An Affair of Spies by Ronald H. Balson

Author:Ronald H. Balson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

29

AFTERMATHS

The clock ticks slowly as Allison and Nathan anticipate departing for their afternoon meeting at St. Hedwig’s Catholic Church. Nathan paces. Allison plays solitaire, but her concentration is somewhere else. Several thoughts run through her mind. Will it be safe to walk outside today? Have the attacks ceased, have the bombers truly been driven away, or are they reloading? Might there be further bombing raids today? Is the church still standing and is the meeting still on? Will Snyder show up? Will he cooperate? Will they get the information they seek and begin their journey home?

Allison voices her thoughts, and then says, “Do you think it’s wise for us to walk across the city without knowing the answer to any of those questions?”

“I don’t think I have a choice,” Nathan says. “I have my orders and as far as I know, the meeting hasn’t been canceled. I checked the mailbox and there were no notes in it, though I admit it would have been difficult to venture out in the middle of a bombing raid just to deliver a message. So, I have to go. You, however, are not going anywhere. You have no orders; you are not a soldier. You are here as a volunteer. It was always our expectation to debrief Snyder in this safe house. That’s what I promised you. So, you will stay here, I will keep the appointment, and I’ll bring Snyder here as planned.”

“Since when did you become my commanding officer?” she says with her hands on her hips. “I’ll decide what I’m going to do and when I’m going to do it. Besides, what if Snyder starts talking at the church? You don’t have the background to evaluate him. You need me there.”

Nathan is defiant. “Nope. If he shows, I’ll bring him back here to be questioned. You are going to stay right here in this house. That was always the plan.”

“I’m not comfortable staying in this house by myself.”

“This house is a lot safer than walking around Nazi Berlin. And that was the deal we made in New York. You were to wait in the safe house.”

“That was our deal before you gave our address to your old girlfriend. Not so safe anymore, is it?”

Nathan sighs.

Suddenly, there is a knock on the door. Nathan peels back the edge of the curtain, peeks at the front stoop and says, “It’s Gluck and his partner.”

Entering the living room, Fred Gluck has a friendly smile. “It looks like you two survived last night’s fireworks. Everything okay?”

“Okay?” Nathan answers. “Hardly. Did you two know about the raid before last night? Did you know it was coming? Because if you did, and you didn’t alert us, I’m pissed. Why didn’t the OSS say something?”

“Hey, hang on, buddy,” Kurt says. “We didn’t know anything. It was all the Brits. All the bombers we could spare went on the joint raid over Schweinfurt last week, and we lost sixty Flying Fortresses. We didn’t have any more to spare for this mission, so it wasn’t us.

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