Chapter 53 The last day

Dieter is sitting on the platform of the Reims train station.French railway workers and German soldiers stood under the blinding lights, waiting as patiently as he did.The prisoner train was late, hours late, but he believed it would come.He had to wait.Now he only has this card in his hand. His heart was filled with anger.He was beaten by a woman, and it humiliated him.If she had been a German girl, he might have been proud of her.He would say she was talented and courageous, and he might even fall in love with her.But she was in the enemy's camp, and she played him at every juncture.She killed Stephanie, she destroyed the castle, she escaped.But he still wants to catch her.When that time comes, she will be tortured beyond her worst imagination—and then she will confess.

All confessed. The train arrived a few minutes after midnight. Before the car stopped, he smelled a stench. It was like a farmyard smell, but it was made by humans, so it was even more disgusting. The train consisted of various carriages, but none of them carried passengers: there were goods wagons, cattle cars, and a postal wagon, all the narrow windows smashed.These carriages were full of people. Livestock wagons have high wooden enclosures with slits in the top slats for viewing the animals inside.The prisoners leaning nearby stretched their arms out of the cracks in the planks, palms up, begging.They begged to be let out, they begged for food, but most of all for water.The guards watched blankly one by one. Dieter had already ordered that the prisoners would not receive any relief in Reims tonight.

He took with him two corporals of the SS, who were the guards of the castle, and they were both good marksmen.Using his authority as a major, he drew them from the ruins of Saint-Cécile.He turned to the two men and said, "Go and bring Michel Clarette." Michelle was locked in a windowless room where the station master kept his cash.The two corporals left, and then they came back with Michelle on the left and right.Michelle's hands were tied behind his back and his ankles were bound, preventing him from running.No one told him what happened at Sainte-Cécile.All he knew was that he was captured for the second time in a week.Now, little of his bravery and adventure remained.He tried to put on an air of fearlessness to keep himself together, but the attempt failed.He was limping even worse, his clothes were dirty, his face was sullen, and he looked completely defeated.

Dieter grabs Michel's arm and pulls him closer to the train car.At the beginning, Michelle didn't know what it was showing him, and there was a bewildered expression on his face, as well as fear.Then he saw the outstretched hands, heard the pleading voices, and he swayed as if hit, and Dieter had to hold him. "I need some information," Dieter said. Michelle shook her head. "Let me get on the train," he said, "I'd rather be with them." Dieter was appalled at the offense, surprised at Michel's courage.He said, "Tell me where and when Jackdaw's plane landed."

Michelle stared at him. "You didn't catch them," he said, hopeful again on his face. "They blew up the castle, didn't they? They did it." He threw back his head and exclaimed excitedly, "Well done, Flick!" Dieter made Michel walk slowly along the length of the train, showing him how many prisoners there were and how much they were suffering. "Tell me about the plane," he repeated. Michel said, "A place outside Chatterler, at three o'clock in the morning." Dieter was almost certain this was nonsense.Flick was due to reach Chatler seventy-two hours earlier, but the landing was canceled, presumably because she suspected the Gestapo of a trap.Dieter knew there was a prepared landing site because Gaston had told him about it, but Gaston only knew the code name, called "Golden Fields," but didn't know where.However, Michelle should know exactly where.

"You're lying," Dieter said. "Then put me on the train." Michelle replied. Dieter shook his head and said, "It's not up to you to choose randomly, it's not that easy." He saw a flash of confusion and fear in Michele's eyes. Dieter told him to go back and stop in the women's car.Women were begging in French and German, some were begging God for mercy, some were asking the men on the platform to think about their mothers and sisters, and a few were offering sex in exchange.Michelle lowered her head, not wanting to look any further. Dieter beckoned to the two people standing in the shadows.

