Georg scowled at the red flag hanging on the wall in front of him, the one with the "black spider" as his younger children had taken to calling it. He hated what it represented, hated himself for pretending to support it, simply hated the impossible situation in which he had found himself. Worst of all, he was beginning to realize that it had all been for naught. It seemed that the more he tried, the closer Nazi Germany came to annexing the country he loved. He had found himself wondering many times in the past couple months if it was still worth it to keep trying.
The door behind him opened, and a man a few years Georg's senior walked briskly into the room. Georg spun to face him. "Heil Hitler," the man said by way of greeting, raising his arm.
Georg raised his arm automatically, suppressing a cringe by force of will. "Heil Hitler," he responded. If the other man noticed Georg's lack of enthusiasm, he said nothing. "What is happening, Klaus?" Georg asked once the other man lowered his arm. Klaus had been one of Georg's main contacts in the Nazi party, a man Georg knew was relatively high in their ranks though not at the top. Georg had found, somewhat to his surprise, that he had actually grown fond of Klaus. Unlike other members of the party, Klaus did not flaunt his superiority or abuse his power, but he had a quiet authority that made most respect him. In addition, he was quite intelligent, so much so that Georg sometimes wondered what had led him to follow a madman like Hitler.
"What makes you think something is happening?"
"You called me here with even less notice than usual, and you seem almost. . . happy."
"Clever as always, Georg. You are correct that something big is happening, perhaps the biggest occurrence yet." Looking almost gleeful, Klaus spread the paper he was holding on the desk in front of Georg. Georg frowned at it a moment. It was obviously a map of some sort, marked in various places with red X's. It took him a moment to recognize the location of four of them. "The location of various British and French troops—the only troops that would be able to easily reach Austria in less than a day. I suspect you recognize a few of the locations since you were kind enough to provide them."
"Of course," Georg confirmed, his mind buzzing with thoughts. The fact of the matter was, three of the four locations he had provided did not actually have British troops present. He had provided a list of fifteen different locations where British troops were secretly stationed, but only a third of them actually had troops. The Brits had assumed that the Nazis would only check into two or three, likely the ones that were relatively easy to fly over, given how much trust Georg had built up with them. If they had checked into one of the spots without troops, they had instructed Georg to insist they had moved and promised to provide an actual location at that point. Fortunately, when Georg had given the Nazis the information, they had done exactly as everyone had expected—flying over three of the easier to spot locations to check the information. Georg had assumed it was just another test of his usefulness, of which there had been many, but he now suspected they had ulterior motives.
"I thought that since you were instrumental in providing information, you deserved to be one of the first to hear of our plans. They are quite brilliant if I do say so myself. I am sure you will find them most satisfying." Georg could tell from the smug tone that Karl had obviously been part of the creation of the plans.
"I am sure," Georg confirmed.
"As you know, Schuschnigg has been trying to buy time, to avoid annexation. He's even reached out to Britain and France for help, and we have heard they are seriously considering his request. But if they are going to send help in time, this will be the help. So all we need to do is ensure they are busy elsewhere. Schuschnigg will have no choice but to resign once he realizes he has no help from Britain or France at which point, we will be able to take all of Austria with minimal bloodshed. Just think, Georg, the German states reunited once more!"
Georg made a non-committal noise in the back of his throat, studying the map carefully as he attempted to commit all the locations to memory. He knew that Hitler had expanded the German army considerably, but there were eighteen sites on the map, far too many for him to send large groups of soldiers to if he still wanted a decent-sized army to march on Austria. That meant he was relying on the element of surprise, and Georg suspected that he could easily win as long as he had it. Great Britain's and France's only hope—and by extension, Austria's—was to eliminate that element of surprise.
With a sinking feeling, however, Georg realized that even if he could provide information about the attack, it would not change the outcome for Austria. It would likely allow Britain and France to succeed in driving away the Nazis attacking them, but they would not be able to make it to Austria in time to help if they were doing their own fighting. No matter what happened, in a day or two, Austria would no longer be independent. Georg drew a shaky breath at the thought. He had known such a day was coming and had thought he had resigned himself to that fact, but it hit him harder than he had imagined it would. "Are you alright, Georg?" Klaus asked.
"Yes," Georg said, keeping his voice steady. "I just did not realize that it could happen so quickly."
"Well, that was partly your doing, Georg. Your assistance has been invaluable. And just think—once Austria is under the flag of the Third Reich, it will have a navy again. I know your name has been mentioned in the upper circles as one of the best men to lead the submarine fleet of that navy."
