The Young and the Beautiful

Chapter 17

A day after, we went back to Herman's apartment in Madrid. It was a small two-bedroom house where we found Josef tied up on a chair with his eyes and mouth covered. He looked far from the strong and intimidating person that he once looked in his picture in Herman's documents. Today, he looked weak and defenseless.

There were two other people in the room. Herman's sister Klara and Herman's friend Friedrich. Klara and Friedrich were responsible to give Josef food and make sure that he won't kill himself.

We were sitting in the living room when we heard Josef scream to catch attention. But I saw how Herman made the whole apartment sound proof so that nobody can hear him scream.

"Like what I told you before, your screams are useless now." Herman said. As we heard their conversations.

"Josef Bachmann your Nazi Identification is W-150246 right?" Herman said.

"W-150246. W-150246. W-150246. W-150246." He repeatedly said. But it isn't working. Josef wasn't responding. So Herman started to say the biography of Josef Bachmann. He purposely mentioned wrong data such as birthday and birthplace.

"So Josef was born in Hanover in 1901. Have you been there? What a nice place don't you think? Hanover had a lot of Rococo architecture that really caught my eyes. Then last Christmas a friend sent me Hanover's very famous Christmas fruit cake when he visited me. Josef's sister married a Frenchman and she detests the Nazis like you because of her marriage." Herman said. He was bluffing Josef and kept on repeating his wrong biography. Until Josef shouted and cannot bear his repetitive statements.

"I am Josef Bachmann of the Third Reich. Heil Hitler! I was born in 1903 in Dresden, not Hanover. Everything you said about Hanover was wrong. It was all Dresden. My sister doesn't despise me. She was gathering data from the French during the war and sent it to me." Josef said. It's true. Josef is the concentration camp commander.

"My sister was maltreated when her husband knew about her espionage for her fatherland. They shaved her head and carved a swastika on her forehead and chest." He added. Josef's sister killed herself recently when she was living in Paris as an outcast.

"Killing people like you has been my greatest achievement for the Reich." Josef said. Then he spat on Herman. Herman is one of the surviving Jews who wished to bring justice for the murders of over 6 million Jews since the Nazis went to power in the 1940s.

We heard Herman punched him and Josef fell on the floor making a huge thudding sound, still tied on the chair he was sitting in. We barged in to help Friedrich take Herman away from him. Herman wasn't able to contain his emotions and was kicking Josef and shouting German phrases to him. Herman cannot kill him now. Justice is almost attainable to them.

"We must send him immediately to Tel Aviv for trial". Friedrich said.

"But how can we do it? We cannot just slam him in a box and send him there like a package." Benjamin replied.

We talked the whole night on how we can smuggle him out of Madrid. The police are now looking for Oscar everywhere. We will be imprisoned and be deported back to our countries if we get caught so we must make the perfect plan. Richard was the architect of the project and he was suggesting plans that will be flawless.

"We must have minimal contact with the police or any law enforcement agencies. But how can we do it? We must travel by sea or by air." He said.

"We can board a ship to Athens but that would take days. Then we can board a plane there to Tel Aviv." Gerardo suggested.

"You read what's exactly on my mind, Gerardo." Richard said, as he smiled and brushed his hair with his hands.

At around two in the morning I arrived home and Mateo, my butler was waiting for me. His wounds are almost gone and his face looked much better. He said that he cannot sleep until I am asleep because he needs to provide me everything I needed. I told him that it's not necessary but he insists on doing his job. I asked him to draw me a bath and handed him English books since he said he wanted to study. I told him that he can start by reading and understanding these children's books since he already understands basic English. I gave him The adventures of Tom Sawyer and asked him to tell me the summary of each chapter he will finish. The Spanish-English dictionary I got him was a big help of course.

I soaked that night in tub thinking on how risky this mission would be again. It would just be how my life used to be during the war. But it will all be over now. After taking a nice warm bath, I sent a message to my contact in the International Community via Morse code. My wife was deep asleep and didn't notice that I went to bed. I hope that we can have even just a day for ourselves. The organization sent us  pink and white flowers with its ribbon borders containing Morse code of their response the next morning saying that they will fund everything that we needed just to get Josef to Tel Aviv.

On our next meeting, we talked about the plan. Herman said that he received the same message as well and has all the cash we needed. He said that we will be given new identities in order to conceal our identities. Richard is now in Athens and is currently arranging our flight to Tel Aviv. While Gerardo and I will be accompanying Klara and Josef. Klara suggested that we need one more woman to pose as my wife to lessen the suspicion. So Herman arranged me to be with his friend Helga.

I went home that night to tell Camila that a Greek friend invited us on his Stag party this weekend in Mykonos. I hope she won't know what I'm up to.

It was a cold winter day in Madrid and the snow started to fall. Everywhere was covered in snow and children were playing snowball fights in the streets. Today is the day where my mission starts. Herman handed me a new forged Spanish passport. Today I will be Pablo Diaz. I am a banker and on a holiday with my wife Helga one of Herman's friends who was named Isadora Diaz for that mission.

We all arrived early in Herman's apartment to prepare the necessary things that we need to do, prepare our scripts so that we'll have one answer when we get interrogated. Everything was all set until he opened the door where we held Josef. He was dead. It looked like somebody killed him before we arrived here. Herman punched the wall and all of us don't know what to do. There's a dead man in his apartment.

Herman and I contacted Richard and the rest of the team to inform them on what happened. They said that they will fly back to Madrid as soon as possible. That night the whole team was complete. Herman and I put Josef's body in the bathroom to make the mess cleanup easier. It looked like someone went to that room last night and shot his head.

"Oh no. We cannot make noise with this now. We need him alive! He was supposed to be tried and be seen by the whole world before he dies." Richard said as he stressfully stoked his hair. Herman was still disappointed on what happened and we were planning on how we can get rid of his body. Do we make it look like he was killed vigilante style? Leave him by the park? Or dump his body somewhere no one knows so that he will be gone forever. I don't know what to do.

"I have a plan. I think we should just leave him in a place wherein there is no one tonight but by tomorrow someone will see him with a paper that says "Josef Bachmann, Nazi. Murderer" just to let the world know that he's dead now." Herman suggested. We all nodded along and Herman and Friedrich took out Josef. They wiped his body with a damp towel to get rid of all fingerprints and wore gloves before handling his body and placed it in the car.

The two men left the apartment and so did we. The night was filled with anxiousness and a possibility that the two men might get caught. I went home and sent a message again to my contact informing him that Josef is now dead. 

The next day, I watched the TV and saw news that Josef was found dead in a park. He had a signage of his name and a swastika logo that was placed just by his torso. It was one of the first Nazi hunting activities that happened in Madrid and all over the world. 

I was jogging around my house when I noticed that somebody was following me. Was it about my recent activities? I decided not go straight home and walked by the park. I glanced over at this man. He looked mysterious and was wearing a hat and a cigarette was dangling over his lips. My heart started to race as if I was in the war again.