Chapter 33 Chapter Thirty-Two

The parachute went off without a hitch.The boxes were pushed out first so they wouldn't hit the paratroopers' heads.The jackdaws then took turns sitting on top of the chute, and the dispatcher patted them on the shoulder, and they slid down the chute into the air. Flick stayed last to jump.As soon as she jumped, Hudson turned and headed north, disappearing into the night.She wished the entire crew the best of luck.It was almost daylight.Because of delays throughout the night, they had to make their final flight in dangerous daylight. Flick landed perfectly, landing with her knees bent and her hands tucked at her sides.She lay motionless for a while.French land, she thought in horror, is enemy territory.Now, she's a criminal, a terrorist, and a spy.If she is caught, she will be executed.

She pushed these thoughts away and stood up.A few yards away, a donkey stood in the moonlight watching her, then lowered its head to graze.She can see three boxes nearby.In the distance, half a dozen members of the resistance group were scattered across the field, two by two lifting heavy boxes and moving them away. She freed her parachute straps, helmet and flight suit.While she was busy, a young man ran towards her, breathless and said in French: "We are not here to pick up any personnel, only supplies!" "The plans have changed," she said. "Don't worry, is Anton with you?" Anton was the code name for the leader of the Parish Council's resistance group.

"he is." "Tell him 'The Leopard' is coming." "Oh - you are the 'female leopard'?" He was very surprised. "yes." "I'm 'Knight'. Nice to meet you." She glanced skyward.The sky has turned from black to gray. "Please find Anton as soon as possible, 'Knight', and tell him we have six people to transport. There is no time left." "Okay." He hurried away. She folded the parachute into a small bundle and went looking for other Jackdaws.Greta landed on a tree and was skinned as she grazed the upper branches, but came to a stop with no serious injuries.She managed to get the harness off and climbed down from the tree.Everyone else landed safely on the grass. "I'm very proud of myself," said Jelly, "but I wouldn't do it a second time for a million pounds."

Flick noticed that the people from the resistance organization were taking the boxes to the south end of the empty field, so he led the "jackdaws" there.Parked there she saw a construction wagon, a horse-drawn carriage, and an old Lincoln sedan with its lid removed and powered by something like a steam motor.She wasn't surprised that only the most basic transportation operations could get gasoline, and the French had come up with all sorts of ingenious ways to start their cars. The Resistance Team men had loaded the boxes onto the wagon and were now covering them with empty vegetable boxes, and more boxes were loaded on the back of the construction wagon.The man who directed the work was Anton, a thin man of about forty, wearing a greasy hat, a blue work jacket, and a yellow French cigarette dangling from his mouth.He stared at them in surprise. "Six women?" he said. "Is this the women's sewing group?"

If someone made fun of a woman, it was best to ignore it, Flick knew that already.She said to him solemnly: "This is the most important operation I have led, and I need your help." "certainly." "We're going to Paris by train." "I can send you to Chartres." He looked up at the sky, calculating how much time it would take until dawn.Then he pointed to the end of the field, and a farmhouse was faintly visible. "You can hide in a barn first, and come back to pick you up after we finish disposing of these boxes." "That's not a good idea." Flick said decisively, "We can't stop, we have to go."

"The first train to Paris leaves at ten o'clock, and I can drop you off before ten o'clock." "Bullshit, no one knows when the trains leave." That's true.Allied bombing, combined with sabotage by resistance groups and deliberate errors by rail workers who resisted the Nazis, had completely messed up train schedules.The only thing to do is to go to the station and wait until the train shows up.But it's best to get there early. "Put the box in the barn and take us now." "Impossible," he said, "I must hide these supplies before daybreak."

Everyone stopped working and listened to the two of them arguing. Flick sighed.In Anton's world, the guns and bullets in the box are the most important.They are the source of his power and prestige."It's more important than that, trust me," she said. "Sorry--" "Anton, listen to me. If you don't promise me, I promise you, you will never get another box from England. You know very well that I will do what I say, and you can do it." A short pause.Anton didn't want to compromise in front of his own people.However, if the supply of weapons is interrupted, these people will go elsewhere.This was the only advantage British officers could use against the French Resistance.

