Page 27 of Who We Think We Are

K ate’s heart is racing, and not just from running. OK, I’m officially freaked out now. What the hell is going on? I haven’t done anything. I probably shouldn’t have taken Svetlana’s picture, but the police were already coming for me before that. Why are they after me?

Kate turns her phone on airplane mode so no one can track her and asks a woman sitting in the opposite seat, “Excuse me, where is this train going?”

The woman looks at Kate like she has three heads and says, “Frankfurt.”

“Nonstop?”

“No, many stops.” The woman hands Kate a schedule. “You can have it. I’m getting off at the next stop.”

“Thanks,” says Kate, trying to read the microscopic print on the schedule.

After six minutes, the train stops at Südkreuz. The woman gets off, and a man takes her place.

The man says, “Hello.”

Kate answers, “Hello.”

“Ah, let me guess, Amerikaner?”

“No,” says Kate. Why is he talking to me? I need to think.

“OK,” says the man. “Kanadisch, then. It could only be one of the two. Britisch, Neuseeland, und Australierin are different. I’m getting good at accents. Where are you off to? I’m going to see family.”

The man prattles on, “I’m going to see my cousin, who has questions to ask me. I haven’t seen her in years. She’s working on our family history and genealogy, doing research and interviewing family members. I say, why dig things up from the past? Don’t you agree?”

Kate doesn’t say anything. She just looks at him.

“Well, don’t you agree?” he asks, narrowing his eyes and pointing at Kate.

“You should. You may not like what you find out. So many things are best kept buried. Digging up secrets will hurt you. Remember that.” Then he chuckles and says, “Oh. And other people will get hurt, too, of course. Especially in post-Nazi Germany.”

After a few minutes, the train pulls up to the Lutherstadt Wittenberg station. “Well, this is my stop. You would do well to remember what I said, Fraulein Kanadisch. Safe travels!”

As the train pulls out of the station, the man looks at Kate from the platform, taps on his temple, and mouths the word “remember” while Kate tries to memorize his features and surreptitiously takes a picture of the short, brown-haired man. Then she turns her phone completely off.

What the hell? What just happened? Am I imagining things?

Was that a warning? A threat? I’ve got to get off this train.

I’m a sitting duck . Kate looks around the car.

No one is looking at her. Then, she looks at the schedule.

The next stop isn’t for another forty-five minutes.

I’m changing to a first-class car. See if someone is following me .

Kate makes her way through three cars to a first-class car.

No one follows her, and only a handful of people are in the new car.

OK, no one followed me. I feel a little safer here .

Now, what’s next? Kate studies the schedule.

I can’t stay on this train, but they’ll know if I change trains.

Cameras are everywhere. Whoever the hell they are.

Calm down and think, Kate! I have to do things they won’t expect.

Kate studies the small map of Germany on the schedule.

The train is moving southwest across Germany.

Toward Belgium! That’s what I’ll do: drive to Belgium and get out of this country as fast as I can.

I’ll get off at Kassel, way before Frankfurt.

They won’t expect that. I’ll rent a car and drive the rest of the way. That’ll be safer than the train.

There is one stop before Kassel, at Leipzig, and Kate stands at the door, ready to hop off the train if someone looks suspicious or approaches her. People disembark, but only a few families with children get on the train.

OK, good. Now I have two hours and twelve minutes until we get to Kassel, so I should sleep.

I’ll be driving all night . Kate snorts at the thought of her sleeping or even closing her eyes right now.

I have so much adrenaline running through my veins; I feel like I drank a whole pot of coffee.

Kate tries, unsuccessfully, to calm herself down.

Mikelia and Jake will both be worried if I don’t call.

I should let Mikelia know where I am and what’s happening, and she can contact Jake.

I would do that in the real world, but since I am now in the Twilight Zone, I am not turning on my phone for even a minute.

They’ll just have to worry. I’m worried, too.

Kate looks at the small map again. It’s like there’s a wall of German cities between Kassel and the Netherlands and Belgium: Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Cologne, and Bonn. I’m going to need a better map. Hopefully, car rental places still have maps.

There is nothing more Kate can do right now, so she works on trying to calm herself again.

What was it that Lilla, her old therapist, had told her?

Take five deep breaths. She takes deep breaths and tries to count to five but keeps losing count at two or three.

It takes her about thirty tries to count five deep breaths. She does feel a little calmer.

Kate stares out at the wet, gray day. Ponds are forming in farmers’ fields.

It has been pouring since Leipzig. Good!

I’ll use my umbrella when I get off the train so the camera won’t see my face .

What am I even thinking? I’ve become paranoid .

No, these are things I must think about in the Twilight Zone .

It’s late afternoon when the train stops in Kassel; Kate has her neon yellow umbrella up as she steps off the train and enters the station.

She finds a bulletin board that has information for tourists.

She finds a car rental company with a silly name, Wagens for Volks, close by.

Perfect! She walks a few blocks and enters a small, dingy trailer office.

A bored-looking young man in his early twenties sits alone at the counter. His name tag says Leon Hundt.

“Hello, Leon,” says Kate. “Quiet day?”

“Ja, dead. What kind of car do you want?”

“A midsize, reliable SUV. What do you have?”

“I can give you a Mercedes or a Volkswagen.”

“Which one gets better gas mileage?”

“They are exactly the same. The Mercedes is black; the Volkswagen is white.”

“OK, I’ll take the Mercedes.” I’ll blend into the night.

They complete the paperwork for a one-way rental, and Leon says, “Where will you be dropping the vehicle off, madam?”

“Does it matter?”

“Not really. We have offices in Amsterdam, Luxembourg, and Brussels. Depending on where you drop the car off, there might be a small adjustment to the final cost.”

“I see from the business cards here that your family owns the company; is that right?”

“Ja, my grandfather.”

“Listen to me closely, Leon. I’m going to pay cash. How much extra would it cost for you to ‘forget,’” Kate makes air quotes, “to ask me for my passport?”

Leon looks back at her and says, “Three hundred euros, madam.”

“Perfect, Leon. You seem like such a nice young man. That won’t get you into too much trouble, will it?”

Leon shrugs.

“Let’s make it four hundred euros.”

“OK, madam. Let me get the car for you.” While Leon gets the car, Kate looks around and sees a map that includes Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

When he returns, Kate asks, “How much for this map, Leon?”

“It’s included in the four hundred euros, madam, and I put half a dozen water bottles in the car for you. Leon smiles for the first time when Kate hands him the cash.