Little Soldier

The city of Berlin lay in ruins, dust from the rubble littering the empty streets. There was nothing to be heard but the crackling of fires in burning buildings and the crash of landslides. That's when I saw her for the first time.

I was entrenched at the intersection of Alt-Moabit and Rahel-Hirsch-Straße, at the head of the Moltkebrücke bridge. Our mission was to stop the Allied troops from advancing on the center of the city, or at least try to, since the body of my school friend Heinz had already been there by my side for about half an hour and I, only 10 years old, had not I was good enough with the machine gun, until she appeared, a year older, with the courage of an adult, squeezing through the rubble and dust, came to where I was.

"Need help with the gun, little soldier?" -- she asked seeing me with a scared face like someone who wanted to disappear like Houdini.

"O-Of course."

"I'm Ada, and you?"

"Martin."

I dragged Heinz's body out of the trench as she took control of the machine gun.

It didn't take long for more soldiers to appear and the girl had the machine spitting fire without stopping and without control.

The ground began to shake under our feet and an IS-2 appeared around the corner, aiming its cannon at where we were, followed by dozens of soldiers. There was nothing we could do but surrender.

The truth is that at that time we didn't know what we were fighting for. We only knew that we needed to defend our country from people who wanted to invade and dominate us.

Twenty years went by and here I was fighting another war, but this time I was fighting in the shadows for something I believed in. My mission at that time was to follow Richter Becker, an officer of the Stasi, the East German secret police. He kept a list in his office at home with the names of the leaders of each resistance cell that organized the flight of Germans to the West. We needed to get our hands on that list before he could take it to the Secretary of State who was due back from Moscow in one week.

I was in a bar looking out the window, Becker across the street in a coffee shop where top party leaders used to gather. That's when I saw her and everything around me stopped.

Elegantly dressed, golden hair and pale skin like a china doll.

"That's Sie Becker," Lange whispered, waking me from my momentary hypnosis, "she's Becker's wife."

"Is she going to be a problem?" I asked.

"No. Every morning she goes to her studio and takes the children. We create a diversion for the guards at their house and you go in, take the list and leave. Everything has to be very fast."

That was the plan: Lange would wait for Sie Becker to leave, then Richter, and a few servants would stay in the house who never dared enter Becker's office.

Luck seemed to favor us when that morning the dense fog facilitated my stealth, hiding me from the guards while I climbed over the wall and waited in the garden of the house.

The gates opened and a car with tinted windows, but not completely so that it was possible to see the whiteness of the skin of those who sat in the back seat with someone else. Soon, another vehicle came out taking the opposite direction of the first car, with totally dark windows, but with the window ajar it was possible to see the police officer.

Lange signaled to two colleagues across the street to simulate a fight, which attracted the attention of the guards in front of the house.

I walked in through the front door, but I didn't expect to be greeted by a spitz sitting in the center of the hall glaring at me and snarling.

Someone whistled from the kitchen and the dog bolted, leaving me alone.

I went up the stairs without making any noise and roamed the hall looking door to door looking for where the office was until I came across a locked door.

"I know you," said a female voice behind me, appearing like a ghost.

I turned around scared and a Walther PPK pointed at my face. Finger on the trigger was Sie Becker staring at me with those sky blue eyes.

"You're the guy who was following my husband. I will only ask once. Who are you, what do you want and how did you get into my house?"

"T-That was a misunderstanding..."

"Wrong answer."

A shot rang out. It was part of the plan to keep the guards distracted that in the mock fight someone would pull out a gun and fire.

It was divine providence that gave me a few milliseconds to grab the woman's gun and point it to the side, but she had more strength than she let on trying to point the gun at me again.

I placed her against the wall using my body to keep her from moving.

She looked me in the eyes with hatred, but then her face changed to surprise.

"I know you."

I didn't care, thinking she just wanted to distract me and take back control of the situation.

"I don't want to hurt you, sie, but lives are on the line here" -- she loosened her fingers and I easily took the gun and pointed it at her-- "don't make me do this."

I saw her when she lowered her eyes. She was thoughtful for a few seconds and turned to stare at me with an air of superiority.

I brought the gun close to her chest, but I couldn't to shoot. I didn't want to shoot.

"Need some help with the gun, little soldier?"

I must have stopped breathing for a few moments. My mind traveled to the past to rescue that line.

-- Ada?

"That's my first name. Martin, isn't it?"

"Y-yes, I... you... how...?"

We heard someone's footsteps coming up the stairs. Probably one of the employees. Ada took the gun back from me and pointed it at me again, grabbed me by the arm and dragged me into one of the rooms.

"Sit down," he ordered. I immediately sat on the bed. "After twenty years I caught you breaking into my house. I confess that it is not a reunion that I imagined."

"How did you remember me after all this time?"

"Not many of us left to defend Berlin in '45, I remember everybody. Especially who was with me when we surrendered. And you, did you recognize me only after what I said?"

"It was remarkable. I had just seen my best friend killed, I was scared, and you rise from the dust of war like an angel coming to my aid."

Ada let out an amused laugh.

"The truth was, I was just as scared or more. I wanted to run away when the SS lieutenant sent me to the bridge. Everyone knew that the Red Army was coming."

"After they separated us, I tried to look for you."

"I used to live in the Marzahn district. The soldiers took me there and..." she paused, her face fell and her lips pressed together, "they..."

"I know what the communists did."

With teary eyes, he tried to contain himself. She sat down next to me and put the gun on the nightstand. I took his hand and tried to calm him down.

