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Evelyn walked into the kitchen, following the scent of freshly brewed coffee. Josephine looked over her shoulder from where she was standing with her back to the door, busy at the small counter next to the sink.
“Perfect timing. It just finished brewing,” she said, filling a cup with coffee. “There’s no sugar, I’m afraid.”
“That’s all right. I’m getting used to it without. Thank you.”
Evelyn took the steaming mug and sipped the hot brew thankfully.
“Finn is in the sitting room, monitoring the radio in case London responds to your message. I was trying to get a news report on the wireless, but there’s nothing new yet. I wish we knew where the German forces are. It would give us some idea of how much time we have.”
“I don’t think it would do much good even if we did know.” Evelyn turned to follow Josephine out of the kitchen with her coffee. “This is the speed of the Blitzkrieg that we’ve heard so much about. They’re moving faster than the news can report.”
“Anything yet?” Josephine asked Finn as they walked into the sitting room. He was seated at a desk in the corner with a radio open in front of him and a headset over his ears. He shook his head and Josephine sighed, looking at Evelyn. “They’ll contact you. Bill will want you out of this as soon as possible.”
“What about you?” Evelyn sank down onto a settee. “What will you do when you reach Marseilles?”
“I’ve already contacted my friend and she’s expecting me.” Josephine sat next to her and crossed her legs carelessly. “She’ll help me find work and somewhere to live. I’ll settle in and wait, as Marc advises. I just hope and pray that he and Luc are able to do the same.”
“Where are they going?”
“I don’t know. They wouldn’t say. It’s best for us not to know, especially if the Germans find out about any of us.”
“Is that a possibility?” Evelyn asked, startled.
“Anything is a possibility if they take over France.”
Evelyn was silent for a moment, drinking her coffee. Josephine was right, of course. Once France fell and the Nazis occupied Paris, the entire country would be at the mercy of the Gestapo. When that happened, the risk of neighbors turning against those they used to call friends would be high. She’d heard what happened in Germany and Austria. The fear of the Gestapo was much greater than any loyalty most people had to each other.
“I have something!” Finn said suddenly from the corner. “But it’s a code I don’t recognize.”
“Here come your instructions,” Josephine said, smiling at Evelyn. “I told you they’d want to get you moving as soon as possible.”
“I don’t think this is London,” Finn said, looking over to them. “This is something different. I can’t make any sense out of it.”
Josephine frowned, getting up and going over to him. She took the headset from him and listened for a moment, the frown deepening.
“It’s not London,” she agreed finally, motioning him out of the chair. “You’re right. It’s coming from our network here.”
Finn moved away from the table as Josephine seated herself and reached for a pencil.
“I don’t really understand how these things work,” he admitted to Evelyn, sitting next to her. “My wireless training was rudimentary at best.”
“What did you do in Belgium?” she asked him, turning slightly to face him.
“Nothing with radios,” he replied evasively. “I was in the right place to obtain information, and I passed it back through a small group of people over the border.”
“You said you were in Antwerp?”
“Yes. When the Germans came, I moved south.”
Evelyn nodded. He clearly was unwilling to tell her anything more, and she was comfortable with that decision. She didn’t need to know anything about him. She just needed to get him somewhere south so that they could both get back to England.
“I apologize if I was impolite,” Finn said after a long moment of silence. “I’m not used to...well talking about it.”
“It’s quite all right. I shouldn’t have asked.” Evelyn smiled at him and finished her coffee. “It doesn’t really matter, does it? The only thing that’s important is getting out of Paris, and then getting back to England.”
“Do you think we will do it? Make it south before the Germans?”
“We have to. It doesn’t matter what I think.”
“How long will it take us? I’m not familiar with the roads or the area.”
“It’s hard to say. It all depends on where we go. The amount of refugees leaving Paris will make going anywhere more difficult. Under normal circumstances, we could drive all the way to the Mediterranean in less than ten hours. But now? With all the people on the roads? I have no idea.” Evelyn leaned her head back. “When I left Brussels on the day the Germans invaded, it took us all day to make it to the border. I’ve never seen so many cars and people and carts. I imagine it will be the same here.”
“I’d forgotten you were in Brussels.”
“Yes.”
“Then you’ve done this before.”
“What?”
“Escaped an invasion.”
Evelyn’s lips twisted wryly. “Yes. I’ve done this before.”
She stood up and glanced down at him. “I’m going for another cup of coffee. Would you like one?”
“No, thank you.”
She was just turning to leave when she heard Josephine suck in her breath. She glanced over at the corner to find her friend staring at words scrawled on the pad, her face white. Evelyn frowned sharply and changed direction, striding across the room towards her.
