Chapter 46 Chapter Forty-Five

Flick felt hopeless until he saw Michelle enter the door.She sat in the bar of this improvised little casino, chatting casually with Yvette, watching the men with eager faces, all focused on the cards and the dice and the on roulette.Nobody paid much attention to her—these people were total gamblers and couldn't be bothered by a pretty face. If Michelle can't be found, she's in trouble.The other Jackdaws were in the cathedral, but they couldn't stay there all night.Although they can sleep in the open air - which should be fine in June weather - it's easy to get caught doing so.

They also need vehicles.If they couldn't get a car or minivan from the Bollinger organization, they had to steal one.If this is the case, they will have to use the vehicle being searched by the police for their mission.This adds another layer of risk to an already endangered mission. There was another reason for her unhappiness: Stephanie Winson kept appearing before her eyes again and again.It was the first time she executed a bound and defenseless captive, and the first time she shot a woman. Any killing would disturb her deeply.The Gestapo who had ended up shooting Stephanie a few minutes before had been a combatant with a gun in his hand, but it still terrified her to end his life just like that.People she'd killed before had made her feel the same way, the two policemen in Paris, the Gestapo major shot in Lille, a French traitor in Rouen.But Stephanie had the worst of it.Flick put a gun to the back of her head and killed her.That's exactly how she taught the newbies to the Special Operations Service.Of course, Stephanie deserved this punishment—Flick had no doubts about that.But the problem is her own.What kind of person would kill a helpless prisoner?Has she turned into a brutal executioner?

She drank her whiskey, but didn't ask the bartender for a second refill for fear of making herself too vulnerable.Just then, Michelle walked in suddenly. A great relief like being saved flooded the whole body.Michelle knew everyone in town.He can help her.Suddenly, the mission looked promising again. When she saw the lanky figure in the rumpled jacket, the handsome face and the smiling eyes, a passion surged inside her that made her feel a little awkward.She thought she had always liked him in her heart.When she thought of how much she had loved him before, she felt a tingle in her heart and regretted it endlessly.This feeling will never come back, and she knows it very well.

It wasn't until he came close that she saw that he didn't look so good.There seemed to be some wrinkles on his face.Her heart was suddenly filled with sympathy for him. His expression was tired and frightened, and although he was only thirty-five, he looked fifty.She was very disturbed. But her biggest worry was how to tell him that their marriage was over.This is really a bit ironic.She had just shot a Gestapo and a French traitor, she was a secret agent working in enemy territory herself, and her worst fear was hurting her husband's feelings. He seemed very pleased to see her. "Flick!" he called, "I knew you'd come here!" He walked across the room toward her, still limping from the gunshot wound.

She whispered, "I was worried that the Gestapo had you arrested." "They've got it." He turned his back on the others in the room so they couldn't see him, and showed her his hands—a strong cord tied around both wrists. She took the knife from the scabbard under the lapel and cut the rope stealthily.The gamblers saw nothing.She put the knife back. Michelle was tucking the rope into his trouser pocket when Mimi Regis saw him.She hugged him and kissed him on both cheeks.Flick watched him flirt with the older woman, talking to her in his provocative voice, sending her his sexy smile.Then Mimi went back to work, delivering drinks to the gamblers, and it was only then that Michele told Flick how he had escaped.She was always afraid that he would kiss her passionately, and she didn't know how she should deal with it. In the end, all he thought about was his own adventure, and he didn't care about being tender with her.

"How lucky I am!" he concluded.He sat on a bar chair, rubbed his wrists, and ordered himself a beer. Flick nodded. "Perhaps too much luck," she said. "what do you mean?" "It might be a ruse." He was angry, and Flick's words undoubtedly implied that he was gullible. "I do not think so." "Will someone follow you here?" "No," he said firmly, "of course, I checked." She felt uneasy, but let it go. "So Brian Standish is dead, and the other three are in custody—Miss Remus, Gilberta, and Dr. Bowler."

"The rest are dead. The Germans released the bodies of those killed in the encounter. Those who were alive, Gaston, Geneviève, Bertrand, were shot by firing squad at the Place Sainte-Cécile .” "my God." They were silent for a moment.Thinking of those sacrificed lives and the pain he suffered because of this task, Flick's heart was very heavy. Here comes Michelle's beer.He drank half a glass in one gulp, then wiped his lips. "I guess you came back because you wanted to do another attack on the castle." She nodded. "But our cover story was to blow up the rail tunnel at Mars."

"That's a good idea, we should blow it up too." "But not now. Two of my members were arrested in Paris and they may have confessed. They'll give this cover story - they don't know what the real mission is - so the Germans must have put extra guards in the railway tunnels ...we let the RAF bomb it and concentrate on Saint-Cecile." "what should I do?" "We're going to find a place to spend the night." He thought for a moment, then said: "Joseph La Perrier's cellar." La Perrier is a champagne producer.Michel's aunt Antoinette used to work as his secretary. "Is he one of us?"