"It would be an honor," Georg managed to say, his attention still focused on the map. He had always had a good visual memory, but fourteen locations would be quite difficult to memorize.
"I expected a bit more excitement," Klaus remarked, rolling up the map.
Georg managed a small smile. "You know me, Klaus. I do not like to assume victory before it is won."
"I suppose that is sensible though in this case, I assure you it is not necessary." Klaus turned toward the door, stopping at the last minute. "Many of us are planning to go to headquarters to wait for news of the victory. I assume I will see you there?"
"Of course." Klaus nodded, exiting the room. Georg put out a hand to steady himself, for his head was spinning. He had not expected events to spiral out of control so quickly. He had assumed he would have more time to make a clean break before the Anschluss occurred, to put himself and his family far from the reach of the Nazis before they would be in any danger. However, none of his escape plans had accounted for a need to reveal his true allegiance at the same time as Germany annexed Austria. But he knew he needed to do so now—he could not risk the French and British troops on the map Klaus had shown him. He suspected that very few people had seen the map, and every one of them was likely heading to headquarters at that very moment. If Georg failed to show up right before the Nazi plans to surprise France and Great Britain failed, it would be quite obvious who was to blame.
Forcing himself to focus on one problem at a time, Georg quickly pulled a piece of paper from the desk and a pen from his pocket. Glancing at the door from time to time, he began to draw a rough sketch of the map Klaus had shown him. He knew it was risky to do so in a building where a number of members of the Nazi party were likely still present, but he was more afraid of losing the information in his head than possible discovery at the moment. As soon as he had finished his drawing, he tucked it into the secret pocket of his jacket and straightened, striding from the room purposefully. A few people saluted as he passed, and he returned the salutes quickly, keeping his eyes facing forward, hoping no one would stop him if he looked like he was going somewhere important. It was a technique that had served him well in the past.
Once outside, he turned automatically in the direction of his car. A voice stopped him before he reached it. "Captain von Trapp?" Georg spun around to see a boy just a couple years older than Liesl jogging towards him.
"Yes?"
"Colonel Richter instructed me to take you to headquarters."
"That won't be necessary. I have my own transportation."
"He was very explicit, sir. He said it would not do to have one of our top men driving himself, and I must say, I agree. Please, the car is just around the corner." Georg allowed himself a small frown, wondering what Klaus was thinking. Georg had not had an escort in over a year which he felt was a sign that he had finally fully gained the trust of the Nazi party. Had he inadvertently given himself away recently?
"Very well," Georg relented, knowing it would be too suspicious to argue much longer, especially out in the open with at least a dozen Nazi's in shouting distance. "Lead the way." The boy quickly turned, fortunately walking away from the building Georg had just exited. Georg waited until they were in the shadows from another nearby building before reaching out, grabbing the boy around the neck. He held his arm against his wind pipe until the Nazi passed out from lack of oxygen before dragging him into a convenient alcove. Georg knew the safer option would be to kill the boy, but Georg had never believed in killing unless absolutely necessary. He was already planning to expose himself, so a live witness to his treachery would not change the outcome.
Once sure the boy would not be discovered by a passerby, Georg quickly turned back to his car, nearly running in his haste. He needed to get the information he held to his contacts as quickly as possible. He was at least a two hours' drive from the border. Briefly, he considered stopping somewhere in Germany to call his contacts, but he quickly dismissed that as a bad idea. Germany was fully under Nazi control. Everyone was a potential spy, and there was nowhere Georg could ensure a phone call would not go heard. Even in Austria, given the current political climate, Georg would not feel safe anywhere but home.
The thought of home caused a sudden clenching in his gut as he realized that the villa that he had called home for so long, the house where he had raised his children and loved both his wives, would likely not remain home much longer. He and his family would not be safe in Austria any longer. In truth, he was not sure exactly where they would be safe. Hitler seemed to be meeting his expansionist goals with a speed that no one had expected, and the more he talked with his contacts in Britain, the more he realized that they were not going to do much to stop him in order to avoid a war. The entire world seemed to be going mad, bending over backwards to appease a man who was clearly insane, and Georg was not sure what to do anymore.
