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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

“And if you’re not able?” Victoria asked.

“I am afraid I don’t have an answer to that question,” Bridgette said.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

It was to be their last time to meet as a complete group on safe ground. Alistair had surprised the Dragonfly team with permission to gather for a last night of freedom and celebration before they were dispatched at staggered times within the next two days to Tempsford. There pilots of the secret “Moon” squadron, a unit of the RAF whose mission was to deliver and pick up agents behind enemy lines on nights when the moon was full, would airlift the team off individually to various improvised landing strips in the French countryside. Bridgette would be the first to leave. Her pickup call was for 0400 hours: four o’clock a.m.

“There’s a good pub in the village where you can kick up your heels,” Alistair had told them. “The Crown and Scepter. Go and have a good time, but don’t kick up your heels too high. I’ll send a driver to bring you home.”

Though the group understood that this night was different from the last night at Station S—the major really did mean for them to relax together—he needn’t have worried about the height of the heels. Packed around a pub table, shoulders touching, the group was drinking little and saying less. The deadly seriousness of their assignments had sunk in. The moment of truth had arrived. They had willingly volunteered to risk their lives for missions from which they had no way of knowing when—or if—they might return. But palpable also, thick as the fog pressing against the pub’s windows, was their reluctance to part company, separate from this congenial and safe cadre of mutual respect and deep affection they’d formed in four months of training. In Paris, they would meet up at a tea and book shop to count heads, their gathering point should the diagonal mark appear on one of their symbols. But for that mark on the wall and perhaps glimpses of one another in the neighborhood, they would part company at that time and never again be together as the team of Dragonfly.

“Do you suppose Major Renault will reveal our true identities to us once this is over so that we can make contact when we’re back home?” Victoria asked. “Since we’ll be extracted at different times, it’s not likely we’ll run into one another again once our missions are over.”