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Evelyn’s heart surged into her throat as the man stopped abruptly ahead of her, his head bent towards the envelope he’d pulled from his pocket. He’d been stealthy enough when he pocketed it, but she had been watching for it and saw him do it. She’d hoped he would wait until he was away from her before opening it and finding it empty. Now, he swung around and advanced towards her, an ugly look on his cold face.
“I was hoping to keep this civil,” he snarled in a low voice, “but now that seems impossible.”
“Pardon? I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said, casting an anxious glance around. The aisles on either side of them were deserted and his voice was low enough not to draw the attention of the other two patrons who had been there just moments before.
“Where is it?”
“Where is what?”
“What was in this envelope!” He brandished the empty envelope in one black-gloved hand.
Evelyn opened her eyes very wide and shrugged.
“How should I know?”
“It came from your bag!”
“Did it? I haven’t the faintest idea. I don’t remember. Probably theatre tickets, long gone.” Only a very slight tremor disturbed her voice as she met his arctic gaze.
The man reached out and grabbed her arm, his fingers digging painfully into her through the fabric of her jacket sleeve.
“As I said, I was hoping to keep this civil,” he said, looming over her and bringing his face closer to hers, “but you’re trying my patience. Where are the contents of this envelope?”
In an instant, a surge of anger dispelled the fear coursing through her and Evelyn’s eyes narrowed sharply.
“You’ve already gone beyond civil,” she told him coldly, “and so I feel completely justified to do the same.”
His mocking laugh was cut short abruptly when the arm he gripped suddenly moved, pulling him forward. A small fist drove under his chin, snapping his head back painfully. He released his hold on her and stumbled back, stunned. Before he could recover, or focus enough to see it coming, Evelyn kicked him swiftly inside his thigh at the apex, near his groin. His leg collapsed and he fell towards her as her elbow made contact with the side of his head. Spinning to the side, her hand sliced into the side of his neck, hitting the main pressure point located there as he went down.
Evelyn stepped back as he fell to the floor, his eyes closing. She lowered her hands from their neutral defensive positions in front of each other and, taking a deep breath, stepped over the prone figure on the floor. After a quick look around, she moved quickly towards the stairs.
Any second, one of the other patrons would emerge from the stacks to find him lying there, and she wanted to be far away when they did. There was no good explanation for why a man was suddenly unconscious on the floor and, while experience had taught her that most would never believe she was capable of bringing a grown man down, she instinctively realized that the less attention she brought to herself now, the better.
Without looking back, she walked swiftly towards the spiral staircase, her heart pounding in her chest. Of all the rotten luck! She thought she was being terribly clever when she put the envelope in her handbag as a diversion. She was convinced it would buy her time. She couldn’t have been more wrong. Chalk it up to a lesson learned. She had a feeling there would be many more lessons to follow, if she continued down this unexpected path she’d found herself on.
Evelyn thought she saw a shadow move out of the corner of her eye and she swiftly turned her head, glancing behind her sharply. There was no one there and she continued on, her heels clicking on the tiled floor. The sound echoed between the rows of bookshelves, inordinately very loud to her nervous ear. She bit her bottom lip and looked behind her again.
And her heart thumped into her throat.
The man in the overcoat was moving, pushing himself into a sitting position and shaking his head groggily. She let out an involuntary gasp and flew the last few feet to the top of the stairs with only one thought: to get down them and out of the building before he saw her.
Reaching the stairs, Evelyn placed one gloved hand on the banister and looked down. Cold, sheer panic rolled over her as she watched a tall man in a black suit walk across the lobby to the foot of the stairs. Herr Voss glanced up as he set his foot on the first step and Evelyn recoiled, terror squeezing her throat closed. She didn’t know if he saw her, but he was most definitely coming up the steps to the second level.
Evelyn looked back to the other one. He was standing now, still facing the other way. He hadn’t seen her yet. Casting her eyes around frantically, she ducked into the closest aisle of books and ran towards the end. She only had a minute. When Herr Voss reached the top of the stairs, he would have a clear and unrestricted view down this very aisle.
Reaching the end, she turned left, disappearing around the corner. Gasping for breath, Evelyn bent to pull off her shoes again. She could run faster in bare feet, and that more than made up for the precious seconds it took to remove them. Gripping them in one hand, she took off, dashing along the narrow walkway that wound its way along the outer wall of the library.
