Pilsen, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia – November 1941

The three of them sat in the coffeehouse opposite the Gestapo headquarters. Jan and Elisabeth sat together, acting like a young married couple as Kevin sat across. To the world, they looked like any other Germans in occupied Czechoslovakia. Especially since they were so near to the Sudetenland.

"So, what are we doing here?" Elisabeth asked. She flashed a convincing smile as the waitress came to refill her cup of coffee.

"Our target is information on the artefacts they're digging up here, and to try and keep them out of Templar hands, right?"

They nodded.

"Well, we don't know anything about this place. No contacts." Not since the Czech Brotherhood were completely wiped out early in the war. "So, we need some help."

"I hope you're not saying we ask for help from the Gestapo."

"No, no." He took a bite out of his toast before continuing. The jam was sweet, but the bread itself was a little too burnt. "We'll have them help us without knowing." He smirked. "Heydrich's been rounding up the local resistance. They're the only ones we can trust as being against the Nazis. They know the land. We could use their help. I read in the papers that there's been a lot of raids in Pilsen lately. The Gestapo rounding up, capturing, and killing resistance members. And that's why we're here.

"So, here's the plan." He wiped his mouth with his handkerchief. He had to look presentable before presenting the plan he had thought out so well. "The Gestapo isn't done yet. I bet there's going to be another raid soon. And if there's any information about that, it's got to be in their headquarters."

The building loomed across the street, white and featureless with rows of identical windows. The front door was guarded by a pair of armed guards with their rifles slung on their backs. It was unfriendly, cold, but intimidating. Just like the Nazis intended.

"We go in, get the information, get out. Then, we warn the resistance. That'll gain their trust." Triumphant, Jan laid back and took a sip of his tea. "So, what do you think?"

"How do you know the information's in there?" Elisabeth's voice was so pointed it went right through his heart. She's saying you don't know, do you?

"It's got to be. This is their headquarters. The raids haven't stopped. The papers haven't declared total victory, only victories. I'm sure if we go in, we'll find what we need."

Elisabeth was still unconvinced. She looked at the façade of the Gestapo headquarters. Jan could almost see the gears turning in her head, the weights balancing in her head. Risk versus reward. They couldn't be as brave and daring as Arno Dorian during the French Revolution. After all, his Brotherhood was alive. Theirs was teetering on the edge.

"Alright, how do we wanna do this?" she finally said.

An hour later, Kevin was standing in front of the building. The guards eyed him but did not do anything. He took out a pebble from his pocket and threw it in the face of one. Before they could react, Kevin had started bounding down the road, shoving people left and right. The guards ran after him, shouting in German and heavily accented Czech.

With the coast clear, Jan and Elisabeth came out of a side alley and onto the main street. Collars pulled up, hat pulled down, they walked on the pavement and entered the building through the unguarded doors.

It was unnervingly quiet inside, and when they came in there was nobody. On the wall to the side was a small information board with the floor numbers and the offices on them. The fourth floor held what they need: operations and communications room.

"Remember, it's hard to talk our way out of this. Killing anybody will just result in even worse reprisals against the resistance. So, we should avoid them."

Elisabeth nodded and they were on their way. They crouched their way through the corridors, making as little noise as possible. At an intersection, two men were headed their way from the left. They entered an empty office and let them pass before continuing. They made their way up the stairs onto to the fourth floor. At the top of the stairs, there were three corridors: front, left, and right.

"Which way do we go?" A map would really have been useful. Without it, they'd be forced to check the corridors and their sub-corridors one by one. Possible, but time-consuming…

"Left," Elisabeth said, pointing down the hall.

"How do you know?"

"I just do," she said without further explanation. "Just trust me."

There was no proof or evidence, but the confidence in her voice swayed him. After all, when had she ever let him down? They went down the left hallway like she said. Like the others, the offices were mostly empty. Only a few had people working in them as they could hear the chattering voices and typewriters.

"So, my wife sent me this letter…"

"Quick, hide!" he whispered. The two soldiers were a few metres around the corner from them. They went to the nearest door, but it was locked. The next ones were the same. Finally, they found an unlocked door. But before he could turn the knob, Elisabeth pulled his arm.

"No, don't," she said. "There's somebody in there."

Jan looked through the window and focused his ears, but he couldn't hear anything. "I can't hear anything."

"There's someone in there. I know it."

Fortunately, the next office was open. With no urgent warnings from Elisabeth, they went inside and closed the door behind them, hiding under the main desk. They waited in silence until the two men passed and the sound of their boots receded.

"They're gone?" she asked. Jan nodded, and the two of them stood up. But Jan pulled her back.

"Wait," he told her, looking her straight in the eye. "How did you know?"

"I just do," she says, pulling her hand from him and walking out. "Come on, we need to move."

That wasn't an answer, but Jan knew they had to move quickly. Elisabeth led them through the corridor, confidently passing offices she knew were useless to them. She looked left and right, slowly moving up the corridor as if the walls didn't exist. Then suddenly she stopped. She looked to her left and went for the door. She pushed it open, leading them into an unlit, empty room.

Jan could barely see, but to turn on the lights would be to attract attention, so they contented themselves with the darkness. At the centre of the office was a large wooden desk covered in organised sheafs of papers and a map in the middle. It was a map of Pilsen and the surrounding area. Several points were circled with a red marker. All of them except for one had a red cross in them.

"Looks important," Elisabeth commented. "What do you think it means? Dig sites?"

