Even through the vent, it was impossible for Roland to miss her anguish. ‘What? They killed…’
‘They killed Macy! Kroll shot her — she’d done nothing, but he murdered her!’
He drew away. ‘No, not Herr Kroll. He is our Führer! I do not believe—’
‘But she’s not here, is she?’ said Nina, wanting to scream the words into his face. She leaned away from the vent. ‘Do you see her? Do you?’
Roland’s eyes flicked across the cell, seeing Nina, Zane at the door… but nobody else. ‘No,’ he admitted.
‘That’s because she’s dead! Kroll murdered her — because I wouldn’t give him what he wanted!’
He shook his head. ‘No, the Oberkommando would not murder an innocent person…’
‘Your brother knew they would! That’s why he left here, why he came to warn me what they were doing — because he discovered how evil your precious fucking leaders are! What do you think he was reading about on the Internet? Kroll’s been lying to everyone here for the last seventy years. But Volker didn’t believe him, and went to find the truth out for himself. And you must at least have doubts, otherwise you wouldn’t be here talking to me now.’
‘I just want to learn what happened to my brother—’
‘I told you!’ Nina growled. ‘Jaekel shot him dead — just like Kroll shot Macy. He shot her, and then they wrapped her up in plastic and hauled her away like… like she was garbage!’ The pain of loss clenched around her chest once more, but she refused to be silenced. ‘They’re murderers, all your leaders. They’re wanted war criminals! Volker discovered that, and they killed him to protect their secret. Why won’t you believe me?’
Roland stared at her in silence. She thought he was about to turn and leave, that her last tiny hope was gone — but then he spoke. ‘Plastic…’
‘What?’
‘You said they wrapped Macy in plastic.’ Uncertainty filled his voice. ‘I saw something wrapped in plastic being put in a jeep.’
‘Where were they taking it?’ Zane asked.
‘There is a dump in some little hills. We burn trash there sometimes. They were going there.’
‘Then you go there,’ said Nina through clenched teeth. ‘You go there, and see for yourself.’ He blinked, about to move but then hesitating. ‘Go and see!’ she shouted, no longer caring if the guard heard her. ‘Go and see! Go and see!’
Roland glanced around fearfully, then dropped and ran. The vent cover clanked back into place.
‘The guard’s coming,’ Zane warned. He quickly returned to the bed as Nina stepped down.
A fist pounded on the metal door. ‘Silence in there! What is going on?’
‘Nothing,’ sighed Nina. She went back to the corner, tears rolling down both cheeks. ‘Nothing at all.’
26
It took Eddie and Julieta twenty cautious minutes to reach the mound where the Jeep had stopped. Twilight was now upon them, the Andean peaks to the west indistinct silhouettes against a backdrop of brooding clouds. Off to the south-west, the heart of the Enklave was picked out by numerous lights. Even without binoculars, Eddie could tell that the parade ground was full of activity.
But his priority was discovering if his fears were justified. There was still enough daylight to show a large ditch with numerous objects at its bottom. He couldn’t make them out clearly, but a stench of mouldering rubbish gave him a good idea what he would find. The Nazis had been using it as a dumping ground. ‘Okay, I’m going for a look,’ he told his companion as he took out a torch. ‘Wait here.’
He started into the pit before switching on the light to keep it hidden from any observers. The first thing he saw was charcoal and ash; the Nazis had been burning their garbage. But it was not a regular event, as more had since been thrown in, the circle of light finding broken furniture, crates and pallets, shredded tyres. They were not what he was looking for, though. He reached the bottom of the hollow…
Plastic glistened in the beam. He froze as he made out the shape wrapped in the translucent sheeting. Definitely a human body. A woman.
‘What is it?’ Julieta called.
‘Stay there,’ he ordered, breathing faster as he approached. He still couldn’t pick out any detail through the plastic… but what he could see made him more and more reluctant to take another step.
Blood had run down the inside of the sheet, dark smears marking where it had congealed. A gunshot wound, from the amount — but who was the victim?
He reached the body and brought his torch to the head. A face was vaguely visible through the wrapped layers, although too distorted to identify. Was the hair red? The plastic made it hard to tell even that much, colours muted beneath it.
Eddie crouched beside the figure. There was only one way to know.
He propped the torch on a broken crate, then with deep foreboding began to unwrap the sheeting.
It unfurled as he pulled at it. The body shifted slightly, the head tipping back. That meant the death was recent; rigor mortis hadn’t set in. He tried to keep focused on that bit of cold scientific fact rather than succumb to emotion, but he couldn’t stop himself from tearing ever harder at the plastic. His heart raced as he ripped away the last piece to reveal the woman’s face—
It wasn’t Nina.
A flash of pure, joyous relief — instantly overwhelmed by shame and guilt for the feeling. It wasn’t Nina, but he still knew her.
Macy’s frightened eyes looked lifelessly up at him, her expression telling him that she had died in pain. He stumbled back.
‘Eddie?’ called Julieta, alarmed. ‘Are you okay?’
He heard her descend into the pit. ‘No, stay back,’ he warned as he forced himself to return to Macy. Jaw clenched, he gently touched her cheek. Her skin was cold. ‘Oh God…’
He brought his hand to Macy’s eyes and carefully closed them. It did not lessen her look of fear, but now she at least appeared to have found some small amount of peace. He retrieved the torch and turned his attention to her body, tugging away more bloodied plastic to reveal a single gunshot wound. Fairly large calibre, the military part of his mind noted, probably nine millimetre. Fired from very close range, judging from the traces of gunpowder. She had been looking right at her killer when he pulled the trigger…
His breath caught. Macy had only just started her life, choosing her own path for the first time, promise and discovery before her — and now it was over. Everything that she had been and ever would be, stolen from the world.
His vision shimmered with tears, but grief was already being forced aside by fury. The people who had done this were going to pay—
Someone touched his shoulder. He spun, raising a fist before realising that it was Julieta. She flinched back. ‘Sorry,’ he said, but the burning rage did not subside.
She peered timorously at the body. ‘Is it… your wife?’
‘No. But she’s one of my friends. Her name’s Macy, Macy Sharif.’ He looked down at the shrouded corpse again, repeating her name as if in requiem. ‘Macy Sharif.’
Julieta whispered a Spanish prayer, making the sign of the cross — then suddenly stopped. ‘Someone is coming!’
Eddie snapped off the torch and crouched, pulling her behind a rusted sheet of corrugated steel. A torch beam jittered above, then angled down as its owner reached the edge of the dumping ground. Eddie watched through a hole in the metal. The light swept over the garbage, fixing upon Macy. A moment’s hesitation, then the man clambered into the ditch and moved towards her.