In the middle of the woods....in Allied Territory
Whistle in the dark.
Lieutenant Raine's plan had been well planned, no doubt. The location he had chosen for the eventual dispatch of the Jew Hunter had been suitable for those kinds of performances. The woods, in Allied Territory, were remote from the people and liveliness within the town at this particular evening of Goebbels', even the Reich, most awaited premiere. At least that was what the Minister, who also happened to be the director, claimed. There were few to suspect this location, lesser to witness or hear something that might raise questions. Colonel Landa was of course a most notorious man, his sudden departure would result in a search by the SS, few would believe this was a matter of desertion. They were fully aware that the man, despite the fact that he uncommonly would participate in certain discussions concerning the new ideology, did in fact love his job. Few could claim he was not good at what he did, agreeing with the reasons for the task or not. The people who had the chance to encounter the man, would find it particularly difficult to support the theory he would just have left his high rank, and for what?
After all, Landa was a detective. He provided no own significance to what people he ought to find, but merely did the job. He was scarcely the one who would execute the actual killings, that he left for the men he had been granted, he would merely point at the target, once he had located it, which wouldn't in most cases take him very long, and they would pull the trigger for him. It was comfortable, many reasoned, a mutual agreement that served Landa just as much as it served the Reich. He would simply discover where the families, addressed as 'enemies of the state', were hiding and they would take care of the less pleasant business. Therefore, if the colonel were to disappear and never return, there would be suspicion, at least among several men of importance. However, by the search had grown so long and desperate that they would eventually reach these exact parts of the forest outside of Paris, all they would discover would be teeth and bones, difficult to notice and harder to identify.
In other words, it was an excellent location for a murder.
If a search, for whatever reasons, were to occur it wasn't the blackened teeth and yellowed bones of Hans Landa they would come find. It would be the remains of a certain American Lieutenant.
Landa's affection towards her, had indeed been welcomed by Florence, for whether she accepted it or not there had been a reason as to why the pistol in her hand had trembled as if it weighed as if it was of lead when she had aimed it towards the colonel. She had not been able to pull the trigger. He did not even appear to be frightened, where he remained, motionless and composed before her. As if the fact that the briefest gesture from her could result in a gun hole in his forehead did not concern him. He had been careless in his approach towards her advantage, it appeared that he was aware of her hesitance, aware that she would not dare. Perhaps a glimpse of unease had flashed before his eyes before he had the chance to blink the sentiment away. She had been the one who held the pistol, who had the possibility to kill, and all justification to as things were, but she had been the one who was frightened. Her hand that had trembled, Now, she cursed herself for it.
The sense of relief had, shortly after Landa's lips had withdrawn from hers and she had found herself unable to take her eyes off the still body besides them, been replaced by a resentful realization that left a bitterness in her mouth. The war was not yet over, she glanced at the elder man before her, and he would make no further attempt to change that.
Boots strode over the slightly damp moss as Landa approached the body and knelt beside it. She was speechless where she stood, she had not dared to move since he had left her. The cold air of the evening embraced her and caused the hair on her back to stand on its end in her shallow dress which was intended for film premieres and not for nightly visits to the woods.
"Tell me what the plan was, Florence," his voice was gentle, yet demanding enough to cause her to doubt that she would dare disobey him. He struggled to get the heavy radio off of the lifeless body. Once it was free of Raine's back he turned it over in order for the antenna to point upwards. When he received no answer, he glanced up at her from the ground. He was not required to repeat the question again.
"We were going to blow up the cinema" she replied ever so quietly, yet it appeared Landa had heard for he nodded shortly and for a second Florence believed she witnessed shock upon his otherwise plain features. He tilted his chin down towards the radio before he placed the headphones over his ears. Florence watched him in silence and did not dare to ask what he was doing, instead she waited patiently for him to address her.
"How?"
