Operation Kingfisher (29 page)

‘Oh yes? And you just happened to chose a spot exactly where an act of sabotage was about to take place.’

‘Sabotage? We don’t know anything about sabotage.’

He twisted towards her. ‘Don’t you start! There’s nothing wrong with your head. You know exactly what I’m talking about. Someone sent you to spy on what was happening and to raise the alarm. I want to know who it was.’

‘What do you mean, spy? We didn’t raise an alarm.’

He raised a hand as if he was going to strike her. Then he sat back.

‘Very well. Let’s start again. Name?’

The question was directed at Luke. ‘Luke Beauchamps.’

‘And I’m his sister, Christine.’

Their interrogator raised a sceptical eyebrow. ‘Sister, eh? Papers!’

She fumbled in her pocket and produced her identity card. He scrutinised it and then turned to Luke with the same demand.

Luke shook his head. ‘Haven’t got them.’

‘Our house was bombed, by the allies,’ Christine said. ‘We lost everything. That’s why we are refugees. We are looking for our godfather. He lives in Montbéliard, but he wasn’t at home. That’s why we needed to find somewhere to sleep.’

‘And you just happened to know how to get into the rail yard.’

‘No, we didn’t! We just happened to spot the place where the wire had been cut.’

He laughed with what sounded like genuine amusement.

‘Oh, you’re good! I’ll give you that. Quite an accomplished little actress.’ Then, deadly serious again, ‘You are a liar. You are a filthy collaborator in the pay of the Germans. Now, tell me who you are working for.’

‘But I don’t understand. You are German. If we were working for you, you would know about it.’

‘German? Are you out of your mind? Why would we try to blow up our own train?’

‘You were trying to blow it up?’

‘As if you didn’t know! And thanks to you and your brother here – if he is your brother and not a
Boche
spy – two of my men are dead or prisoners and that load of tanks will be on its way to the Front tomorrow.’

‘No it won’t! It won’t get very far. We’ve seen to that.’

‘You? You expect me to believe that you two were trying to sabotage that train yourselves?’

‘Yes.’

‘With your bare hands, I suppose.’ He grabbed her wrist and sniffed her hand. ‘You haven’t been anywhere near explosive.’

‘No. We didn’t have any
plastique
so we put sand in the oil pots.’

He stared at her in silence for a moment. Then he said, in a different tone, ‘This godfather you are looking for. What’s his name?’

‘Lemaître. Marcel Lemaître.’

He looked from one to another, frowning, then turned to one of his men.

‘Fetch the
patron
. I think we’d better let him deal with this. Put them in the other room till he gets here.’

They were hustled into the inner room and the door was slammed shut behind them. Without speaking they turned to each other and clung together for a long moment.

Then Luke said, ‘You were marvellous. I couldn’t think straight.’

‘I just said the first thing that came into my head,’ she replied. ‘Are you all right?’

‘More or less. My head aches.’

‘Poor you. Come over here and sit down.’

There was another table and more chairs in the room and they sat facing each other, their hands clasped.

‘I think it’s going to be all right,’ Christine said. ‘I think they are Resistance. We’re all on the same side.’

‘As long as we can convince them of that,’ Luke said. ‘They obviously blame us for the operation going wrong.’

‘But it wasn’t anything we did. The Germans must have been expecting them.’

‘And they think we were the ones who gave the game away. I hope we can persuade this
patron
, whoever he is, that it wasn’t us.’

They sat in silence after that, until the door was opened and the man in civilian clothes said, ‘Come on out. The boss wants to see you.’

A man was standing in the middle of the room; a tall man with fair hair and a neat beard. For a second no one spoke.

Then Christine said, ‘Papa?’

They were sitting around a table in a mountain hut. A fire of pine logs was burning in the grate and the air was filled with a resinous scent that reminded Luke of Christmas. On the table were the remains of a breakfast of ham and eggs and real coffee, smuggled over the border from Switzerland. Luke, with interruptions from Christine, had just finished telling the story of their journey and their many adventures.

Marcel Lemaître, whose chalet they were in, shook his head in amazement. ‘What a saga! You both deserve a medal.’

‘I rather think,’ Roger Beecham said, with a smile, ‘that their mother would say they both deserve to be smacked and sent to bed without their supper.’ He leaned across the table and took hold of a hand of each of his children. ‘My dears, I can’t tell you how proud I am of both of you. But if I had had any inkling of what was going on I should not have had a moment’s peace. Thank God you were able to give your mother some reassurance.’

