follow through.
Then I think about my family, my parents and my brother. I think about how my life is so much different now than what I expected as a young girl. A coldness washes over me, and I know now: I can do this.
My hand is shaking as I aim the gun at Gerhardt. He begs and pleads for me to not kill him, but I squeeze the trigger. The gun makes a clicking sound, but it doesn’t fire.
The man claps again. “Congratulations, Katerina, you just graduated and are ready to serve your country!”
The gun did not fire.
It was not loaded, and Gerhardt is not dead. He is lying on the floor, moaning in pain.
“But I didn’t kill him?” I question.
He grins a very sinister and evil grin. “It was not our plan for you to kill him. The whole point of this exercise was to test to see what you would do.”
I look at Gerhardt again. “Look at him. You made me torture him. He could have died from that alone. Why would you do this at his expense? He’s on your side!” I’m angry. They tortured one of their own, called him a traitor just to see how I would react? How barbaric.
“Gerhardt is one of our best operatives. He knows what is expected of him, and he has played his part rather well. And as he has already told you, he will be your handler going forward.”
“But, I thought…” The events that have led up to this point leave me disoriented and confused.
He interrupts my thoughts. “It was all a game, Katerina. A psychological game to see if you were strong enough to follow your instructions to the letter, even if it was someone you cared about.”
My blood continues to boil. I want to hit him! How dare he put me through all this. But before I do something I might regret, I run to Gerhardt and drop to my knees. “I’m so sorry.” I cry.
He can barely talk but whispers, “I’m so proud of you.”
I pull him into my arms, and he mumbles what sounds like “I love you, Katerina.” No, I must have heard him wrong. He cannot be in love with me.
I decide not to acknowledge what I think he said, and I think this all through. I shake my head in disgust. Sick, they are all sick fucks. They play these mind games to manipulate people into doing what they want and then pat themselves on the back when they succeed. I will never forgive either of them for this.
Chapter 8
Paris, France
January 1917
I have been assigned several small missions over the last couple of weeks, and all have been successful for the German government. I’ve spent time in Italy and England, and now, I am back in France. I’m surprised at how quickly a mission can be completed, and usually it is something quite simple. This particular assignment is probably the easiest. American troops are joining the war effort to support her Allies, France, Russia, and Britain. It is my job to find out when they plan to arrive in France.
My training in Germany afforded me a bigger picture of what caused this war and all the events that brought us here. It’s tragic to think disagreements over territory and boundaries could cause so much chaos. Everything came to a head with the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria by a Serbian zealot on June 28, 1914. Exactly one month later, Germany declared war on Russia and France. The British passenger liner, the Lusitania, was sank by a German submarine, killing 128 Americans, further heightening tensions. By the end of 1915, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire were battling Allied powers of Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Montenegro, and Japan. Never has the world experienced a time when so many countries are fighting at once. Now, we call it the Great War.
Germany is a strong enemy, and they are currently winning this war, but they are concerned things will change once the American forces arrive. The thought makes me giddy. Finally, something that will turn in my favor. And so, I have been sent back to France to find out what I can about their arrival and their plans going forward. Paris is now the heart of the French government. At a time early on in this Great War, the French government thought it best to move the government seat to Bordeaux, for they feared Paris would fall to the Germans. But