A Spy Above the Clouds by Ciji Ware

Author:Ciji Ware
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ciji Ware
Published: 2021-09-03T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 39

Marcel Delonge’s expression alerted Viv she should not reveal to the maquisards arrayed behind him that they were personally well acquainted. The less each clandestine network knew about the other, the less information that the SS could torture out of them about their fellow résistants.

“Good to see you, Violette—isn’t it?” Marcel said as Viv slowly mounted the chalet’s front stairs, doing her best to erase her look of astonishment. “When we spotted your approach across the field, I told Julien, here, how we briefly shared a jail cell in Spain before I was flown back to England.”

He smiled casually and formally shook her hand. For her part, Viv could barely look at Marcel for fear Julien and the others in the room would guess how fast her heart was racing at the sight of the man she knew, now, she loved but feared she’d never see again.

Meanwhile, Julien greeted her as a long, lost comrade. With Marcel by her side, she was urged to warm herself next to the roaring fireplace and help herself to sausages on a plate that had been placed in her lap. Shortly afterward, Viv, Marcel, and Julien moved to a wooden table in the center of the room where Viv delivered Major Merrick’s inquiries as to the Glières maquis’ precise state of training and equipment.

Viv smiled to soften her words.

“My patron from Britain wants to learn about your group’s state of readiness to take on specific sabotage missions he has in mind for you when the time comes.”

Julien leaned back in his chair. Viv saw that he was choosing his words carefully.

“Please tell your patron we would be most happy to comply with his requests if he is able to supply the necessary air-drops of goods and equipment to sustain us. You can tell him that our numbers keep increasing—nearly four hundred now—as the Krauts attempt to ship more of our young men to work in Germany, and so they’ve come up here. As a result, our need for more weapons, ammunition, medical supplies, food, and shelter is dire. Those living down in the valleys below the plateau can only provide us so much. We have yet to receive any of the materiel from England that I asked you for last spring.”

Viv understood his anxiety.

“I did, indeed, convey your previous messages to London. Sending me and my superior, Pierre, to the Haute-Savoie region is a first step, we hope, in obtaining what you’ve requested,” she assured him. “I will tell my patron of your growing numbers and urgent needs. We now have a member of our team with a wireless to transmit intelligence and specific field requests. Hopefully, you will see a result in due course.”

“I should hope that is very soon,” Julien said with taciturn understatement.

Marcel asked questions as well. He probed Julien about the expected arrival of cadres of defeated Spanish Republicans fleeing Franco’s regime who were willing to join the French fight against Germany.

“Yes, we do expect them,” Julien acknowledged. “They say they are committed to our cause and will certainly swell ranks up here.

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