Email:
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Chapter
24
Rescue
Steiner heard Amy’s screams long before he saw
her. They echoed sharp and clear
down the canyon, bouncing off the rock
walls.
“Sweinhund!”
he cursed, and quickened his
pace. The object of his pursuit
came into sight a few minutes later.
Klein’s men were so occupied with the rape of their victim that
they did not even see Steiner and his men until it was too
late.
Steiner wasted no time with niceties.
He had very little tolerance for men who made war on women, especially
a woman who had been under his care.
He raised his rifle and fired.
The bullet entered the back of the head of the man who was mounting
Amy and blew out the front of his
forehead. His second shot took
out one of the men standing beside her.
The rest of Steiner’s men joined
in. Their bullets tore into
Klein’s henchmen.
For awhile Amy was too confused to understand what was
happening. Then she realized
that Germans were fighting Germans.
The shooting lasted only a few seconds and then it was all
over. Klein’s men were either
dead or they had surrendered. Klein
himself had disappeared.
She slumped in her bonds, too overwhelmed by her ordeal to attempt to
stand. Then she felt her body
being supported and the handcuffs that held her were unlocked and
removed. She was lowered gently
to the ground.
The man that held her barked out orders.
“Get a blanket or something to cover
her. Bring your canteen over
here. Get the first aid
kit.”
Amy opened her eyes to see who was holding
her. It was
Steiner. She had been rescued
from one German by another. Would
she be any better off?
Steiner lifted her slightly as he wrapped a blanket around
her. Then he held a canteen to
her lips. “Just relax,
Fraulein. I will look after
you.”
After her treatment at the hands of Klein, Amy found Steiner’s words
surprising, but somehow she found his presence to be
reassuring. It was just possible
that he meant what he said.
“Lie still now,” Steiner said as he pulled the blanket back from
her naked body. “I have
to clean your wounds. It would
not do to neglect them and have them become
infected.”
Amy relaxed again. She had been
startled when Steiner had lifted the blanket, but now settled
back. She took him at his
word. Of course, she did not
have too much choice. Even if
he was up to no good there was little she could do about
it.
Steiner was as gentle as Klein had been
brutal. He ordered his men away
to afford Amy a little privacy and then carefully washed and dressed her
cuts and bruises. He was very
gentle.
Surprisingly so for such a virile
man.
“Virile?” Had she actually
thought that? This man was her
enemy. She should expect no mercy
from him.
Steiner covered her with the blanket and left for a few
seconds. He returned with what
was left of Amy’s clothes and brought them to
her.
“I am afraid your clothes are not
presentable,” Steiner apologized.
“I will see if any of my men might have something you can wear
until we get you back to camp.”
Steiner got up and strode off. A
minute later he was back with a pair of pants and a
shirt. “These are a little
large I am afraid, but they will have to
do.”
Amy smiled wearily. She wanted
him to know that she appreciated what he was doing, but that she was too
weak to respond.
Steiner gently caressed her hair.
“Lie back and sleep.
You can worry about your clothes
later. Right now the best thing
for you is rest. I will stay
with you through the night and tomorrow we will see if you are fit to
travel.”
Amy closed her eyes. Within seconds
she fell asleep. Steiner watched
her for a few seconds, then caressing her hair one more time he got up and
supervised the setting up of the camp.
When Amy awoke Steiner was at her side.
She tried to sit up, but slid back with a
groan.
“Don’t try to move,” said
Steiner. “You are pretty
beaten up. I’ll take care
of
you.
“Why
you?” Amy asked
weakly. “What do you
want?”
“I don’t want anything.
There are some Germans with a sense of
honor. We are not all like
Klein. If I find him I will kill
him.”
“Where are my friends?”
“I don’t know where they are.
I have not been able to find them.
I have been searching for you ever since I discovered that Klein kidnapped
you. Now, we have talked
enough. You need
rest. I will be back in an hour
or so to see how you are doing.”
Steiner moved off to supervise some other
task. He had several of his men
working on something. Amy lay
back and followed his advice. She
had no reason to trust Steiner, but somehow she found herself believing
him. Perhaps it was because he
was quite good looking. That
concerned her. She knew that
she could not always judge people on their
appearance.
Except perhaps in the case of
Klein. He had looked like
a fat pig and had turned out to be every bit as bad as he
looked. Maybe Steiner would turn
out to be every bit as good as he looked.
Her eyes closed and she slept again.
When she awoke Steiner was at her side once
more. “It’s getting
a little late in the day,” he said.
“We are going to camp here tonight and then return to the base
camp tomorrow. By then you might
be fit enough to travel.”
“What then?” asked
Amy.
“I mean what happens when we get back to the base
camp?”
“Then I leave. I should
never have captured it from you. I
was just following orders, but I should have known
better. Germans do not make war
on women.”
Amy was glad to hear Steiner’s words, provided he could be
believed. But he seemed genuinely
remorseful. She would just have
to wait and see if he was as good as his
word.
Steiner had been outraged when he returned to the base camp after his fruitless
search for the missing members of the English
expedition. He had spent several
days tramping through the maze of canyons, many of them thick with jungle,
without finding any trace of the missing
women. It was as if they had
never existed. Finally, he had
given up and returned to camp. His
already bad mood was made worse when he learned that in his absence the camp
had been infiltrated and the majority of the
expedition’s
supplies had been
destroyed. He was positively
livid when he learned that Klein had made off with
Amy. It was at that point he
realized that he could no longer faithfully serve the Third
Reich. It was a decision that
had been slowly developing over the past few
months. He had originally joined
the SS as an enthusiastic supporter of the new German
order. But his devotion to the
cause had waned as more and more he had been asked to participate in activities
that grated on his conscience. He
had hoped that his assignment to
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