Chapter 16 Chapter fifteen

Miss Remus is in pain.She sat stiffly in the hard, straight-backed chair behind the little desk, her self-restraint making her face look like a mask.She dared not move, still wearing her cloche hat, clutching her leather handbag on her lap.Her fat little hands pressed the bag straps rhythmically, and she didn't wear any rings on her fingers. In fact, she wore only one jewelry, which was a small silver cross necklace. Around her, clerks and secretaries in smart uniforms continued to work late, typing away and filing files.According to Dieter's instructions, when they met her eyes, they smiled politely, and every once in a while a girl would say a word to her, bring her water or coffee.

Dieter sat watching her, with Lieutenant Hesse and Stephanie sitting on either side of him.Hans Hesse has the tenacity and calmness of the German working class, calmly watching, and he has seen too many kinds of torture.Stephanie's emotions are less calm, but she's also practicing restraint.She doesn't look too happy, but she doesn't say anything, she lives to please Dieter. Miss Remus's pain was not just physical, and Dieter was well aware of that.Worse than a burst bladder is the fact that she's about to filth herself in front of these well-mannered, well-dressed staff.It was a nightmare for a noble old lady.He admired her perseverance, wondering if she was going to confess and tell him everything, or if she was going to carry on.

A young corporal stood at attention beside Dieter and said, "Excuse me, Major, Major Weber, the office is here." Dieter originally wanted the soldier to send a message that if you want to see me, you can come here by yourself, but he thought that there is no need to tear yourself apart with Weber for the time being, and if you let him a little bit, Weber might be more cooperative. "Okay," he then said to Hesse, "Hans, you know what to ask if she confesses." "Yes, Major." "If she doesn't recruit... Stephanie, can you go to the sports cafe and get me a bottle of beer and a glass?"

"Of course." She couldn't be more grateful to have a reason to leave the room. Dieter followed the corporal to Willi Weber's office.It was a large room at the front of the castle, with three tall windows overlooking the square.Dieter watched the sun set over the town, its slanted light framing the curved arches and buttresses of the medieval church.He saw Stephanie crossing the square in high heels, with the gait of a racehorse, light and graceful and powerful at the same time. Soldiers worked in the square, erecting three stout wooden beams in neat rows.Dieter frowned and said, "Is this the firing squad?"

"Execute the terrorists who survived Sunday's encounter," Webb replied. "I know you've finished interrogating them." Dieter nodded and said, "They told me everything they knew." "Shoot them publicly to warn others who want to join the resistance." "Good idea," said Dieter, "but it would be fine for Gaston, but Bertrand and Geneviève are so badly wounded that I'm surprised they're still going." "They will be carried to God. But that's not what I called you here for. My superiors in Paris keep asking me if there's any new progress."

"And what did you tell them, Willie?" "After forty-eight hours of investigation, you arrested an elderly woman who may or may not have been hiding Confederate agents in her house, and she hasn't said anything yet." "Then what do you wish to tell them?" Weber patted the table seriously. "I wish to tell them that we have taken out the French Resistance!" "That will take more time. Forty-eight hours is not enough." "Why don't you torture the old cow?" "I'm torturing her." "Don't let her go to the toilet! What kind of torture is this?"

"In this case, I think that approach works best." "You always thought you were better than everyone else. You've always been arrogant. But it's the New Germany now, Major. You don't think you're superior to everyone just because you're the son of a professor." "Stop talking nonsense." "Do you really think you could be the youngest head of the Cologne's Criminal Intelligence Department if your father wasn't a leading figure in the university?" "I also have to pass the test like everyone else." "The strange thing is that other people have the same abilities as you, and they never have this good luck."

Did Weber really think so? "For God's sake, Willie, you don't think the whole Cologne police force is conspiring to give me high marks just because my father is a music professor, that's ridiculous!" "This kind of thing used to be commonplace." Dieter sighed, and Weber was half right.It is true that there is privilege protection and nepotism in Germany, but this is not the reason Willy did not make the cut.The real reason is that he is stupid. A person like him can only make a living in an organization where fanatical obedience is more important than individual talent, and there is no other way.

