They got back into the truck’s cab, not daring to speak until they were clear. Malcolm started the engine, and inched forward as a guard slowly raised the barrier. They were a step nearer, thought Lockhart, but he knew that from here on the steps would get a lot bigger.

Nothing could have prepared Lockhart for the full horror of the concentration camp. He didn’t think that people could get so thin, yet here they were, skeletons that moved, their yellowing skin stretched tightly over their bones. Their faces looked up at him, and Lockhart felt not only revulsion, but guilt at having that reaction. With every head that turned toward him, Lockhart imposed Anna’s face on it, waiting for the moment when the imagined face matched the face in front of him. Perhaps, just perhaps, it would be better if she was dead. It felt awful to think that, but the extent of the suffering of those in front of him was all too horrifically apparent. He didn’t want her to be enduring this, spending each day in such pain and hunger. And, selfishly, he knew that he couldn’t deal with seeing her like this. He had to think of the mission, he had to think of the millions who could die if he didn’t stay in control, not only of himself, but also of the men.

“My God.”

It was Strasser. Malcolm had stayed silent, just shaking his head at what he saw.

“My God,” said Strasser again.

“I’d thought you’d have been to a concentration camp,” said Lockhart.

“No.”

“Really?”

“Really. This…this isn’t what I had expected.”

Lockhart wanted to shout at him, to say to him, “What did you fucking expect?” He wanted to rub his face in it, make him apologize with every breath Strasser had left. But he knew that Strasser too was seeking atonement, that he was with them because he wanted to undo all this, and to undo what he himself had done. Strasser was making the ultimate apology. Like Lockhart, he knew that he wouldn’t be around to see the night fall.

“If only…” Strasser began, and then trailed off.

“If only what?”

“If only everybody in Germany could see this.”

“Then what?”

Strasser turned to Lockhart.

“And then I think it would stop. Then I think we would realize what we were doing to ourselves.”

“But you must have realized.”

Strasser was shaking his head.

“No. We all knew, but we didn’t realize, we didn’t see the reality.”

“It’s still here. It’s still going on. Look at them, Carl! Just look at them!”

Strasser shut his eyes.

“Your wife…”

“Yes?” said Lockhart.

“I’m…I’m so sorry.”

“Is there something you haven’t told me?”

“No. I’m just sorry, just so very, very sorry.”

Whatever the depth of Strasser’s contrition, Lockhart was not going to accept any apology. This was the man who had been threatening to execute both him and Anna no more than a few months ago. Only actions would speak now, actions that would save people, not torture them, not kill them.