This week’s #teasertuesday is from Shadowboxing, book 1 of my WWII Echoes Rising series.
He was a fool. A fifty-fifty chance as to which was the better entrance to watch and he’d made the wrong choice. Despite Matt insisting he didn’t need anyone to keep lookout for him, Ken hadn’t felt comfortable about returning to the church with the others. It would be too easy for Matt to get caught up in the moment, and Ken wasn’t about to lose him because of it.
But he’d still screwed up and might anyway. No, he wasn’t going to follow through on that thought. Too much had been left unsaid between him and Matt. Selfish as it might be, Ken wanted closure with at least one person in his life. He wasn’t good at relationships and at times was a lousy friend, but he cared about Matt, more than he had for anyone else in his life, his parents aside.
The Germans’ first priority was Lehrer and Gabriel. The logical assumption was that they’d returned, although that scenario was highly unlikely, Ken would have heard them approaching and warned Matt in time. Holm must have entered through the back door, making his way back to the Kaffeehaus on foot, as there was no sign of any vehicle. Those had come later when the Gestapo had returned in force, and by then it was too late.
He heard voices coming from the Kaffeehaus, and strained to hear what was being said. “He said what?” Holm was annoyed, and his tone held an edge of disbelief.
“Lehrer said the plans were incomplete, sir. He implied we still needed him, and proposed a trade…” Reiniger paused. “He proposed trading his services for Schmitz’s life… sir.”
Holm laughed. “That’s an interesting proposition, but I doubt it would work in practice.” His tone became very calm. It sent a shiver down Ken’s spine. “When we find Lehrer, we need to show him that the Gestapo do not negotiate with traitors.”
Read more of this story here.
Drops of Ink 