Michelle looked up, and her face was suddenly full of fear. Hans Hesse stepped out of the shadows, escorting a young woman.She must have been pretty, but now she was pale, with greasy matted locks and scabs on her lips.She looked very weak and had difficulty walking. It's Gilberta. Michelle gasped. Dieter repeated his question: "Where did the plane land and when?" Michelle said nothing. Dieter said, "Get her on the train." Michelle groaned. A guard opens the cattle car door.Two other men blocked the woman inside with bayonets as the guard pushed Gilberta into the car. "No," she cried, "no, please!"

The guard was about to close the door when Dieter said, "Wait a minute." He looked at Michel.The man's face was wet with tears. Gilberta said, "Michelle, I beg you." Michelle nodded. "Okay," he said. "Don't lie this time," Dieter warned. "Let her go down." "Tell me the time and place." "A potato field east of La Roque, two o'clock in the morning." Dieter looked at the watch on his wrist.The time is twelve fifteen. "You have to take me there," he said. The small village of Lepin, five kilometers from La Roque, is asleep.The bright moon covered the cathedral with a silver light.Behind the cathedral, Molier's meat delivery van was parked inconspicuously next to a barn.The surviving "jackdaws" sat in the shadow cast by the buttresses of the building, waiting quietly.

"What do you want now?" Ruby asked. Paul said, "A steak." Flick said, "A soft bed with clean sheets. How about you?" "Just see Jim." It occurred to Flick that Ruby had hooked up with the firearms instructor. "I think..." She stopped talking. "You think we're just having fun?" Ruby said. Flick nodded, a little embarrassed. "Jim thinks so too," Ruby said, "but I have other plans." Paul chuckled, "I bet you can get what you want." "And what about you two?" Ruby asked. Paul said, "I'm single." He looked at Flick.

She shook her head and said, "I was going to tell Michelle that I wanted a divorce...but I'm on a mission, how can I say it?" "Then we'll get married as soon as the war is over," Paul said. "I'm patient." Typical of men, Flick thought.He talked about marital affairs as if they were talking about trivial things, like buying a dog license.Not at all romantic. But she's actually happy too.This is the second time he has mentioned marriage.So what if it's not romantic?she thinks. She looks at her watch.The time is one thirty. "Time to go," she said.

