by Andrew Wood
“Yes, sorry, of course,” he mumbled, shifting from one foot to another, not looking at Lemele but aware that she was looking fixedly in the opposite direction anyway, staring out of the window. “Give me an hour. We’ll meet in the Hotel la Druance and I’ll buy the drinks if this really is the answer, eh?” He gave Lemele one last glance but she continued to ignore him. Boris shrugged at Marner and made a ‘what did I do?’ kind of face, before turning and leaving.
When Boris had departed and they were alone, Marner spoke softly, “What he said was clumsy but well intentioned. In fact, I guess that phrase sums Boris up very neatly.” Seeing the tight drawn line of her colourless lips soften, he continued, “You are the brains in this operation, so thanks for staying focussed and keeping this going, because we don’t have much else.”
Lemele remained silent but he saw her visibly relax, so he left it there.
----
Boris was early for the meeting at la Druance. Again Marner had taken up position outside, this time concealed in an alleyway that gave him a view of the approach from both directions, but also an escape route back along the alleyway and over a wall into the street beyond it if needed. Lemele was already inside and he watched Boris arrive. He reflected that Boris must have double-timed across town and back to have arrived so quickly. Marner continued watching for a further five minutes and then walked up and down to the junctions at both ends of the street before he considered it safe to enter.
Inside, Boris and Lemele had forgotten or made up their earlier issue and were talking animatedly over a map spread on the table. Boris explained that he had gone to the logistics group in Boulevard Lannes and given the clerk there a story about needing to pinpoint a map coordinate that had been picked from a clandestine enemy transmission. The clerk had identified the area and then furnished the relevant detailed map that covered their coordinates.
“The longitude part of the coordinate is intact, which means that we know exactly where the reference is in terms of a line north-south.” Lemele used her fingernail to make a crease on the map corresponding to the axis, which bisected the north-western peninsula of Brittany.
“But given the uncertainty due to our missing latitude number, it could be anywhere along that line, from up here on the north coast near Roscoff, to way down here, inland east of Quimper,” objected Boris despondently. “That is a huge amount of land to cover.”
“I don’t think that it is the land that we need to be interested in,” argued Lemele. “Remember, this was a Kriegsmarine radio and codes and therefore the recipient is presumably a Kriegsmarine submarine or a boat. And they only function in or on the water,” she finished, unable to keep the note of sarcasm from her voice. She felt that Boris really was being a bit slow. “So the meeting place must be here on the north coast or out at sea, somewhere north of this exact point,” and again she scribed the intersection into the paper with a sharp nail.
“Are we really sure of that?” asked Marner. “Are we really sure that it isn’t some land-based point south of your talon?”
Lemele ignored the humour. “We cannot be entirely certain without the full latitude, but we have to take our best guess, which for me is the coast. Remember: Kriegsmarine!”
“So why would Graf have picked this date and location for a meeting?” wondered Marner out loud. “Particularly with the fighting that has broken out up there. He is heading straight into trouble and chaos. As for the date, he doesn’t need ten days to cover that distance.”
They sat silently until Lemele suggested, “Perhaps he knows the approximate route and timetable of where his contact is going to be and he is limited by that. So he picked a point that he knows; maybe he is familiar with the area if he spent time at one of the submarine bases in the region. He has limited options now that he is on the run.”
“But how far out at sea?” asked Boris. “We don’t know that.”
“Well, we won’t find out sitting here,” responded Marner. “Sabine is right. We go to that point and we start from there. If we have to swim or we need a boat, we will only know that by being there at the defined date and time, preferably by being there early. At least the date gives us plenty of time to get there too.”
“We need to decide how we are going to get there,” said Lemele. “The only options are road or train. Boris, are there likely to be people checking for Dieter at the railway stations?”
“I doubt it. The hunt for him is being kept very tight and close to section VIII. More importantly, they don’t have the resources to watch stations. They may have put his name out on a ‘stop and detain’ list though.” He paused for further reflection and then continued, “What rail route would you take? You have to remember that the rail system is severely impaired at the moment, especially across Normandy.”
“Good point,” conceded Lemele. “We should keep as far south as possible, perhaps go via Le Mans and Rennes and then work our way around to the north.”
“What about the option of going by road?” asked Marner, still wary of train travel after the trip to Toulouse. “It would give us more flexibility, added to which we won’t get held up by the random interruptions of disrupted rail systems.”
“We could probably ‘borrow’ one of the staff cars out of HQ,” considered Boris. “They have so many that one isn’t going to be missed. The problem will be getting one that is fuelled. And then you will have the issue of finding further fuel en route. Gasoline is severely rationed at the moment and almost certainly the only supply that you’ll be able to find once you are under way is from the military. This means that you will be required to show a ration card, papers, travel permit and so on. Remember that you are going into an active war zone and so every military checkpoint is going to be jumpy and cautious. That option could be very risky for you.”
Lemele stood up. “Time is being wasted while we just sit here. I propose that we go to Gare Saint Lazare and see what the situation is, which trains are running and where to. Boris, you are our back-up plan. Find out what the real possibility is of getting a car with fuel.” And with that she picked up her bag and strode away towards the door.