"He's a sympathizer." He smiled wryly. "Everyone is a sympathizer now. Everyone thinks that the Allies are going to attack these days." He looked at her questioningly, "I think their judgment is correct……" "Yes," she replied, without elaborating. "How big is his cellar? There are five of us." "It's quite big, and it can hide fifty people." "Very well. One more thing is, I need a car for tomorrow." "Drive to Saint-Cecile?" "Going back and forth, we have to be sent to the pick-up plane, if we are alive."

"You found out that Chatler's usual drop-off site isn't working, right? The Gestapo know—that's where they arrested me." "Yes, the plane will go to another landing site at La Roque. I have given instructions." "That potato field. Not bad." "What about the car?" "Philippe Molier has a van and he delivers meat to all the German bases. He's off on Mondays." "I remember him, he was pro-Nazi." "He was. He's made a lot of money on it for years. But now he's terrified that if the attack succeeds and the Germans are driven out, he'll be hanged as a collaborator. He's anxious to help us now." Hurry up and prove he's not a traitor. He'll lend us the truck."

"Take the car to the cellar at ten o'clock tomorrow morning." He touched her face and said, "Can we be together tonight?" He was smiling as before, with a bad look on his handsome face. She felt a commotion inside her, but not as strong as before.Once upon a time, that smile would make her lustful.But now, everything is just a memory of that desire. She wanted to tell him the truth, because dishonesty was the thing she hated the most.But if the truth were told, it could jeopardize the entire operation.She needs his cooperation.Or is this just an excuse?Maybe she just didn't have the courage to tell him. "No," she said, "we can't spend the night together." He looked downcast. "Is it because of Gilberta?" She nodded, but she couldn’t lie, so she said, “Yes, there is a reason.” "Is there any other reason?" "I don't want to discuss this while carrying out this important mission." He seemed aggrieved, and asked with some fear, "Do you have someone else?" She really didn't want to hurt him. "No." She lied. He looked at her hard. "Well," he said at last, "I'm glad." Flick really hated himself. Michelle finished her beer and stood up from her chair. "La Perrier's is on the Avenue des Occupations. It's a thirty-minute walk from here." "I know that street." "I've got to go over to Molier's to see about the car now." He put his arms around Flick and kissed her on the lips. She feels terrible.But just after she said that she has no one else, how could she refuse the kiss, but kissing Michelle betrayed Paul.She closed her eyes and waited obediently for him to let go. Of course he would not fail to notice her indifference.He watched her carefully for a while. "Then I'll see you at ten o'clock." After finishing speaking, he turned and left. She decided to go out on her own five minutes after he left.She asked Yvette for another scotch. As soon as she drank the glass of wine, the red light on the door began to flicker. No one spoke, but everyone in the room immediately became active.The croupier stopped the wheel and turned it upside down so it looked like a normal table.The poker players scrambled their table stakes into their coats.Yvette put away the glasses in the bar and put them in the sink.Mimi Regis turned off the lights, only the red bulb above the door was still blinking. Flick picked up the bag on the ground and took hold of her gun. "What's going on?" she asked Yvette. "Police search," she said. Flick cursed secretly.It would be really bad luck to be caught in the name of illegal gambling. "Alexander is downstairs alerting us," Yvette explained. "Go, hurry!" she said, pointing across the room. Flick looked in the direction Yvette pointed and saw Mimi Regis walking into what looked like a cabinet.Mei Mi pushed aside a few old coats hanging on the beam, revealing a secret door behind the cabinet.She opened it hastily and let the gamblers go through the door one by one.She might be able to get away, Flick thought. The red light stopped flashing, and someone knocked on the door outside.Flick groped across the room in the dark and squeezed into the cupboard with the men.She followed them into an empty room.The floor was a foot lower than expected, and she figured it was a room above the store next door.They ran down the stairs, and she found that this was indeed the abandoned deli, with a stained marble counter and dusty glass cases.The curtains were drawn on the windows, so that the house could not be seen from the street. They all went out the back door.Here is a dirty little yard with high walls.A door in the wall leads to an alley leading to another street.Once they got into the street, the men scattered. Flick walked briskly, and soon she was alone.She was out of breath, and after identifying the direction, she walked towards the cathedral, where the other "jackdaws" were waiting for her. "My God," she said to herself, "it's so dangling." With her peace of mind, she could see the police raid on the gambling club in a different light.It happened minutes after Michelle left.Flick doesn't believe it's a coincidence. The more she thought about it, the more she felt that those who knocked on the door were looking for her.She knew that the gang had been gambling there before the war.The local police must have known about this place.Why did they suddenly decide to search here?If it wasn't the police, it must have been the Gestapo.They are not interested in gamblers.They're after Communists, Jews, homosexuals and spies. Michelle's escape aroused her suspicions from the start, but his insistence that he wasn't being followed convinced her a little.Now she's thinking about it from the opposite direction.His escape must have been faked, as was Brian Standy's "rescue."She saw the cunning Dieter Frank hiding behind this.Someone followed Michelle all the way to the cafe, guessed that there was a secret room upstairs, and hoped to find her there. It appears that Michelle is still under surveillance.If he still proceeds rashly, the enemy will follow him and find the champagne cellar where Jackdaw is hiding. What the hell, thought Flick, what am I going to do now?