But the advantage does work.He glared at her.Slowly, he took the end of the cigarette out of his mouth, squeezed it out, and threw it on the ground. "Okay then," he said, "get in the car." The women helped unload the boxes and climbed into the car one by one.The floor was dirty, full of cement, dirt and oil.But they found some rag bags for cushions, so they wouldn't have to sit on the floor and get their clothes dirty.Anton closed the car door for them. "Knight" got into the cab. "Now, ladies," he said in English, "we're moving!" Flick said dryly in French: "Don't joke, please, and don't speak English."

He started the car. After flying five hundred miles on the metal floor of a bomber cabin, the Jackdaws had twenty miles to go in the back of a builder's wagon.Surprisingly, it was "Jelly" - the oldest, fattest, most unfit of the six, but also the most stoic, joking about inconveniences of one sort or another, losing control and tipping over when the caravan took a sharp turn On the one hand, she also kept laughing to herself. But when the sun rose and the caravan entered the small town of Chartres, everyone's mood became gloomy again.Maud said, "I can't believe I'm doing this." Diana squeezed her hand.

Flick planned ahead. "From now on, we'll be in pairs," she said.The group divisions are fixed during the finishing school.Flick puts Diana in a group with Maude, and Diana will make a fuss if she doesn't.Flick herself teamed up with Ruby, who was the smartest of the Jackdaws, because she wanted someone to consult with when she had problems.Unfortunately, Greta can only be with Jelly. "I still can't figure out why I'm with a foreigner," said Jelly. "This isn't a tea party," Flick said angrily. "You can't sit with your best friend. This is a military operation. Do what you're told."

