Widow Killer

by Pavel Kohout

  The commissioner's office was just around the corner, so Beran, Brunat, and Morava walked over, but at times it was more like elbowing through a crowd. Bartolomejska Street was swarming with officers, all hurrying to and fro and saluting the two police chiefs. Morava kept shaking his head until the superintendent asked him why.

  "All those cops running off at the mouth with Buback around...."

  "Whatever he heard, he heard. In the end he did what he did. Maybe hearing those rumors helped."

  "The whole time he was deceiving us...."

  "A military stratagem. And beautifully executed, I have to admit. I never even suspected."

  "Except you made sure I didn't know anything."

  "Except for that," Beran conceded with a smile.

  Then they plunged into the corner building. The secretary transmitted their request for an interview. They waited silently for a few minutes; this was Rajner's way of demonstrating his rank. Once admitted, they greeted him respectfully, took their seats, and were asked the reason for the audience. Only then did Beran request that the police commissioner formally step down.

  Everything went so tactfully and the superintendent phrased his request so politely that at first Rajner completely missed its significance. Once he had heard it for the second time, his forehead broke out in sweat.

  "Who ... whom did ... what were you ...," he stammered.

  Morava knew the others had caught that whiff of fear as well.

  "I'm authorized by the Czech National Council," Beran explained to him matter-of-factly. "Brunat and I have been temporarily named to your post, with the responsibilities divided between us."

  Rajner tried to object.

  "I don't even know this council of yours!"

  "It's a new organ appointed by the legal government of the reconstituted Czechoslovak Republic—which you once swore allegiance to."

  "And the Germans ... Did they agree to this?"

  "When they learn about it, they'll probably welcome it. At least they'll have someone to negotiate a capitulation with."

  "But gentlemen ..." Rajner's voice almost cracked into a falsetto. "They have a huge advantage in numbers and strength! They'll turn Prague to dust and ashes; is that what you want?"

  "Actually," Brunat said, stepping into the fray, "that's what we're trying to prevent. First of all, we can offer them an orderly retreat from the city. We'll make sure they're not attacked, and that it's not attractive for them to attack. But just in case, we've taken measures. So you'd better get over to the interim internment wing, where we'll be keeping collaborators until the courts can get to them."

  The door flew open and Rajner's secretary ran in.

  "Mr. Commissioner, sir! Turn on the radio!"

  She did not notice the mood in the room at all and ran around the table to turn on the huge superheterodyne herself. The magic green eye was soon fully open and an excited voice filled the room, accompanied by distant gunfire.

  "... are murdering our people! I repeat: We call on the Czech police and all former soldiers, come immediately to the aid of the Czech radio; the Germans here are murdering our people! I repeat..."

  "Morava!" Beran bellowed. "Captain Sucharda's team is waiting at the garage. Go with them; you can translate and serve as my representative. Try for a truce, but first and foremost save those people and the studios. We won't get all the city loudspeakers working; we'll have to blanket Bohemia with our broadcasts. And Morava!" he called after him through the door. "Have them form up and send out more teams. If there aren't enough cars, they can commandeer trams!"

  The last thing Morava saw as he closed the door was Rajner's frozen, waxy face.

  He got to Sucharda in three minutes, and shortly thereafter fifteen men with carbines were jumping into the bed of a small truck driven by the garage manager, Tetera. Morava had to admit that once they had fastened their helmets beneath their chins, they looked quite imposing. He squeezed into the cabin behind Sucharda, and the vehicle pulled out of the courtyard and turned right. Through the open windows they heard dull thuds and curses; a few of the men in back must have fallen over like bowling pins.

  Narodni Avenue had changed. Any building not already flying Czech flags was unfurling them from the windows. For six long years under the Nazis, displaying red, white, and blue together had constituted a serious offense; where, Morava wondered, had they hidden those mountains of material? Crowds of people coursed along the sidewalks as if it were a national holiday, with tricolors in their lapels; who had made them so quickly? Groups sang; snatches of the former republic's national anthem flew by. The truck full of armed Czech policemen was warmly greeted all along its path. The men up top were infected by the general enthusiasm and shouted back that classic Czech greeting from a generation before, when they had first shaken off the Hapsburgs.

  "Nazdaaaaaaaar!"

  Rypl might be waving to us too, Morava thought, but immediately turned his attention to the captain. Sucharda had been in constant telephone contact with colleagues who were unobtrusively monitoring the numbers of German guards at the radio station. At around eleven-thirty, however, a motorcycle detachment of SS forces sneaked into the courtyard so quietly that they managed to occupy the first through third floors of the building where the announcers' offices and the technical equipment were located. Fortunately, Sucharda smirked, some clever fellow had hit on the idea of unscrewing all the directional signs and nameplates from doors, so the Germans were wandering around like Hansel and Gretel in the Black Forest.

  "We've got to get past them and block off the broadcasting studios."

