Jackdaws

Flick said, "You two, make your way outside the building. Jelly, on your way, go into the generating room and blow a hole in the fuel line, where I showed you."

"Got it."

"We meet up at Antoinette's."

Greta said anxiously, "Where are you going?"

"To find Ruby."

Jelly warned, "You have five minutes."

Flick nodded.

Jelly lit the fuse.

W H E N D E T E R PASSED from the darkness of the basement into the half-light of the stairwell, he noticed that the guards had gone from the entrance. No doubt they were fetching help, but the ill discipline infuriated him. They should have remained at their post.

Perhaps they had been forcibly removed. Had they been taken away at gunpoint? Was an attack on the chfteau already under way?

He ran up the stairs. On the ground floor, there were no signs of battle. The operators were still working: the phone system was on a separate circuit from the rest of the building's electricity, and there was still enough light coming through the windows for them to see their switchboards. He ran through the canteen, heading for the rear of the building, where the maintenance workshops were located, but on the way he looked into the kitchen and found three soldiers in overalls staring at a fuse box. "There's a power cut in the basement," Dieter said.

"I know," said one of the men. He had a sergeant's stripes on his shirt. "All these wires have been cut."

Dieter raised his voice. "Then get your tools out and reconnect them, you damn fool!" he said. "Don't stand here scratching your stupid head!"

The sergeant was startled. "Yes, sir," he said.

A worried-looking young cook said, "I think it's the electric oven, sir."

"What happened?" Dieter barked.

"Well, Major, they were cleaning behind the oven, and there was a bang-"

"Who? Who was cleaning?"

"I don't know, sir."

"A soldier, someone you recognized?"

"No, sir... just a cleaner."

Dieter did not know what to think. Clearly the chfteau was under attack. But where were the enemy? He left the kitchen, went to the stairwell, and ran up toward the offices on the upper floor.

As he turned at the bend in the stairs, something caught his eye, and he looked back. A tall woman in a cleaner's overall was coming up the stairs from the basement, carrying a mop and a bucket.

He froze, staring at her, his mind racing. She should not have been there. Only Germans were allowed into the basement. Of course, anything could have happened in the confusion of a power cut. But the cook had blamed a cleaner for the power cut. He recalled his brief conversation with the supervisor of the switchboard girls. None of them was new to the job-but he had not asked about the Frenchwomen cleaners.

He came back down the stairs and met her at ground level. "Why were you in the basement?" he asked her in French.

"I went there to clean, but the lights are out."

Dieter frowned. She spoke French with an accent that he could not quite place. He said, "You're not supposed to go there."

"Yes, the soldier told me that, they clean it themselves, I didn't know."

Her accent was not English, Dieter thought. But what was it? "How long have you worked here?"

"Only a week, and I've always done upstairs until today."

Her story was plausible, but Dieter was not satisfied. "Come with me." He took her arm in a firm grip. She did not resist as he led her through to the kitchen.

Dieter spoke to the cook. "Do you recognize this woman?"

"Yes, sir. She's the one who was cleaning behind the oven."

Dieter looked at her. "Is that true?"

"Yes, sir, I'm very sorry if I damaged something."

Dieter recognized her accent. "You're German," he said.

"No, sir."

"You filthy traitor." He looked at the cook. "Grab her and follow me. She's going to tell me everything."

F L I C K O P E N E D T H E door marked Interview Room, stepped inside, closed the door behind her, and swept the room with her flashlight.

She saw a cheap pine table with ashtrays, several chairs, and a steel desk. The room was empty of people.

She was puzzled. She had located the prison cells on this corridor and had shone her flashlight through the judas in each door. The cells were empty: the prisoners the Gestapo had taken during the last eight days, including Gilberte, must have been moved somewhere else... or killed. But Ruby had to be here somewhere.

Then she saw, on her left, a door leading, presumably, to an inner chamber.

She switched off her flashlight, opened the door, stepped through, closed the door, and switched on her flashlight.

She saw Ruby right away. She was lying on a table like a hospital operating table. Specially designed straps secured her wrists and ankles and made it impossible for her to move her head. A wire from an electrical machine led between her feet and up her skirt. Flick guessed immediately what had been done to Ruby and gasped with horror.

She stepped to the table. "Ruby, can you hear me?"

Ruby groaned. Flick's heart leaped: she was still alive. "I'll free you," she said. She put her Sten gun down on the table.