"No." Jan stared at the points on the map. This was the Gestapo, the feared secret police of Germany. Hitler's hounds. Heydrich would probably use another unit to dig archaeological sites, not waste these men shoveling dirt. "There's only one answer." He explained his thoughts to her before giving her the answer. "These are hideouts or meeting places of the resistance."

He pointed to the single empty circle on the map. It was a short distance outside of the city proper, at what seemed to be a factory right next to a train station.

"There's only one left. We have to warn them." He started for the door without waiting for her response.

"Wait," she called out. "It may be too late. They already crossed out all the others. This must be their next target. For all we know, they might be under arrest by now."

"We don't know that. They might still be safe. Or maybe they're being arrested. That's something we can help with, isn't it?" he smirked.

They went out the same way they came in as fast as they could. Once outside, they rushed towards the car they'd left in front of the café. Kevin was already at the wheel when they came in.

"Go, go!" Jan shouted as he closed the door. "They're coming for them. Just drive, I'll tell you directions we go."

Kevin stepped on the gas, and they zoomed through the city, the buildings moving past them at lightning speed. Slowly, three-storey buildings made way for suburban houses, which made way to trees and the occasional wooden hut. They were outside of the city proper and the road became bumpier.

After a few more minutes of driving with tall, old trees lining the road, the abandoned factory came into view. Its chimneys jutted into the sky, but nothing was coming out of it. The dilapidated brick buildings were interspersed with rusting metallic parts. As they slowly came closer, the factory seemed to grow in size. It was like a gigantic, otherworldly machine, long forgotten and abandoned, left to sleep eternally.

"Don't stop too close to the factory." It'd be dangerous if the Gestapo saw them. "Find a place nearby, in the forest if you can. I'll head there on foot."

"I'll go with you," Elisabeth said, grabbing the rifle at her foot.

As Kevin turned the car into the forest, Jan and Elisabeth made their way through the trees. They kept as close to the road as they could without being seen. Jan took out his own handgun just in case, but he hoped against hope that the Gestapo hadn't arrived. When they reached the outskirts of the factory just outside of the rusted fence full of holes, it was eerily silent.

"I don't think they're here yet," Elisabeth said, scanning the buildings.

"Let's go." Jan moved forward first as Elisabeth covered the rear. There was a hole in the fence, just enough for one person to crawl through. Jan went first, then Elisabeth. Inside the factory yard, they took cover in the shade of the nearest small building. Not even five seconds had passed before they heard them. Jan didn't understand what they were saying. It was Czech, and he could count the words he knew in that language on one hand.

"There they are," Elisabeth said, uncomfortably close to Jan's ear. The hairs on his neck went stiff. "How are we going to tell them?"

"At least one of them might speak German." That's the only way they could get intel on the Gestapo after all. "If not, we'll think of something. We have to warn them anyway."

Not wanting to let doubt and overthinking come over him, without a word Jan stepped out of the shade and raised his arms in the air. He walked straight towards the four men standing next to one of the abandoned buildings. He called out to them.

"Hello there!" In German, of course. "You have to get out of here. The Nazis are coming."

In response, four guns were aimed at Jan's head. He stopped in his tracks and looked them in the eye. Three of them were young men, dressed in simple clothes. A cap, a plaid shirt, and trousers held up by suspenders. In the middle stood an older man, with a more pronounced stomach and a grey moustache. It was him who spoke.

"Who are you?" He spoke in heavily accented German, but clear enough for Jan to understand.

"My name is Jan. I'm a friend. I'll drop my gun." He took it out of his holster which caused them to tense up before dropping it onto the ground and kicking it away. "See?"

"What do you want?"

"We need your help."

"We?"

At that, Elisabeth came out of the shadows a few paces behind Jan. Two of them aimed their guns at her. Though she didn't drop it, she kept her rifle aimed towards the ground.

"Help with what?" the old man demanded.

"We need something that the Nazis have. As a token of good faith, we have information." Jan let his words sink in before he continued. "The Gestapo is coming. Here. They know you're here, and they're going to arrest you."

They shot glances at each other. The old man was unperturbed, keeping his gaze on Jan's eyes, searching through his soul.

"And how do you know that?"

Jan smirked. "We broke into their office in the city."

"Impossible. You two?"

"Yes."

They started conversing amongst themselves in Czech. They were whispering, but one was speaking much more aggressively than the rest. Jan shot a glance at Elisabeth, who didn't respond. Jan was about to say something, but the sound of approaching cars meant he didn't need to.

"They're coming."

The resistance fighters all looked towards the street, their eyes full of worry and beads of sweat starting to form on their foreheads. One of them cursed.

"You need to go. Now."

The old man barked orders, and the four of them started retreating into the forest. As the cars came to a halt, the three men burst into a run. But before he followed, the old man looked back to Jan.

"If you really want to help, meet us at the old trainyard down the rail track. On the other side." Without waiting for a response, he turned back.

As soon as they disappeared, Jan ran to his gun, picked it up, and turned around.

"Let's get out of here!"

They went back the way they came from and disappeared into the trees before the Gestapo agents even reached the main yard.

Gestapo – Geheime Staatspolizei, literally "Secret State Police", Nazi Germany's secret police

Pilsen – this is the German name of the city. The native Czech name is Plzeň

Sudetenland – German name for areas of Czechoslovakia inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. Nazi Germany annexed it prior to World War II, but after the war all the Sudeten Germans were expelled, and the areas are now mostly inhabited by Czech speakers