V for Vengeance

by Dennis Wheatley

  It was so plain that her mind was absolutely made up that he forbore to argue, but he looked very grave as he went upstairs to work, for he knew the extreme risk that they were all now running.

  For the next few days there was a great tenseness in the house, and Gregory and Kuporovitch talked very little. They were constantly on the move and held innumerable guarded telephone conversations from a call-box some way along the street with Ribaud and various other members of the organisation.

  On July the 4th it was reported that German air-borne troops were already landing in Syria, and even Gregory was surprised and disturbed by this indication that within three days of their conquest of Crete the Germans were already so far advanced in the mounting of their next offensive.

  On the night of the 5th a last conference was held at the Professor’s house, in which Lacroix gave special instructions to his most intimate followers. They were not allowed into the main secret but were told that the night of the 7th had been agreed upon to stage a major blow upon the enemy, and this would necessitate their abandoning their homes with their families. With their relatives and with only such luggage as they could carry in their pockets they were to assemble at the Professor’s house during the course of the day—each individual being given a special time so that the seventeen of them who were concerned should not arouse suspicion by arriving in a body.

  Lacroix had decided that to endeavour to smuggle seventeen people and their families over the frontier into Unoccupied France, at one time was too great an undertaking, but Ribaud had devised a plan for getting the whole company safely out of the country altogether. He alone was to remain in Paris, as his contacts in the heart of the enemy police system were too valuable to be jeopardised for the sake of one additional person planting some of the faked documents. Lacroix, too, would not be present, as it was important that he should be at his own headquarters in Vichy to get the first reactions of the Germans to the conspiracy when it was unmasked. In consequence, Léon Baras, the bull-necked Communist Deputy, was placed in charge of the arrangements for evacuating the main party.

  During the past few days the patients in the Marquise de Villebois’ house had been quietly evacuated one by one in Madame Idlefonse’s ambulance, and the Marquise herself was to leave Paris with her daughter on the following morning, so on the 6th, for the first time in many weeks, Madeleine found herself without any night duty to perform.

  As was his custom, almost immediately after supper Luc Ferrière went up to his room. Pierre, who was in the middle of an interesting book, said that he was going up to bed, and Gregory went out to make some last minute arrangements; so Stefan and Madeleine were left alone.

  For a few moments they sat in silence, then he said: ‘Time’s getting short now, my beautiful. Have you decided what you mean to do when the balloon goes up?’

  She looked at him in some surprise. ‘Why, stay here with you and Pierre, of course. As there’s no question of planting any documents in this house, we shan’t have to leave Paris like the others, and we’ll be able to see the results of our great coup at first hand.’

  He shook his head. ‘But no, Madeleine, that is impossible. I thought I made that clear the other day when I urged you to leave for Unoccupied France well before the party started.’

  ‘You asked me to go, and I said I wouldn’t. But you didn’t say anything about its being impossible for me to stay here after you had sprung your mine.’

  ‘Didn’t I—are you sure?’ He raised his heavy black eyebrows in well-simulated surprise, since he knew perfectly well that he had intentionally misled her, and went on: ‘I thought I’d made it plain that I was only asking you to go a few days earlier than you would have to in any case. That certainly was my intention.’

  ‘But why should we not stay on here?’ she asked. ‘As I’ve just said, since Luc Ferrière is not one of us, you won’t be planting documents on him, so there’s no reason why the house should be raided.’

  Kuporovitch looked away a little uncomfortably. He had no wish to discuss with her the matter of Luc Ferrière, as having lived in the Mayor’s house for so many months a subtle change had gradually taken place in their relations with him. At first they had regarded him with open hatred, as the man who had betrayed a number of their friends to death and torture; but with the course of time, since they never talked politics with him, they had developed first an indifference and then a semi-friendly tolerance of their host, who from fear and dislike had slowly come to accept them as members of his household. Madeleine was completely merciless as far as the Nazis were concerned, but the Russian feared now that her natural compassion might lead her to make the strongest protest and all sorts of difficulties if he confessed to her that Ferrière was to be made a scapegoat for their enemies.

