"What if someone saw you come into the village?"
"Don’t worry, Father. No one knows I’m here."
"You are a real hero."
Thanasi sobered up and looked at Zoe. He knelt beside her chair. "What’s your name?"
"Zoe."
He smiled. "You have a beautiful name, Zoe. I’m not a hero. I’m just doing what I have to do."
"Can I call you Thanasi?"
He nodded. "Or Ares," he smirked.
Zoe put her hand on his arm. "You give people hope."
"Don’t romanticize what I am. God gave me the opportunity to fight for the freedom of Greece. Who am I to refuse God’s request?" Thanasi asked with a wink. "Even though I don’t believe in Him."
Zoe wasn’t sure what to say. She couldn’t fault Thanasi because she didn’t believe in God either. She stood and thrust out her hand. "Thank you," she said quietly. Thanasi took her hand and held it for a long moment. His smile and the warmth of his hand flustered Zoe.
"Zoe is one our unsung heroes." Father Haralambos put his arm around Zoe’s shoulders. "She and Eva have worked together to get new identity papers."
"Is that right? You are fighting for our freedom, little sister."
"The sooner we get rid of them, the better," Zoe replied. "The Allies are taking a long time."
"It won’t be long; our liberation will come soon."
Gunfire and raised voices made all three look at each other before Zoe got up and stuck her head out of the door. She saw a squadron of soldiers running toward her and she quickly shut the door.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Zoe turned to face Father Haralambos and Thanasi and blocked the door with her body. The soldiers were running towards them, screaming incoherently and brandishing their rifles. They reminded Zoe of a pack of wolves chasing its prey. For a fleeting moment she imagined the worst—they were after her. Timidly she peeked outside to see what was happening. The soldiers, though, were not after her, but some poor soul who they had captured and were dragging through the narrow street.
"What are you doing?" Father Haralambos asked. "Close the door, Zoe."
"Oh no, the poor man. He’s an escaped Jew from the camp," Zoe muttered. "I have to get back or Despina will wonder where I disappeared to." She opened the door and stuck her head out to see if there were any soldiers lurking around. She waited for a few moments, and then headed out again.
Zoe rounded the corner and stopped. She watched as two motorcycles, a car bearing the flag of a general and a truck proceeded down the street. She hurriedly made her way back to Muller’s residence and watched from across the street as the general got out of his car. His aides fawned over him as they assisted him. I wonder who that tight-assed kraut is. Zoe went to the servant’s entrance of Major Muller’s quarters and entered to find that Despina was in panic mode.
"What’s going on?" Zoe asked.
"Ah, there you are! Fraulein Eva was looking for you."
"What’s going on?" Zoe persisted.
"Don’t ask so many questions."
"I wouldn’t have to ask if someone told me what was going on," Zoe muttered as she walked up the stairs and into Eva’s study.
***
"Where have you been?" Eva asked, as she heard the door open. She continued to write.
"Good morning to you, too, Fraulein Muller. I am fine, thank you, and you?" Zoe replied. She sat on the couch and bounced in place until Eva looked up.
Eva grinned. "You know, Zoe, one of these days—"
"Don’t tell me, I’ll get into trouble. Trouble is my middle name, according to Father Haralambos."
"Where were you? You were up early today."
Zoe picked some nonexistent lint off the couch. "I went to the cemetery."
"Oh."
"Today is my sixteenth birthday. So I took Mama some new flowers and filled her in on what dastardly deeds we were up to." Zoe grinned at Eva.
Eva walked around the desk with a small box in her hand. She hid it from Zoe until the last moment when she sat down on the sofa. "I know," she said and gave Zoe the white box. "Um…I wanted to give you this when you woke up but you had got up early…"
Zoe couldn’t stop grinning as she took the box and opened it. Inside, sitting on a bed of cotton, was an emerald colored opal. She looked up quizzically at Eva, who was smiling.
"October is your birth month and your birth stone is an opal."
"Wow." Zoe picked up the stone and held it to the light. "This is so beautiful. I didn’t know there was a birth stone for the month you were born in."
"There is."
