"I trust you had a good holiday?" General Eichmann asked, looking up from his papers as Mila entered the conference room.

"Oh, yes sir," She nodded with a smile. "Thank you."

She had spent the entire holiday weekend with Josef, slipping away only briefly for her meeting with the Lingards. With no new information to report, and no news on the plans to intercept the transports, their meeting had been rather short. Having been offered, by Catherine, every leftover in the fridge from the previous day's Christmas dinner, she had left with a full stomach and a tin of cinnamon bread in less than an hour.

"Did you spend it with family?" General Eichmann asked casually.

"I'm afraid not," She shook her head. "No family around to spend it with," She shrugged at General Eichmann's questioning look.

"I'm sorry," He replied knowingly, furrowing his brow. "I didn't realize."

"It happened so long ago," She lied, brushing off his concern. "My sister writes from England," She added, though she knew she hadn't and wouldn't be receiving a letter from Gwen any time soon.

She hated it when people pitied her for losing her parents and brother. The looks they gave her ... their brows scrunched up in concern ... their lips turned down into frowns. All it did each time was twist the knife buried within her chest, deeper. She wished someone - anyone - would look at her normally.

Her mind traveled to Josef. He had always treated her normally, never once pitying her for all she'd lost ... probably because he knew, all too well, how it felt to be the subject of people's sympathetic stares.

She was pulled away from her thoughts by the sound of the door to the conference room swinging shut. She looked up, her eyes falling on Lieutenant Hoffmann. Any remnant of a pleasant expression faded from her face as he approached them.

"Good morning sir," Lieutenant Hoffmann saluted General Eichmann. "Ms. Vanderwall," He smiled at her, his eyes lingering on her's a moment too long. She nodded reflexively, before standing, setting to work laying out an agenda for each seat around the conference table. "I have that report you asked for sir," Lieutenant Hoffmann said, handing General Eichmann the folder he held in his hand.

"Thank you Lieutenant," General Eichmann nodded. "Stay safe during your trip," He added, shaking Lieutenant Hoffmann's hand. 'Trip?' Mila thought to herself. Was he taking a holiday or traveling on official business? She hadn't heard anything about a trip during any of the meetings.

"Thank you sir," Lieutenant Hoffmann smiled, glancing at Mila out of the corner of his eye. "I'll be anxiously awaiting my return to the War Office." With that, he turned on his heel, and exited the conference room.

"Would you like me to make copies of that sir?" Mila asked, pointing to the file Lieutenant Hoffmann had handed General Eichmann.

"Oh, no," General Eichmann shook his head. "We won't be discussing it in the meeting today," He said, sliding the folder underneath the stack of papers in front of him, his pleasant demeanor never wavering.

"Alright," She nodded, returning his pleasant smile, though she had a feeling there was more to the story than General Eichmann was letting on.

It had never occurred to her that there might be information not discussed in any of the meetings, not even the security briefings. Was it just a mundane report from the labor camps or something more important meant only for the General's eyes? Lieutenant Hoffmann said he had requested it ... Though he probably requested dozens of reports from the officers under his command. Still, she couldn't shake the gnawing feeling in her gut that, whatever was in that file, she needed to see.

~

"Where is Lieutenant Hoffmann going?" Mila asked, careful to keep her tone casual. She was seated on Josef's bed, the copy of Great Exceptions he had given her for Christmas, opened across her lap, though she hadn't been reading it. Her mind had been preoccupied, as it had been all day, by the file Lieutenant Hoffmann had given General Eichmann that morning. As the General had said, there had been no mention of the file's contents that day, though she was certain she had glimpsed him open it when he had returned to his office from the morning meeting, only before closing his door promptly behind him.

"I believe he's headed up north to the labor camp in Amersfoort," Josef answered, unbuckling his pants and slipping them off, climbing into bed in only his boxers and a white t-shirt. "Why?"

"Just curious," Mila shrugged. "There just wasn't any mention of his trip in the meetings."

"I'm sure its just a routine visit ... Nothing to write home about," He smirked.

"You're probably right," She smiled, though her gut still told her there was something more.

"Are you ready for bed?" Josef asked, propping himself up on his elbow.

"I think I'm going to read in the living room for a bit," She said, holding up the book from her lap. "I don't want to keep you up," She added as his brow furrowed.

"Alright," He replied. "Don't stay gone too long though," He added, squeezing her hand as she climbed off the bed.

"I won't," She smiled, leaning in to give Josef a quick peck on the lips before turning for the door, leaving it cracked open behind her. Truthfully, she had no interest in reading. It was all part of the impromptu plan she had concocted in her head after she had attempted earlier that day to steal a quick peek at the file General Eichmann had left on his desk, only to find his office door uncharacteristically locked.

Her plan, as insane as it sounded, was to break in to the War Office. Not break in, really. She would have a key ... Josef's key to be exact.

The past few days for Josef had been filled with coming in early and staying late in the evening to catch up on the piles of work the long weekend had left. It had made him exhausted. That exhaustion, coupled with the few too many glasses of Scotch he had had to unwind, meant all she had to do was wait for him to fall asleep ... Which probably wouldn't be long. Then, she would borrow his key and slip out to the War Office, returning herself, and the key, before he knew either were gone.

Sitting down on the sofa, she curled up under a blanket, her eyes scanning the pages of her book absentmindedly as she ran the plan over and over again in her head. After a half hour, she closed the book, sitting it down on the side table before standing to her feet.

Slowly, she crept down the hallway, peeking through the crack she had left in Josef's bedroom door. He was lying in bed, his mouth gaped open as he snored loudly against his pillow. She smiled, watching him for a few moments longer, ensuring he was, in fact, asleep.

Tiptoeing back down the hallway, she grabbed his uniform coat off the back of the sofa and rummaged through the pockets before pulling out a ring of silver keys. Pocketing them in her own coat, she put it on and turned for the door. Slipping her purse on her shoulder, she grabbed her heels from the floor beside the door, deciding it would be best to slip them on once outside. Turning the knob, the door opened and shut soundlessly as she stepped out into the night air.