The Informer (Sabotage Group BB) (19 page)

He is thinking of Willy. Why he didn’t show up last night as they had arranged. Could he be in trouble? Hell, no. Jens would bet anything that the boy just didn’t want to go to Sweden. Why should he? This is where the war is at. There will be no Germans to kill in Sweden. Willy isn’t the first desperado kid Jens has seen in the resistance. They often end up pulling the trigger with the gun inside their own mouths when they can’t cope anymore.

A garbage truck pulled by a large, brown horse stops at the sidewalk. As he passes it, the horse lifts its tail, taking a dump.

Crossing the street, he spots his own reflection in the window of a fish shop. He stops, trying to straighten his hair using his comb and a fair amount of spit. His clothes are wrinkled and dirty. He is losing it. It is about time he gets out of this mess. He tightens his tie, trying to get it straight.

He crosses the old square Nytorv, kicking at a pigeon. The snow is heavy and wet, and it sticks to his shoes. He doesn’t like to think about what the Gestapo are doing to Alis K at this moment. He is not really feeling sorry for her. She would have killed him yesterday; she was ready to pull the trigger and waste him, and she would have if it hadn’t been for BB. Besides that, he is positive that when the torture makes her spill them out, his name will be the first words coming from her mouth.

Should he feel guilty?

No way.

The Sabotage Group BB was his private business. He formed the group aiming to make money on getting the fleeing Jews to Sweden, but the war is ending. It is only a matter of time before the Germans have lost the war. It is time to dispose of Sabotage Group BB.

‘Never let your emotions get involved in business,
’ his daddy used to say, and he had always tried to keep it that way.
‘You have got to know when it’s time to sell.’

That time is now. He needs to get enough money to start over somewhere far away. Argentina perhaps, or maybe a farm in Africa. One thing is for sure, he is not going back to Magda and the terrible Saeby family. It is all too easy to imagine how that will be with all the brave Saeby men coming home as heroes from the concentration camps. Worse still if one of them died down there. And Jens did what? Why was he one of the few Danish police officers that was not taken away to Kz Buchenwald? Why didn’t he try to warn the Saebys if he knew in advance what would happen to them? No, he had better be far, far away when they get back.

’It’s not all about selling, my boy; it’s even more important how you sell. It might often be wiser to sell bit by bit instead of letting it all go at once.’

He still misses his father. Not the drooling fool in the rocking chair, but his real daddy, like he was before the accident. If he had been alive today…but there is no use thinking like that.

And BB? Well, he was the one getting him to safety in Sweden. You couldn’t blame Jens that BB’s wife had a lover that happened to be a Hipo officer. He had only told BB because he was forced.

No, he doesn’t feel bad about himself. War is war, and this war is the cruelest war in history. All is fair.

He walks the narrow streets to the Daisy Hotel, taking the elevator to the third floor. Knocking on the door to room number 311. Waiting for the “Herein!” before letting himself in.

Steen Langstrup

Award winning Danish author of more than 15 books so far.

Steen Langstrup lives in Copenhagen, Denmark, with his wife and two kids. He has had several works translated and published in foreign languages. His books have been filmed and made into radio plays.

...

I enjoy my readers as much as they enjoy my writing. Stop by my blog,
www.langstrup.com
or email me at
[email protected]
, I answer all emails.

Other ebooks in English by Steen Langstrup:

Metro
,
Crime Noir Short Story

In the Shadow of Sadd
,
Crime Noir Novel co-written with Sara Blaedel, Gretelise Holm and Lars Kjaedegaard

More titles coming soon ...

Sabotage Group BB will return

Colophon

THE INFORMER

Copyright © Steen Langstrup, 2003, 2012

The English translation copyright © Steen Langstrup, 2012

First published in Danish under the title
Stikker
by 2 Feet Entertainment, 2003

1. English edition, ebook, 2012

ISBN 978-87-7994-200-4

2 Feet Entertainment

Dalgas Have 14, 4. tv

DK-2000 Frederiksberg

Denmark

[email protected]

Table of Contents

The Informer

COPENHAGEN · November 1944

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

Colophon