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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

“One other thing. If you see a V in the Labrador’s ear, that will mean she has been compromised and has left Paris. Will you be sending Karl?”

“No. I will go,” Derrick said.

HOME

June 1944–September 1962

CHAPTER EIGHTY-FIVE

CHAPTER EIGHTY-FIVE

A copy of Le Temps, printed Monday, was on Alistair’s desk at the Bern station when he arrived on Tuesday, June 13. Its headlines screamed FRENCH WOMAN WORKING AS SPY FOR THE AMERICAN OSS EXECUTED! Several pictures of Victoria, one of her with her face bloodied, and another of her tied to the execution pole, her hooded head lolling forward, were accompanied by a detailed article describing her and the execution ceremony. It included the name and position of the SS colonel who had personally given the order to fire. Typically, the Gestapo and the SD kept their executions under wraps, not have them displayed on the front page of an occupied country’s most influential newspaper for the world to see. The publicity of Victoria’s murder was intended to frighten and intimidate a French populace growing rebellious against its German invaders.

Alistair tried not to think of Victoria’s ordeal at the hands of Derrick Albrecht when he learned that she was a spy, but somehow, amazingly, since Le Temps made no reference to her as an American, she must have managed to keep that information from him. A wave of grief washed over him. There was also no mention of the others caught in the net. By now they most likely would have met the same fate. They were not as newsworthy as Victoria, well-known fencing instructor and lover of one of the most dangerous Nazis in Paris.

At three o’clock that afternoon, his secure line rang. The caller was Henri. “I’ve news, perhaps hopeful,” he said. “A mark has appeared on the mural. I pass the wall every day, and the mark was not there yesterday. It does not look like the work of vandals because no other part of the painting was touched. Could it mean something?”

Alistair pressed the receiver to his ear. “What does it look like—the mark?”

“It is a diagonal line drawn through a liverwort.”

“What! That can’t be! The mark is code from Liverwort to my radio operator to meet at La Petite Madeleine at four o’clock today!”

“And…I assume that is impossible?”

“Yes,” Alistair said simply. Henri would have figured out that Liverwort was the French OSS spy reported executed in today’s Le Temps and that his radio operator was Bernadette Dufor.

“Could it be that one of your other operatives could have given up the code sign under interrogation, and the mark is designed to set a trap, which would imply—”

Alistair tried to quell a burst of excitement. “—that one of the team is still alive and on the loose. There is only one way to find out. You know what to do, my friend.”

“Oui,” Henri said.

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