“Well, at least we know one thing for sure,” whispered Boris as Marner rose to follow. “We know who is in charge!”
Chapter Twenty Nine
They made their way to the station on foot, Marner trailing twenty metres behind Lemele. On one occasion he instinctively ducked under the awning of a butcher’s shop when he saw an army truck roar through the junction ahead. As they walked, it became apparent from the number of military vehicles on the road that there was a significant mobilisation going on. More importantly, the very act of jumping into the shadows was a conspicuous action, likely to draw attention.
Close to the entrance to the station they moved into the shadow of the neighbouring building and conferred. It was agreed that Lemele would go into the station first and see if there was any possibility of buying tickets, also to check around for any potential security personnel that might be looking for him. Marner was not entirely happy with this, sending Lemele ahead alone and with untrained eyes for spotting agents and watchers, but he conceded the fact that she could move far less conspicuously amongst the crowds than he could in his uniform.
Inside the station, Lemele eased through the crowds. She was instantly aware that there were a far higher proportion of military personnel to civilians, compared to their journey of just a week ago. Undoubtedly these personnel were being moved up towards the front in Normandy. At the ticket office she was advised that there were no scheduled trains leaving for Le Mans in the next twenty four hours due to ‘technical problems’, a euphemism for tracks damaged or destroyed. When she explained her problem to the ticket clerk, her urgent need to get to north-west Brittany to visit her dying mother, he shrugged his shoulders. “All of the timetables are just arbitrary now. I cannot tell if or when any train might leave, added to which the military have priority over civilians anyway. Even if I sold you a ticket and the train really was going to
run, you would probably be removed from it in favour of military personnel.” Talking quietly via the narrow grill in the ticket window, she could see the distaste in his face as he spoke of ‘military personnel’.
----
Whilst she was inside, Marner had observed two truckloads of soldiers arrive and begin unloading at a side entrance. When Lemele returned and started to update him on what she had learned, he impatiently waved aside her words. Taking her by the elbow and propelling her along the side street to speed her up, they arrived at the trucks just as the soldiers had hoisted their bags onto their shoulders and were preparing to enter the station. He inserted himself and Lemele into the centre of this gaggle of laughing, raucous men, actually most of them barely beyond being youths. He removed his distinctive cap and tucked it under his arm so as not to appear out of place with the caps being worn by several of the soldiers. Marner kept his head down, striking up a conversation with one them. With the advantage of Lemele being a head shorter and thus invisible to the exterior of this moving mass, they passed through the entrance undetected by the guards on each side who were simply watching them sweep past with no attempt to check papers.
As soon as they were inside the station he led Lemele away from the group, not wanting to further attract their suspicion or that of their superior officer who was already inside and deep in conversation with a clerk with a clipboard, around whom the soldiers were congregated.
They had entered the departures hall at one side of the wide central concourse. Marner led the way further out to the edge and the shadows to take up position beside one of the huge grimy concrete pillars that supported the steel lattice work of the roof canopy. They were almost hidden to the concourse; anyone who could see them would assume by their proximity that they were officer and lover seeking some privacy to say goodbye. “What are you planning to do now?” asked Lemele
“My usual standard operating procedure,” he explained. “Improvise and make it up as we go along.”
She batted him gently on the shoulder in mock reproach. “No. Seriously, we....” But he shushed her to be quiet and she turned to see what was attracting his attention. The group of soldiers with whom they had entered were now moving further along the concourse away from them, and then turned onto one of the platforms.
“Let’s move,” he instructed, pulling her back and around the pillar to continue along the dark edge of the platform, further away from the bright centre of the station. Lemele could see that they were moving parallel to the soldiers, catching intermittent glimpses of them between the gaps in the carriages as they trooped along the platform.
Suddenly she bumped into Marner, who had stopped. The section of raised walkway that they had been traversing, which ran between the outer station wall and the track below, had run out. He jumped down and reached up to take her waist to swing her down. She landed lightly on the rough gravelled surface beside the rails, hoping that she would not have to stumble far on the uneven ground. Marner pushed away from the gloomy recess of the wall, across the vacant single track to the platform edge and stopped, making a sling out of his hands; Lemele stepped smoothly into it and was hoisted up onto the platform. She got up from her hands and knees and turned to help Marner, but he waved her away. “I’m fine. Move over into the shadow of those carriages and keep track of those soldiers; we need to know which train they get onto.”
Lemele crossed the platform to slide up close to the stationary train and started moving forward, trying to peer through the gaps between the carriages. Unfortunately, however, she could not now see the soldiers because there were two trains between her and the next platform on which the soldiers were walking and the carriages and thus the gaps between them were not aligned. She slowed and began peering through the dirty windows of the train, ignoring the curious glances from those inside. Then she spotted the soldiers again; they were entering the cars of the far train and she could see them milling around in the corridor of the carriage, pushing and bumping and laughing. Lemele could barely imagine the bravado or stupidity or both that would make people headed to war behave in such a way.
