“If I have to tell you that, my young friend, then I fear you will have no future with our agency.”

The boy’s two companions listened to the exchange intently. One of them, a year or two older than his friend, knew exactly what the agent was talking about.

“He means information about people,” he said. “They are looking for informants—am I not right?” he added, glancing now toward the young agent from Berlin.

“You are more shrewd than your friend.”

“You mean… Jews?” asked the younger boy, his eyes widening.

“Keep your voice down, you fool!” snapped the agent with whispered wrath. “Secrecy is our greatest weapon.”

A tense silence followed around the table. The sounds of music and gaiety from the other end of the room penetrated once more into their brains, but only momentarily.

The visitor leaned forward, squinted his eyes as he looked intently into each of the three faces, then spoke in a sinister tone barely loud enough for them to hear.

“Jews. Yes, of course,” he said. “To discover the evil identity of such traitors to the Reich is always a key part of our intent. And when you bring us such information concerning your fellow villagers, such loyalty is not forgotten.”

“But how do we tell you when we find out that someone is a traitor?” asked the eager sixteen-year-old.

“We have ways of passing along information. I will leave you a telephone number. But it is not only Jews we seek. There are other, shall we say, enemies of the Reich not as readily apparent.”

“What kind of enemies?”

“Subversion comes in many guises.”

“Subversion?”

“Those with loose tongues who speak against the Nazi cause, those with other affiliations—Christians, for example, or those with British or American or Russian relatives, or ties of some other kind—the wealthy and powerful are especially interesting to us—aristocrats from old and influential families. My own superior is personally intrigued with such potentially negative affiliations. We are looking for anything that dilutes pure loyalty to the Reich and our Führer….”

As the man spoke, Gustav’s eyebrows rose imperceptibly, though he did his best not to give himself away. His own private thoughts were moving in many directions.

“…anything unusual or out of the ordinary we like to be informed about,” the visitor was saying. “One never knows what might be behind it if one digs deeply and persistently enough, which is why I say to keep your eyes and ears open—to anything. And get in touch with me if you even think I might be interested, do you understand?”

All three nodded.