In the library, the men began to search through the hundreds of books, and her heart dropped when one of them plucked a copy ofBambifrom the shelves. But it was Max’s copy, not hers.
Unless Luzi, for some reason, had decided to place the book in the library.
When the younger agent held it up, she prayed he wouldn’t begin turning the pages.
“This book has been banned,” he said.
She tilted her head, hoping they would see her as a kitten likeMax did, naive and perhaps a little silly. “Why would someone ban a book about deer?”
The men, all four of them, looked confounded by her question.
“Or is it the hunter that they don’t like?” she asked.
The elder agent grabbed the book from his partner’s hands and tossed it onto the floor near the fireplace. “Because Felix Salten is a Jew.”
Sweat glazed Annika’s palms, her pores spilling over when she couldn’t use words.
One of the agents picked up a lamp and began pounding on the walls with the bronze base. She wiped her palms on her skirt as meters became centimeters. Then his lamp was poised to strike the panel that protected her friend.
An image popped into her head—she and Max sitting on this sofa a decade from now, hand in hand. Remembering Luzi together. Max wouldn’t long for Luzi as he once had, not with Annika as his wife.
She didn’t even have to tell these men where Luzi was hidden. They would discover it on their own. Nothing she could do would stop them from finding Luzi. Nothing except...
Words tumbled from her mouth as she stepped in front of the panel. “What do you want from me?”
“We don’t want you,” the man with the lamp said. “We want the treasure you’ve hidden. And the girl.”
More pictures flashed in her mind. This time of Luzi and the child that grew within her. Of Max and his love for the woman behind the panel. Even if he never found out about the baby, Annika would know.
These men of Hitler, they would take both mother and child with them, and no matter what Annika did—marry him,even—Max would never recover from this loss. His heart would be broken, the woman he loved gone.
Annika’s heart quaked, shooting a tremor up her throat, and her voice fled for a moment.
But if she was going to do this, she would have to be strong.
“I’m Luzi Weiss,” she finally said, praying for the strength to press on.
The man studied her appearance as if he didn’t quite believe her. She had no photo to prove it, no certificate, but she did have...
She reached under her collar and slowly pulled out the Star of David necklace. “Max brought me here.”
“You’re not Luzi,” the elder agent said, but the agent near the wall was distracted now, the lamp at his side.
She didn’t refute the agent’s words, but all of them were staring at her. As long as they were focused on her, Luzi would be safe.
She couldn’t think beyond that.
The elder agent stepped forward and eyed the necklace. Then he ripped it off her neck. “You are stupid to tell us so.”
Annika notched her chin up even as the fear swelled within her. “I’m proud of who I am.”
“There’s no pride in being a Jew.” He turned to the man by the wall. “Take her.”
Another agent ran into the room. “We found something in the yard.”
The agent clenched Annika’s arm, forcing her forward. She glanced back at the panel one last time before leaving the castle that she loved.
CHAPTER 38
