Chapter 40

"Put this on," Eva said, ripping open a thin paper sack and handing Wolfgang a pair of latex surgical gloves. "He's right handed."

"I know," Wolfgang answered, leaning against his BMW and pulling on the right glove.

"Do you want ear plugs?" Eva asked with a grin and her brother made a face, knowing they didn't have any with them.

Eva watched as Wolfgang emptied the eight round magazine in her Walther P5 pistol, firing into the side of a gravel covered hill a dozen meters away. They were in the Black Forest, several kilometers along an old road built for the lumber industry twenty years before when logging had been a big business. The place was littered with shot up cans, broken bottles, and tatters of paper targets. It had long been a favorite spot for weekend gun enthusiasts from Stuttgart and the smaller local towns to drink beer and shoot their grandfathers' old Mausers.

"Alright, let me do it..." Eva said, carefully removing the glove from Wolfgang's hand, pulling it inside out from his fingers. She put the latex into a plastic zip-lock bag, closing it tightly while Wolfgang recovered the shell casings with muttered curses. A lot of old brass lay scattered on the ground and he was tempted to let it go, but the habit was a good one and not worth breaking.

An hour later they were driving out of the largely barren hills which were being reforested only slowly. Wolfgang turned onto a paved road heading south and they could see the peak of Feldberg rising some 1500 meters into the low clouds. They weren't far away now. The estate lay just outside the picturesque village of Sankt Blasien and some thirty kilometers equidistant from France to the west and Switzerland to the south.

"We could be making a mistake," Wolfgang said and Eva nodded.

"I know," she replied. "But what choice do we have?"

"We could just quit," Wolfgang suggested. "Tell him we want out and see what he says."

"Mozart betrayed us," Eva said. "He betrayed our Papa, Wolfgang. This isn't about walking away."

"Our father is dead," he sighed. "Is this what he would want?"

"Yes," Eva decided, staring straight ahead. "He loved his country as much as he loved us. We are all betrayed."

They were silent for several minutes before Eva looked at her brother.

"You're having second thoughts. Why?"

"I don't want to lose you," Wolfgang said with a glance. "Nothing else matters to me."

"That's the difference between us then," she turned her head to look out the window. "I can't forgive him."

"I didn't say I forgave him."

"It's the same," Eva said and then shrugged. "Anyway, it will be over soon enough. One way or the other."