‘That was Cyrano’s doing,’ Christine said. ‘He sent the messages for us.’ Neither of them had mentioned her infatuation with the English radio operator, but she was beginning to find that she could speak of him without so much pain.

‘Yes, a good chap, Cyrano,’ her father said. ‘And a brilliant pianist.’

‘I thought the flute was his main instrument,’ Christine said.

Her father laughed. ‘Yes, I believe it is. It just so happens that company slang for a radio operator is a pianist. You can see why.’

‘Oh, I see! I suppose it is a bit like playing an instrument. Cyrano taught me to use a Morse key, and I know all the Morse alphabet.’

‘Do you indeed!’ He looked at her fondly. ‘You’ve grown up so much. When I left home you were just a little girl, and now look at you.’

‘You should see her in a skirt and lipstick,’ Luke said with a grin.

‘A skirt and lipstick? Chris? Surely not!’

‘I had to. It was a sort of uniform, when I was working behind the bar.’

‘Dear God! Working behind a bar and wearing lipstick. Whatever would your mother say?’

‘She’d approve. She was always on at me to make myself look more attractive.’

Luke cut in, ‘You actually know Cyrano? And Gregoire?’

‘Yes. I trained with them both.’

‘So that’s why they asked what you looked like,’ Christine said. ‘When I told them you looked like Luke, I think they recognized you, but of course they didn’t say anything.’

‘We did wonder if you might have volunteered for the same thing,’ Luke said. ‘But why weren’t you sent to the Auvergne, where you had contacts?’

‘Precisely for that reason. Too many people would have recognized me. But when the top brass found out I knew this area well they suggested I should come here. I was pretty sure I’d be able to recruit Marcel, but when I arrived I discovered he was already running his own circuit, so we were able to join forces.’

‘Who was the man who questioned us, before you arrived?’

‘Laurent. He’s one of our best men, which is why I put him in
charge of the operation last night. I hope he wasn’t too rough on you.’

‘No, he behaved pretty well, considering. I’m really sorry if we got in the way, but it wasn’t intentional.’

‘I know that. It was just an unfortunate coincidence. Someone must have tipped off the Germans and we shall have to find out who, but that’s for another day. At least, if Chris’s scheme works out, the train won’t get far.’ He looked at her teasingly but with a kind of wonder. ‘Who would have thought that your interest in all things mechanical could be put to such good use?’

In spite of herself, Christine yawned and her father got up.

‘Bedtime! None of us has had any sleep tonight. Tomorrow Marcel will take you over the border, but for now you both need a good rest.’

They set off soon after dawn, in borrowed boots and warm ski jackets. Roger came with them on the first leg of the journey, but at the top of a ridge he stopped.

‘This is where I have to leave you, I’m afraid. There are things I have to attend to down there in Montbéliard. Marcel will see you safe across the border and his contacts there will get you to the British Consul. As you are both technically minors, there shouldn’t be any difficulty about getting you sent back to England. Don’t tell your grandparents that you’ve seen me. As far as they know I’m in Canada, training their pilots.’

‘We won’t say anything,’ Luke promised. ‘But I wish you’d let me stay here with you and join the circuit. Chris would be all right on her own from here.’

‘Not possible, Luke. You know that. Anyway, you told me last night you want to join the RAF and fly Spitfires. You’ll be much more useful doing that.’ He reached out and drew them both to him. ‘I’m so proud of you both and I can’t wait for the war to be over, so I can come home and get to know this brave young man and this lovely girl that my children have grown into. Take care of yourselves and please, don’t be any more heroic than you absolutely have to!’

He kissed them both and turned away down the mountain path. They stood watching him until Marcel said, ‘Now we must go. We have a long walk in front of us.’

A week later, Isabelle was crouching over the radio in her kitchen. Her two German lodgers had gone and no one else had taken their places, so she felt safe in bringing the set indoors. The news was not good; instead of being able to march through Italy almost unimpeded, the Allies were facing determined opposition from the German army. There was bitter fighting. When the bulletin ended, she only half listened to the
messages personelles
. It was so long since there had been any news.

Then it came: Michou’s pups are safely back in their proper kennel and the old dog who sired them sends his love.