at the German major who had just joined their table, then glanced back at Hugo. It was immediately obvious that Hugo had met this man before, but Wilhelm hadn't the slightest idea where.

As Hugo shifted his eyes to meet Wilhelm's gaze, Wilhelm gave him a look of deterrence. If their cover wasn't already blown, they had to do what they could to keep the act up.

Meanwhile, Hellstrom was thoroughly enjoying himself.

The story that the officer with the unusual accent had just given him was quite obviously false, but he pretended to believe it. With Stiglitz seated beside him, he wanted nothing more than to see where this would go.

And the fact that Stiglitz would not attack him while the group remained in character made the situation all the more beautiful. For a guy who fed on the discomfort of others, whether physical or psychological, this particular moment was like a goddamn buffet.

Hugo scowled at von Hammersmark as she continued to give a false laugh at everything the major said. He had disliked her from the moment he had met her.

Hellstrom suggested that they play their own round of the game that von Hammersmark had been playing when they had initially entered the bar. When they accepted, he laughed and smacked Hugo in the chest, in what appeared to be a good-humored manner.

He and Stiglitz knew however, that this was now a game of endurance: who could keep up their act for the longest – and Hellstrom was doing everything in his power to make sure it wasn't Hugo.

In the house across the road, the remaining Basterds were still confused about Elsie's odd behavior.

"Who is this guy?" Aldo asked her.

Listening to the ridiculous proceedings of the game that was happening in the bar, Elsie looked slowly up at the man she had known since she was a child.

She couldn't tell him what Hellstrom had subjected her to.

Although she loved Donny to death, she was glad that he wasn't the brightest of people. If he had realized that there was a connection between her sudden change in behaviour, the entrance of the Nazi Major over the radio and the confession she had made to him in his hotel room, nothing would stop him from charging over to there and killing Hellstrom, likely getting himself and everyone else in the bar killed.

"Elsie," Aldo said, sternly but gently, "Keep translatin'."

Taking a deep breath, Elsie obeyed.

The meeting on the other end was coming to a close.

Hellstrom was ordering one last round of drinks: Scotch.

There was a succession of clinking as the new drinks were placed on the table. The group toasted.

Then an audible 'click' sounded over the transmitter.

Needless to say, everyone in the room was able to translate that sound.

They all grew still with anticipation for what was to come.

Elsie's expression had become distant. She continued to translate without even listening to what she was saying.

"Did you hear that? That's the sound of my Walther pointed right at your testicles," Hellstrom's smug voice explained to whoever was on the receiving end of this threat.

It turned out to be Hicox.

"Why do you have your Walther pointed at my testicles?"

"Because you've just given yourself away. You're no more German than that Scotch," Hellstrom promptly explained.

As soon as these words had left Elsie's lips, Aldo turned from the window to face her. He, like everyone else in the room, could see where this was headed.

Hicox and von Hammersmark began to speak at the same time, but the latter was swiftly cut off by a sharp "Shut up, slut," courtesy of Hellstrom.

"I was saying," Hicox continued, "that makes two of us. I've had a gun pointed at your balls since you sat down."

So the Brit wasn't entirely useless.

Another click was heard, followed by a thud as something made contact with something else.

"That makes three of us," Hugo's voice sounded over the radio, "And at this range, I'm a real Frederick Zoller."

Elsie was unable to hold back a small, sad chuckle. She was the only one in the room to understand that reference. Ah, Hugo – even in the face of death, still able to laugh.

Hicox began trying to negotiate with Hellstrom, requesting that they leave together. Knowing Hellstrom as she unfortunately did, Elsie knew that there was no way he would oblige.

Just as she had predicted, Hellstrom told Hicox that neither of them would be leaving the bar on this night.

And that was when Elsie began to truly realize what was about to transpire in that bar in the basement. Tears filled her eyes but she blinked them back, trying to steady her breath.

"Well, if this it, old boy, I hope you don't mind if I go out speaking the kings."

Hicox's sudden change to English caught the Basterds around Elsie off guard. They gathered around the table and chair. All attention was now on the little radio that spoke the fate of those inside La Louisianne.

"There's a special rung in Hell reserved for those who waste good Scotch. Seeing as I may be rapping on the door momentarily-"

There was a brief pause as Hicox presumably finished his drink.

"I must say, damn good stuff, sir," Hicox remarked. "Now, about this pickle we find ourselves in. It would appear that there is only one thing left for us to do."

"And what would that be?" Hellstrom asked.

"Stiglitz?" Hicox invited.

"Say 'auf wiedersehen' to your Nazi balls."

Two gun shots sounded over the radio, followed by an innumerable torrent of firing from what sounded like all different directions.

Too stunned to move, none of the Basterds were able to stop Elsie as she jumped out of her chair and rushed down the stairs to the street below as fast as her legs could carry her.