Chapter Nine Chloe #2
She knew she was holding her breath, but she couldn’t help it. She tried to relax her shoulders, wondering if they were going door to door to look for hidden Jews. That could be why they were here, and if it were for that reason, then there was nothing to fear.
‘You,’ the SS man said, pointing towards Claude as he pushed past her, almost knocking her over when his shoulder stamped into hers. ‘Come forward.’
She stood and watched in horror as Claude stepped forward, his shoulders squared, as if he wasn’t scared.
And she was angry at him for that, because he should have been terrified of the man standing in front of him.
He should have quivered just seeing the SS men in their apartment, let alone at being summoned.
But what she saw bordered on defiance, not fear, or maybe he was just a better actor than she was.
‘This will be easier for your family if you just confess,’ said the Nazi.
His smile was cold, and Chloe noticed the way her brother’s face fell, the terror that finally spread across his features, almost as if he’d finally in that moment realised what was happening and what the man before him was capable of.
She’d asked one thing of him; she’d told him in no uncertain terms that he couldn’t leave a trail to their apartment, to their family, and yet she knew that her hopes before had been wrong.
She knew now there was a reason they were here, just as she knew in that moment that it was up to her.
If she wanted to keep her family safe, she couldn’t rely on Claude, and she certainly couldn’t rely on her father.
‘What are you asking my brother to confess to?’ she asked, as bravely as she could, even though her voice stuttered.
‘Did I ask you a question?’ the SS man asked, his lips curling back in a way that made her tremble, that made her wonder if he was going to raise his hand and smack it across her face. Until the man behind him touched his hand to his hip, and she thought that perhaps he might shoot her instead.
She kept her mouth firmly shut from that moment on, pleading with her brother with her eyes, but he still stood silently.
‘Search the house!’ the first man ordered.
Adrian’s cry sent a jolt through Chloe, and she opened her arm, beckoning for him to come to her, tucking him tight to her side when he did.
‘It’s all right.’ She stroked his arm. ‘It’s going to be just fine.’
‘Do you promise?’ he whispered back.
‘I promise,’ she murmured, not wanting to lie to him, but she didn’t know what else to say as the Nazi men strode through their house and turned over furniture, as they disappeared down the hall and into the bedrooms. Her father dropped into a chair, his head in his hands, still not saying or doing anything to help his family, falling back into the silence he’d suffered from since her mother had died.
She jumped when she heard glass break, and she stared at Claude as his face turned a deep shade of red, his hands fisted at his sides.
‘Don’t,’ she cautioned, her voice as low as could be. ‘Whatever you’re thinking, whatever you want to do, just don’t.’
He went to reply to her, his mouth open, but he didn’t get the chance, and Chloe linked her fingers with Adrian’s as one of the men returned and nudged Claude with his gun.
She saw him lean in close to speak to him, his mouth near her brother’s ear, but he didn’t speak in a way that insinuated he wanted their conversation to be private.
‘What do you know about a road being blown up?’ he asked, smiling when his eyes met Chloe’s from across the room.
Claude swallowed, loudly. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘What about the truck that exploded, killing innocent German soldiers?’
Innocent. The word made her see red, made her want to scream and launch herself at the men standing in her living room as if it belonged to them. But instead, she balled her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms.
‘I don’t know about any truck,’ Claude said.
‘Is your name not Claude Boucher?’ the man asked. ‘Or should I ask them?’ He jutted his pistol towards Chloe and Adrian. ‘I feel like they will tell me the truth. That they understand the consequences of not being truthful with me.’
Claude nodded, answering quickly. ‘You’re correct, that is my name.’
Chloe let go of the breath she was holding, but she wasn’t any less scared. They knew precisely who her brother was; she felt as if they were cats toying with a mouse, enjoying the hunt.
‘Now that you’re being so obliging, perhaps I’ll tell you something in return,’ the SS man said, stroking his moustache and making the other man grin.
Chloe felt as if she might be sick.
‘It turns out that some of your friends aren’t as loyal as you might think,’ he continued.
‘One of them started singing like a bird before I’d even tied him to a chair, which of course was highly disappointing for me.
I was rather looking forward to working a little harder to extract the information I needed. ’
‘I don’t know who you’ve been talking to but—’
‘Quiet!’ the man shouted, silencing her brother before clenching his fists, his eyes making Chloe think of a madman’s. A madman who was in her house, mere feet away from Adrian, breathing in their air, threatening the people she loved.
‘Please,’ she began, but his stare stopped her from saying another word, and she tried to press Adrian behind her.
There was nothing she wouldn’t do to protect her little brother – she loved him as she would her own child.
She’d already given up everything for him – her dreams, her work – and she’d give it all up again, willingly, if she had to.
Chloe glanced around their apartment, at the books strewn on the floor and the overturned vase, the plates swept off the kitchen table.
These men had come into her home and damaged their possessions because they could; they’d known who they were looking for and could have arrested her brother on sight, but instead, they were playing some kind of cruel game.
‘Your friend gave me the addresses of all those involved,’ the man said, his lips tilting up at the corners. ‘You can either come with us willingly and tell us all you know, or we can force you. The choice is yours.’
‘Never.’ The word spilled from Claude with so much hatred, so much venom, that it scared her.
Chloe watched in horror as her brother spat on the ground, as the SS man crossed the short distance between them and smashed Claude’s temple with his gun, sending blood trickling down his face as he dropped to his knees.
‘I was hoping you’d pick the hard way,’ he sneered, kicking him so that he fell to his hands. ‘This is going to be fun.’
Adrian began to whimper beside her, clinging tightly to her, and her father began to weep.
But Chloe felt as if she were watching from above, as if she wasn’t even in the room, while her brother’s grunt echoed past her, the man’s boot connecting with his stomach before he raised his pistol and aimed it at her brother’s head.
‘Stop!’ she cried, her heart lurching as she met the eyes of the SS man, terror rolling through her. ‘Please, stop,’ Chloe begged.
The man turned to her, his pistol still in his hands, his hair falling slightly over his forehead, no longer perfectly combed back. But the gun was no longer pointed at her brother, and that was something.
‘Please. It wasn’t him.’ She took a shuddering breath. ‘It was me. I’m the one you’re looking for.’