The Paris Agent(10)
For well over a year, I had no idea where he was or even what that agency was. And then one day at the secretarial job at Westminster my mother lined up for me, I was called into a meeting with two stern-looking officials who introduced themselves as Miss Elwood and Mr. Turner. Just two weeks later, I started SOE training.
I did wonder if the SOE was the “secret agency” Noah had disappeared into, but those suspicions were only confirmed the night before I landed there in that field near Montbeliard. Miss Elwood was a senior SOE official tasked with completing my final checks at the airport before we departed. She spent thirty seconds explaining that I’d be working with Noah, and thirty very long minutes lecturing me about how unorthodox this situation was and how important it was that our friendship not get in the way of our work.
“It’s vital that you both maintain a professional distance, even if you’re pretending to be spouses, even living in the same house and working on the same circuit,” she told me grimly. A circuit was our term for a local network—often comprised of a team of three SOE agents, a circuit leader like Noah, a courier like myself, a w/t operator like Adrien—plus as many local contacts as we could recruit. “Frankly, Chloe, I’m worried about this situation, but we need to send someone tomorrow and you’re the only agent available who is even close to ready.”
“I won’t let you down,” I promised her, and as we walked along that dirt road, back toward the township, there was no doubt in my mind that I’d keep that promise.
Adrien returned to his own apartment, and Noah and I were soon alone at our little place in Montbeliard. Our temporary home was charming, almost romantic—a former garden shed that had been converted into a tiny apartment. French doors led to a small courtyard off the kitchen, and a wooden ladder hung from the ceiling, adorned with well-used cooking utensils. But the apartment was even smaller than I’d expected—just a studio space without so much as a separate bedroom, the double bed jammed in beside the small circular dining table where Noah and I sat now nursing cups of tea. Given how intimate the space was, it was a strange blessing that the toilet was an outhouse, and we’d have to bathe in the laundry room beside it.
“This mission,” I said quietly. “I understand Baker Street is concerned about a large factory near here?”
“That’s right. It’s owned by a local family and run by its patriarch, Fernand Sauvage. By all accounts he’s a reasonable fellow stuck in a very bad position,” Noah told me. “The factory has always manufactured the Sauvage line of cars but since the Nazis took control of it in 1941 it has been churning out tanks. While that’s bad enough, there are growing whispers that the factory is being retooled. Within months, it will be producing munitions and perhaps even a new range of rockets. Something called the ‘V1.’ Have you heard of it?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “No one has seen them in action yet, but intelligence suggests they’re some kind of pilot-less flying bomb. Baker Street isn’t sure of the range of the things or how accurate they will be, but they know enough to be nervous.”
“They want us to destroy the factory, and that’s no small task given the size of the thing. Tens of thousands of locals come from all over the region to work there every day—the facility is the size of a town itself. It even has its own power plant, for God’s sake.”
“So the plan is for me to work for the factory’s accountant?” I asked, motioning toward a very large house a few doors down from our humble little studio.
“His name is Jullien Travers. His wife Mégane has some health issues, and their nanny recently left to have a child of her own.”
“And you—we—won’t move around much? We’ll stay in this apartment?”
“Yes, setting up the circuit in the region from scratch has been more challenging than I’d anticipated.” Much like the operational names of individual agents, SOE circuits were each assigned a code name. The circuit Noah had established was called Postmaster. “When I landed here, I didn’t have any secure contacts, let alone a network of safe houses to move between. I needed to stay close enough to scope out the factory, so I decided to rent a place longer-term. As the circuit leader I’d have tried to remain a step removed from the local contacts but starting from scratch, it hasn’t been possible to stay anonymous. I managed to recruit a mechanic shortly after I arrived and the locals think I work with him.”
“And this ‘job’ you’ve lined up for me. I’ll be working with the Travers children?”
“I’ve been looking for a way to determine if Jullien and his wife might be sympathetic to the cause, so when I saw him out taking his girls for a walk last week, I stopped for a chat. He told me their nanny had recently left and they’ve struggled to replace her. I told him my wife would be arriving soon and would be looking for work.”
“Well done for thinking on your feet.”
“Even if we can’t recruit him, it seemed like an incredible opportunity to get someone into that house,” Noah said. “You’ll try to form a good rapport with them, see if they’re receptive at least to assisting us. Plus, you can search Jullien’s home office if and when the opportunity arises. I’ve watched him come and go so I know he does carry a briefcase to and from work, so it’s possible there is documentation in his study that might confirm our fears about the retooling. We have our work cut out for us, but I’m certain that we can do something to throw a spanner into the works of that damned factory.”