A Partisan's Fight - COMPLETED!

Chapter Fifty-Seven

Maps were spread out on her bed as Mina held Hans in one arm. She'd saved all of her father's maps, keeping them close wherever she went. He had dabbled in studying areas that most had overlooked — old bridge locations, underground tunnels, aged houses with historical value, whatever he thought could have a story behind them. She remembered her mother always picking on him for saving them. She'd always say they were useless pieces of paper taking up space meant for something more useful. She remembered her father shaking his head and laughing; reminding her of all the teapots she had taking up space. Mina had always rolled her eyes at the couple's unimportant arguing. Sighing, she looked down at Hans. She'd give anything to have them both back in her life. Back to meet their grandson.

She pushed the little bit of hair off of his forehead. It hadn't taken long for him to fall asleep in her arms after he had finished his bottle. He was a good baby. A better baby than she deserved. It felt good just to cradle him in her arms when she came home. He took her mind off of the intensity of the day, replacing the horrors and shame with hope.

Refocusing on the maps spread out in front of her, she ran her finger along a line running from her hometown to Flossenburg. The line split off into several directions. A single line ran up to Buchenwald, splitting toward Nordhausen. Swallowing hard, she followed the line from Nordhausen to about where the forest would be before the mountains. If they could find where the manhole covers would be for these tunnels they could get the people out through them. It was a long shot, and it would be grueling. But it was a chance. A chance is all that she needed to see. It was the hope that they needed to get through this.

She jumped when light knocking on the door pulled her from her thoughts. She didn't dare want to risk waking Hans up. "Come in." She quietly whispered, hoping she wouldn't have to repeat herself.

Aldrik peeped around the door. He quietly crept in.

Her eyes narrowed a bit as she pulled the maps onto a pile. "What do you want?"

"To apologize." He pulled his hands behind his back, assessing how she'd react.

"Mmm." She shrugged, carefully getting up from the bed to lay Hans down. She straightened a bit, pulling a thin afghan over his sleeping body. He was so peaceful in comparison to her sudden restfulness. She turned to see Aldrik looking through her maps. Slapping his hand away, she pinched his ear and dragged him out of the room. "Do you not know it is rude to snoop?"

"Is it not equally rude to keep secrets as a guest in the house of a friend?" He cocked an eyebrow, prying her fingers off of his ear.

"Not if you do not know where that friend stands." She relinquished her grip, crossing her arms in front of her.

"I stand with you, Mina. I always have. I was just dealing with some stuff. That is all." Shrugging, he rubbed his shoulder nervously. Maybe the weight of how serious this situation was was finally hitting him.

"That is all? We are all dealing with stuff, Aldrik. You took it to a different level." She couldn't stop her brows from knitting together. She knew she looked angrier than how she truly felt, but what did he expect? He deserved more wrath from her then she was giving him. It was dangerous to decide mid-plan that maybe they needed to reconsider. It wasn't all right, nor should it have been. She needed to be able to rely on him, not question if he was going to bail on them part way through their mission.

"A necessary level for the time." His avoidance of meeting her eyes made it obvious that he didn't truly believe that crap.

"That is debatable." Mina couldn't keep the dryness out of her voice as she rolled her eyes.