"Jelly" closed his mouth. "We still have to revise the story we made up to explain why we took the train," Flick continued. "Any ideas?" Greta said: "I am the wife of Major Lammer, a German officer working in Paris, and I am traveling with my French maid. I was going to visit the cathedral in Reims. Now, I think, I should visit Returning from Chartres Cathedral." "Very nice. Diana?" "Maud and I are both secretaries, working for an electrical company in Reims. We came to Chartres because... Maud lost contact with her fiancé, and we thought he would be here, but we couldn't find him." Flick nodded, expressing satisfaction.There are thousands of French women looking for missing relatives, especially young men who may have been injured in the bombing, arrested by the Gestapo, sent to German labor camps, or recruited by the resistance. She said: "I am a widow whose husband was a stockbroker who was murdered in 1940. I came to Chartres to pick up my bereaved cousin and bring her to live with me in Reims." One of the great advantages of women being agents is that they can move around the country without arousing suspicion.By contrast, a man who is found outside his workplace is automatically viewed as a resistance, and young people are especially suspicious. Flick said to the driver: "'Cavalier', let us get off in a quiet place." In occupied France, people used whatever mode of transportation they could get their hands on.Even so, the sight of six well-dressed women climbing out of the back of a builder's wagon was a bold enough sight to call attention to. "We can find the train station ourselves." He stopped the car a few minutes later, turned around, and jumped out to open the back door for them. The "Jackdaws" got out of the car and found that it was a narrow alley paved with cobblestones, with tall houses on both sides.Through the gap in the roof they could see a corner of the cathedral. Flick repeated the plan to everyone: "We go to the train station, buy a one-way ticket to Paris when we get there, and take the first train. Each couple has to pretend that they don't know each other, but we are on the train. We will meet you in Paris, you know the address.” They were going to a cheap hotel called the Hotel Chapel, where the proprietress, though not from the Resistance, was trustworthy and would not ask any questions. question.If they arrived in time, they could transfer to Reims immediately.Otherwise they will spend the night in a hotel.Flick didn't want to go to Paris—it was full of the Gestapo and their accomplices—but he had to go through it to get on the train. Only Flick and Greta know the real mission of the "Jackdaw", others still think they want to blow up the railway tunnel. "Diana and Maude go first, go, go! Then Jelly and Greta, slow down." They walked away, looking a little scared. Knight shook hands with them, wished them luck, and drove back across the field to collect the remaining boxes.Flick and Ruby also came out of the alley. The first few steps in a French town always feel terrible.Flicker felt that everyone he met knew who she was, as if she had a sign on her back that said "This is a British agent, shoot her".But people walked past her unimpressed, and it was only after she brushed past a gendarme and several German officers that her pulse began to return to normal. She still finds it weird.All her life she had been of good character, and had been taught to respect the police as friends. "I hate being on the wrong side of the law," she whispered to Ruby in French, "as if I've done something wicked." Ruby chuckled twice. "I'm used to it," she said. "The police and I have always been enemies." Flick was amazed to think that on Tuesday Ruby was still a murderer in prison, and the four days passed so slowly. They came to the cathedral, which stood on top of a hill, and Flick felt a thrill at the sight of it.It represents the pinnacle of French medieval culture, unrivaled by any church.She regretted it all now, and in times of peace she would have spent hours here admiring the cathedral. They descended the hill and walked towards the station.The station is a modern stone building, the same color as the cathedral.They entered a hall of square brown marble.There was a long queue in front of the ticket window.This is a good sign that locals are more optimistic about the train running on time.Greta and Jelly were queuing up, but Diana and Maud were nowhere to be seen, perhaps already on the platform. They stood in line, in front of an Anti-Resistance poster showing a thug with a gun, with Stalin behind.It says: That's me, Flick thought. They bought the tickets and nothing happened.Flick's pulse beat faster as he had to go through a Gestapo checkpoint before reaching the platform.Greta and Jelly were ahead of them.This is their first encounter with the enemy.Flick prayed they would stay calm.Diana and Maude must have passed the inspection. Greta spoke to the Gestapo in German.Flick could clearly hear her repeating the made-up story. "I know there's a Major Rammer," said one of the Gestapo, a sergeant. "Is he an engineer?" "No, he's in intelligence," Greta replied.She seemed quite calm, Flick thought, and pretending to be someone else was probably second nature to her. "You must like cathedrals," he said chattyly, "and there's not much to see in this mess." "yes." He turned around to check "Jelly"'s