Flick felt a surge of triumph. He was going for it. Percy went on, “But assuming you can find enough French-speaking girls, will it work? What about the German guards? Don’t they know the cleaners?”
“It’s probably not the same women every night-they must have days off. And men never notice who cleans up after them.”
“I’m not sure. Soldiers are generally sex-hungry youngsters who pay great attention to all the women with whom they come into contact. I imagine the men in this chƒteau flirt with the younger ones, at least.”
“I watched these women entering the chƒteau last night. and I didn’t see any signs of flirting.”
“Still, you can’t be sure the men won’t notice the appearance of a completely strange crew.”
“I can’t be certain, but I’m confident enough to take the chance.”
“All right, what about the French people inside? The telephone operators are local women, aren’t they?”
“Some are local, but most are brought in from Reims by bus.”
“Not every French person likes the Resistance, we both know that. There are some who approve of the Nazis’ ideas. God knows, there were plenty of fools in Britain who thought Hitler offered the kind of strong modernizing government we all needed-although you don’t hear much from those people nowadays.”
Flick shook her head. Percy had not been to occupied France. “The French have had four years of Nazi rule, remember. Everyone over there is hoping desperately for the invasion. The switchboard girls will keep mum.”
“Even though the RAF bombed them?”
Flick shrugged. “There may be a few hostile ones, but the majority will keep them under control.”
“You hope.”
“Once again, I think it’s a chance worth taking.”
“You still don’t know how heavily guarded that basement entrance is.”
“That didn’t stop us trying yesterday.”
“Yesterday you had fifteen Resistance fighters, some of them seasoned. Next time, you’ll have a handful of dropouts and rejects.”
Flick played her trump card. “Listen, all kinds of things could go wrong, but so what? The operation is low-cost, and we’re risking the lives of people who aren’t contributing to the war effort anyway. What have we got to lose?”
“I was coming to that. Look, I like this plan. I’m going to put it up to the boss. But I think he will reject it, for a reason we haven’t yet discussed.”
“What?”
“No one but you could lead this team. But the trip you’ve just returned from should be your last. You know too much. You’ve been going in and out for two years. You’ve had contact with most of the Resistance circuits in northern France. We can’t send you back. If you were captured, you could give them all away.”
“I know,” Flick said grimly. “That’s why I carry a suicide pill.”
CHAPTER 8
GENERAL SIR BERNARD MONTGOMERY. commander of the 21st Army Group, which was about to invade France, had set up improvised headquarters in west London, at a school whose pupils had been evacuated to safer accommodation in the countryside. By coincidence, it was the school Monty himself had attended as a boy. Meetings were held in the model room, and everyone sat on the schoolboys’ hard wooden benches- generals and politicians and, on one famous occasion, the King himself.
The Brits thought this was cute. Paul Chancellor from Boston, Massachusetts, thought it was bullshit. What would it have cost them to bring in a few chairs? He liked the British, by and large, but not when they were showing off how eccentric they were.
Paul was on Monty’s personal staff. A lot of people thought this was because his father was a general, but that was an unfair assumption. Paul was comfortable with senior officers, partly because of his father, partly because before the war the U.S. Army had been the biggest customer for his business, which was making educational gramophone records, language courses mainly. He liked the military virtues of obedience, punctuality, and precision, but he could think for himself, too, and Monty had come to rely on him more and more.
His area of responsibility was intelligence. He was an organizer. He made sure the reports Monty needed were on his desk when he wanted them, chased those that came late, set up meetings with key people, and made supplementary inquiries on the boss’s behalf.