10678 looked out the window of the hut. It was a lovely evening, she thought. The sun was still catching the tops of the pine trees that stood in freedom on the other side of the wire. A light wind was tickling through them, causing their needles to ripple. Behind them, the sky was a deep blue, reminding her of a summer many years ago, the summer when she had first met him.

She shut her eyes. In her mind, she could walk through the trees, feeling the soft bounce of the dead needles beneath her feet, picking up the occasional pinecone to take back home. When she got out of here, she would take lots of the cones with her, and she and Amy would paint them. She would then arrange them into a pile, and would tell Amy that the pile represented her father, her father who was never going to come back.

She opened her eyes. The wind had stopped blowing through the pines, and now they were quite still. It seemed that everybody was dead. If it wasn’t for Amy, then she would join them. She would walk out of the hut, go over to the electrified wire and climb over it. She would cross the dead ground, and go into the wood, collecting her cones. There would be no rush, because they wouldn’t see her, wouldn’t be able to kill her. How could they touch her, when she too was already dead?

Strasser grinned and opened his eyes. What he saw made him sit up violently, causing a wave of water to wash over the side of the bath.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

“Pointing your gun at you, Carl.”

“I can see that! Is this a game? Just what—”

“Quiet, Carl,” said Leni soothingly. “We don’t want to wake up the rest of the hotel, do we?”

Strasser looked into Leni’s eyes.

“Is this what all you whores do?” he asked.

“Do what?”

“Rob their clients.”

Leni smiled.

“I’m not going to rob you, Carl.”

“So why are you pointing the gun at me?”

“Because I want you to help me.”

“Help you do what?”

“All in good time, Carl, all in good time. First of all I’d like to explain a few things.”

“Go ahead.”

“And I don’t want you to shout again either. Because if you do, I shall turn on the hot tap and leave it running. And if you try to get out of the bath, I shall shoot you.”

Strasser could not believe his senses.

“Leni? Is this a joke? Come on, stop it—it’s not funny.”

“It’s not a joke.”

Leni pulled back the hammer of the P38 with her thumb. She was pleased to see that this small action caused Strasser to swallow.

“You’re a lucky boy, Carl.”

Strasser shook his head slightly. Lucky was the last thing he felt.