ID, and began to speak French: "You travel with Mrs. Lanmo?" "Yes, she is very kind to me." "Jelly" replied. Flick could hear the tremor in her voice and knew she was terrified. The sergeant said, "Have you gone to the bishop's house? It's really worth seeing." Greta replied in French: "We went, it was unforgettable." The sergeant had been watching Jelly, waiting for her answer.She was a little dazed with fright, and after a while she said: "The Bishop's wife is very kind." Flick's heart sank to the bottom of his feet. "Jelly" can speak fluent French, but she knows nothing about foreign countries.She didn't realize that only the bishops of the Church of England could take wives, and that France was a Catholic country where the clergy were celibate. "Jelly" exposed himself the first time he was investigated. What will happen?Flick's Sten submachine gun, complete with rack and suppressor, was in her trunk, disassembled into three parts, but she carried her Browning automatic in the battered leather shoulder bag she carried.Now, carefully unzipping her shoulder bag so she could have her gun out at any moment, she saw that Ruby, too, had her right hand in the raincoat pocket, where a pistol was concealed. "Wife?" the sergeant asked Jelly. "What wife?" "Jelly" was at a loss for a while. "Are you French?" he said. "certainly." Greta cut in immediately. "Not his wife, but his housekeeper," she said in French.This explanation makes sense: in French, "wife" is une femme, and "housekeeper" just adds a de menage after une femme. "Jelly" realized that he had made a mistake and immediately said, "Yes, of course, I mean his housekeeper." Flick held his breath. The sergeant hesitated for a moment, then handed them back the papers with a shrug. "I hope you won't have to wait too long, the train is coming soon," he said again in German. Greta and Jelly walked on, and Flick was relieved. When it was her and Ruby's turn and they were about to hand in their papers, two uniformed gendarmes rushed in.They stopped at the checkpoint, saluted a few German soldiers briefly, and did not show their credentials.The sergeant nodded and said, "Let's go." Flick thought, if I was in charge of security here, I would have to take strict precautions against this situation.Anyone can dress up as a policeman.However, Germans have always treated people in uniform with respect.Their country is controlled by a group of lunatics, which is probably one of the reasons. Now it was her turn to tell the story to the Gestapo. "Are you cousins?" said the sergeant, looking at Ruby and then at her. "It doesn't look like much, does it?" Flick said with an air of mirth.Actually the two have no similarities at all.Flick is blond with fine skin, while Ruby has dark hair and dark eyes. "She looks like a gypsy," he said roughly. Flick feigned anger. "But she wasn't." As for Ruby's hair and complexion, she added, "Her mother, my uncle's wife, was Neapolitan." He shrugged and said to Ruby, "How did your parents die?" "The train they were on was overturned by vandals." "Resistance?" "right." "I sympathize with you, ma'am. Those people are cattle." He handed back his papers. "Thank you, sir," Ruby said.Flick nodded.They walked over. This checkpoint is not easy to pass.thought Flick.I hope that the interrogation in other places will not be so severe, her heart can hardly bear it. Diana and Maude go to the bar.Flick saw them drinking champagne through the window.She was very angry.Those thousand-franc notes that Special Operations gave were not for that.In addition, Diana should have realized that her brain had to be awake all the time.However, in the present case, Flick could do nothing about it. Greta and Jelly are sitting on a bench. "Jelly" seems to have behaved, apparently because what she believes to be a foreign pervert has just saved her life.Flick wondered if her attitude would improve now. She and Ruby found another bench not far away, sat there and waited. Over the next few hours, more and more people crowded onto the platform.There were men in suits who looked like lawyers or magistrates on their way to Paris, some better-dressed French women, and here and there Germans in uniform. The Jackdaws had money, fake ration books, brown bread and substitute coffee from the bar. At eleven o'clock the train came.The carriage was full, and not many people got off, so Flick and Ruby could only stand.Greta and "Jelly" did the same, but Diana and Maud found seats in a box for six.In the box sat two middle-aged women and two gendarmes. These two gendarmes worried Flick a little.She managed to squeeze her way to the door of the box, where she could watch them through the window.Fortunately, after a sleepless night and champagne at the station, Diana and Maud fell asleep as soon as the train left the station. The train rattled slowly through woods and rolling fields.An hour later, the two French women got off the train, and Flick and Ruby rushed to the vacant seats.Almost immediately, however, Flick regretted doing so.The two gendarmes, who were in their twenties, struck up a conversation with them immediately, happy to talk to the girls and get through the long journey. Their names are Christian and Jean-Marie.Both are in their twenties.Christian was handsome, with curly black hair and brown eyes, and Jean-Marie had a shrewd, sly face and a handsome mustache.Christian