Marner appeared beside her. “We need to get onto the train on the other side of this one,” she told him, pointing to the soldiers. Marner nodded and moved forward to the end of another carriage, then motioned to her to follow. This carriage had a landing at the end; they were able to step onto it easily from the platform, but on the far side they had to go down once again onto the tracks. Marner jumped down first and then helped Lemele to descend. It was incredibly gloomy in the narrow gap between the trains; no light carried from the concourse a hundred metres away and the dirty canopy far overhead was black with soot. Marner walked carefully forward, Lemele following very slowly on the uneven gravel that was crunching and shifting under her feet. They stumbled on past two carriages of the train that they were trying to get onto before Marner found one that had steps up to the landing, intended for rural stations and stops with no raised platform.
They had just gained the landing when a uniformed figure appeared on the platform beside the train and the head turned, aware of their presence on the carriage gangway. Marner pushed Lemele up against the bulkhead of the carriage and clamped his mouth onto hers. Her eyes went wide in alarm, hardening into physical protest as she pushed back and then beat on his shoulder to unclamp him. Fearing the possibility of her panicking and using her knee, he backed off and swivelled to feign surprise at the presence of the figure on the platform, who turned out not to be military at all, but a civilian train conductor peering at them. “No time for that! The train is just about to depart. Come on, back inside now Sir, Madame, if you please.”
The guard stepped onto the gangway and Marner moved back to allow him to open the door into the carriage corridor. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Lemele glaring at him, her eyes striking sparks in the few rays of light that were filtering down here. He knew that but for the presence of the guard he would have received a slap. The guard motioned for Marner to enter the carriage and Marner in turn motioned for Lemele to enter first. She stalked past, muttering that he could take the smirk off his face, as they were ushered in.
Inside the carriage it was bedlam. With all of the seats occupied, the corridor was jammed with standing soldiers who were jostling and shoving for extra space. Lemele could have entered one and used her gender to obtain a seat from one of the young soldiers, but she preferred to keep close to Marner. To pass through the corridor it was necessary to step between and on the rows of feet on either side. When Lemele finally found a gap in the throng of bodies in the corridor, up against the outer windows, Marner eased in beside her. “Sorry about that,” he apologised. “I suddenly saw a uniform and it was just an instinctive reaction. You know, to have an excuse for being out there.”
“Okay, no big deal,” snapped Lemele coolly. “Just business after all.” She stared out of the window at the milling hordes still out there on the platform, officers haranguing the guards and clerks holding clipboards, who seemed lost and bewildered by the task of having to pack impossible numbers of people into carriages that were already full.
They settled into silence, willing the train to get under way and transport them away from Paris and danger. Marner was still concerned about the possibility of being asked for travel permits and in particular what story they could invent for Lemele, if not on this section of the journey, then later as they penetrated deeper into Normandy. After ten more minutes, during which the number of people on board somehow increased further, the train finally jolted, clanked and set off.
“Where is this train going to?” asked Lemele.
“The soldier I talked to told me that they are going to Caen.”
“Caen? But that’s....”
Marner leaned in closer, “Quieter, please!”
Lemele swallowed, breathed, whispered, “Firstly, Caen is not a direct route to get to where we are going. Secondly, Caen is close to the invasion front, may even now be on it or behind i
t for all we know. But it is certainly not a good place to be heading for!”
Marner matched her sarcasm, “I know. But firstly, this train is actually moving. Secondly, it gets us out of Paris and thus further from whomever is looking for us. Thirdly, well, at least we are moving in approximately the right direction. We can get off at the first main station and re-orientate ourselves better when we are under less scrutiny.”
Lemele decided not to argue; now that the train was moving it was a fait accompli anyway.
After emerging from the great sooty caverns of the station, they made snail-like progress through the inner suburbs of the city. As they rolled out through the north western limits of Paris, Marner enjoyed the sight of the wealthy villas with their large gardens full of shady trees in full leaf, lawns tumbling down to the banks of a backwater of the Seine. He imagined that it would be good to live here, with a small boat or punt for Sunday outings and picnics.
Only once the intermittent remnants of scruffy lower class suburbs had given way to fields and farm land did Marner relax into the swing and sway of the train. Even the raucous songs, ribald jokes and buffoonery from up and down the carriage failed to irritate him. Minutes after passing through Mantes station the train ground to a halt once again. This was not the first stop; there had been others and also periods when they had crawled along, barely at walking speed. He guessed that they had not travelled far during the two hours, that at normal speed it should only have taken twenty or thirty minutes to reach this point. But at least they were moving and he was gaining confidence that they would reach some major town or station by nightfall at the latest, although it would probably be many more hours standing.
After a couple of minutes it became clear that this stop was not temporary. Guards and officers were now on the ground beside the train yelling at the soldiers to get up and out. Lemele and Marner shuffled in line along to the end of the carriage and descended to the ground. There was a line of people moving in file towards the front end of the train and so they joined it, keeping close to the carriages to avoid proximity to the officers who were shouting and coaxing their charges to keep moving, speed it up.