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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

At his table in the tavern, Alistair stubbed out his final cigarette among the other butts in the ashtray. If the group stuck strictly to the mission they were trained for—to gain and report intelligence—they had every chance of survival. At this point, the contacts he’d lined up in Paris were ready and waiting to receive them. None had been blown. Sam Barton—Stephane—would go to work in a French firm of consultant engineers doing business with companies taken over by the Nazis. Bridgette—Bernadette—had been hired as an assistant to Madame Jeanne Boucher, couturier of one of Paris’s top fashion houses, and Victoria—Veronique—as a fencing instructor in the famous fencing school L’Ecole d’ Escrime Français, whose students were officers in the German Army. Chris—Claus—had been assigned a job as a physical education instructor in a school formed to educate the sons of high-ranking Vichy and Nazi officials, and Brad—Barnard—was to ingratiate himself with an Abwehr general passionate about fly-fishing. None would know their specific assignment until they arrived for final training at Milton Hall, located sixty miles north of London, a large estate used as the espionage headquarters of Britain’s Special Operations Executive, the SOE.

Stop worrying, Alistair! Bill Donovan kept telling him, but Alistair could not calm a deep-seated unease that each member had cause to strike out on secret missions of their own. He had yet to determine Sam Barton’s and Victoria Grayson’s hidden agendas, but the others were plain enough. Brad Hudson and Bridgette Loring each had big scores to settle with the Nazis and might not be satisfied with merely gathering and reporting information on the enemy. Chris Brandt, son of German parents still with a foot in the old country, was out to prove that he was every bit as American as hot dogs and Coca-Cola.

As far as Alistair knew, no member of the team was aware of any other member’s motive for volunteering. Other than their own impressions gleaned in the eight weeks they’d trained together, they knew nothing at all about one another. What they didn’t know of their teammates’ histories, assignments, targets, work locations, and cover names could not be spilled in a Gestapo or an SS torture chamber.

Lights were coming on in the tavern. The cocktail crowd was beginning to filter in. Time to go. Returning the pack of Lucky Strikes to the pocket of his brown jacket, Alistair swallowed the last of his club soda, set his glass on the napkin, and left before the moisture from the melting ice obliterated his inked drawing of the dragonfly.

The Missions

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

September 1942

Milton Hall, England