was chatty and sat in the middle seat with Ruby next to him.Flick sat across from her, and Maud leaned forward next to her, resting her head on Diana's shoulder. Two gendarmes said they were going to Paris to take a prisoner.This matter has nothing to do with war.This man was a local, had killed his wife and stepson, fled to Paris, was caught by the Paris police, and confessed to the crime.It was their job to bring him back to Chartres for trial.Christian produced a pair of handcuffs for the prisoner from his uniform jacket pocket, to prove that they were not bragging. In the next hour, Flick knew everything Christian should know.The other party waited for her to tell her own story in return, so Flick reworked the original prepared set, adding details, and getting farther and farther away from the real situation.It emptied her imagination, but she told herself it was good practice for a tougher interrogation. They pass through Versailles and pass through the bomb-ravaged Saint-Quentin railway station.Maude woke up.She remembered to speak French, but forgot that she wasn't supposed to know Flick, so she asked, "Well, where are we, do you know?" The two gendarmes were bewildered.Flick had told them she and Ruby had nothing to do with the sleeping girls, but Maud talked to her as if he were a friend. Flick kept his cool, smiled, and said, "You don't know me. I think you think of me as your friend. She's over there. You're still a little sleepy." Maude frowned, meaning "what are you pretending to be stupid", and then realized that Christian was looking at him.She made a gesture to show that she understood, pretended to be surprised, covered her mouth with her hands in horror, and said very far-fetchedly: "Of course, you are right, I'm sorry." However, Christian was not the suspicious person. He smiled at Maud and said: "You slept for two hours. We are in the suburbs of Paris. But, as you can see, the train is not leaving." Maud gave him one of her best, bewildering smiles. "When do you think we'll be there?" "That question, miss, you've stumped me. I'm only human. Only God can see the future." Maud laughed, as if he'd said something terribly clever, and Flick relaxed too. Then Diana woke up and spoke loudly, and in English: "My God, my head hurts, damn it! What time is it?" Moments later, she saw the gendarmes and immediately realized what she had done - but it was too late. "She speaks English!" Christian said. Flick sees Ruby reach for her gun. "You're British!" he said to Diana, and then he looked at Maude, "And so are you!" He looked around the entire carriage and saw the truth, "You all!" Flick reached out and grabbed Ruby's wrist, who had half the gun out of her raincoat pocket. Seeing this movement, Christian looked down at what was in Ruby's hand and said, "Still armed!" His surprise would have looked comical if their lives hadn't been threatened. Diana said: "Oh my God, screw it up." The train jerked forward and started moving. Christian lowered his voice and said, "You are all agents of the Allied Forces!" Flick looked anxiously at what he was about to do.If he pulled out a gun, Ruby would shoot him.Then they have to jump off the train.With luck, they might disappear into the slums by the railway tracks before the Gestapo is alerted.The train picked up speed.She wondered if they should jump out of the car now, it would go faster in a moment. A few minutes of freezing passed.Then Christian laughed. "Good luck to you!" he said, lowering his voice to a whisper. "We'll keep it a secret from you!" They are sympathizers - thank God.Flick breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you," she said.Christian asked: "When will the big offense come?" He naively thought that if someone knew such a secret, it would be so casually exposed, but to move the topic, she said: "It could be every day from now. Maybe Tuesday." "Really? That would be great, long live France!" "I'm glad you're on our side," Flick said. "I've always been against the Germans." Christian said with some pride, "When I was working, I secretly provided some useful services to the Resistance." He patted the side of his nose. Flick didn't believe him for a second.His opposition to the Germans was unmistakable, and after four years of food shortages, rags, and curfews, most French people were against the Germans.But if he did help the Resistance, he wouldn't tell anyone—instead, he would be terribly afraid of being found out. It doesn't matter if you help the resistance or not, though.The important thing is that he has to know how to adapt to the wind, and he will not hand over the Allied agents to the Gestapo a few days before the big offensive, otherwise he will probably pay the price for it. The train slowed, and Flick saw that they were about to enter the Gare d'Orsay.She stood up.Christian kissed her hand and said in a trembling voice, "You are a brave lady. Good luck!" She got out of the car first.As soon as she stepped onto the platform, she saw a worker posting a notice.There was something familiar to her on the notice.On closer inspection, her heart stopped beating. There's a picture of her on it. She had never seen the picture and could not recall a time when she had been photographed in a bathing suit.The background is a dark cloud, as if drawn with a brush, so there are no clues.The notice bore her name, and another alias of