Not yet, he reminded himself, driving out of the busy center of Maubeuge and making his way out of the city. He hadn’t failed yet. He would pull to the side of the road once he was out of the city and contact Hamburg. They might have additional information that would help him pick up the trail once again. The man might have family in France, or an associate. Anything would help.
As he drove out of the city, Eisenjager passed a line of army trucks undoubtedly heading for one of the fortifications along the border. Maubeuge was part of the French’s famed Maginot Line, thought it didn’t appear to be one of the more heavily defended sections. He wondered briefly if the Wehrmacht would attack it head on or go around it, then dismissed the thought almost immediately. The battle plan of the High Command was no business of his. His business was with a young Belgian from Brussels. Nothing more. Even so, he found himself making mental note of the positions of the city defenses to include in a report back to Hamburg. It wouldn’t hurt to send back additional information to help the army, even if their reconnaissance flights would give them most of what they needed to know.
It was ten minutes before he was well into the countryside and the bustling city was behind him. Eisenjager pulled off the road and behind a hedge before turning off the engine. Twisting in his seat, he pulled the square case from the back and set it on the passenger seat beside him, undoing the leather straps. Opening the case, he pulled out a long wire with an adapter on the end, plugging one end into the cigarette lighter of the car before inserting the other end into the side of the wireless radio unit. He started the engine again and reached for the headset, settling it over his head before he began tuning the dials for the frequency. He found it a minute later and began transmitting a coded message with the little metal paddle. He didn’t need to write it out first. He knew the code well, and for such a short message, it was unnecessary to take the time to jot it down. He would keep it short and sweet, relaying his position and asking for more information to help with his hunt. He would have to wait for an answer, but he could use the time to study the road map of France. When he was finished transmitting, he pulled the folded map from the pocket inside the door and spread it out over the steering wheel.
It was over twenty minutes later when the headset came alive with the sound of a reply. Setting the map aside, Eisenjager pulled out a little pad of paper and pencil from the case, scrawling down the code as it came back. When he was finished, he looked at it with a slight frown. After waiting to ensure that there was no more coming, he removed the headset and decoded the message, staring at the neatly printed words a minute later.
MAN IN MARLE FRANCE CAN ASSIST. NAME IS ASP. CODEWORD: ORANGE.
Eisenjager unplugged the radio and rolled up the cord with quick, practiced movements. A few minutes later, he was pulling out from behind the hedge and back onto the road.
He was going to Marle.
Chapter Twenty-One
Luc finished loading logs into the fireplace and reached for a box of long matches. The sun had all but disappeared and a cold rain had moved across the county, making the old house damp. The shower had been short-lived, but the chill had remained. Evelyn watched as he lit the kindling, remembering the roaring fire in her father’s drawing room on nights like these. A feeling of intense sadness went through her at the memory. She missed Ainsworth Manor and the comfort of her home, especially at times like this, far from home.
“Have you heard anything from the others yet?” Josephine asked, walking into the room with two steaming cups of tea. “They should have contacted us by now.”
Marc looked up from the table in front of the window where he had a wireless radio set up.
“No. Their last message was this morning to say that they had arrived.”
Josephine handed Evelyn one of the cups and settled onto the couch next to her, sipping her tea.
“Do you think something’s happened to them?”
“It’s too early to think that,” Luc said, standing up and brushing his hands off. “They’re probably moving around, trying to gather as much information on the German movements as possible. You know how they are. They will contact us when they have something.”
Evelyn sipped the hot liquid in her cup thankfully. The tea was atrocious, but it was hot and warmed her, and that was all that she cared about right now. She wiggled her toes in her shoes and watched as the logs caught light in the hearth. Once the fire got going, her feet would warm up. Her lips twisted at the thought as she remembered hiking through the mountains in Norway just last month. Her cold feet now were nothing compared to the frozen limbs she’s experienced there. Had it really only been a month since that flight across the snow-covered mountains, escaping the same army that was now threatening France? It seemed almost a lifetime
