City of Thieves

As they wake the next morning, Lev is disappointed that Vika is no longer lying close to him. They file out of the shed on Nazi orders, before someone discovers a dead body—Markov’s denouncer was murdered during the night by one of the other prisoners. Kolya pacifies the Nazi guard, saying, “I told him the peasants hate the Jews even more than your people do” (309), but he realizes he has risked his safety by revealing himself as an educated man who speaks German.

After a meager breakfast, the prisoners are on the road again, marching south with their captors, the Gebirgsjäger company. It is now Wednesday: Lev and Kolya have one day left to find eggs for the colonel. They discuss the likelihood of Vika being responsible for the death of Markov’s denouncer, and Kolya explains her talents as a killer: “She’s NKVD. They have agents in every partisan cell” (312).

When a German convoy passes and Vika recognizes Abendroth, she readies herself to shoot, but Kolya has a better idea. Using his incredible charm, he persuades the Nazis to agree to a bet, in which the talented Lev will play chess with Abendroth.