Dieter commandeered a Mercedes parked outside the castle that had survived the explosion.Now parked on the edge of a vineyard next to La Roque potato fields, the car is covered in several leaf-laden vines ripped from the ground as camouflage.Michel and Gilberta sat in the back seat, bound hand and foot, guarded by Hans. Dieter also had two corporals with him, both of whom had rifles.Dieter and the rifleman looked at the potato fields.Everything is clear and unobstructed under the moonlight. Dieter said: "The terrorists will be here in a few minutes and we're going to give them a surprise attack. They don't know we're here. But remember, I'm going to catch the alive, especially the leader, a Little women. When you shoot, you can only injure, not kill." One shooter said: "We can't guarantee this. This area is about 300 meters wide. For example, if the enemy shoots a running person at this distance from 150 meters away, no one can guarantee that the bullet will hit the leg." superior." "They don't run," Dieter said. "They have to wait for a plane. When the plane comes, they have to stand in a line and guide the pilot to land with a flashlight pointing at the plane. That is, they have to stay where they are." Just stand there for a few minutes." "In the middle of the field?" "yes." The man nodded and said, "We can do that." He looked up at the sky, "unless the moon hides in the clouds." "If that happens, we turn on the lights at critical moments." The Mercedes' lights are the size of a dinner plate. Another rifleman said, "Listen." They quiet down.A car is approaching here.They all squat down.Although the moon is very bright, they are blocked by the black grape vines, and if you keep your head down, you can't see it at all from the outside. A pickup truck came along the village road without its lights on.It stopped by the door of the potato field.A woman's figure jumped out of the van and opened the door.The van drove in and the engine died.Two more people jumped out of the car, another woman, and another man. "Be quiet now," Dieter whispered. The silence was broken by a sudden blaring of a car horn, which was surprisingly loud. Dieter was surprised and cursed.The voice came directly behind him. "My God!" He literally exploded.This is that Mercedes.He jumped up and ran over to the open window of the driver's car.He understood immediately what was going on. Michele jumped forward and crawled sideways across the front seat, before Hans could stop him, he pressed his bound hands on the horn.Hans was sitting in the front seat, and was about to aim the gun, but Gilberta stepped in, her upper body on top of Hans, immobilizing him, and he pushed hard against her. Dieter came over and shoved Michel away, but Michel resisted stubbornly, and Dieter's arms were thrust into the car through the window so that he couldn't use too much force.Car horns blared constantly and deafeningly, and it was impossible for Resistance agents not to hear it. Dieter reached for his pistol. Michelle found the light switch, and the car's headlights turned on.Dieter looked up.The two riflemen were brightly exposed in the harsh light.The two of them stood up, but before they could get out of the beam of light, they heard the rattling of machine guns in the field, and a rifleman let out a cry, dropped his gun, clutched his stomach, and hit May. Sides, on the hood, fell; then another was shot in the head.Dieter's left arm stabbed and he screamed. Then, a gunshot was heard in the car, and Michelle yelled.Hans finally broke free from Gilberta and fired his pistol.He fired another shot, and Michel fell, but his hands were still on the horn, and now his body fell on both hands, pressing down so that the horn continued to sound.Hans fired a third time, but it was useless, because his bullet had already hit a dead man's body.Gilberta screamed and threw her whole body on Hans again, grabbing his gun arm with her handcuffed hands.Dieter had a gun in his hand, but he couldn't shoot Gilberta, he was afraid of accidentally hurting Hans. A fourth shot was fired, again Hans's, but this time it was fired upwards and hit himself, the bullet caught him in the jaw.He let out a terrible grunt, blood poured out of his mouth, and suddenly collapsed on the car door, staring into a pair of lifeless eyes. Dieter took aim and hit Gilberta in the head with one shot. He stuck his right arm through the window and pushed Michelle's body away from the steering wheel. The horn is silent. He reached for the light switch and turned off the headlights. He looked up at the field across the way. The van was still there, but Jackdaw was gone. He listened.There was no movement around. He is alone here. Flick crawled across the vineyard on hands and knees, approaching Dieter Frank's car.Necessary for stealthy flights over enemy-occupied territory, Moonlight is now her nemesis.She was hoping for a cloud to hide the moon, but it was clear and clear.She leaned against the vine as hard as she could, but there was still a conspicuous shadow cast beneath her. She forced Paul and Ruby to stay where they were, hiding at the edge of the field near the van.Three people would make three times the noise, and she didn't want her partner to give away her position. As she climbed, she paid