Page 55
“I am very sorry for Étienne,” Philippe says.
Marie nods.
“It must have been very hard,” Philippe says quietly.
Marie starts to answer but hears something in his tone. Rainy hears the same thing.
Philippe goes to Marie and touches her cheek. “Tell me,” he says. “Tell me how they turned you.”
“Turned . . . what are you . . .”
Philippe says, “Lieutenant Jones, do you believe we should stop here for a rest?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because the tracks lead straight to us.”
Philippe points at Rainy. “You see? It is obvious. And yet, Marie, you go along.”
Whap!
Philippe slaps Marie hard across the cheek, hard enough to start blood dribbling from her nose. “Traitor! Collaborator! Tell me how they got to you.”
Marie tries innocence. “I don’t know what you’re talking about! Why have you struck me?”
Philippe, overcome by emotion, turns away. Rainy says, “You killed them both, Marie. You shot Wickham, and when you couldn’t convince Étienne, you shot him. Your own brother.”
“He was a bastard!” Marie cries with shocking venom. “My brother! Hah! If you knew . . . Forever sneaking around to look at me in the bathtub!”
It is a confession, however much Marie wishes to cloud things with accusations.
Marie makes a quick grab for the Sten, but Philippe knocks it to the floor, and now the Walther is in Rainy’s hand.
Rainy looks at Philippe. He has recovered somewhat. Now the maquis fighter is back. Now he wants and needs to know how Marie was recruited, by whom, and how many others in the organization are also turned.
“He is going to marry me,” Marie says defiantly.
“Marry you? Who?”
“My sturmbannführer,” Marie says, spitting it defiantly. “He o
wns a castle in Germany. His family is very rich! When the war is over we will be married.”
“A sturmbannführer?” Philippe demands. His voice cracks. “That’s an SS rank. You’ve been sleeping with an SS officer?”
Marie, desperate, tries to turn things around. “This one.” She stabs a finger at Rainy. “Do you know what she is? She is a Jew! Look at her, she is a dirty Jew! Her true name is probably Cohen or Silberstein. She does the bidding of the English Zionists, a Jew bitch bringing war and destruction to our countrymen, Philippe!”
Philippe looks helplessly at Rainy. Their eyes meet, and both know what must happen. They are on the run, easily exposed, and after blowing up the fuel dump there will be no mercy from the Germans.
And no more time.
“I cannot,” Philippe whispers, pleading with Rainy.
Marie’s eyes go wide. “What are you talking about? Do you . . . are you proposing to murder me? My God, Philippe, have you lost your mind? The invasion will fail! Dieter told me himself, the Atlantic Wall cannot be breached. And what then, Philippe? What then when the English and the Americans have been thrown into the sea? The Germans will come for your family, my family . . .”
“I . . .” Philippe’s eyes are filled with tears. “I cannot . . .”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55 (Reading here)
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145