hers: Frances Bowler, and stated that she was a murderer. The worker has just finished the job.He picked up a bucket of paste and a stack of notices and walked away. Flick realized that her picture must have been plastered all over Paris. What a terrible blow.She froze on the platform all of a sudden.She felt like throwing up in such a panic that she got herself under control. The first question was how she would get out of the Gare d'Orsay.She looked along the platform, and there was a checkpoint at the exit.She had to assume that the Gestapo officer standing there had seen her picture. How to pass them?She couldn't get away with making up stories.If they recognized her, they would arrest her, and no amount of rhetoric could dissuade German officers from doing so.What if the "Jackdaws" rushed out?They would have killed the few people at the checkpoint, but possibly others at the station, including the French police, who might have shot first and asked questions later.It's too risky. She discovered that there was a way.She could hand over command of the operation to someone else—Ruby, perhaps—and let them go through the checkpoint ahead of her, dropping her off at the end.In this way, the action is not destroyed. She turned away.Ruby, Diana and Maud had already got off the train.Christian and Jean-Marie also got off after following.At this moment, Flick remembered the handcuffs in Christian's pocket, and a bold plan suddenly appeared in his mind. She pushed Christian back into the carriage and climbed up after him. He didn't know if he was kidding himself, so he smiled uneasily and asked, "What's going on?" "Look there," she said, "there's my notice on the wall." Both gendarmes looked out.Christian turned pale.Jean-Marie said: "My God, what a spy you are!" "You have to save me," she said. Christian said, "What can we do? The Gestapo—" "I have to go through a checkpoint." "They're going to arrest you." "No, not if I've been arrested." "What do you mean?" "Handcuff me. Pretend you caught me and take me through the checkpoint. If they stop you, say you're sending me to Avenue Foch, 84." That was the address of the Gestapo headquarters. "and then?" "Call a taxi. Get in with me. Then, when we're far from the station, uncuff me and find a quiet street to drop me off. You go on where you want to go." Christian was terrified.Flick could see that he didn't want to do this kind of thing at all, but it was hard for him to shirk away after he talked about the resistance organization just now. Jean-Marie is calm. "It works," he said. "They don't suspect uniformed police." Ruby climbed into the car. "Flick!" she said, "the clerk—" "I know. Two gendarmes are about to handcuff me through the checkpoint and then let me go. If something goes wrong, you take over the leadership of the operation." She switched to English. "Forget about the railway tunnel Well, that's deceitful nonsense, the real target is the Saint-Cécile telephone exchange. But don't tell the others until the last moment. Call them up now, quick." After a few minutes, they all squeezed into the car.Flick told them the plan.Then say: "If this doesn't work and I get arrested, you don't shoot anyway. There are too many police at the station. You will lose if there is a shootout. The mission comes first. Leave me alone, You walk out of the station, meet up at the hotel, and move on. Ruby is in command. There's no need to discuss it, there's no time.” She turned to Christian and said, “Give me the handcuffs.” He hesitated.Flick wanted to yell at him, "Get it out, you pompous coward," but she didn't. Instead, she whispered, "Thank you for saving my life— I will never forget you, Christian." He took out the handcuffs. "The rest of you, go now," Flick said. Christian Fu handcuffed Flick's right hand to Jean-Marie's left hand, and they got off the train, and the three walked up to the platform side by side, Christian holding Flick's suitcase and the shoulder bag containing the automatic pistol .People lined up to pass the checkpoint.Jean-Marie called out: "Step aside, please step aside, ladies and gentlemen, please excuse me." They went straight to the front of the line, as they did at the Chartres station.The two gendarmes saluted the Gestapo officer, but did not stop.However, the captain in charge who was checking the documents looked up and said calmly, "Wait a minute." All three stopped.Flick realized he was doomed.The captain looked at Flick carefully. "She's the one on the notice." Christian seemed too scared to speak.After a moment Jean-Marie replied: "Yes, Captain, we caught her at Chartres." Thank God, thought Flick, that one of the two had a cool head. "Well done," said the captain, "but where are you taking her?" Jean-Marie then replied: "We were ordered to send her to the Avenue Foch." "Do you need a car?" "There's a police car waiting for us outside the station." The captain nodded, but still didn't let them go.He continued to look at Flick.Flick began to wonder if his trick had been exposed, and there was something wrong with his face, letting him see that she was just pretending to be a prisoner.At last he spoke: "The English. They sent little girls to fight for them." He shook his head in disbelief. Jean-Marie wisely kept his mouth shut. Finally the captain said, "Let's go." Flick and two gendarmes passed the checkpoint and stepped out into the sunlight.