attention to the sound of the plane flying over.She wants to find the remaining enemies and eliminate them before the plane arrives.Jackdaw couldn't stand in the middle of the field and turn on his flashlight if armed enemies were hiding in the vineyards and targeting them.But if they didn't give instructions with flashlights, the plane would not land, but go straight back to England, which is absolutely unacceptable. She went deep into the vineyard, and Dieter Frank's car was parked on the edge of the field.Behind her are five rows of vines.She can approach enemies from behind.She held the submachine gun in her right hand as she crawled forward, ready to fire at any moment. She climbed to level with the car.Frank used vines to camouflage the car, but peeping through the vines, he still saw the rear window gleaming in the moonlight. The branches of the vines were intertwined, but she could climb over the lowest plant.She poked her head through it, looking up and down the next passage.Everything is clear.She crawled across a clearing and repeated the action.She approached the car with extreme caution, but saw no one. With only two rows left, she could see the wheels and the ground around them.She also saw two uniformed corpses lying motionless there.How many are there in total?It's a stretched Mercedes sedan that can easily seat six people. She tiptoed forward.Nothing active.Are they all dead?Perhaps one or two were still alive, lurking nearby, waiting to pounce? Finally she climbed to the side of the car and stood up slowly. The doors were all open, and there seemed to be dead bodies inside.She looked ahead and recognized Michelle immediately.She fought back a sob.He was a terrible husband, but he had been her favorite, and now he was dead with three red bullet holes in his blue striped shirt.She guessed that he was honking the horn all the time.If so, he saved her life with his own death.But now, she didn't have time to think about it, and she could think about it later, if she lived longer. Next to Michele lay a man she didn't recognize, shot in the throat, wearing a lieutenant's uniform.There were bodies in the back of the car.One of them, she saw through the open back door, was a woman.She took a closer look at the car and couldn't help but gasp.The woman was Gilberta, and she seemed to be staring at Flick.This terrible feeling lasted for a while, and Flick realized that those eyes could see nothing, that Gilberta was dead, she had been shot in the head. She leaned over Gilberta to see the fourth body.The corpse jumped up from the ground very quickly.Before she could cry out, he grabbed her by the hair and put the barrel of the gun against her neck. This is Dieter Frank. "Put down the gun," he said in French. In her right hand she held the submachine gun, but it was pointing upwards, and if she resisted, he could knock her down with a single shot before she had time to aim.She had no choice but to throw the gun on the ground.The safety of the gun was already on, and she almost expected a shot to be fired the moment it fell to the ground, but the gun fell to the ground without incident. "move back." She took a few steps back, and he followed her and got out of the car, keeping the muzzle of the gun to her throat.He straightened up on the ground. "You're so small," he said, looking her up and down, "but you've done so much damage." She saw blood on his sleeve and guessed she had shot him with a Sten. "It didn't just hurt me," he said. "That telephone exchange was very important, and you obviously know it very well." She regained her composure and said, "Okay." "Don't get too excited. Now it's the resistance you're going to destroy." She wished she hadn't made Paul and Ruby hide and wait.Now there was nothing they could do to save her. Dieter moved the muzzle of the gun from her throat to her shoulder. "I don't want to kill you, but I'd love to shoot you and cripple you for life. I want you to still be able to talk. You'll tell me every name and address in your head." She thought of the suicide pill hidden in the empty cap of the fountain pen.Is there any chance she will get it out? "Unfortunately, you destroyed the interrogation facility at Saint-Cécile," he continued. "I will take you to Paris. There I can find exactly the same equipment." She thought of the operating table and electric shock machine in the hospital with horror. "I don't know what's going to break you?" he said. "Everybody gets hurt eventually, that's obvious, but I feel like you're probably going to be in pain for quite a long time." He lifted his left arm.The gunshot wound seemed to hurt a little, making him flinch back, but he made it through.He touched her face with his hand. "Probably lose your looks. Imagine what it would be like to have this beautiful face disfigured, with the bridge of the nose broken, lips split open, eyeballs falling out, ears chopped off." Flick felt sick, but she kept her expression icy. "Not enough?" His hand moved down, touching her neck, then down to her breasts. "And then there's the sexual humiliation. Being naked in front of a lot of people, being groped by a bunch of drunk men, being forced to do that vulgar behavior with animals..." "Who is this humiliating?" she said contemptuously. "I, the