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secrecy that wound deeply into dead-end trails. It was their own fault for thinking the small bands of Renegades they had raided and caught showed the decline in the old belief system. The Nazis had become complacent, sure of their control, while the strength of the Resistance had grown.
    This last batch of prisoners, hiding in a cave in Missouri, had proven the military’s arrogance. That a band that large had survived and held the type of technology the Gestapo had found confirmed the Resistance was much more resourceful and ingenious than previously believed. Also, it confirmed they were receiving outside help.
    Fifty-one prisoners had been brought in. Fifty-one. Many he watched now, working detail in the windy cold with their flimsy uniforms. The number was astounding. And that didn’t include the ones who had perished during the raid.
    The Commandant glanced at the clock, then resumed his at-ease stance, calm and cool, completely opposite of how he felt, and stared out the window. A bead of sweat formed at his hairline. He quickly wiped it away.
    The young girl in faux-cherubic disguise was to pay him another visit, and he didn’t have any new information. Even after torturing the prisoners, he had been unable to force confessions from any of them, just like all the other enemies of the state who had visited his camp before. Their loyalty still proved unbreakable. One day, though, he was going to find a chink in their armor.
    Worrying about the report, Hans watched the camera feed as a silver Audi Q7 with tinted windows rolled to a stop outside the gates. Two of Commandant Baer’s men, dressed in olive-green tunics and field-grey breeches, stepped out of the checkpoint with their rifles. They fought for purchase against the wind as they made their way to the automobile.
    Commandant Baer turned around and walked away from the window, annoyed at how the two strange teens affected him.
    Pale, blond hair, flawless skin, full lips, perfect-lined facial features. They looked like angels. Beautiful. The epitome of perfection.
    But hidden within the depths of sky-blue eyes, danger lurked—intelligent, cold and calculating, especially the little girl. Her stare sliced right through his aplomb and burrowed into his flesh, leaving him unsure and unsteady, something he was not accustomed to.
    Hans still remembered the way Aalexis had walked into his office with her brother, Xaver, at her side. The boy couldn’t have been older than fourteen, fifteen tops, the girl maybe thirteen.
    Contrary to their youthful appearance, though, they were both tall, very tall. The boy already was close to Hans’ height, and the young girl reached just below his chin. Their demeanor had been mature and rigid, and their speech was thick with a German accent, as if they’d been born in the Fatherland, and devoid of emotion, robot-like.
    Plus, the way Aalexis had gazed at him, as if he was as lowly and detestable as a Renegade.
    The memory unsettled him.
    At the time, Hans would had sent her packing if it wasn’t for his commanding officer, Colonel Fiedler. Apparently, the little girl had some sort of influence over the military and Gestapo , probably the State, too, which was even more unsettling. The Colonel had ordered his complete cooperation without the courtesy of explanation. The only thing Hans’ commanding officer had divulged was that both children were from The Center that had been destroyed, special, and an important link.
    A link to what, Hans hadn’t a clue. The Center had been a lab for genetic research; some children of a purer descent were born there, and the Center developed had specialized training. He held no doubt Aalexis and Xaver were byproducts of one or the other, probably both. But there was nothing extraordinary or new that he was aware of. The Colonel had refused to elaborate when Hans had asked.
    Commandant Baer stared at the wall-length mirror. Besides a slight flush in his cheeks, his external physique hid the