Reaching his car, Georg shook those thoughts from his mind. He would do what needed to be done to protect his family, just as he had always done. To do so, he would take things one step at a time, and the first step was making it home safely to relay the information he had just received. He turned on the car and pulled onto the road, driving first in the direction of headquarters just in case. Georg truly doubted anyone was watching, but he had not survived as long as he had by lacking caution. About halfway to headquarters, Georg turned off of the route he had been taking, now headed for a highway which would take him to Austria. He watched the rearview mirror carefully as he did so, but he saw no other headlights. Georg let out a sigh of relief, maneuvering the car carefully onto the highway. Though he longed to press the pedal harder in order to make it home as quickly as possible, he knew that he needed to remain cautious to avoid suspicions. Instead, he kept his speed reasonable, praying more than he had in years.
Georg arrived back at his villa just under three hours later. There were no lights inside, but he had not expected any, for it was long past midnight. He quickly parked the car, heading into the house quietly to avoid waking anyone. He made his way to his study where he picked up the phone to call Allan, his main contact in the British government. As he waited for the call to connect, he glanced at the picture displayed prominently on his desk, one of Maria and him on their wedding day. She was holding onto his arm, staring at him as if he hung the moon, her lips curved into a wide smile. He was laughing about something—he could not even remember what—but he had his head tilted back and his mouth opened. He did not remember the last time he had laughed like that. The past year had been a blur, a seemingly never-ending stream of assignments that took him away from home far more often than he liked. Maria had been amazingly patient with all of it, assuring him that everyone understood why he needed to be absent and that it made them enjoy the time they had with him that much more. He wondered what he had done to deserve her unwavering support.
He heard a click as someone picked up the line, and he pocketed the picture. "I hope you know what time it is." Allan's voice was gruff with sleep.
"It's me, Allan. I have information you will want to hear." Georg could almost hear Allan stiffening on the other side of the phone, fully awake now. The two men had worked together for years, and Allan knew that Georg would not call unless it was vitally important.
"Let's have it, Georg." With that, Georg outlined all he had learned that evening, describing the positions on the map as best as he could over the phone. He heard Allan muttering to himself as well as the scribbling of a pen as the other man wrote down all the information.
"I don't know about all of the marks, and I'm sure some belong to the French, but there are four that I can confirm are accurate. Dammit! Where did he get this information?"
"You and I both know that we never found all their spies."
"I was rather hoping we had found most of them."
"The origins do not particularly matter now. If this is accurate—and from your reaction, I'm guessing it is—you need to act immediately."
"I know. I need to make some calls." There was a long pause. "Georg-" Allan began.
"I know."
"There is no way to hide where this came from. If we act on it, your cover is blown."
"I know. But you and I both know that you need to act on it."
"Do you have somewhere to go?"
Georg let out a long breath. "Switzerland is going to be our best option. They are committed to remaining neutral, and it puts us closer to other friendly areas."
"Getting there will not be easy. The Germans are already starting to close in on that border."
Georg gave a hollow laugh. "I know. I told you that information." Georg had heard about the troop movements two days before and dutifully passed on the information to Allan. He knew he should have left at that point, escaped into neutral territory while he still could, but when Klaus had requested a meeting, Georg had held onto a small shred of hope that he could still stop the Anschluss. He wanted so badly to believe that Austria could remain independent that he had blinded himself to the signs, and he was now cursing himself for his short-sightedness. He had tried to convince Maria to leave with the children, but she had refused, claiming they would go as a family or not at all. Now, of course, they would have to split up. As soon as the Nazi's knew of Georg's treachery, they would all be looking for him. He would not bring that danger on his family.
"Stay safe, Georg." The words were hollow and inadequate, and Georg felt an absurd urge to laugh. He suppressed it, knowing there was nothing else that Allan could say or do. The die was cast. Truthfully, it had been cast long before, but Georg was finally getting a peek at the numbers, and it was not pretty. With a click, the phone went dead, and Georg slowly replaced it in on the cradle before dropping his head into his hands. For the first time in a long time, Georg von Trapp was not sure of what to do next.
A/N: So I'm posting this before I get the next couple chapters done in my Moments Between story because I finished touching up this chapter and really liked how it turned out, so I did not want to wait any longer. I have the next chapter almost touched up as well and will hopefully post it in the next few days. I do have about 5 more chapters pre-written but they will need to be reworked a bit, and time is a bit short right now (we're in full school mode here-we homeschool, and I decided to go more hands-on, Montessori-esque this year instead of the more traditional workbooks which has been great for my kids' learning but not so much for my free time. Plus my two-year-old wants to join in everything, so I've been setting up activities he can do as well as the ones for his older sisters. I do almost have next month planned though so hopefully time will free up soon. We'll see, I suppose). The good news is, I know where this is going and most of the steps along the way-I just have to sit down and write it!
