‘So they’ve insulted the great city of Dijon by sending us an amateur, eh?’ He thumped her in the stomach and she concentrated hard on not being sick. He stepped back as two of the guards manacled her hands and feet to rings on the wall. Her arms were fully stretched and her toes only just touched the floor.

The longer you hold out, the more time your comrades have to escape. Sometimes you may need to give them real information to buy time.

The fact that he’d asked about her radio operator was a good sign; at least Hervé hadn’t been captured yet. He’d get a message to London, and who knows, maybe the resistance would rescue her. She doubted he would be making jokes now about cutting the mustard. She reckoned it was early afternoon, and thought if she could hold out for a couple of hours and then begin to answer in English and give them titbits of information, she could drag things on until night came. By the following morning, the others in the circuit would have escaped and she wouldn’t be betraying anyone.

There is no easy way of saying this, but sometimes the physical pain is not the worst part of being tortured. Often the psychological approach is far worse – especially the humiliation.

She was ashamed of herself.

She’d been sure she could hold out for longer, but as soon as the humiliation began, she felt she caved in almost without resistance. It wasn’t that she wanted to be physically tortured, but she’d been told during her training that the purpose of torture was to get information out of you rather than kill you, and if the pain was too bad the body would shut down, by which they meant become unconscious.

Once she’d been manacled to the wall, the Ferret ordered the guards to undress her, which they began to do. She immediately spoke in English, falling back on her emergency cover story far sooner than planned.

‘My name is Audrey Manson, from Bristol. I was arrested a year ago for committing fraud and was facing a long prison sentence. Then they discovered I spoke fluent French – my mother was French – and made me an offer. If I came to France on a secret mission then the charges against me would be dropped. Otherwise I would go to prison for ten years. I very reluctantly agreed. I must tell you I’m not in favour of this war. I think there should be peace between our countries so we can fight the real enemy, the Soviet Union. I was flown to France and landed by parachute north of Dijon and made my own way into the city. I rented a room near the station and was told to go to Parc Darcy, where someone would give me a package and instructions on what to do next.’

The Ferret looked as if he was unsure what to make of her. He hesitated, and then went to his desk, where he made notes on a sheet of paper. The only parts of her story that were true were that she was from Bristol and that her mother was French. She thought that was what they would concentrate on. She would tell them her mother was from Nice; it would take them a few days to check that out. The city was still in chaos apparently after the Italians had left it.