“What is it?” she asked, dropping a hand on her shoulder. “What’s happened?”
Josephine lifted the headset off with visibly shaking hands.
“That was Marc. Our network has been exposed to the Germans.”
Evelyn stared at her, breath catching in her throat. “How badly?”
“They have a list of names.” Josephine rubbed her face and reached for a cigarette case on the desk. “One of our contacts in Metz intercepted a typed memo meant for a German commander.”
She lit a cigarette and looked up at Evelyn, her lips pressed together. “My name is on it.”
“How?” Evelyn demanded, her brows pulled together. “How did they get your name?”
“How did they get any of the names?” Josephine blew smoke out and got up impatiently. “That’s not all of it. Finn’s name is on it, and so is Jens Bernard.”
Evelyn lifted a shaking hand to her cheek and stared at Josephine. An ice-cold shiver went down her spine and she sank into the chair Josephine had just vacated.
“And Marc?”
“No, but they think the list is incomplete.” She looked at Finn, sitting silently on the settee, and then back at Evelyn. “Finn isn’t even part of our network, and neither was Jens.”
“No.”
“Then how did they get their names? How did they get any of it?” Josephine strode impatiently to the other side of the room and back again. “If the list is incomplete, Marc and Luc could still be at risk. Marc is working on the assumption that we’re all blown. He’s contacting Mathieu and André to warn them. Then he and Luc are getting new identification papers and starting over. He thinks I should do the same.”
“I agree!” Evelyn said vehemently, looking up and nodding. “It’s too dangerous. If the Germans are distributing the list, they’re already looking for all of you. As the troops roll in, the Gestapo will be right behind them.”
“Or with them.” Finn finally broke his silence. “There is a division of the Wehrmacht that is worse than the Gestapo. They’re known as—”
“The SS.” Evelyn finished for him. “Yes. I know.”
He looked at her surprised. “You do?”
She was betrayed into a small smile. “Yes.”
“If the Germans are distributing the list, they’re giving it to the SS commanders. They have no need to wait for the Gestapo.”
“You’re as much at risk as I am,” Josephine said, looking at him. “I can go to the Deuxième Bureau and get a new identity. What will you do?”
“I have one already,” he said with a shrug. “I brought everything with me when I fled Antwerp. Do not concern yourself with me.”
Josephine looked at Evelyn. “And Jens? How can we contact him?”
“I don’t think we need to worry about him either,” she said slowly, forcing herself to think. “When I last spoke with Marcel, he assured me that he would take care of him. He was going to arrange for new papers and a place in the French countryside.” Evelyn gasped and looked up. “Was his name on there? Marcel?”
Josephine went over to the desk and picked up the notepad, flipping back a page to where she had written everything Marc said. After scanning over the list, she shook her head.
“No. He’s not here. If the list is incomplete, though...”
“He should be warned,” Finn said from the couch. “Whoever he is, he needs to know what is happening.”
“If I know Marcel, he already does,” Josephine said, dropping the notepad back onto the desk. “But you’re right. We should warn him. I have no idea where he is, or how to contact him since he left Marle.”
“I do,” Evelyn said quietly. “I’ll take care of it.”
Josephine looked at her in surprise. “What? How do you know and I don’t?”
She shrugged sheepishly. “He allowed Jens and I to use his Paris flat when we left Marle. I’ll send a message there, and if he’s still in Paris, he will receive it.”
Josephine exhaled in relief. “Well, that’s something at least.”
“I’ll have to go out for a bit.”
“We’ll go together. I have to go to my controller to get new papers. While I’m doing that, you can send the message to Marcel.”
“I don’t think using your agency is a good idea,” Finn said slowly, shaking his head.
“I agree,” Evelyn said.
Josephine looked from one to the other. “They are my employers!”
“They won’t be once France falls, and then the Nazis will have all their records,” Finn said flatly.
“They’ll destroy them before that happens,” Josephine scoffed. “They won’t let them fall into Nazis hands.”
“Are you willing to take that risk?” Evelyn asked quietly. Her eyes met Josephine’s. “Marc and Luc aren’t coming to Paris for their new papers, are they?”
After a moment’s hesitation, Josephine shook her head. “No. He said in the message just now that he doesn’t trust anyone after this. The list is too extensive. He won’t come to Paris now.”
“Do you have any idea where he and Luc will go for new papers?”
Josephine bit her bottom lip, clearly torn about revealing too much to them.
“If it’s somewhere you can get to, I think perhaps you should consider that alternative,” Evelyn continued when Josephine remained silent. “You can’t continue the work if you’re dead.”
