"There's no way we can leave Auschwitz with Wojciechowski unnoticed." Nikolai mused. "The security is too tight. We'd have to either dress him up as one of us...that might work. But we'd need a good reason to leave."
"Christmas."
"What?"
"Christmas. It's a good reason to want to leave Auschwitz." Werner repeated. "I bet loads of officers are going to want to go home to their families."
"True. But not all of us will be able to leave. Some of us have to stay here. And I doubt that both of us would be allowed to go back to our families, that's too much too hope for."
"Scheisse. You're right." Werner agreed. "What about bribery? Is there anyone we can bribe, one of the guards. You know everyone pretty well..."
"No, that won't work. The costs of getting caught is too high. Even if we gave them twenty-thousand Mark they'd report us. Anyone who's accused of being a spy gets shot, Werner. No guard is going to risk the life of his family and his own for twenty-thousand Mark."
"Then what can we do?" Werner cried in exasperation.
"We have to stay in Auschwitz." Nikolai decided.
"What!" Werner hissed. The two had to make sure they were quiet, which was diffectult giving the exciting subject of their discussion. Nikolai made a gesture signaling Werner to keep it down. They were on the end of camp where there were almost no SS-Guards in the late hours, but even if just one single individual heard them it would be game over.
"We have to stay in Auschwitz." Nikolai repeated in a flat tone of voice. "If there's no way even slightly possible to get out without risking both of our lives we have to stay here."
"But Wojciechowski is scheduled to be shot."
"Not scheduled, Werner, he's sentenced." Nikolai corrected. "There's no date yet, that means he probably won't get shot for a while. The nazis aren't dumb you know, they aren't going to immediatally elliminate such a smart man."
"But...but Dr. Ziegler is running tests on him."
"Yes, of course he is." Nikolai snapped. "Don't you get it Werner? You're doctor friend is trying to keep Wojciechowski around as well. I'm guessing the pole is a better doctor than Ziegler himself. Ziegler probably asks him things all the time. But he can't admit that, that's why he's pretending to use Wojciechowski for his experiments."
"You seriously think so?" Werner asked in surprise. The idea had never crossed his mind but it made sense. It was definitely possible.
"Yes, I do." Nikolai snapped again. He then sent Werner an apologetic look. "I'm sorry for having such a short fuse today. I recently got bad news from back home. That's all. It has nothing to do with you Killy." And once again heiter und gutmütig (cheerfull and good-natured) he ruffled his comerades hair.
"What happened back home?" Werner asked after he'd shooed Nikolai's hand out of his hair and readjusted his Frisur (hairstyle) so it looked alright again.
"It's nothing serious. My family just won't move out of Essen. I told them to go to my parents place because they'll be safer there."
"Oh okay."
"I'm just so worried about them, you know? They mean everything to me. I coudn't live if they died."
"Do you really mean that?" Werner asked after a moment of silence. Nikolai looked at him in surprise. It was unusual for somebody to ask such a question to such an statement. Nikolai felt that Werner had been in a similar situation once, or still was.
"I wouldn't kill myself if that's what you were thinking of. But I'd find whoever murdered by family and I'd strangle him to death." Nikolai spoke softly but his tone was dangerous. "I wouldn't care if a thousand people watched me, I wouldn't care if I ended up in prison after. I'd still do it."
"That sounds like a pretty russian thing to do." Werner said. Nikolai shot him a side-ways glance.
"Why Russian?"
"I've heard a lot of stories of Russian men freaking out when they're children, especcially daughters get killed." Werner said with a shrug. Nikolai didn't answer. And for the second time Werner had the suspicion that his friend might be half-russian, something that would make sense to hide. Nikolai didn't answer. His bright blue eyes had darkened and his brow was furrowed. Werner hadn't meant to upset Nikolai, but he also didn't know how to make it better. He wasn't like his friend, he couldn't catch smiles that people had dropped.
"Never say anything about me being Russian again, Killian." Nikolai whispered. His voice once again held that dangerous tone.
"Of course, I'm sorry." But after that night Werner couldn't look at Nikolai the same way anymore. The once so joyious and carefree man had turned out to be a troubled and mysterious soul. Was Nikolai part-russian? Could he possibly even be a soviet spy? It would make sense wouldn't it? Wojciechowski had been accused of employing spies and Nikolai had been quick to agree to help Werner on his mission of saving the polish doctor. Werner pushed his suspicions away as Nikolai handed him a cigarette. It didn't really matter if Nikolai was German or Russian, at least not to Werner.