Landscape of Shadows by Kevin Doherty

Author:Kevin Doherty
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oceanview Publishing
Published: 2022-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 25

MAX CASTS A final glance towards where the tiny bursts of light appeared. No way of telling whether someone is still over there, waiting, watching to see if anything goes wrong, or whether they have already departed, their role complete, their part of tonight’s undertaking done.

He makes the men stand close against the deep side wall of the arch, a blind spot hidden from the upstairs windows. He quickly pats each man down to check for weapons. Too many escape lines have been infiltrated by German agents and informers, with operators like him paying with their lives.

If all follows the usual procedure, the men will be here in the Picardie for only a few nights. He does not know who passed the message to Pierre that they were about to arrive. Nor does he know who will then take them from Juliette Labarthe when it is time for her to lead them out of Dinon and on to the next stage of their journey. He is the cell leader but he does not want this information.

The cell consists of the three of them—Max, Pierre and Juliette—plus Bruno, Auguste, and the cell’s radio operator. Only Max knows the identity of this last individual, radio operators always being particularly fiercely protected because of the rarity of their skills and the extreme danger they put themselves in: radio signals can be monitored and tracked to source.

The radio operator is in fact Laure Rioche—none other than Widow Rioche, eavesdropper and apparent gossip. Her radio transmitter could have no better hiding place than within the complex wiring and delicate electronics of her switchboard.

Pierre’s medical expertise and Juliette’s pharmaceutical knowledge and stockroom of medical supplies complete the structure of a self-contained cell.

Always the priority is to protect the security of the escape line. So the Dinon cell is a cut-out from the rest of the line. And there are cut-outs within the cell itself: knowledge is restricted. Max is the only person who has to be in contact with Laure Rioche, which is why only he knows her identity. She in turn knows only of Max’s involvement in their work; she does not know the identities or roles of the others.

All of them accept that if any of them is uncovered and interrogated by the Germans, they will inevitably give up everything they know—a simple reality. So the requirement is to limit the damage. What the individual does not know, they cannot tell. The rest of the line will remain secure, and Dinon’s part in it can be rebuilt somewhere else. “Need to know only” is the golden rule, and they stick to it. The precautions they take are basic but they have served the cell and the escape line well.

It occurs to Max that Sophie Carrière’s leaders, the hard men in Paris, could learn from the Dinon cell. Maybe one day they will.

But only if they last long enough.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.