“And that’s what will happen if the Nazis get to you,” Finn added ruthlessly from his couch.
Evelyn shot him an exasperated look, but Josephine was already nodding in agreement.
“No, he is right. This is no time to be stubborn or naive. If I don’t want to risk further exposure by using my own agency then I’ll have to find another way.” Josephine put her cigarette out in the ashtray on the desk. “There’s a man just outside of Reims. That’s who Marc will use. He’s about two hours north of us.”
“North?” Finn repeated, staring at her. “That’s right in the path of the German troops!”
She shrugged. “There is no one else.”
Evelyn pressed her lips together, her heart sinking. If they went north into the path of the advancing troops, they would all be at risk. Yet what other choice did Josephine have?
“Just because the Germans are moving across France towards the Channel doesn’t mean that they will pass through Reims,” she said, surprised at how steady her voice was. “We’ll go and just have to hope for the best.”
“Hope for the best?” Finn demanded. “I thought the point was to get away from the Nazis, not go towards them!”
“You don’t have to come at all,” Josephine pointed out. “I’ll go alone and you can start going south. I’ll catch up with you.”
“No.” Evelyn stood up decidedly. “I’m not letting you go alone. They may know your name, but they don’t know mine. I can help if you run into trouble. I’m not letting you go alone.”
“That’s ridiculous, Geneviève. There’s no reason for either of you to put yourselves in the path of the Germans. This is my problem. I’ll handle it.”
“It’s all of our problem,” she said calmly. “If the Germans catch you and interrogate you, we’re all at risk. We need to get you a new identity and make sure you can hide in plain sight before we do anything else.”
“And what about going south?”
“We’ll go together as soon as you have your new papers. Besides, you’re the one with the car,” Evelyn added with a grin. “I don’t relish the thought of using bicycles, although I will if we have to.”
“Geneviève is right,” Finn said reluctantly. “Keeping your identity safe will only help us. I wish it wasn’t taking us into the path of the German divisions, but so be it. This must be a priority.”
Josephine looked from one to the other, her brows furrowed. “You’re both out of your minds,” she finally said. “Why risk all of us?”
“Because we can help,” Evelyn said with a shrug. “And I’m not about to leave you to run straight into the front lines alone. You saved me in Strasbourg, remember? I still need to repay that.”
Josephine waved her hand impatiently. “Don’t be ridiculous. You don’t owe me a thing. That was a mutual endeavor.”
“As is this. We’re going to Reims with you, whether you like it or not.” Evelyn looked at her watch, then glanced at the radio. “If it’s only two hours from Paris, it won’t be very much of a delay. Even with the photo processing, it should only mean losing one night.”
Josephine looked at her, startled. “How do you know how long...” Her voice trailed off and she shook her head, smiling sheepishly. “Never mind. It’s none of my business.”
“Once you have your new identity, we will head south.”
“If it even is south,” Finn said. “We won’t know for certain until we hear back from London.”
“Hopefully that will be soon.”
“I’ll go back to listening,” he said, getting up and moving towards the desk. “You two decide when we’re leaving. The sooner we leave, the sooner we can go south.”
“Agreed.”
Evelyn picked up her forgotten coffee cup and started towards the kitchen. Josephine followed, her lips pressed together grimly.
“Geneviève?”
“Yes?”
“There’s something that’s bothering me, and I need to get it out into the open before we go anywhere,” she said as the two women entered the kitchen.
Evelyn turned to look at her, raising her eyebrows in question. “What is it?”
“Everyone on that list has one thing in common,” Josephine said slowly. “They’ve all had direct dealings with your MI6.”
Evelyn swallowed. “Yes.”
Josephine stared at her. “Is there something I should know?”
Evelyn met her gaze and saw the confusion and uncertainty in her eyes. She took a deep breath, her mind scrambling to find something to say, something that would not give away the existence of the London spy.
“I don’t know how your names got out there, but I know neither Bill nor I had anything to do with it,” she heard herself say. “The only thing you need to know is that I’m not leaving France until I know you, Jens, and Marcel are safe. You have my word on that.”
Josephine stared hard at her for a long moment, then her mouth relaxed and she nodded.
“All right. As soon as you hear from London, we’ll go to Reims. I still think it’s pointless for you and Finn to risk it, but I understand why you’re both determined to do it.”
Evelyn smiled. “I’m afraid you won’t get rid of us so easily,” she said, turning to pick up the coffee pot from the stove. “If I had my way, I’d bring you along with us to England.”
“No. My place is here, with my country.”
Evelyn looked over her shoulder. “I know. So let’s make sure that you can continue to help France.”
