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Back Dragonfly
Chapters (117)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. The Cast of Characters
  6. CHAPTER ONE
  7. The Recruits
  8. CHAPTER TWO
  9. CHAPTER THREE
  10. CHAPTER FOUR
  11. CHAPTER FIVE
  12. CHAPTER SIX
  13. CHAPTER SEVEN
  14. CHAPTER EIGHT
  15. CHAPTER NINE
  16. CHAPTER TEN
  17. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  18. CHAPTER TWELVE
  19. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  20. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  22. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  23. The Missions
  24. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  25. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  26. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  36. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  46. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  47. CHAPTER FORTY
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  53. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  54. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  55. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  56. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  57. CHAPTER FIFTY
  58. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  59. CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
  60. CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
  61. CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
  62. CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
  63. CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
  64. CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
  65. CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
  66. The Game
  67. CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
  68. CHAPTER SIXTY
  69. CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
  70. CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
  71. CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
  72. CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
  73. CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
  74. CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
  75. CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
  76. CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
  77. CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
  78. CHAPTER SEVENTY
  79. CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE
  80. CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO
  81. CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE
  82. CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR
  83. CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE
  84. CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX
  85. CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN
  86. CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT
  87. CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE
  88. CHAPTER EIGHTY
  89. CHAPTER EIGHTY-ONE
  90. CHAPTER EIGHTY-TWO
  91. CHAPTER EIGHTY-THREE
  92. CHAPTER EIGHTY-FOUR
  93. HOME
  94. CHAPTER EIGHTY-FIVE
  95. CHAPTER EIGHTY-SIX
  96. CHAPTER EIGHTY-SEVEN
  97. CHAPTER EIGHTY-EIGHT
  98. CHAPTER EIGHTY-NINE
  99. CHAPTER NINETY
  100. CHAPTER NINETY-ONE
  101. CHAPTER NINETY-TWO
  102. CHAPTER NINETY-THREE
  103. CHAPTER NINETY-FOUR
  104. CHAPTER NINETY-FIVE
  105. CHAPTER NINETY-SIX
  106. CHAPTER NINETY-SEVEN
  107. CHAPTER NINETY-EIGHT
  108. CHAPTER NINETY-NINE
  109. CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED
  110. CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED ONE
  111. Acknowledgments
  112. Discover More
  113. About the Author
  114. Reading Group Guide
  115. Discussion Questions
  116. A Conversation with Leila Meacham
  117. ALSO BY LEILA MEACHAM

Chris had left the meeting feeling queasy. The academy sounded like a whirlpool of water moccasins, the pit vipers you had to look out for when you fished the rivers of Texas. He’d once seen a man wade into what appeared to be a simple disturbance of water stirred up by a current, only to realize too late it was a school of one of the deadliest snakes in the state. The ghastly scene and the man’s screams had haunted Brad’s sleep for years. He would have to be very, very careful of his steps in the snake pit of the Academy for the Young Warriors of the Third Reich.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

The following morning, Sunday, October 4, the members of Dragonfly met their enemy. Dressed in a painter’s smock, drawing materials in her pockets, palette in hand, Bridgette applied the first strokes of her mural to the peal of cathedral bells ringing throughout the city. Those coming to lauds in the convent’s small chapel paused before the courtyard wall to view the figure of a dragonfly come to life from under the hand of the petite newcomer to the area. Onlookers gazed and commented until something on the street prompted a sudden scurry to the chapel door.

Bridgette, standing on the top rung of a short ladder, glanced toward the cause of the hasty dispersion. The French police had come to be despised by their countrymen for their collaboration with the German authorities against their own people, and swaggering down the street swinging a truncheon was a blue-suited figure of slight build and short stature who apparently represented the sort they hated. The single chevron on his uniform sleeve declared him one year out of police training, a gardien de la paix stagiaire, an intern; in other words, a rookie, Bridgette thought.

He halted before the painting, mulling over the drawing with the arrogance of one greatly empowered to judge such irregularities for malicious intent and the authority to administer the appropriate penalty. Oh dear, thought Bridgette. One of those.

“What is the meaning of this?” he demanded with a flourish of his baton toward the wall.

Bridgette climbed down from the ladder and gave him a friendly smile. “Well, as you can see,” she explained cheerfully, “it is a dragonfly. It is to be part of an aquatic mural to lighten the mood of the street.”

“Who gave you permission to disfigure this wall?”

“The reverend mother of the Sisters of Charity.”

“We’ll see.”

Off he hurried in an officious stride to confront the head of the community of nuns, and Bridgette calmly returned to her painting. Less than ten minutes later he was back, red-faced, tight-jawed, replacing his hat with an angry set of the bill, and marched past Bridgette and her mural without another word or glance.