helpless victim... or you, the real obscene villain?" He let go of his hand and said, "Also, our methods of torture can permanently destroy a woman's fertility." Flick thought of Paul and shivered involuntarily. "Ah," he said with satisfaction, "I believe I have found the key to your lock." She realized that it would be foolish to talk to this guy.She gave him information that he could use to break her will. "We'll drive straight to Paris," he said, "and we'll be there at dawn. By noon, you'll beg me not to torture you, and to pour out all the secrets you know. Tomorrow night, we'll be there." Arrest all members of the resistance in northern France." The fear in his heart made Flick chill all over.Frank wasn't bragging, he would. "I think you can do this trip in the trunk," he said, "the place isn't airtight and you won't suffocate. But I'm going to put you with your husband and the dead body of his lover. I think , bouncing around for a few hours with the dead around you can bring your thought patterns back to normal." A burst of disgust made Flick shudder uncontrollably. He pressed the pistol to her shoulder and put his other hand in his pocket.He moved his arm carefully, the wound throbbing with pain, but his arm was still moving.He produced a pair of handcuffs. "Give me your hand," he said. She didn't move. "I can handcuff you, or I can shoot you in each shoulder and make your arms useless from now on." She raised her hands resignedly. He put one end of the cuffs around her left wrist.She stretched out her right hand towards him, and then she made a last desperate move. She jerked sideways and knocked the pistol away from her shoulder with her handcuffed left hand.At the same time, with her right hand, she drew from the lapel sheath of her coat the pocket knife she had concealed there. He stepped back, but not fast enough. With one jerk, she stabbed the knife into his left eye.He shook his head, but the knife had already penetrated, and then Flick leaned forward, pressing his whole body against him, and pressed the knife deeply.Blood and other fluids spurted from the cut.Screaming in pain, Frank cocked his pistol, but the bullets flew into the air. He staggered back, but she followed him, still pushing her blade with the palm of her hand.The weapon had no hilt, and she continued to sink the entire three-inch blade into his head.He fell back and fell to the ground. She lay on top of him, with her knees on his chest, feeling his ribs crack.He dropped the gun and reached for his eyes with both hands, trying to grab the knife, but it was too deep.Flick grabbed the gun.This is a Walther P38.She stood up and aimed the pistol tightly in both hands at Frank. Then he lay still. She heard footsteps.Paul rushed over. "Flick! Are you all right?" She nodded, still pointing the Walther pistol at Dieter Frank. "I don't think it's necessary anymore," Paul said softly.After a while he took her by both hands, gently took the gun from her, and snapped the safety on. Ruby showed up. "Listen!" she cried, "listen!" Flick heard the roar of the Hudson plane. "Let's get moving," Paul said. They immediately ran into the field and dispersed to signal the plane that was about to take them home. They crossed the English Channel in strong winds and showers.When the weather calmed down, the navigator came to the passenger cabin and said to them, "You probably want to look outside." Flick, Ruby and Paul are all dozing off.The floor was hard, but they were too tired to care about it.Flick was in Paul's arms and she didn't want to move. The navigator urged them: "You better hurry up, the clouds will cover it in a while. Even if you live to be a hundred years old, you will never see this scene again." Curiosity overcame Flick's exhaustion.She stood up and staggered to the small rectangular window.Ruby stood up to watch too.The pilot kindly lowered one wing. The Channel was rough and the wind was strong, but there was a full moon in the sky and she could see it very clearly.At first she could hardly believe her eyes—just below the plane was a gray warship, brimming with guns.Beside it was a small ocean liner, its white paint gleaming in the moonlight.Behind them, a rusty steamboat cuts through the waves.In front of them are cargo ships, troop carriers, dilapidated oil tankers and huge shoal landing ships.There were hundreds of ships that Flick could see. The pilot lowered the other wing so she could look out the opposite porthole.It's the same view here. "Paul, come and see!" she cried. He came and stood by her side. "My God!" he said, "I've never seen so many boats in my life!" "It's a big offense!" she said. "Come ahead and have a look," said the navigator. Flick stepped to the front and looked over the pilot's shoulder.Ships spread across the sea like a carpet, for miles, as far as she could see.She heard Paul say in disbelief, "I had no idea there were so many ships in the damn world!" "How many ships do you think there's going to be?" Ruby said. Said the navigator, "I hear there are five thousand ships." "It's remarkable," Flick said. The navigator said, "I have contributed a lot to it, and you have done so, too?" Flick looked at Paul and Ruby, and they all laughed. "Of course we are," she said. "We're part of it, too."