"Um," she breathed and her fingers landed over her lips as she received an impatient glare from him. "Donowitz and Ulmer have bombs tied to their legs," she explained hesitantly. "They would go off right after the movie started"
He paused in his work and pulled up the sleeve of his teel uniform to give his wristwatch a brief eye. "That leaves up exactly...a quarter of an hour before the whole cinema blows up," he lifted the microphone to his mouth yet in the manner he casually proceeded it was evident he spoke to no one on the other line just yet. "Now, by that time, or a minute after or so I would think, Hitler would be dead, Goebbels would be dead, in fact most of the German high command would be dead, or the significant ones anyhow." he shrugged as he inspected the front of the radio. "A fine plan, all things considered" he admitted and held out his hand, "You would have ended the war, tonight." he gestured at Florence, who watched him in a cautious anticipation. She did not thank him for his praise, did not even give him a smile yet that merely encouraged him to proceed. "However, I suspect that required my death, or more precisely my death at your hands, did it not?" he raised his brows and watched her, and she forced herself to nod. "Of course Raine could have easily done it by himself, but he would not, for the sake of dramatics, and now look who's very much alive and who's in fact rather dead" he demonstrated a wide, slightly crooked smile and deep visible dimples appeared on his cheeks.
"It seems like you chastise me for it"
"Oh, no, I owe you my life no doubt" he crackled before he wandered his eyes across the ground as if he listened closely to the radio which merely he could hear. "Herrman" he addressed and his tone was now stern and tenable. "There are two men in tuxedos, sitting in seats double zero 23 and double zero 24, with heavy explosives around their ankles. I am located somewhere in Allied Territory along with Fräulein De Simone, we were both kidnapped by Lieutenant Aldo Raine but we have managed to vanquish him." There was a brief pause, "Affirmative" he nodded and ran a hand through his hair as he shifted his weight from one knee to the other, as the position must certainly had become somewhat uncomfortable. Yet the radio itself weighed far too much for the rather small man to lift up from the ground, instead he remained hovered above it with one hand around the microphone and the other on the ground as support. "Over" he crackled before he removed the headphones to indicate that the brief conversation was, indeed, over.
Florence did not require much knowledge of German to understand what it was, a death sentence. Landa rose, wiped his trousers clean of moss and needles before he straightened his uniform. "It might take some time for them to reach us" he explained and took a step over the body beneath him. He attempted to approach her, yet stopped with his head tilted to the side when he noticed that Florence rapidly took a step backwards when he came closer. As if her sudden fear had amused him, he tilted his chin up and lifted his brows in practiced shock. "Is something the matter, Fräulein?"
Florence gave the pistol by his belt a quick glance, "Are you going to shoot me as well, Colonel?" she asked him, for what else could she do, as was demonstrated he could have raised his weapon and pulled the trigger and it would be of no more gain him no more consequences than frightened birds and another corpse to keep him company during the wait for his ride back to Paris. Most certainly she was somewhat better company alive than dead, she just hoped that Landa thought so as well. Here, no practiced charms or false friendliness was required from his side, still he merely chuckled at her bold question and swayed slightly where he stood.
"You're still not listening, Florence" he grimaced at her and shook his head in disappointment.
"I do not speak German-"
She fell silent once he pointed at her, "Still you don't need to speak German to hear that your own name is mentioned, whether it's a false name or not." He spoke and she watched him with knitted brows. "Tell me, why would I mention your name if my intentions were to shoot you, humh? Would it not be wiser not to? Or to simply divulge your true identity which would give me every justification to kill you this very instant?" She nodded shortly, and her gaze dropped to her feet. "No, my intention is not to kill you, Florence" he told her and she wished to ask why, but she bit her tongue.
The darkness of the dusk had grown thicker around them. The shorter man paced around for some time, yet made no attempt to approach her again, in lack of other activities he whistled quietly to himself as he sought for his package of german cigarettes which he kept in his coat, yet when he realized he had left the leather coat, along with the cigarettes, in Mademoiselles Mimieux's small office and frowned. Florence peered at the Colonel before her, as if she feared that a brief moment of disregard could result in a sudden outburst from his side. Although, she was aware that Landa was not altogether a violent man. He could be, she suspected, if the situation required it, but then only if it would prove practical for him. He was too composed, too calculated in his behavior to allow such reckless impulses, as he most certainly considered beating her would be. However, she presumed that he was a self serving man, and therefore she was determined not to trust him. After all, he was the one who had a weapon, and as he had informed her, with one word from him, he was in the common sense of the Reich obliged to kill her.
