The Game of Treachery

by Christopher Nicole

  There was another explosion, and another rock fall. ‘They mean to seal us in!’ Monterre said, his voice high.

  ‘I think they will come in,’ James said, feeling increasingly uneasy as to the capabilities of his fighting force. He looked over his shoulder, gazed at the pale faces of the women. They at least did not looked scared, although they were certainly tense.

  ‘Grenades,’ Henri said. As he spoke there were a series of explosions, and the cave became filled with searing, choking fumes.

  ‘Shit!’ Pierre exclaimed. ‘Tear gas. Back up.’

  ‘Stay put,’ James snapped. ‘Put something over your eyes and nose.’

  But several of the Communists were already retreating, and now the morning became filled with the rattle of automatic weapons. Blinking tears from his eyes as he tried to peer through the smoke, James loosed a burst of fire. Then he was sent sprawling as bodies crashed through the entrance, hitting his head on the rock wall to be left senseless.

  *

  Liane buried her face in the crook of her arm as the gas surged through the cave, and threw herself to one side as the men started fleeing. From her prone position she saw James go down, and struggled to her knees. The front of the cave had been entirely deserted, save for half a dozen dead bodies, and Rachel, who was also lying on the ground, but was stirring.

  The defenders had fled into the interior, and the assault force had followed; in the confused space the noise of the firing was ear-shattering. Then she looked up as the entrance darkened again, and two more people came in. They both wore gas masks, but she recognized Joanna immediately. And now the man pulled his off. ‘My God!’ she muttered.

  The man was staring at her. ‘You,’ he said. ‘But you …’

  ‘Liane de Gruchy,’ Joanna said. ‘Meet Colonel Oskar Weber of the SD.’

  ‘You,’ Weber said again. ‘You were the whore … My God!’ He looked left and right for his men, but he and Joanna were isolated as the battle had moved away from them into the recesses of the cave. He reached into his belt for his whistle, and Joanna struck him on the back of the head with the butt of her pistol. Weber gasped, fell to his knees, and then on to his face. Joanna reversed the pistol, levelled it, and shot the unconscious man through the shoulder.

  Rachel sat up. ‘You missed!’

  ‘I never miss.’ Joanna knelt beside him.

  ‘He’s losing a lot of blood. ‘

  ‘He can stand some of that. But you are dead. You too, Liane. And you, James,’ she said as he tried to get up. ‘Just lie there and don’t move.’

  ‘Joanna …’

  ‘I’ll be all right: I’m this guy’s mistress. I’ll see you in London. Sometime. Now do it.’ She watched them subside, and blew several blasts on the whistle she took from Weber’s breast pocket. Men came running back, led by Korlovy. ‘Is it over?’ she asked.

  ‘I believe there are still some holed up. But the colonel …’

  ‘One of these bastards shot him. Don’t worry; I killed the bitch. They are all dead.’

  ‘But the woman de Gruchy …

  ‘She’s dead too. We have to get the colonel down the hill for first aid, and then get him back to Bordeaux.’

  ‘But shouldn’t we finish the job here, Fräulein? There are still several people hiding in these caves.’

  ‘The job is finished. We came here to destroy the de Gruchys. There is only one important de Gruchy. This carrion.’ She nudged Liane’s body with the toe of her boot. ‘Without her, they will simply disintegrate. I know these people. Our business now is to save Colonel Weber’s life, and get ourselves out of here. Our time is all but up.’

  Korlovy hesitated, but he had observed how intimate, both physically and mentally, the colonel and this woman had been. ‘As you say, Fräulein.’ He blew his whistle. ‘Out,’ he shouted. ‘Out. Everybody out.’

  *

  The noise of the retreating Germans faded, and Liane raised her head. As did Rachel. ‘I never really liked that woman,’ Rachel said. ‘Now …’

  ‘She is a heroine.’

  ‘Does she know the risk she is taking?’

  ‘Yes,’ James said.

  Liane knelt beside him. ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘I’ll manage.’ He squeezed her arm. ‘You?’

  ‘When I get some fresh air.’

  ‘Did you really … well …’

  ‘Just once. I was hiding from him and his friends, and, well … I had no idea who he was.’

  ‘Well,’ Rachel said, ‘you seem to have made an impression. But do you mean you were hiding from the Gestapo in a brothel?’

  ‘It is the safest place to be when one is on the run.’ Rachel looked at James.

  ‘Let’s find out who else survived,’ he suggested.

  *

  There were a surprising number. ‘Amalie!’ Liane embraced her sister, ‘Henri! Pierre! Where are Mama and Papa?’

  ‘We are here.’ Barbara helped her husband out of the darkness; like everyone else, their eyes were still streaming. She hugged her daughter. ‘My darling! Do you live like this all the time?’

  ‘Only now and then. But you are never going to live like this ever again.’

