Find Her

"Fraulein Heller is missing."

With her brother, Chaim.

The SS Kommandant in Prague stood at the tall windows of the former royal palace, now repurposed. Rebranded.
An SS headquarters.

Behind him, Müller, one of his trusted officers, waited.

“Fraulein Heller,” the Kommandant said.
A pause.
Then, quieter—more dangerous.

“Find her. Jetzt."

Rivka Heller was the key.
Or so Berlin believed.

The project had stalled.
Engineering. Physics. Mathematics.
Every available mind in the Reich had tried—and failed.

Now it was her turn.

She would build the weapon.

Or she would be deported to the East.

With her brother.

The officer cleared his throat.

“Her parents?”

“Gone,” the Kommandant said. “Three months. Whereabouts unknown.”

“Last sighting?”

“She slipped away from a roundup at the university. Then the ghetto.”

“And now?”

The officer hesitated.

“Ich weiß nicht.”

The Kommandant turned slowly.

“Her extended family in Berlin?”

“Already deported.”

A nod.

“The Führer wants her on the project immediately.”

A beat.

“The boy?” the officer asked. “Should we—”

“Nein.”

The word cut clean.

“He is insurance. As long as Fraulein Heller cooperates, the boy lives.”

Silence.

“Where do we search?” the officer asked.

The Kommandant didn’t hesitate.

“Back to the ghetto. The shul.”

He stepped closer.

“Find her.”

Then, almost casually:

“And Müller—if you fail…you will be reassigned to the Eastern Front.”

A pause.

“Or...they may execute you on the spot.”

Müller saluted and left.

As he walked down the long marble corridor, a small smile touched his lips.

Senior officers, he thought.
So dumm. Und schwach.

Perhaps he would execute someone on the spot.

Outside, the Prague street stretched before him—cold, orderly, indifferent.

He adjusted his coat and spoke softly, to no one in particular.

“Fräulein Heller…wo bist du?”

A smile.

“Komm zu mir.”

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Aaron Rose is a software engineer and technology writer at tech-reader.blog and aaronrose.blog.