  He had even been a little loth himself to agree to planting documents on the Mayor and leaving him there to be hauled in by the Gestapo, but Gregory had insisted. He had pointed out that the one weakness of their conspiracy was that, as they could not bring themselves to sacrifice any of their own people deliberately, when the raids were made no arrests would follow, which might make the Nazis suspicious.

  To counter this they had succeeded in planting documents on a few of their enemies, who would naturally deny all knowledge of the conspiracy when they were arrested; but these were few, and people of no particular importance, whereas Ferrière was a French official of high standing, who ever since the fall of France had been acting in collaboration with the Germans. As Gregory argued, it was the Mayor who had caused the nursing-home to be raided, and the fact that many months had elapsed since then should not be allowed to save him from an appropriate recompense; and just because they had been able to make use of him since was no reason at all why he should be spared when by turning him in they could so materially further the great plan upon which they were engaged.

  Looking back at Madeleine, Kuporovitch simply shrugged his shoulders. ‘I do not myself know all the details of what has been arranged. I can only tell you that it is by Colonel Lacroix’s orders that all of us are to leave this house. I have already spoken to Madame Chautemps, and she will leave in the afternoon to go and stay with her relatives at Rheims. Pierre, of course, knows nothing of the inside of the conspiracy, but will receive his orders to leave by an underground channel for Occupied France in the morning.’

  ‘I see,’ she said slowly; ‘and where do you and Gregory intend to go?’

  ‘Arrangements have already been made for us to leave the country. Pierre has been given the impression that when the balloon goes up the four of us are leaving together for Unoccupied France, because we did not wish him to know that any arrangements had been made for the principal members of the movement to leave France altogether. As you were unwilling to go when I urged you before, I arranged matters so that you could make your choice at the last moment. You can come with us if you wish, but if you insist on remaining in France, for a time at all events, Lacroix wishes you to move into the unoccupied territory, so I shall fix up for you to leave with Pierre first thing tomorrow.’

  He did not add that whatever she decided would also settle his own movements, and that if he could not persuade her to come with Gregory and himself he meant to join her in Unoccupied France as soon as possible. He was taking a big gamble, having intentionally left her in the air until the last moment with the belief she would be able to stay on in Paris with both Pierre and himself. For him everything now hung upon her answer.

  It came quickly.

  ‘But, Stefan,’ she exclaimed, ‘except for those few weeks when you were in England, we’ve been together now for a whole year. I—I simply don’t know what I should do without you.’

  He suddenly stood up and took her hand. ‘Do you mean that, Madeleine?’

  ‘Of course I do. I couldn’t bear to be parted from you, after all this time.’

  Looking down into her eyes, he said very gravely: ‘A year’s a long time, isn’t it? Georges has been dead for a year. I k
now very well that you haven’t forgotten him. You never will. But answer me one question: which means more to you now—Georges’ memory or myself?’

  She came to her feet and faced him. ‘Georges was very dear to me, but I never lived under the same roof with him for months on end, and even he could not have given me greater devotion and affection than you have, Stefan. I know you far better than I ever knew him. I don’t know where you’re going, but wherever it is will you—will you take me with you?’

  He knew then that he had won, and his face was radiant. She knew, too, that, although she had refused to admit it to herself, she had loved him almost from the beginning, for his courage, and his chivalry, and the sweetness of his nature.

  ‘You’ve waited a long time, Stefan,’ she whispered. ‘I only hope you’ll find me worth it.’ And as she put her arms round his neck, turning up her face for his kiss, they both knew a glorious moment of great happiness.

  One moment later the door opened, and Pierre stood in the doorway, his face a mask of furious anger.

  20

  The Great Conspiracy

  At the sound of the door opening Madeleine and Stefan came out of their embrace and swung round. For a moment there was dead silence. Then Pierre, his eyes blazing fury, snarled at Madeleine:

  ‘So this is why you wouldn’t come with me to Limoges! All your fine talk about Georges’ memory was just lies. You were in love with Stefan all the time.’

