Jackdaws

Dieter led the prisoner up the stairs to the Gestapo offices. Dieter looked into all the rooms and picked the busiest, a combination typing pool and post room. It was occupied by young men and women in smart shirts and ties. Leaving Mademoiselle Lemas in the corridor, he closed the door and clapped his hands for attention. In a quiet voice he said, "I'm going to bring a French woman in here. She is a prisoner, but I want you all to be friendly and polite to her, is that understood? Treat her as a guest. It's important that she feels respected."

He brought her in, sat her at a table and, with a murmured apology, handcuffed her ankle to the table leg. He left Stephanie with her and took Hesse outside. "Go to the canteen and ask them to prepare lunch on a tray. Soup, a main course, a little wine, a bottle of mineral water, and plenty of coffee. Bring cutlery, glasses, a napkin. Make it look nice."

The lieutenant grinned admiringly. He had no idea what his boss was up to, but he felt sure it would be something clever.

A few minutes later he returned with a tray. Dieter took it from him and carried it into the office. He set it in front of Mademoiselle Lemas. "Please," he said. "It's lunchtime."

"I couldn't eat anything, thank you."

"Perhaps just a little soup." He poured wine into her glass.

She added water to the wine and sipped it, then tried a mouthful of soup.

"How is it?"

"Very good," she admitted.

"French food is so refined. We Germans cannot imitate it." Dieter talked nonsense to her, trying to relax her, and she drank most of the soup. He poured her a glass of water.

Major Weber came in and stared incredulously at the tray in front of the prisoner. Speaking German, he said, "Are we now rewarding people for harboring terrorists?"

Dieter said, "Mademoiselle is a lady. We must treat her correctly."

"God in heaven," Weber said, and he turned on his heel.

She refused the main course but drank all the coffee. Dieter was pleased. Everything was going according to plan. When she had finished, he asked her all the questions again. "Where do you meet the Allied agents? How do they recognize you? What is the password?" She looked worried, but she still refused to answer.

He looked sadly at her. "I am very sorry that you refuse to cooperate with me, after I have treated you kindly."

She looked somewhat bewildered. "I appreciate your kindness, but I cannot tell you anything~"

Stephanie, sitting beside Dieter, also looked puzzled. He guessed that she was thinking: Did you really imagine that a nice meal would be sufficient to make this woman talk?

"Very well," he said. He stood up as if to go.

"And now, Monsieur," said Mademoiselle Lemas. She looked embarrassed. "I must ask to... ah... visit the ladies' powder room."

In a harsh voice, Dieter said, "You want to go to the toilet?"

She reddened. "In a word, yes."

"I'm sorry, Mademoiselle," Dieter said. "That will not be possible."

CHAPTER 13

THE LAST THING Monty had said to Paul Chancellor, late on Monday night, had been, "If you only do one thing in this war, make sure that telephone exchange is destroyed."

Paul had woken this morning with those words echoing in his mind. It was a simple instruction. If he could fulfill it, he would have helped win the war. If he failed, men would die-and he might spend the rest of his life reflecting that he had helped lose the war.

He went to Baker Street early, but Percy Thwaite was already there, sitting in his office, puffing his pipe and staring at six boxes of files. He seemed a typical military duffer, with his check jacket and toothbrush mustache. He looked at Paul with mild hostility. "I don't know why Monty's put you in charge of this operation," he said. "I don't mind that you're only a major, and I'm a colonel-that's all stuff and nonsense. But you've never run a clandestine operation, whereas I've been doing it for three years. Does it make sense to you?"

"Yes," Paul said briskly. "When you want to make absolutely sure that a job gets done, you give it to someone you trust. Monty trusts me."

"But not me."

"He doesn't know you."

"I see," Percy said grumpily.

Paul needed Percy's cooperation, so he decided to mollify him. Looking around the office, he saw a framed photograph of a young man in lieutenant's uniform and an older woman in a big hat. The boy could have been Percy thirty years ago. "Your son?" Paul guessed.

Percy softened immediately. "David's out in Cairo," he said. "We had some bad moments during the desert war, especially after Rommel reached Tobruk, but now, of course, he's well out of the line of fire, and I must say I'm glad."

The woman was dark-haired and dark-eyed, with a strong face, handsome rather than pretty. "And Mrs. Thwaite?"

"Rosa Mann. She became famous as a suffragette, in the twenties, and she's always used her maiden name."

"Suffragette?"

"Campaigner for votes for women."