She had no idea where she was going, or even if there was any way out up here, but she knew she couldn’t go back. Not after she’d knocked out a German agent.
The walkway ended ahead, turning left again at the last row of books. Evelyn looked behind her and slowed. Now what? If she went left, it would end with her crossing the floor and, if they had an ounce of sense, they would know that this was the only direction she could have gone.
Tears of fear pricked the back of her eyes and she blinked them away impatiently. She didn’t have time to panic. She had to think!
She turned up the second to last aisle and gasped as she ran straight into a person. Her heart thumped painfully in her chest and she instinctively fell back a step as the person grabbed her arm. As soon as fingers closed around her forearm, Evelyn swung her other arm in attack only to have it blocked.
“Stop! It’s all right!” a female voice broke through her terror and Evelyn focused on a vaguely familiar face framed with short, black curls. “I can help you!”
Evelyn stared at her. It was the woman who had been picking up books on the floor when she came out of the stacks to face the Security Service agent.
“What?” she asked stupidly.
“I can help you, but we have to move now!” the woman hissed, pulling her down the aisle towards the main floor.
“What...who...who are you?” Evelyn finally found her voice.
“A friend,” she replied, stopping at the end of the aisle and peering around the corner. “It seems as if you could use one right now.”
Evelyn tried to catch her breath, staring at the woman.
“You’re the woman from downstairs!” she suddenly gasped in recognition. “You were surrounded by books at one of the tables!”
The woman glanced over her shoulder, her lips curving faintly.
“Well done,” she commended her. “They’re about seven rows back. They’re each taking one side. Do you see that walkway over there? To the left?”
Evelyn nodded.
“Good. When I say go, run. I’ll meet you at the end of the aisle.”
“Then what?” Evelyn asked, her eyes wide. “We’ll be trapped in the corner!”
“You have to trust me. Are you ready?”
Evelyn looked across the open expanse of floor helplessly. What choice did she have? She nodded. The woman peered around the corner again, holding Evelyn’s arm as if to keep her from bolting too soon. Then her hand dropped.
“Go!”
Later, Evelyn didn’t have any conscious memory of making her legs move, but as soon as the word came out of the woman’s mouth, she was flying across the open space to the narrow aisle behind the last row of bookshelves. She didn’t look to her right, terrified that if she did, the men would see her.
Don’t trip, don’t trip, don’t trip! She repeated the words over and over to herself as she shot across to the safety of concealment behind the last row of books.
A second later, she ducked behind the floor to ceiling bookshelf. No shouts of alarm followed her and she sucked in a deep breath as she continued along the aisle, not slowing her pace. She made it! She’d made it without them seeing her!
Elation warred with the panic coursing through her and Evelyn bit her lip as she reached the end of the aisle. As she had suspected, the outer wall formed a corner, joining another narrow aisle that ran the length of the wall behind the rows of books. Rounding the corner, she leaned against the bookshelf, breathing heavily.
A hand grabbed her wrist and Evelyn jumped, clamping her teeth down hard to keep from crying out.
“Come on!” The woman whispered, tugging on her wrist. “This way. Keep close.”
Evelyn followed, staying close to her. They moved quickly, pausing at each row so the woman could peer around the bookshelf and up the aisle. At the third row, her fingers tightened around Evelyn’s wrist and she stood very still. Evelyn held her breath, standing perfectly still behind her. Then she heard it, the low murmur of German coming from the front of the next aisle. Straining, she tried to make out what they were saying, but it was too muffled at this distance. Her mysterious friend was silent, listening. Then, after a moment, she peeked around the edge of the row.
They began moving again, but this time she didn’t stop at the next row. Instead, she broke into a run, releasing Evelyn’s wrist. Evelyn kept pace with her, her heart in her throat as she looked over the woman’s shoulder. There, a few feet ahead, was a door.
They reached it at a full run and the woman twisted the handle, throwing it open and disappearing through without a backward glance. Evelyn followed, then grabbed onto a thin, wrought iron railing as she skidded to a stop. A narrow metal staircase spiraled down before her and her new friend was already a few steps down.
“Hurry!’ she hissed, glancing up. “Close the door!”