Dieter didn't want to discuss such stupid topics any more. "Don't worry about Miss Remus," he said, "she'll talk right away." He turned and walked towards the door, "We're going to get rid of the resistance group as well, just wait a moment." When he returned to the big office, Miss Remus began to moan softly.After seeing Weber, Dieter lost a little patience and decided to speed up.When Stephanie came back, he put the glass on the table, opened the bottle, and slowly filled it with beer in front of the prisoner.Tears of pain welled up in her eyes, and ran down her plump cheeks.Dieter drank the beer slowly and put down the glass. "Your suffering is almost over, miss," he said. "You will be relieved in a moment, and you will answer my questions in a moment, and then you will be at ease."

She closed her eyes. "Where did you connect with the British agents?" He paused. "How did you recognize each other?" She said nothing. "What's the code?" He waited a moment, and then said: "Think about the answers to these questions, be clear and unmistakable, and tell me as soon as the time comes, without hesitation or explanation. Then your suffering will be over at once." gone." He took the key to the handcuffs from his pocket. "Hans, grab her wrists." He lowered his head and opened the handcuffs that locked her ankles to the table legs, and grabbed her arms. "Follow us, Stephanie," he said, "we're going to the ladies room."

They went out of the room, Stephanie leading the way, Dieter and Hans holding the prisoner, she staggered with difficulty, bent forward, biting her lip.They came to the end of the corridor and stopped in front of the door marked "Ma'am".Miss Remus looked at the door plate and groaned loudly. Dieter said to Stephanie, "Open the door." She did.Inside is a clean, white-tiled room with a sink, towels on a rack, and a row of cubicles. "Well," Dieter said, "the pain is almost over." "Please," she whispered, "let me go." "Where did you connect with the British agents?" Miss Remus cried.Dieter said softly: "Where did you meet those people?" "In the cathedral," she sobbed, "in the basement. Please let me go!" Dieter let out a sigh of satisfaction, and she did.He asked again, "When will you meet them?" "At three o'clock in the afternoon, I go every day." "How do you know each other?" "I'm wearing shoes that don't match, one black and one brown, can I go now?" "One more question, what is the password?" "'Pray for me.'" She tried to move forward, but Dieter held on to her, and Hans on the other side. "'Pray for me,'" Dieter repeated, "did you say it, or did the agent say it?" "The agent said—oh, please!" "Then how do you answer?" "I replied, 'I pray for peace'." "Thank you," Dieter said, letting her go. She rushed to the toilet. Dieter motioned to Stephanie, who also went into the toilet and closed the door. He couldn't hide his pride. "Look, Hans, we've come a long way." Hans was also very happy. "Cathedral basement, every afternoon at three o'clock, black and brown shoes, 'Pray for me,' and answer 'I pray for peace.' Great!" "When you go out, take the prisoner to the cell and hand it over to the Gestapo. They'll arrange for her to disappear in some concentration camp." Hans nodded and said, "That's a little too much, sir. I mean, the lady is quite old." "It's a little bit, but when you think about the terrorists she covered killed German soldiers and French civilians, it's not too much at all, it's not a punishment at all." "It's easy to understand from that point of view, sir." "Look, how does one clue lead to another clue," Dieter said thoughtfully, "Gaston revealed the house, the house led to Miss Remus, and she revealed the basement, the basement can give us... ...leads to what?" He began to think about the best way to use this new information. The point is to catch these agents, but keep London in the dark.If this matter is handled properly, the Allied Forces will send more agents along this route, wasting a lot of resources.There is already a precedent in the Netherlands. More than 50 saboteurs trained at a large price were directly airdropped into the hands of the Germans. Ideally, the next agent from London would go to the cathedral crypt and find Miss Remus waiting there.She took him home, and he radioed back to London that all was well.When he goes out, Dieter will have his code book.Subsequently, Dieter arrested the agent and continued to send messages to London in his name, reading the reply.In fact, the idea that he'll run an entirely fictional resistance group is simply too exciting. Willie Webb came over and