  ‘It was a miracle,’ Moulin said. ‘They had us cornered, and just suddenly pulled out.’

  ‘It was Joanna’s miracle,’ James told him. ‘Brune? You’ve been hit!’

  ‘I can still fly. If the old girl’s still there.’

  They went outside together, watched the German planes rising into the air. ‘I suggest we find out,’ James said. ‘Once we’ve dressed your wound, and buried the dead.’

  ‘Our dead,’ Liane said. ‘If we are abandoning this place anyway, I think we can leave the Germans just where they are.’

  *

  When the work was done, they sat together on the hillside as the evening drew in. ‘Do you know, I have been happy here,’ Liane said.

  He knew better, now, than to remind her that she could be much happier somewhere else. ‘Where will you go?’

  ‘As you suggested, we shall go south to the Pau area. Will you alert your people there?’

  ‘As soon as we get back.’

  ‘And you will keep us supplied and continue to control us?’

  ‘You mean to continue the Resistance?’

  ‘Of course we do. We shall start recruiting as soon as we have found a base. Pierre will command until Jean returns, and until I return from Paris.’

  ‘There is no reason for you to take that risk again.’

  ‘The route is my creation. I must make sure it is running smoothly. And there is no risk. I am dead, remember?’

  ‘Liane …’

  ‘Besides,’ she said. ‘I wish to go on working for you, being your woman. Do you not wish that?’ He leaned towards her, and she looked past him. ‘Here is Rachel.’

  She stood above them. ‘Believe it or not, the plane is absolutely intact and undamaged.’

  ‘Oh,’ James said. ‘Well …’

  ‘Don’t get up. We can’t take off for another two hours.’ Her mouth twisted. ‘You have a couple of hours to say goodbye.’

  *

  ‘Where am I?’ Weber asked, blinking at Joanna’s face, and then at Franz Hoeppner and Roess. ‘What happened?’

  ‘You were shot,’ Franz explained. ‘And hit your head falling. You had concussion. You would have died had Fräulein Jonsson not killed your assailant and saved your life.’

  Weber clutched Joanna’s hand. ‘You did that?’

  ‘You’re my boss, right?’

  ‘But the attack!’

  ‘That was a complete success. We had to leave a few of the guerillas holed up in the back of their cave, but the de Gruchys are all dead, as is Moulin. The rest are nothing without their leaders.’

  ‘That is good news. Good news. Eh, Roess?’ Roess looked as if he was sucking a lemon. ‘And Frau von Helsingen?’

  ‘As you instructed, Herr Colonel, I sent her back to Berlin.’

  �
�That is good. Very good. There will be congratulations all round.’ He squeezed Joanna’s hand. ‘You are a treasure.’

  *

  ‘Well, then I’ll say cheerio,’ Lockridge said.

  ‘Do you know where you’re going?’ James asked, seating himself behind his desk.

  ‘I hope somewhere a little less exciting. I don’t think I’m cut out for this sort of work.’

  ‘I shall be sorry not to continue working with you, sir,’ Rachel said with a straight face.

  ‘I’ll miss you too, Sergeant. Give my regards to Jonsson when next you see her.’

  The door closed, and she shouted, ‘Wheee!’ and hugged James.

  ‘Easy,’ he said. ‘There are certain places where I hurt.’

  ‘Sorry.’ She released him. ‘I did enjoy meeting those people. Even if the circumstances weren’t quite right. And when I think of poor Brune …’

  ‘Yes. But without you sitting beside him we wouldn’t have made it. I never knew you could fly a plane.’

  ‘Well …’ She made a moue. ‘You came over a bit strong to the brigadier.’

  ‘I simply told the truth.’

  ‘But I don’t want to be promoted. I want to stay here, working with you.’

  ‘You made that perfectly clear. Tell me, what did you think of Liane?’

  ‘That she is everything I thought she would be.’

  ‘But?’

  ‘I’m not sure I’d ever want to get too close to her. She’d scare the pants off me. But I suppose you scare the pants off her.’

  He grinned. ‘It’s a mutual thing.’

  ‘But seeing she’s not here …’ She sat on his lap and kissed him. ‘Will we see Joanna again?’

  ‘Joanna is indestructible.’

  ‘Because she’s Joanna?’

  ‘Partly. But more importantly because she is an American citizen. And a prominent one. Even if she’s found out, they won’t dare do more than deport her. She knows this, which is why she’s so confident.’

  ‘And if America enters the war on our side?’

  ‘Chance would be a fine thing. Do you realize that it’s September 1941? We have been at war for two years, virtually begging America to give us a hand. And they’ve hardly lifted a finger. They’re only going to come in if Hitler, or someone, is crazy enough to attack them.’

  ‘But if that were to happen?’

  ‘We’d have to get her out, fast. And pray that we’d be in time.’ He kissed her. ‘It’ll never happen.’

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