  When they turned onto Wenceslas Square it was as if they were suddenly in another time. The long, wide street was quiet and empty. They spotted the reason instantly. Starting at the intersection with Jindf isska Street and Vodickova Street, a half dozen firing posts zigzagged up the square toward the National Museum, each manned by a trio of Wehrmacht soldiers. One lay on the pavement gripping the handle of a heavy machine gun, the second knelt next to him with the ammunition belt, and the third stood ready to give orders to shoot.

  The garage manager slowed down.

  "Should I turn around?" he asked huskily.

  A tense silence descended on the back of the truck.

  "Sir, the rifles—"

  Morava did not need to finish. Sucharda was already bawling an order through the tiny window into the truck bed.

  "Hide your guns!"

  A prolonged clattering noise indicated that the carbines had landed on the floor.

  "Halt!"

  The truck hovered in the middle of the intersection about thirty yards from the first machine gunners' nest. Its leader, an older German lieutenant and a reservist, by the look of it, had one hand threateningly raised. The police captain nudged Morava out of the truck with his shoulder so he himself could exit, and set off toward him. He saluted as he walked and barked over his shoulder at his guide.

  "Translate for me! The security division of the Czech police asks permission to proceed through to assist in defending the radio building."

  The German was tremendously nervous; they could feel his isolation, a foreigner in the heart of an enemy city. Morava added pleadingly: "Let us through, sir; we want as many people as possible to survive this war. Not just ours; yours too!"

  He could see the same wish in the eyes of both young gunners, and the lieutenant seemed to sense this; it probably matched what he was hoping as well.

  "Weiterfahren!" he ordered them onward a bit louder than necessary, and cupped his hands to his mouth to inform the other stations.

  "Let the Czech police through!"

  Sucharda waved, and the truck moved forward.

  "Don't stop!" the captain warned the garage manager. He and Morava each jumped on the cabin step and held on by the window.

  "Danke, Herr Leutnant. Viel Gluck!" Morava wished him.

  He hoped the German wouldn't decide to examine the truck more carefully; the small arsenal might seem provocative.
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  They passed the remaining gunners' nests at a leisurely pace, so as not to provoke a panicked reaction; at any point they could have been mown down. However, Morava felt more like an officer reviewing the anxious, frightened German troops, who were clearly reluctant to throw away their lives on the brink of peace. The policemen rolled uphill past them and heard the noise of battle.

  "Morava!" Sucharda shouted at him across the roof of the cabin. "Let's try the same number again. Men!" He called to the back of the truck. "Coats off, and wrap your rifles in them; don't let the Germans see them till they have to."

  It was a bizarre sight: Fifteen men in helmets removing their long coats and fighting centrifugal force as the truck took the curve past the museum. Behind the concrete wall above the Vinohrady tunnel a couple of crouching men gave them a warning sign, but the excitable Tetera hit the gas instead. At Sucharda's "Stop!" he braked sharply in front of the main entrance to the radio building, which was covered in rolls of barbed wire.

  "Morava, let's go! Men, get down!"

  Behind him he could hear the thuds, snorts, and wheezes of the policemen, pressing the rifles wrapped in coats to their chests; he saluted for the first time in his life at two SS men, armed to the teeth, who nearly filled the entranceway with their bodies. Had he used the correct hand? A shudder ran through him.

  "Griiss Gott," he heard himself bellow at them in a tone of voice he couldn't stand in others. "We're the Protectorate police reinforcements here to defend the German employees!"

  Miraculously the guards stepped aside for the handful of trotting men; uniforms, even foreign ones, still had an impact, and Morava's curt announcement had made the right impression.

  The garage manager disappeared in his truck around the corner.

  "Follow me!" Sucharda ordered from the front and headed across a spacious hall where Germans stood frozen in surprise, facing the staircase. "Third floor, left and to the back, where the announcers' offices are!"

  He himself stopped at the foot of the stairs and slapped his men on the backside like sheep as they ran past. One of the last ones stumbled and dropped his bundle; the carabine fell out of the man's coat and clattered down the stairs.

  A major standing right opposite Sucharda was the first to realize what had happened; he ripped his pistol from its holster.

  "Scheisst doch!" he roared at the others. "Shoot! It's an invasion!"

  He fired at Sucharda at point-blank range and hit him in the forehead; the captain keeled over like a felled tree.

  Jitka, Morava wondered, is this all real or is it a new dream? And if it's real, will I see you soon in our new home? He ducked, picked up the fallen rifle, and ran after his men in a hail of bullets that buzzed past him and opened dozens of small craters in the ceiling and walls.

  Potatoes were coming out his ears, but he kept eating them, because he knew:

  I HAVE TO BE STRONG!

  For five nights he'd slept lightly so he'd hear them coming, and now he'd take a new leap into the unknown; it was too risky to stay. So he tucked into the food like a fattened goose and listened with one ear to the murmur of the radio connecting him to the outside world. Suddenly a melody practically bowled him over. It was the famous Sokol march, the anthem of the most patriotic Czech society, which had been outlawed the first day of the German invasion. Its message flew over airwaves censored till now by the occupiers, exhorting the occupied nation to move forward "with lion's strength on falcon's wings."