asked, "How about it, Major, is the prisoner recruited?" "She recruited." "It's not too late, did she say anything useful?" "You can tell your boss that she confessed her contact location and code. If any agents come here in the future, we can catch them on the spot." Weber was instantly intrigued, though still hostile. "Where do they meet?" Dieter hesitated, he would rather not tell Weber anything, but he would inevitably offend him if he didn't say anything, and he still needed this person's help.All he could say was the truth: "In the basement of the cathedral, at three o'clock in the afternoon." "I should inform Paris." Weber left. Dieter continued to think about what he should do next.The house on Du Bois Avenue was a cutoff point, and no one in the Bollinger Resistance had ever seen Miss Remus.The agents from London didn't know what she looked like, so they needed to identify signs and codes.If he could find someone to impersonate her...but who?Stephanie led Miss Remus out of the toilet. She can do it. She was quite a bit younger than Miss Remus, and she looked completely different, but the agents didn't know that.She was identifiably French, and all she had to do was look after the agents for a day or two. He took Stephanie's arm and said, "The prisoner asked Hans to deal with it. Come on, I'll buy you a glass of champagne." He leads her out of the castle.In the square, where the soldiers had finished their work, the three pillars cast long shadows in the evening light.A handful of locals stood silently and alertly outside the church door. Dieter and Stephanie entered the café, and he ordered a bottle of champagne. "Thank you for helping me today," he said, "I appreciate it." "I love you," she said, "and you love me, I know, even though you never said it." "But how do you feel about everything today? You're French, and it's best not to mention your grandmother's blood, and at least I know you're not a fascist." She shook her head vigorously. "I no longer believe in any country, blood or politics." She said excitedly. "When I was caught by the Gestapo, no Frenchman helped me, and no Jew helped me. Whether it was socialists, liberals or The Communist Party never helped me. I froze to death in prison.” Her face changed, the sexy smile that was always on her lips disappeared, and there was a mocking gleam in her eyes.She seemed to have returned to the terrible scene of the past, folded her arms and trembled, although it was a warm summer night outside. "It's not just cold outside, it's not just the feeling on the surface. I feel the cold penetrate my whole heart, internal organs and bone marrow. I think I may never be warm again, so I just lie in my grave cold." For a long time She didn't speak anymore, and her face turned pale. At this moment, Dieter felt the extreme horror of war.Then she added: "What I can't forget is the fire in your apartment. It was a coal fire. At that time I forgot what that fiery warmth felt like. It made me human again." She never Came back from a trance, "You saved me. You gave me food and wine, and bought me clothes to wear." She smiled as before, it was a challenging and seductive smile, "Accompanied by the raging Charcoal, you are in love with me." He holds her hand. "It's not difficult at all." "You gave me security protection. No one in this world is safe. So, now I only trust you." "Hope you're telling the truth." "certainly." "There's one more thing you can do for me." "Anything goes." "I want you to pretend to be Miss Remus." She raised her carefully manicured eyebrows. "You're going to pretend to be her and go down to the cathedral crypt every afternoon at three o'clock and put on one black shoe and one brown shoe. If someone comes up to you and says 'Pray for me' you answer, 'I pray for peace Pray'. Take this man to the house on Du Bois Avenue and call me." "Sounds simple." The champagne was delivered, and he poured two glasses, ready to tell her frankly: "Although it is very simple, it is also a bit dangerous. If this agent has met Remus before, he will know that you are an impostor. Then you will There is danger. Will you take the risk?" "Is this important to you?" "It's important for war." "I don't care about war." "It's important to me too." "Then I agree." He raises his glass. "Thank you," he said. They clinked glasses and drank it down. In the square outside, gunfire rang out. Through the window, Dieter saw the three human figures tied to the wooden pillars limp, and a row of soldiers put down their rifles.A group of citizens watched from a distance, silent and motionless.