"What’s your birthstone?"
"My birthstone is the garnet."
"What is a garnet?"
"It’s a gemstone. My mother gave me this ring when I turned sixteen." Eva lifted her hand to show Zoe the gold ring with an emerald colored garnet at the center.
"It’s beautiful."
"The color reminds me of your..er.." Eva stammered to a stop, took a breath and smiled. "The opal comes from one of your favorite parts of the world."
"Greece?"
Eva shook her head. "Your other favorite place. Australia."
"Really? Wow." Zoe held the stone in her hand and marveled at its beauty. "Where did you get this?"
"It was mine. My uncle Wilbur went to Australia when I was eight and brought me back some gifts. One of them was this opal. My aunt Marlene sent it to me recently to remind me of home." Eva replied. "Do you like it?"
"I love it!" Zoe squealed and leapt into Eva’s embrace and hugged her. Eva put her arms around Zoe and laughed. "Thank you," Zoe said and gave Eva a kiss on the cheek.
"You can thread it onto your chain if--" Eva stopped speaking when Zoe took the chain around her neck and undid the clasp. She threaded the opal through where it joined the heart that held her mother’s picture.
"This is beautiful, thank you," Zoe repeated and kept touching the opal, which now hung around her neck. "I don’t know when your birthday is; you have never mentioned it."
"I was born January 20, but my birthday isn’t important," Eva replied with a slight shrug and got up from the sofa.
"You will tell me one day why it’s not important."
"You won’t ever take no for an answer, will you?"
"No," Zoe replied and giggled. "If you don’t ask, you never learn. Now I have another question—why is Despina in such a state this morning?"
"General Rhimes has decided to pay us a visit," Eva replied and frowned. She didn’t like the overbearing German general. He always found it amusing to pinch her in the rear and give her a slap for good measure. She had hoped she would be able to get out of greeting him, but her father had insisted.
"Who is General Rhimes?"
"He is in charge of Thessaloniki and the surrounding districts."
"That bastard!" Zoe spat out. "Do you know about the stories with the Jews?"
Eva nodded. She had seen for herself when Muller and she had visited Thessaloniki before arriving in Larissa. "They aren’t just stories."
"You mean they are real?"
"Yes, very real. The Jews are being hunted and exterminated. When we were in Thessaloniki I saw him shoot dead a Jewish man. Just because he felt like it."
"They can’t do that! The Jews aren’t animals," Zoe protested indignantly.
"They can. A Jew is a nothing in the eyes of our Führer." Eva looked up at the portrait of Adolf Hitler in disgust.
Zoe looked distressed at the revelation.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Always, Zoe. If I can, I will answer it."
Zoe hesitated. "Do you...I mean," she stammered, "do you hate the Jews?"
Eva looked up sharply, not anticipating that question. "How can I hate the Jews when I’m helping them?"
Zoe scratched her head. "Well…"
"Not all Germans are barbarians." Eva looked down, unable to meet Zoe’s gaze.
"I didn’t mean to hurt you," Zoe said and went over to Eva
and knelt beside her chair. "I just—"
"I know what you meant. I’m sorry. I just wasn’t expecting that question. I was in the Hitler Youth, but everyone in Germany was, before the war. I don’t hate the Jews." Eva looked at Zoe and their eyes met.
"I wish this war would end." Zoe sighed.
"What are you going to do when this war does end?" Eva asked with curiosity. She had been thinking about the end of the war and what she would be doing with her life. She didn’t know what she wanted, but she knew she had found a friend in Zoe. Their friendship was going to come to an end as soon as the war ended and she was back in Germany.
Eva smiled as Zoe closed her eyes. Eva moved her hand to brush the red-gold hair that fell across Zoe’s eyes and then stopped. Just as quickly she pulled her hand back. Zoe was completely oblivious to the small war being waged within Eva.
No matter how hard she had tried, Eva couldn’t get Zoe out of her mind. The fact that she was with her every day didn’t help. She found she could talk to Zoe so easily. She was tired of being lonely but she wasn’t sure she could live through the torrent of abuse she knew would follow should her relationship with Zoe deepen. The more she longed to be with Zoe, the worse her migraines had become. She tried to fight it but found she wasn’t able to. The best course of action was to stop thinking about her, but that was difficult as well, since they were together for most of the day. She was living in her own version of hell.
