𝙴𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚗𝚎 - 𝙰𝚗𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚙𝚘𝚒𝚍

Chapter 3

Uncle Hajsky exchanged a puzzled glance with Ladislav, their brows furrowing in shared bewilderment.

"What is Anthropoid?" Ladislav finally broke the oppressive silence.

"We are here," Josef replied, his voice laced with a momentary hesitation, his gaze shifting to Izabela and Jan, "to assassinate SS Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich."

The words silenced the room, leaving the two resistance leaders staring at them in stunned silence.

"Are you completely mad?!" Ladislav erupted, his voice tinged with incredulity, rising in disbelief.

"We have our orders, comrades." Josef calmly responded, his demeanor unwavering.

Ladislav remained undaunted, challenging them with a touch of anger, ""Heydrich? Why stop with Heydrich? Why not have a go at Hitler as well? He's only 300 kilometers down the road in a small village called Berlin."

Josef's composure held firm, his tone collected, "So we report to London that you are refusing to cooperate with our mission?"

This was the final straw for Ladislav. In a surge of fury, he kicked his chair back, leaping to a confrontational stance before Josef. But Josef, swift and resolute, stood his ground, facing Ladislav's wrath head-on.

"How dare you question us!" Ladislav thundered, his voice reverberating through the room.

"You know what we have sacrificed for the cause here?" Josef retorted, matching Ladislav's intensity, and soon the chamber echoed with the clash of their angry voices, the men shouting at one another.

After a tense minute, the anger gradually subsided, and they returned to their seats, the atmosphere heavy with the remnants of their heated exchange.

"You kill Heydrich and Hitler will tear Prague apart." Ladislav warned, his voice carrying a somber warning. "I take it you have family in Czechoslovakia. Father? Mother? You kill Heydrich, then you can consider them and everyone that ever knew you dead."

Josef remained unyielding, his resolve unshaken. "All Czech patriots should be ready to die for their country, that includes my family."

Ladislav's declaration came forth with resolute determination. "Well, I'm not. I want to carry on fighting. We don't have that many left that are willing to do that. We are what's left of the Czech resistance. I suggest a lesser rank should be assassinated. Perhaps a few of them ... "

Jan interjected, his voice cutting through the tension, "Heydrich is the head of the secret police. Only Hitler and Himmler are above him in the Nazi hierarchy."

Ladislav arched an eyebrow, his skepticism evident in his questioning gaze. "Exactly my point, do you really think you'll ever get close enough to assassinate Heydrich?"

Josef's voice held a firm resolve, "Our orders have come direct from the Czech Government in London."

Ladislav's skepticism lingered, his tone laced with doubt. "So, this is about the Czech government in London trying to impress the allies? It was the allies that gave us to the Germans in the first place."

Uncle Hajsky intervened, his voice filled with a mixture of acknowledgement and reflection. "Munich was a betrayal, but it's also now history. I think what the Czech government in London is asking is this, is Czechoslovakia still ready and willing to resist Nazi Germany?"

Turning his attention to Izabela, Josef, and Jan, he offered a solution. "Come with me. I'll take you to one of our safe houses in Prague."

Guided by Uncle Hajsky, Izabela, Josef, and Jan ascended the worn stairs of a five-story building that had weathered the passage of time since its construction in the 1920s.