Dangerous Territory

Breaking the Calm

By the time Levi and Eren reached the brothel, the building had been surrounded by police cars. Officers were rushing in, and from inside they could hear women screaming.

Levi realized his fears were true. A Gestapo raid!

A chauffeur in a Waffen-SS uniform rushed out of the Mercedes and opened the rear door. Kriminaldirektor Magath stepped out, tall and imposing with icy blue eyes lined with years of hardened experience. With him were two other Gestapo officers.

"Kriminalsekretär Koslow," said Magath, "oversee the arrests. I want them alive, if possible."

"Yes, sir!" said the older, stout one, and he went inside to help with the search.

The younger one was someone Eren recognized: Kriminalassistent Colt Grice. He stood dutifully beside Magath as the Criminal Director oversaw the French police.

They heard a gunshot from within the building, followed by girls screaming in terror.

"Koslow!" Magath yelled. "I said alive."

"That wasn't our side, Herr Kriminaldirektor. Partisans are engaging the police in the basement. Shall we open fire?"

"Try to only wound them." He grumbled to himself. "Incompetent French police. Grice, make sure they block the side entrance we were told about."

"Yes, sir," Colt said, and he jogged around the corner of the building.

At the sound of more gunfire, Levi reached into his purse, plunged his hand through the stolen bandages, and pulled out his gun. Right away, Eren's hand covered over his wrist, holding the weapon down.

"What do you think you can do with that?" he hissed.

"What I can!" Levi growled.

"There are too many."

"Get the hell out of my way!"

Eren slapped a hand over his mouth. Harold and Eren yanked Levi into a hardware store across the street just as Magath turned to see what the noise was.

Levi finally shook off their hands. He turned a scathing look at Eren.

"If you're just going to hold me back, then get the hell out of here."

"Look, even if I gave you all of our guns and you managed a perfect kill-shot with every bullet we collectively have, you still would not be able to kill all of them."

"Then I'll slit the throats of those I miss."

"Levi, please! You need to calm down and think this through."

"Levi? Monsieur Ackerman?"

They all turned as a gray-haired man who was in the hardware store stepped forward. His height shocked Eren, who recognized him as the elderly bookstore owner, Yelena's grandfather. Levi and Harold also knew him.

"Monsieur de Marly," Harold greeted.

"Alexeï, what are you doing here, dammit?" Levi asked the man in French.

"I was just buying some supplies to patch the roof of my bookstore. The storm blew off some shingles, and it's dripping rain water. It already ruined two bookshelves, but luckily they were only old magazines."

"You need to get the hell out of here. It's going to get dangerous."

The old man scoffed and smiled at the warning. "Monsieur, I've seen this city ravaged by three wars. A little police raid isn't scary to me." Alexeï walked over to the boarded up windows and peaked between planks of wood. "Are Yelena's friends in there?"