“We agreed on no such thing. That was your idea hatched out of your emotional attachment to those kids, an involvement that I warned you to steer away from. No sir, you will not indulge your personal feelings at the forfeit of years of planning and the taxpayers’ bill. Already that team has supplied us with some of the best intel we’ve had out of France so far. You can warn them of their danger, but they’re to be given the chance to sink or swim on their own. It will be their decision to stay or go. Copy that?”

“I copy it, Colonel, but warning them of their individual threats by radio transmission is out of the question. I don’t have time to work out a code anybody could make sense of, and the volume of information would keep my radio operator on the air too long. If you won’t allow Dragonfly to come to me, I’ll have to go to them. If you’ll authorize transport, I can fly in and out of Paris within thirty-six hours, and—”

“Alistair, now I know you’ve lost your mind!” Wild Bill’s voice rose to a roar. “I do not authorize you to do any such fool-crazy thing. Have you forgotten that you are well known to the German and Vichy police authorities? If you’re snagged, God help us. Contact your boy in Paris by the usual channels. Let him be the bearer of your news. If they decide to get out, then and only then are you authorized to make arrangements for their exfiltration. Is that clear?” When Alistair did not at once respond, Wild Bill’s tone softened. “Comfort yourself with the knowledge those kids knew what they were getting into when they signed up, Alistair. God knows you drilled it into their heads often enough.”

“Doesn’t make it any easier.”

“Now you’re being childish. Easy is not a player in this game, Major, as you well know. Those boys and girls are to stay in place unless they decide otherwise. That’s an order.”