Zoe opened her eyes, almost catching Eva’s fond gaze. "What will I do when the war ends?" Zoe repeated. "I want to go to Australia, create some beautiful art and I want to go back to school," she said wistfully. "I want to show the world my art."
Eva smiled. "Can I see the one you were drawing the other day?"
Zoe lowered her eyes and played with the fringe of her skirt. "Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Really?"
Eva nodded and chuckled when Zoe ran out of the room leaving her alone. Zoe rushed back into the room a few moments later with her bag and opened it. "It’s not very good," she muttered, as she handed the drawing to Eva.
Eva was very surprised to see the pencil drawing was of herself with Henry at Athena’s Bluff. They were laughing. "This is great," Eva complimented. "Have you shown Henry?"
"Yes, and he says I’ve given him a big head. He has a big head so I just draw what I see." Zoe laughed, which caused Eva to join her. "You really like it? You were so happy that day and Henry was being so goofy that I couldn’t help but draw it." Zoe sounded shy.
"It’s beautiful," Eva said.
"Just like you," Zoe replied, and blushed furiously. Eva looked at her and decided she wasn’t going to say anything; there wasn’t much to say that wouldn’t involve Eva professing her attraction to Zoe. That was a revelation best left in her dreams. "So." Zoe cleared her throat. "What do you want to do? Will you go and find your lover?"
Eva wasn’t taken aback by Zoe’s bluntness—she was now used to Zoe speaking her mind. "No, I don’t think so."
"Why?"
Eva gazed at Zoe for a long moment. "I don’t feel that way about her anymore."
"Oh, yes…the cure."
Eva wasn’t sure what to make of that almost derisive declaration. "Don’t you believe that’s possible?"
Zoe fingered the opal around her neck and stared down at the floor for some time. "We can’t change what our hearts desire."
"Our heart desires a lot of things. Some of them are not good for us. I know loving women isn’t good for me."
"Well, loving women is a sickness and you have been cured," Zoe replied and with a slight shrug.
"My heart desires Captain Reinhardt and I’ll be getting married soon."
Zoe shook her head. "You’re going to marry someone you don’t love?"
"I do love him."
"Hm, if you say so," Zoe muttered. "I don’t think you love him."
"You don’t?" Eva asked, knowing full well the question may lead to another one of Zoe’s naïve romantic views about love and marriage.
"No, I don’t. I know what you are thinking. I’m sixteen and I don’t know anything about love but my mama’s eyes could light up a room when she saw my papa. Your eyes don’t do that."
"You’re wrong," Eva replied defensively. "I love Captain Reinhardt."
"Uh huh," Zoe muttered.
Eva sighed and then looked up at the clock, grateful that she had to cut the conversation short. "I have to get ready to meet General Rhimes. Did you speak to Father Haralambos?"
"I went to find him, but he wasn’t in church."
"He wasn’t in church?"
"No, so I went to his house. I couldn’t ask him because he had a visitor."
"Is he alright?" Eva asked, grateful for the fact they weren’t discussing her upcoming marriage to Reinhardt. She was concerned for Father Haralambos. They had spent time talking, getting to know each other. She had found out he was a very gifted artist and quite a good singer. They had laughed when Father Haralambos insisted that he gave Eva his singing ability. He regaled her with his memories of a tone deaf Daphne. They had spent some time wiping the tears from their eyes as he shared memories of her mother. Memories she would treasure all her life. The times had been growing shorter and fewer with the watch of Muller and Reinhardt. Eva was happy that Zoe had been making most of the recent trips to the church to pass papers or information to the Father.
"Oh yes, he was fine; he just had a visitor," Zoe said with a grin.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
"So, dear friend, what brings you to my backwater?" Muller asked as he handed Rhimes some wine.