  Before he had time to wonder, the song was interrupted, and a voice cut through the ether. Now it sounded agitated, almost like a different person from the familiar announcer who had read out the correct time just a moment before, twelve-thirty—but only in czech, he realized belatedly!

  "We call on the Czech police and all former soldiers: Come immediately to the aid of the Czech radio! The Germans are murdering our people!"

  Along with it he heard a thumping he recognized as distant gunfire. The announcer repeated the call a second and a third time before he understood.

  They're calling me!

  His hour had come, bringing him a new task, just the way he'd known it would that night in the train. Why just punish a few lusty hussies when there was an entire guilty nation out there! He'd seen the Czechs' and Moravians' hour of glory once already, when he was fighting the Hungarians. Now once again his time had come, freeing him from his self-imposed imprisonment. With an iron will he scarfed down the rest of the potatoes.

  I'm a soldier again!

  He pulled on the leather coat he liked the best from the wardrobe; to his surprise it fit him (did it belong to the cuckold next door?) and the pocket would hold his pistol. With an ear to the outside door he listened to the house's murmurings to choose the right time for his exit. Suddenly he remembered.

  The guy!

  The decent thing would be to tell him he was leaving, thank him, and give him his freedom, so he could take off the straps.... The straps! The shorter two around the guy's ankles were from his first schoolbag, a present from her; the longer ones, binding his arms up to the shoulders, were a memento of Simonek and Barecka, two angora goats he'd loved taking out to pasture. These strips of leather were scraps from the bootmaker's workshop next door that she had used to make the shopping bags she sold. Now that the souls were gone, the straps and his beloved knife were the only witnesses to an important stage in his life, as he stood on the threshold of an even more important one.

  He entered the bathroom. The half-pint rattled as he slept; the gag interfered with his breathing.

  Wasn't it awfully strange the way that runt had found him in the train? The way he'd risked his life to hide a parachutist in his home? Maybe the half-pint had something up his sleeve; maybe only his own presence of mind had foiled the guy's plot. He didn't have time to think it through, and so he followed his instincts again....

  Afterward he carefully cleaned his knife, wound the long straps at his sides like an outlaw's belt, and stuck the short ones into his pockets. He closed the door noiselessly, turning the key as the bolt reached the jamb so the neighbor wouldn't hear when it clicked shut. Once again he met no one in the building. Doubtless they were all glued to their radios, listening to the battle.

  I'm going to fight!

  There were no trams, but it wasn't far; he alternated quick walking and slow trotting—the "Indian run," she'd called it a long time ago. "I'll teach you everything he should have taught you, Tony, so no one will ever know you didn't have a father...."

  From Saint Ludmila's onward he could definitely hear gunfire. Clumps of people had positioned themselves anxiously and defiantly within reach of the buildings' front doors. At the Vinohrady Theater he came across his first fighters: a few men, mostly around twenty-five, dressed as the historical moment had caught them, one in a tram driver's uniform, the others in overalls or civilian clothes, wearing hats they had no place to leave. They had two hunting rifles between them and kept a respectful distance from the corner of the sloping street.

  "What's happening?" he asked them.

  "The radio's down there," one man said excitedly. So?

  "There's a side entrance. I know how to get to the studios; I'm a sound technician."

  "So what are we waiting for?"

  "A Kraut's hiding behind the garbage cans," one of the two hunters retorted, "and he keeps firing at us."

  Rypl, called Sergeant Kralik from the depths of time; bob and weave the way I taught you and take that Hungarian down. If you've forgotten how, you're done for.

  Just like in Komarno, he pulled out his pistol and released the safety.

  "Don't be a fool," said the tram driver. "He got two of ours already."

  "Once I take him out," he told them all, "follow me fast!"

  He lay flat on the ground, and then, lightning-fast, he stuck his head out and pulled it back. He had not lost his talent: The picture of the street was as clear in his mind as a photo in a frame, including the two motionless bodies and three garbage cans do
wn by the radio station. Three doorways and an alley separated him from them. He retreated in the direction he'd come, diagonally across the roadway, until he could just see the first entranceway in the cross-street. They must have thought he'd given up, but all he needed was a running start.

  He worked up enough speed that he hit the alcove of the doors opposite before the German could fire. No skill, he realized gratefully. Now he'll be aiming at the middle of the street. He waited for the man's hand to stiffen up a bit, took a deep breath, and hurtled toward the next house on his side. A shot cracked, but too late. His ragged breathing grew calm and he readied himself for the lookout trick again. The soldier had been firing through the chink between the garbage cans, and at some point he would have left the man's angle of vision. So? Careful... head out, then back! And now he was sure: To hit him, the soldier had to straighten up and make himself a target. Still, the German had the advantage of a rifle against a pistol, which couldn't aim precisely at this distance.