“My mother has the information regarding where each child was placed,” she said, barely above a whisper. “I will contact her the moment it’s safe. I promise. Am I clear?” she added more loudly, as though finishing a threat.

While the group of guards passed, Hania dipped her head in an obedient nod, though her eyes glistened. Irena gave a tiny nod in return, then shoved us both into the block, but not before catching my faint smile.

I wanted Irena and Hania both safe, reunited with their children. Surely it wouldn’t take us long to develop a plan, minimizing the amount of time Irena had to stay in such a dangerous position. As for myself, I would do whatever it took. The only way to get justice for my family was to leave this place. Freedom was worth the risk.

Now, in the quiet latrine, I released a slow breath. “If you’re willing, so am I.”

“Me?” Hania asked with a laugh. “What does my willingness have to do with anything?” The genuine confusion on her face was baffling.

“Because you’re coming with us,” I replied. “You and Izaak.”

She didn’t react for a moment, as if unsure that she’d understood me, then she took a few steps away and passed a hand over her headscarf. At last she sighed and turned to face me. “Sonderkommando workers aren’t allowed to see anyone else. You know that. Protz managed to get me around the rule today, and since I can’t get a Sonderkommando worker reassigned, he remains my only means of contacting Izaak, and we have to speak through the fence. It would be impossible to break him out.”

“No, it wouldn’t, because Irena can get access to him.”

“The odds of four people making a successful getaway aren’t good.”

I didn’t understand why she was making the plan so complicated, but I relented with an annoyed sigh. “Fine, we’ll wait until the Home Army attacks and we revolt. There are reports of the Red Army advancing, too, so it can’t be long until—”

“There’s no time to wait. When Izaak and I are free, we’ll meet you in Warsaw to find my sons, but you and Irena have to get out as soon as the plan is in place.”

This time, I was the one who was unsure that I’d heard her correctly. After a moment, I shook my head in adamant refusal. “I’m not going unless you come with me. I won’t leave you, Hania—”

“Enough, Maria.”

The fading evening light slipped through the wooden slats and spilled across the floor and over the concrete benches while we regarded each other in silence. We tended to keep these private meetings brief due to the suffocating stench within the latrines; this time, neither Hania nor I wavered.