  ‘Yes, Pierre, I was,’ she answered frankly; ‘but I didn’t realise it until I knew that he was going to leave me.’

  ‘I don’t believe you,’ he stormed. ‘When I came down to get my book just now I heard you talking. I’ve known for days that something was on, but I didn’t know that zero hour was tomorrow night. The two of you felt that I might make trouble, so you deliberately planned to fix me. You meant to get out together and leave me to be caught.’

  ‘If you think that, you can only have caught bits of our conversation,’ Kuporovitch cut in. ‘We don’t mean to sacrifice a single one of our members if it can be avoided, and the most careful arrangements have been made for everybody. You will receive your orders tomorrow morning to leave at once by one of the underground routes into Unoccupied France. I offered Madeleine the opportunity of going with you, but she preferred to come with me.’

  ‘That’s the truth, Pierre,’ Madeleine exclaimed. ‘I swear it!’

  As he stared into her eyes he could not doubt her, yet he said stubbornly: ‘How can you think that I should ever have been willing to go off on my own? Wherever you go I’m going too.’

  She shook her head. ‘I suppose it could be arranged for you to come with us, but would that be wise? I mean, if we succeed in getting away I intend to marry Stefan, and you’d only be miserable if you remained with us.’

  He caught his breath in a sob. ‘But, Madeleine, you can’t. You’d never be happy. He’s much too old for you.’

  Kuporovitch’s eyes glinted dangerously. ‘I’m not too old to throw you out of the window, and half a dozen more like you.’

  ‘Please!’ Madeleine interposed. ‘My mind’s made up, Pierre. I love Stefan, and that’s all there is to it. I’m terribly sorry about you—I’d give anything for this not to have happened, but I can’t help my own feelings.’

  ‘You may feel like that now,’ Pierre persisted, ‘but that’s only because you’ve been caught in this pretty little trap he’s laid for you. Naturally, you’ve grown fond of him, through having been with him so much all through this past year. Then he suddenly tells you that he’s going away, although I bet he had no intention of letting you go off into Unoccupied France with me really. He just said that to stampede you, and you fell for it. You admit yourself that it was only a few minutes ago that you found out you loved him. That isn’t love—it’s just a sudden surge of emotion which overcame you when you were taken off your guard. In a day or two you’ll feel quite differently again and realise that it’s nothing more than strong affection you feel for him. For God’s sake, Madeleine, don’t let yourself be rushed into anything like this! It isn’t fair to any of us, not even to him.’

  Again Kuporovitch gambled with tremendous courage, as he said quietly: ‘All right, young man. If you honestly believe that, I release Madeleine from the promise to marry me which she made just now. We’ll wait until all three of us are out of the wood, then I’ll ask her again.’

  Madeleine smiled at him. ‘You won’t have to, Stefan. I know my own mind, and it’s already made up.’

  But Pierre clutched swiftly at the straw which had been offered him. ‘In fairness to me, Madeleine, I beg you to take him at his word. But what about tomorrow? Somehow it must be arranged for all three of us to leave together.’

  ‘All right,’ Kuporovitch nodded. ‘One extra won’t make any difference to such a large party. You’d better ignore the orders which you will receive in the morning to proceed into Unoccupied France. Our party is to rendezvous at the Professor’s house; but I shall be busy until the last moment, so you shall take Madeleine there. You should arrive punctually at eight o’clock, and I’ll join you as soon after that as I can.’

  There was a little silence. There seemed no more to be said, but Pierre was obviously reluctant to leave them, so Madeleine murmured: ‘We may be up all tomorrow night, so we’d better get what sleep we can. I think I’ll go up to bed.’

  With a swift gesture she took Stefan’s hand and pressed it. Then the men followed her upstairs.

  On the following day none of them left the house. The morning and the afternoon seemed endless, as Madeleine, Kuporovitch and Pierre sat about, waiting for the evening with almost, unendurable suspense. Gregory, who had been out most of the previous night, slept through the day.