Erik Rhimes was a big, rotund man. His uniform was stretched tight across his stomach and the buttons on his jacket appeared to want to escape. As he sat, he opened the collar of his uniform and exhaled. "Ah, that’s better." He sipped his wine. "I came to warn you."
"You came all the way here to warn me? Don’t tell me we have vermin?" Muller asked.
Rhimes’ booming belly laugh erupted and Muller joined him. "No, no, no. You are going to get a visitor soon to your little backwater."
"Oh?"
"His name is Ares."
"The god of war is paying me a visit?" Muller chuckled. "These Greeks are so inventive. Lousy fighters, but inventive."
"Indeed. I must say that policy of fifty Greeks for one German does prove to be an excellent deterrent. I have to remember to thank General Kiefer for that idea. A stroke of genius. As I was saying, Ares Velouchiotis is coming here."
"Why?"
"To blow up the line and—"
"Again? Damn it, Erik, that line has been blown up so many times. I’m getting tired of telling my men to rebuild it!"
"They want to blow up the train as well."
"But they will be killing the Jews... I guess they will be saving us some work." They both laughed at Muller’s joke. "Still, I don’t understand why he wants to blow up the train."
"Well, according to our informant, to teach us a lesson."
"If it’s a lesson they want, then I’ll be the one to teach it. Give me the men and I’ll take care of every last one of them."
"No. We’re going to do something very different. I want you to put a prominent member of this little backwater on that train."
"Prominent member? How will that stop them from blowing it up?"
***
The door opened and Eva walked in. She had pulled her long, dark hair into a ponytail and wore an elegant suit that matched her eyes.
"Ah, Eva! How wonderful to see you." Rhimes got up and kissed Eva and then pinched her on the behind and gave her a good slap.
"Hello, General," Eva said with a forced smile.
"What is this I hear that you’re getting married to Captain Reinhardt? I’m in the mood to dance. When is the happy day?"
"Very soon, sir. Of course you’re invited."
"I look forward to it," Rhimes replied and motioned for her to join him on the couch. "I was just telling your father how the R
esistance is going to blow up a train."
"Again?" Eva asked.
"Indeed. I think the Greeks believe in blowing something up until it doesn’t exist!" Rhimes smirked. He turned to Muller and repeated his previous order. "I want you to put a prominent member of this town on that train."
"So they won’t blow up the train?" Eva asked.
"You’ve got it. They won’t blow it up if some high and mighty local is on board. Isn’t that just a brilliant idea?"
Muller grinned. "I take it you have someone in mind?"
"I do. I have found that the most prominent member of the community is the local priest. I want your priest on that train."
Eva felt her chest constrict at the thought of that brave, innocent man being used as bait. In the time after finding out that Father Haralambos, the kind, gentle priest, was in fact her real father, Eva’s respect had turned to love. He was everything Hans Muller could never be. When he spoke to her it was as if everything else was secondary. When she confessed her inner most thoughts to him, he listened. He didn’t judge her, didn’t condemn her or try to change her. Where she was expecting hate, she found love. Rejection was replaced with acceptance. The thought that Father Haralambos, her father, would be ripped away from her life again was something she couldn’t accept. I have to do something. Not again.
"Ah, Father Haralambos. You know him well, don’t you, Eva?" Rhimes asked.
"He is a very good man, General. Isn’t there another way?"
"I didn’t know you cared so much about these Greeks." Rhimes scowled at her. "We are at war, Eva. Even the local priest can kill you if given half a chance."
"My Eva is deeply religious. I’ve told her to be careful when she goes down to that church. Last year, in fact, an old woman used an opportunity while she was there to hit you," Muller said as he held his wine ready to drink and watched Eva over the rim of the glass. "I thought about making an example of her and having her shot, but I decided not to at the time. Maybe I should do it now that General Rhimes is in town. What do you think, Eva?"
"She was angry, Father, she—"
"I’m not going to waste a bullet on her." Muller chuckled and waggled his finger at Eva. "Although I am concerned that you continue to take risks each time you leave this house. You are also getting too close to that priest. Getting close to that man is not a good idea."
In The Blood Of The Greeks (Intertwined Souls Series Book 1) Page 22
