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"Now I just need a bit more time to heal," he said, as he stood up froly moved his left arm in circles

She said, "It’s been eleven days since you were shot Do you still have pain?"

"Some A deeper, duller pain And not all the tith isn’t back I think I’d better wait a few days yet If it feels alright by next Wednesday, the twenty-fifth, I’ll return to the institute then Sooner, if I improve faster, but certainly no later than next Wednesday"

That night, Laura woke froain to a wheelchair and in which destiny, in the for Chris fro on a pane of glass She was soaked in sweat, and for a while she sat up in bed, listening for noises in the house but hearing nothing other than her son’s steady, low breathing on the bed beside her

Later, unable to get back to sleep, she lay thinking about Stefan Krieger He was an interesting ure

Since Wednesday of the previous week, when he explained that he had becouardian because he had fallen in love with her and wanted to improve the life she had beens for her, had not subjected her tosuitor He ive her tiet to know hiht of him She suspected he would wait years, if necessary, and without complaint He had the patience born of extre she understood

He was quiet, pensive a lot of the tiht melancholy, which she supposed was a result of the horrors he had seen in his long-ago Gers he had done his for which he felt he could never atone After all, he had said that a place in hell was reserved for him He had revealed no more about his past than what he had told her and Chris in the o She sensed, however, that he illing to tell her all the details, those that were a discredit to him as well as those that reflected well on hi froht of him and whether, in any case, she wanted to know more

In spite of the sorrow in him, deep as marrow and dark as blood he had a quiet sense of huh, which Laura counted in his favor His sentle

She still did not love him, and she did not think that she ever would She wondered how she could be so sure of that In fact she lay in the dark bedrooan to suspect that the reason she could not love him was because he was not Danny Her Danny had been a unique man, and with him she had known a love as close to perfection as the world allowed Now, in seeking her affections, Stefan Krieger would be forever in cohost

She recognized the pathos in their situation, and she was glumly aware of the loneliness that her attitude assured In her heart she wanted to be loved and to love in return, but in her relationship with Stefan, she saw only his passion unrequited, her hope unfulfilled

Beside her, Chris hed

I love you, honey, she thought I love you so much

Her son, the only child she could ever have, was the center of her existence now and for the foreseeable future, her pri happened to Chris, Laura knew she would no longer be able to find relief in the dark huedy and cos would becoedy, too black and bleak to be endured

Three blocks from the church Erich Klietmann pulled the white Toyota to the curb and parked on a side street off Pal district Scores of people strolled along the sidewalks, -shopping So shorts and brief tops that Kliet, casually displaying their bodies in a way unknown in his own age Under the iron rule of der Furhrer’s National Socialist Workers’ Party, such shameless behavior wouldn’t be permitted; Hitler’s triumph would result in a different world, where morality would be strictly enforced, where these bare-limbed, brassiereless women would parade themselves only at the risk of imprisonment and reeducation, where decadent creatures wouldn’t be tolerated As he watched their buttocks clench and flex beneath their tight shorts, as he watched unrestrained brsts swaying under the thin fabric of T-shirts, what most disturbed Klietmann was that he desperately wanted to lay with every one of these women even if they were representatives of the deviant strains of humanity that Hitler would abolish

Beside Klietmann, Corporal Rudy von Manstein had unfolded :he s provided by the team of researchers that had located the woman and the boy He said, "Where do we make the hit?"

From an inside pocket of his suit jacket, Klietiven him in the lab He opened it and read aloud: "On state route 111, approxis city limits, the wohway Patrol at eleven-twenty Wednesdaya black Buick Riviera The boy will be with her and will be taken into protective custody Apparently Krieger is there, but we’re not sure; apparently he escapes from the police officer, but we don’t kno"

Von Manstein had already traced a route on the hway 111

"We’ve got thirty-oneat the dashboard clock

"We’ll make it easily," von Manstein said "Fifteen et there early," Klieter before he slips away froet there before the woman and boy are taken into custody because it’ll be far et at them once they’re in jail" He turned around to look at Bracher and Hubatsch in the back seat "Understood?"

They both nodded, but then Sergeant Hubatsch patted the breast rocket of his suit and said, "Sir, what about these sunglasses?"

"What about them?" Klietmann asked impatiently

"Should we put them on now? Will that help us blend with the local citizenry? I’ve been studying the people on the street, and though a lot of thelasses, many of the not to be distracted by scantily clad women, and he saw that Hubatsch was correct More to the point, he realized that not even one of theexecutives Maybe all young executives were in their offices at this hour Whatever the reason for the lack of dark suits and black Bally loafers, Klieth he and his lasses, he decided that wearing his oould give hi in common with some of the locals

When the lieutenant put on his Ray-Bans, so did von Manstein, Bracher, and Hubatsch

"All right, let’s go," Klietency brake and put the car in gear, someone knocked on the driver’sbeside his police officer

Laura sensed that, one way or the other, their ordeal was soon co the institute or die trying, and she had almost reached the point at which an end to fear was desirable regardless of hoas achieved

Wednesday , January 25, Stefan still suffered deep-muscle soreness in his shoulder but no sharp pain No numbness remained in his hand or ared any nerves Because he cautiously had exercised every day, he had th in his left arh to make him confident that he would be able to implement his plan But Laura could see that he was afraid of the trip ahead of hi belt, which Laura had taken froht that Stefan had arrived wounded on her doorstep His fear remained apparent, but the moment that he put on the belt, his anxiety was overlaid with a steely determination

In the kitchen at ten o’clock, each of the Chris, took two of the capsules that would render theas, Vexxon They washed down the preventive with glasses of Hi-C orange drink