  When he came downstairs Kuporovitch got him alone and told him of the scene that had occurred the night before. Taking both the Russian’s arms, Gregory gave him a friendly shake, as he said:

  ‘Well done, Stefan! Madeleine’s a grand girl; and I felt certain all along that sooner or later she’d realise her luck in having captivated such a splendid fellow as you. As for young Pierre, it’s hard luck on him, but he’ll get over it in time. I’ve got to go out and put the spark to the mine now, so I’ll leave the two of them to you. I can manage quite well on my own.’

  ‘No,’ said the Russian. ‘We’ll stick to our original arrangement. As you’ve got to put your head into the lion’s mouth I can at least wait for you; and if you don’t come out you’ll know anyway that I shall be around somewhere.’

  ‘Good old Stefan!’ Gregory smiled. ‘If I do slip up, and they detain me, it’ll be a big comfort to know that you’re still about, ready to seize any chance for a rescue.’

  Having said au revoir to the others, the two of them set out on what they hoped would be their last walk for a long time to come through the dark depressing streets of Paris. For a little they went forward side by side in silence; then Kuporovitch said: ‘I take it you’ve heard from Ribaud that von Geisenheim had your letter?’

  ‘Yes, I saw Ribaud last night. He told me that the General was extremely interested and guaranteed me a safe conduct to come and see him at the Crillon at seven-thirty.’

  ‘Do you really think you can trust him?’

  ‘Yes. As you’ll remember, it was von Geisenheim who saved my bacon for me in Finland. He’s a Prussian aristocrat of the old type and hates the Nazis like hell. That doesn’t mean he’s anti-German; but he’s one of the men who will lead the Army if they ever stage a coup d’etat against Hitler. Our bull point in this case is that he’s a diehard anti-Communist, and he’s of the school which always believed that years ago Britain and Germany should have entered into an alliance against Russia. It was extraordinarily good luck his being appointed Inspector-General in Occupied France. Of course, we could have put the balloon up from various other quarters, but von Geisenheim is about the best man for our money that we could possibly get.’

  In the Rue Royale they parted. Kuporovitch we
nt into Maxim’s, where he intended to have a meal while waiting, and it was agreed that Gregory should join him there after having seen the General. Gregory did not think that his interview would last for more than an hour, but if he had not reappeared by half-past nine Kuporovitch was to telephone Ribaud and find out what had happened.

  Walking boldly into the main entrance of the Crillon, Gregory asked for the General, stating that he had an appointment. He gave his name as Lucien Rouxel, and produced the faked passport with which Lacroix had furnished him many months before, to prove his identity. After waiting for about five minutes he was taken up to a big room on the first floor.

  Von Geisenheim was seated there smoking a long cigar. He was the thin, hatchet-faced type of Prussian who wore his greying hair long and was dressed with meticulous care. His blue eyes, which were wrinkled at the corners, did not change their expression as Gregory advanced towards him, and it was only when the orderly closed the door that his face broke into a wintry smile.

  ‘Well, well!’ he said. ‘I had no idea that Monsieur Lucien Rouxel would prove an old acquaintance. Last time we met you were the Colonel Baron von Lutz, and I suppose you have half a dozen other aliases in other countries. I must congratulate you upon having kept alive all this time.’

  As he waved towards a chair Gregory sat down and smiled back at him. ‘Danke schõn, Herr General. It certainly is a far cry from Voroshilov’s Headquarters during the Russo-Finnish War to German-occupied Paris. Quite a lot has happened in the last fifteen months, and, knowing your political opinions, perhaps I should congratulate you, too, upon having kept your head on your shoulders.’

  Von Geisenheim pushed forward a big silver box full of the long cigars. ‘As I have the walls of this room sounded daily, and everything in it is examined by my military secretary, I don’t think the Gestapo has yet succeeded in establishing a dictaphone in it. Nevertheless, one cannot be too careful, so I think we’ll keep off the subject of my political opinions.’