Thirty minutes later, at the first of the seven locations they had to search, he stood by while the men under his charge dragged the family of six from their beds. He hated it when they begged for mercy. Screaming he could tolerate. Begging filled him with nauseating disgust. It made him want to plunge a knife into their hearts right on the spot.

He remembered the night last year at Poznan when the big hulking fellow had gone down on his knees, begging for mercy to be shown his wife and three youngsters. The cowardly display had made him sick. He had nearly vomited all over the dog! What kind of men were these Jews that they would allow themselves to fall to such depths of depravity? They were the ones who supposedly believed in some future life—why couldn’t they face death like men!

Begging hadn’t saved a single one of them. They had their religion and their God. Let them silently say their prayers and let the inevitable come without so much fuss.

What good had the big fellow’s begging done anyway? Only that his wife had to see the blood oozing out of the side of his head a moment later as he slumped senseless to the ground. She had only made matters worse by then falling upon his body, screaming hysterically and calling out to their desert God.

The chief smiled at the thought of her invoking the wrath of Yahweh, whoever she meant, to destroy the evil Nazis with the fire of his vengeance. The Nazis might be destroyed one day, he thought to himself, but certainly not by some celestial bolt of lightning!

They were fools, every one! He had made a special point of taking up a rifle later that night and aiming it at the whole lot of the cowardly family.

He liked to take a personal hand in the executions whenever it was convenient. It kept him from getting too soft.

The crying of a little urchin at his feet brought the section chief back to the present. He whacked him across the face with the back of his hand, yelling out a foul oath as he did, commanding the parents to keep their brat quiet.

He was in no mood for all this. He wanted that rabbi!

But it was clear there was no information to be gained about either him or Luddoff here. These poor idiots were such fools it was obvious they were making no plans to escape. They had no idea what was about to come upon them! It would do no good to torture them. They would know nothing about Luddoff!

He walked back to his car and lit up a cigarette, while the storm troopers threw the six into the back of the wagon. He climbed in behind the wheel, waited for the cars and truck to rumble off, then followed them to the next house on the list.