"There is something you want to ask me?" he had given up on his hunt for cigarettes, which had proved rather hopeless, and now had shifted his position towards her with his hand locked before him.
The fabric of her dress was soft against her numb fingers drops as she pulled it down further over her thighs. She swallowed, ran a trembling hand over her bare upper arm. For him, it was evident that he had been right, that she wished to know of something, but that she hesitated. "I would have offered you my coat, but I'm afraid it's still at the cinema"
She forced a smile with blued lips, "Where did you learn how to speak Italian?"
He scoffed. "I took a few courses" nonchalantly he waved the question away. "My knowledge is most limited, I did not think it would become very useful. Although I must admit it was worth it to see your expressions." he crackled. However he saw how her face paled, and that her countenance had shifted from alert to rigorous.
"Oui, you make no attempt to hide it, sir"
He raised his arms at her bitter remark in an apologizing manner, yet the playful glow in his eyes gave his charade away. "Do not grouch, Fräulein." he sang, then his grin faded and his expression hardened, became blank and grave. "I can assure you, if you were in my position" he gestured at his chest, "You would have laughed as well."
"You knew from the moment we walked into that cinema who we were," she commented and her pupils flared.
"Of course"
"Then why didn't you arrest us right away?" there was a drop of frustration in her tone.
"What's the fun in that? I wanted to see what you had planned, I could have stopped you at any moment I thought it suitable, you were no threat to the premiere" he shrugged. "Not at that point, however." He paused, and keenness shifted across his eyes as if he calculated something. "It appears you are not as affectionate towards me any longer, Florence. What have I done to earn this attitude?"
A dry scoff came from her. "We do not have to pretend anymore, Colonel" she lifted her arms in a despairing gesture and gave him a bleak smile.
"Oh, but that wasn't what you were doing, was it? Most certainly you were advised to keep your distance from me, advise you neglected, and why? Not to end the war, in any case. Perhaps you believed it would gain you something, to seduce me as things were, but I doubt that even you are as witless to think so. No, you just couldn't stay away, could you?"
"You do not know that"
"You would expect that someone working as a spy would be slightly better at hiding their emotions"
Florence clenched her jaw, and the long silence which followed was evidence that she was determined not to divulge anything further to him. Landa merely chuckled dryly at her stubbornness, for her facial expressions were in most cases louder than her words when it came to Fräuline De Simone. Now he could detect that she loathed him. He wrinkled his nose, "It is not my intention to offend you, Fräulein. I have no doubt that you did all you could with the bad hand you were dealt, since I found all german speaking basterds dead in a basement. Germans do not have a good ear for Italian, however, unfortunately for you, I do" He dared to take one step closer to her, and this time she did not back away, did not even flinch. He extended one arm, pulled up the sleeve. "Only five minutes left now. Although, I would guess that your friends have already been taken away and been defused, most officers have more urgency in those matters than myself. But say things had gone according to your plan, then in five minutes everyone inside the cinema would be dead. Including me of course," he murmured, "Still I wouldn't have died in the explosion"
She shook her head, confirmed what he already had announced. "Raine ordered me to kill you"
"Why?" come up without something other too
"I-" she stammered and sought over the trees around them for the answers which would not come to her. "Perhaps they didn't trust me, or....they wanted to teach me a lesson, I-I don't know" she shook her head, met his unyielding stare with uncertain, somber eyes.
"And in the end they couldn't trust you" he stated flatly when he glanced at the body beside them. The Lieutenant's back rested towards the sky, now stripped of the heavy radio he had carried. His face was buried in damped moss, merely the head was visible. The dark pool of blood that had permeated from his wound, through his uniform had dried in the chilly air. "and so their hesitance towards you wasn't entirely uncalled for concerning the turnout"
"You think it was imprudent of me"
"You could have ended the war, Florence, but you chose not to"