Destination Casablanca by Meredith Hindley

Author:Meredith Hindley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Published: 2017-10-10T04:00:00+00:00

WHEN JOSEPHINE RUSSELL RETURNED to the consulate later that afternoon, she brought a new batch of coffee—and two messages for Reid. Deciding she was harmless, the guards allowed her to approach within speaking distance of the gate. She let Reid know a message awaited him at the bottom of the thermos. Reid hadn’t heard from Captain X, his courier, since before the start of the invasion and worried his trusted messenger was either in jail or dead. When he dumped the coffee out, Reid found a message dated five hours earlier from Bill Eddy, who was at Gibraltar with Eisenhower. They wanted a progress report on the invasion. A note from Ajax said he couldn’t contact either Gibraltar or Tangier.11

Reid marveled at the risks both Captain X and Josephine had taken to deliver the messages. Now he needed Josephine to continue her skullduggery. Reid wanted her to complain of pain in her ankle, which would require the assistance of Dr. Anton Rublev, the consulate’s doctor. Rublev had sought sanctuary at the consulate after being rousted from sleep by the French military vehicles gunning their engines as they headed for the port. Now he found himself an accidental prisoner. With the help of some colleagues, Reid made a commotion to distract the guards, allowing Russell to pass along the plan to his wife. Josephine played her role brilliantly, but the guards wouldn’t allow the doctor to examine her. Instead, Rublev asked her questions in French through the gate before passing through the bars some ointment to rub on the joint and a bandage for her ankle. Inside the bandage, Reid hid a coded message to Captain X on a thin slip of paper.12

As Souard predicted, Lieutenant Merglin, a member of the French resistance, appeared at the consulate around 4:00 a.m. bearing a signed order from Noguès authorizing him to search and seize any cars and stocks of gasoline owned by the consulate. The French wanted to make it impossible for the Americans to plot a midnight getaway.13

Once he completed his search of the consulate, Merglin and his men moved over to the annex. “The poor boy looked as if he had been told to kill his own pet dog,” recalled King upon seeing Merglin’s face in his doorway. Once again, Sheila Clark led the Frenchmen around the annex, which left Merglin and King alone. The lieutenant told King he was “desolé” to have to search the annex, but he could not refuse the order and maintain his appearance of loyalty to the Protectorate. King assured him he understood the predicament.

During their search, Merglin’s men uncovered a car and an illegal radio set in the garage, both of which they would have to take into custody. They also discovered that the car didn’t match the one registered to King.

“You have another car, haven’t you? No. 7995MA8? Where is that?” Merglin trembled as he asked the questions, aware of his men watching the confrontation. King had loaned the car to Merglin and his compatriots to kidnap General Georges Lascroux the day before.

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