Evelyn closed the door quietly behind her and then started down the narrow steps, her gloved hand gripping the railing for support. The steps were deadly and she had sudden visions of her stockinged foot slipping on the cold metal. Swallowing, she pushed her fear aside and followed the woman, reaching the bottom a moment later.
The woman pulled her away from the bottom of the steps and they pressed against the wall, out of sight from the door above. Pausing to catch their breaths, the two women listened for the sound of the door opening. When only silence ensued, the woman exhaled softly.
“I think we made it,” she whispered, glancing at Evelyn. “There’s a door that leads outside at the end of this corridor. Let’s go.”
Evelyn nodded and reached down to slip her shoes back on before following the woman down the cold and narrow hallway to a heavy door.
“How do you know about this?” she whispered.
“We all know about it,” the woman replied over her shoulder. “We have to, in case of situations like this.”
They reached the heavy door and late afternoon sunlight streamed in when she pushed it open. Stepping into the warm sunlight, Evelyn took a deep breath, glancing behind her.
“Who are you?” she demanded. “And how did you know I needed help? And how did you know about them?”
The woman closed the door behind them and turned to face her, squinting in the bright sun.
“My name is Josephine Rousseau,” she said, holding out her hand. “For the rest, would you mind waiting until we’re away from here? I don’t entirely trust our safety just yet.”
Evelyn took the offered hand. “I’m Evelyn.”
“Well Evelyn, why don’t we go somewhere else and I’ll explain what I can?” Josephine suggested with a quick smile.
Evelyn gave her a searching look, then nodded.
“After you.”
Evelyn nodded to the waiter as he set a cup of coffee before her, then looked across the small table at Josephine. They were seated in the back corner of a café in what Evelyn’s mother would have termed as a “questionable” section of the city. Cigarette smoke curled around the small room, tinted varying shades of blue and gray by the sunlight making its way determinedly through the small window panes at the front of the café. Another time, Evelyn might feel decidedly out of place, but right now she was grateful for the protection of the anonymous neighborhood so far removed from the library.
“How did you know about the library?” she asked, lifting her cup to sip the coffee. The strong, hot liquid warmed her and Evelyn felt the trembling in her arms and legs, which had been plaguing her since their flight, ease.
“Karl contacted me when he hid the package,” Josephine told her. “It was the alternate plan, you see.”
“Karl? You know about Karl?” Evelyn gazed at her in bemusement. “I don’t understand.”
Josephine looked at her for a moment, her brows creased in a frown.
“I can see that you don’t,” she said, setting down her cup. “How long have you been working for Bill? He didn’t tell you about the rest of us?”
Evelyn swallowed uncomfortably. “No.” Her gaze wavered and she lowered her eyes to her coffee. “To be honest, this was my first time doing anything like this.”
Josephine stared at her, her mouth dropping open. “What?”
She nodded miserably. “I certainly managed to make an absolute mess of it, didn’t I?”
“What do you mean this was your first time?” Josephine demanded.
Evelyn shrugged. “Just that.”
There was a moment of stunned silence, then Josephine started laughing. Evelyn watched her uncomfortably.
“I don’t see what’s so amusing,” she muttered. “I’ve gone and mucked it all up.”
Josephine shook her head, the laughter dying on her lips. “Far from it! You did splendidly well! I know seasoned couriers who wouldn’t have done any better, and most would have been caught. Why on earth did Buckley send you?”
“I think he thought it would be a very easy pick-up.”
Josephine tilted her head thoughtfully, then sighed.
“Yes. I suppose he did. There’s no way he could have known Karl would be followed out of Germany.” She drank some coffee, motioning for Evelyn to do the same. “Drink. It will help settle your nerves. You must be terrified.”
Evelyn lifted the coffee and drank obediently, not answering. Josephine watched her for a minute, then set her cup down again.
“I’ll try to explain what I can,” she said, “although, I’m not sure how much will make sense to you. In the past year, it’s become obvious that Adolph Hitler poses a very serious and immediate threat to France. While most of our government doesn’t want to acknowledge it, there are some that do. They’re mainly in the Army, and they’ve been trying to build up a network to gather as much intelligence as they can. It’s not easy, though, and most people have no idea what they’re doing or what information to look for. Then William Buckley came along. In the past few months, he’s managed to build a solid network through France and into Germany to gather intelligence for MI6 in London.”
