Dangerous Territory

Dots and Dashes

Eren ignored him, searched around the kitchen, and found a bottle of wine. Always wine here! He could not wait to have a huge stein of Lagerbier, Dunkles, Pils, Weißbier, at this point he would take any sort of beer! He poured the wine into a metal cup and took a sip, only to flinch. Too sweet!

He wondered if Levi would like this sort of wine. Maybe he could sneak a bottle and share it with him.

Their plan to release the Jews on Saturday was ready. Armin said he met with Krista and two other French women named Sasha and Ymir, and he gave them his ideas. Although Krista had to work as a translator between German and French, they made what would be a foolproof plan. Eren might still be forced to take responsibility, but as an officer, he was determined to accept that burden.

He had been busy, but he wanted to see Levi again, to say goodbye to him ... privately! They would not have the opportunity on Saturday, and he wanted to kiss Levi one last time.

His kisses were sweeter than any French wine.

"Eren?"

Armin's voice was quiet and a little shaky. Eren saw how he looked at the map, like staring at a picture of a ghost.

He pushed aside private fantasies and walked over. "What's wrong?"

"Have you seen the latest maps of the front?"

"Yes, just now in the officer's meeting. Hauptmann Woermann was raving because Leutnant Schultz's platoon was on patrol, and a few of his men thought they saw dust clouds to the east that could have been an army, but no one went to check on it. Woermann declared the entire platoon should be shot. It took both me and Oberleutnant Dietrich to calm him down."

"To the east?" Armin said, growing more nervous. "Earlier today, I went to headquarters and copied the lines on the main map, where the Western Front is now. Leutnant Schultz was there, and he let me see the latest intel from Berlin."

Eren muttered into his cup of wine, "Probably trying to figure out what his men saw."

Armin pointed to one set of lines drawn on his map. "We're here," he said, his finger resting on a spot in northern France near the Belgian border, a village so small, it was not even marked with a name. "According to the map at headquarters, the Allies are at least seventy kilometers south." He pointed to a line he had drawn earlier with the date on the side. "However, this afternoon I pulled out the field radio to test out my new antenna."

"What even is that?" asked Eren, looking at the pole with parallel metal bars. Armin constantly surprised him with his hidden genius.

"A Yagi-Uda antenna. The Japanese invented it. I saw a Funkenwagen in Paris that had this sort of antenna, and I talked to the Nachrichtentruppe controlling it. Basically, it directs the radio waves to one direction, rather than spreading out like a rock tossed into a pond, so you can reach a farther distance."

"You saw it once, and you built it from scratch?"

"That's not the point!" Armin said in frustration. "I decided to test out the range by pointing the antenna to Sedan. That's fifty kilometers away and should be right at the end of my range for a small antenna like this."

"You call that small?" Eren said. The total size of the antenna was bigger than their kitchen table, although it was mostly just thin poles.

"I figured, if we have to leave and head to Metz, we'd take the road through Sedan."

"Right," Eren said, sipping more wine. He recalled driving through the city of Sedan back in May, on his way to this village.

Armin looked up into Eren's face. "I heard only English, no German at all. I thought maybe the signal was skipping, overshooting the city. Then I heard one American say the word Sedan. I couldn't make out precisely what he said, but like he was already in the city of Sedan. I thought that couldn't be right, so I pointed the antenna north, toward Givet, just twenty kilometers away. Same, only English radio chatter. No matter where I point it, it's the same."