He also lowered his gaze, searching the papers for the names she mentioned, then lightly circled them with his fountain pen.
After she named a few, her lips trembled as she said, “John Brown.”
His hand suddenly stopped, his eyes blinking rapidly. This was a purplish-red name, indicating he was a dissident, a bomb filled with hostility buried in the crowd, ready to explode at any moment. There were many such people, and if it weren’t for this special incident, he would not have been included in the A-list for arrest. This name had another special feature: it was marked with a cross. Before Captain Jacob delivered it, it had already been crossed out in red ink. He instinctively pulled the paper closer to himself.
“John Brown.” Khanyi saw that the pen in his hand had not moved and repeated it in fear.
He slightly furrowed his brow, holding the pen and lightly tracing it on the paper, coldly saying, “Next.”
Seeing his action, Khanyi continued to name the next teacher. There were a total of 12 teachers who had been captured, including her brother.
He clearly did not notice anything different about this man’s name and continued coldly, “Next.”
Khanyi remained silent. She had already named all 12 individuals; they were not all full-time teachers, some were part-time teachers invited by the principal, yet they were all so unfortunate to be captured without reason while teaching that day. She did not know what the densely packed list of various colors represented, but she instinctively felt that perhaps if she named these individuals, as long as he lightly marked them with his pen, it would be a chance for survival for them. She wanted to save more people. She did not know where her courage came from, but she tried to name another name, a common male name in the area.
He searched through the papers and finally found a name near the bottom of the page, quickly circling it. Khanyi’s eyes widened in surprise; she was secretly delighted that she had actually saved someone. This boosted her confidence, and she even forgot her fear. Then she tried to name a female name, the most common name for local girls—Maria.
This time, he flipped through the papers back and forth. She saw his brow slightly furrowing, clearly not finding the name immediately. She suddenly became anxious, her palms sweating. She heard him ask her, “Is it Giovanna Maria? Or Boscolo Maria?”
“Giovanna Maria.” She dared not show any hesitation and immediately answered in fear. She did not dare to continue; if he discovered she was trying to deceive him, it would all be in vain. So she swallowed hard and decisively said, “That’s all.”
“Are you sure that’s all?” He raised his icy blue eyes to look at her, a faint smile appearing on his lips.
“Yes.” She nodded slightly, burying her head lower.
He placed the paper on the table and picked up the telephone receiver. “Anna, have Captain Jacob come to my office.”
In less than a minute, Captain Jacob appeared before him. He pointed at the revised list. “Jacob, check the backgrounds of these people,” he said, gently pushing the two sheets of paper across the smooth surface of the desk to Jacob. He continued, “If there are no issues, let them go.”
“Understood.” Captain Jacob replied crisply.
Khanyi stared wide-eyed at the list as it slid from one side of the table to the other. She wanted to see the names clearly, but their habit was to keep the back of the documents facing up. She could only vaguely see red and green letters inside, with green being the majority.
Captain Jacob quickly picked up the list from the table, his gray-green eyes scanning it swiftly, holding it tightly in his hand, equally inscrutable.
“I have official business to attend to. You wait for me in the reception room outside; it won’t be long,” he glanced at the wall clock, “about until nine o’clock tonight.” “Jacob, have Anna bring some food.”
“Okay, I’ll arrange it right away.” Captain Jacob nodded slightly to him, walked to her side, and gestured for her to follow.
Captain Jacob led her to the reception room outside. Before long, a tall woman in military uniform entered with a sweet blonde girl in a white chef’s coat. The sweet blonde girl smiled at her. “Miss Gianna, here is your dinner. Please enjoy.” She carefully lifted the lid for and then took the chef to deliver another portion to the inner room.
The meal was not lavish but was exquisite: steak, mashed potatoes, a bit of pasta, and wheat bread. She had not eaten a single bite since morning, to be precise, since the afternoon before, but she could not eat at all. In the reception room, she saw people coming and going in the corridor outside. Although it was already 7 PM, the dining hour, they showed no signs of leaving work.
When the blonde secretary Anna left, she did not close the door tightly. Through the narrow gap of the office door, an icy blue gaze watched her for a long time. She quietly sat on the bench in the reception room, mostly staring blankly at the corridor outside. Her eyes occasionally darted to the wall clock, and each time she looked, her frail shoulders seemed to tremble. The food on the table beside her remained untouched, the lid still open, and the food on the desk in the inner office was the same, not even opened.