“How do you come to work with his network?” Evelyn asked. “Why are you not working with the French efforts?”
Josephine smiled and shrugged. “I am. Right now, we’re all working together, you see. Our numbers are so few that we’ve had to combine efforts in order to get any kind of reliable information. As our French network grows stronger, I’m sure that will change, but for now, I help where it will do the most good. And that is with Buckley.”
“Are you a courier?”
“No. I support the couriers. Today, when Karl had to activate the alternate plan, I went to the library to make sure you picked up the package successfully.”
“And if I hadn’t?”
“Then I would have retrieved it and sent it on through the network. It would have taken a few days at least to reach Bill, so you understand that it is not ideal.” Josephine paused and looked at her. “Thankfully, I didn’t have to resort to that. Although, you had me worried for a minute. What on earth were you thinking to put the package in your handbag? That’s the first place they look!”
“I know. Karl told me.”
“Mon Dieu! Then why did you do it!?”
“I didn’t.”
Josephine stared at her. “I saw it! He took the envelope from your bag!”
“The envelope, yes. Not the information.” Evelyn rubbed her forehead tiredly. “I took it out and put the envelope in my bag as a diversion. I wasn’t expecting him to open it before he’d gone two steps.”
Dark eyebrows soared into Josephine’s forehead.
“Then where’s the information that was in the envelope?”
Evelyn reached up and pulled the pin from her hat, lifting it off her head. As Josephine watched in fascination, she turned the small blue hat over and folded the inside lining back. There, nestled between the lining and the hat, were the microfilm strips.
“Fantastic!” Josephine breathed, suitably impressed. “Well done again! And you say you’ve never done anything like this before?”
Evelyn replaced the hat on her head, sliding the pin back in to hold it in place.
“Karl warned me to put it somewhere it wouldn’t be found before we parted,” she said. “I had the entire tram ride to consider my options.”
“How did you fall into this, anyway?” Josephine asked, studying her. “You’ll forgive me for pointing out that you are hardly what I’m used to seeing. You should be in Paris, going to parties and gracing the social pages.”
Evelyn was surprised into a short laugh.
“I was,” she admitted. “Monsieur Buckley is a family friend. I went to visit him for lunch yesterday and he confided that he needed someone to pick up a package in Strasbourg. I volunteered.”
“That’s it? You just volunteered?”
“There was a little more to it than that,” Evelyn said with a shrug, “but essentially, yes. If I can help in any way to get information back to London to help them make better decisions about Nazi Germany, then I’ll do it.”
Josephine shook her head.
“That was before you knew you were going to run into two Gestapo agents, eh?” she asked. “Do you have any idea how close that was back there?”
“A bit, yes,” Evelyn said dryly. “If you hadn’t grabbed me, I don’t know...”
Her voice trailed off as a violent shudder went through her. The reality of what could have happened crashed over her and she felt her hands begin to tremble again as her skin went hot and then cold. Josephine reached across the small table and her strong fingers closed around one of her hands.
“There’s no point in thinking about it,” she said. “I was there, and now you can return to Paris, victorious in your first mission.”
Evelyn met her gray eyes and the two women shared a smile. Josephine squeezed her hand and released it.
“Do yourself a favor, though, and consider what you would have done differently now,” she told her, finishing her coffee. “You did the best you could in a situation you weren’t expecting, but that won’t always be enough.”
Evelyn was silent, lifting her cup to finish the coffee.
“What I want to know is how on earth you knocked that Gestapo agent out,” Josephine said after a minute. “I’ve never seen anything like it. How did you do that?”
Evelyn set her cup down with a click.
“I don’t remember,” she lied. “I panicked.”
Josephine’s blue eyes bore into hers for a moment, then she shook her head.
“Well, I wish I did that when I panicked,” she said with a grin. “It was wonderful.”
Evelyn smiled and was silent. She rarely spoke about her unusual training. She had learned as soon as she returned to England that others didn’t understand, nor want to understand, the strange ways of the Orient. Her peers were set in their staunchly English ways and found it disturbing that she had enjoyed her time away from England. If any of them ever suspected that the gently born and well-connected debutante could defend herself in ways unheard of for a woman in the West, her social standing would be destroyed. Aside from Stephen and her own family, no one had any idea she had brought much more than a few fans and shawls back from Hong Kong.
And she was determined to keep it that way.