"Since then I had to submit to horrible things to have something to eat or wear... Until I met Richter. He's not the exemplary husband type. He married to be more prestigious among his comrades, but family was never his priority. All I have are my daughters."

We were silent for a while. I squeezed his hand firmly and looked into his eyes.

"Come with me,"" I said.

"To where?"

"To the west side."

"Are you a counterrevolutionary?"

"Yes, I... I need to get a list of names from your husband's office. I can't let him take those names to his superiors or the party will hunt us down one by one. That's why I broke into his house. I didn't think I'd find you here."

"I had my driver take my daughters and come back for me later."

"We can take them too."

"Martin, I can't."

"Why?"

"It's risky. The police guard the borders and kill anyone caught fleeing to the western side."

"We can protect them."

Ada threw herself around my neck, hugging me tight. I reciprocated by wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her closer to me. I could feel the soft skin of her face on my neck. That delicate little body that housed an intense soul.

"Forgive me, Martin. My daughters will have a safer future staying here than living on the run. Richter would hunt us to the other side of the world." She looked at me with regret. "I swear I want you to get me out of here, take me with you."

Ada turned to the bedside table and, opening the drawer, unhooked a false bottom and took out a key.

"I will help you. It's the little I can do for a friend."

We got up. After checking the hall, she opened the office and we entered, closing the door behind us.

The place was dark, windowless, as gloomy as Stasi prisons. We had to light a lamp to see. The room was decorated at odds with the rest of the house, with cabinets full of files and on the wall behind the desk two huge paintings, one by Stalin and the other by Ulbricht.

We looked through the paperwork on the desk, but nothing regarding the cells. Until Ada opened one of the drawers and saw an unmarked folder, just the symbol of the hammer and the compass. Inside were the files on various leaders and members of counterrevolutionary cells. Leafing through the sheets, we came across mine.

Ada looked at me scared. She knew that if those chips fell into the hands of the Ministry for State Security we would be just corpses in a matter of hours.

We left the office and Ada put the key back in the secret compartment of the drawer.

With the briefcase in hand, the mission was practically accomplished. Ada wrung her hands, watching me about to leave.

"When will we see each other again?" - She asked.

"I don't know, but thanks to you I'll live a few more days"

Ada approached and standing on tiptoe kissed me. I felt her warm lips on mine and her tongue seeking mine. I dropped the folder and brought my hands to the back of her neck, tangling my fingers in her golden hair. I led her to the bed and we lay down undressing each other. I kissed her neck, down her lap to her medium breasts and hard pouts. I snapped, driving her crazy. Panting, she buried her fingers in my hair and hugged me with all her might.

I positioned myself between her legs. She was wet and insanely horny. I entered her slowly, enjoying her moan and her eyes rolling back. Her face took on a rosy hue and our bodies burned. I penetrated her vigorously and felt it reach her uterus, remove it and penetrate it again, dilating the walls that pressed my member.

"Oh! Fuck me, Martin,... yeah, fuck me..."

After some time of faster and faster movements she let out a muffled moan, fearing to be heard by one of the employees.

I took her by the waist and laid down, leaving her on top. She sat down and caressing her own breasts began to ride.

Heavens, I was in love. That angel with delicate features squirming over my member, took speed. I held her by the waist increasing the intensity of the thrusts. Her breasts bouncing free and her almost pleading moan.

Ada stiffened breathlessly on top of me and I followed her spurting my seed into her womb.

We hugged and kissed passionately.

"You need to go now. My driver should be here shortly," she said as she dressed"

"Please, Ada, come with me."

"I can't. My daughters..."

"I'm afraid of what Becker might do to you when he finds those files missing from his office."

She thought.

"You are right. I'm the only one who knows where he hides his office key. I would be the obvious suspect."

"Run away with me, we'll take your daughters, and tonight we'll be crossing the border. From there we can go to the United States, buy a small house on the outskirts of a small country town where Becker can't find us."

"Are you going to abandon the counterrevolution?"

"To protect you, I'll give up anything. I don't worry about the counterrevolution, we know how to deal with unexpected casualties."

"All good."

"Take only what you can get your hands on, you and your daughters. Do you remember where St. Peter's Church was in Mitte?"

"Yes, today it is a lot that people use as a parking lot."

"I'll meet you there in an hour. Let's go to a safe place until nightfall."

After getting dressed, I picked up my briefcase from the floor and peeked out the door into the hallway.

"Go along the west side of the garden. You can hide easier until you jump over the wall." She said and I nodded. We had one last kiss and left.

Needless to say, I got scolded for the delay in the mission. Other than that, Lange agreed to my leaving the resistance after we crossed the border. We picked up Ada and the daughters at the agreed place and went into hiding until nightfall. By now Becker should have released his Stasi dogs after them.

"How are they handling this?" I asked, referring to the girls, who were playing with their dolls in a corner of the liquor store.

"Klem is 12 years old, she already knows we're running away, but Sophia is only 3 years old, she thinks we're going away."

"And you, are you sorry for coming with me?"

"Of course not, Martin," she said, smiling at me. "I made my decision when I handed you that folder. There were only two fates before me: one was torture and life imprisonment, if nothing worse, the other is the one I chose, the hope of freedom for me and my girls, far from the golden cage we lived in."

Lange entered the warehouse next.

"It's time. Let's go?" - he said.

"Yes let's go."

Ada grabbed her things and one of the girls while I carried the youngest in my arms.

"I do not promise that we will not have difficulties, but I promise to be with you when they come."

"I will charge you this promise, little soldier."