Madeleine, stirring a pot of boiled cabbage, put down her spoon and exchanged it for a cigarette.

“I didn’t give you permission to leave.” Boar adjusted the bandage covering his eyes.

Ollie loosened his bootlaces and propped his aching foot onto a chair. “I’m not in the RAF.”

“Don’t care, Yank.” Boar touched his holster. “I won’t tolerate you placing us at risk.”

Ollie looked at Boar. He suspected that the lieutenant, despite being unable to see, was near enough that he’d have no trouble putting a bullet in him. But after his close encounters with the Wehrmacht and the Luftwaffe, Boar seemed almost harmless in comparison. He removed the canister from his pocket and placed it on the table.

Hearing the sound, Boar jerked his head. “What’s that?”

“Got intelligence to send home,” Ollie said.

Madeleine sucked on her cigarette. The tip glowed and crackled. She glanced at Louis, resting on the floor.

Boar looked in Ollie’s direction. “What did you see?”

Ollie told them about the Wehrmacht patrol and how he had stumbled upon the Luftwaffe airfield. He described the precise location of the airfield, including the type and quantity of planes, then retrieved a pencil and paper stored in Duchess’s military-issue cage. As he began to document his findings, the sound of a car engine made him freeze.

Boar clenched his hands. “Were you followed?”

Ollie thought of the sentry. Did the dog follow my scent?

“Hurry.” Madeleine tossed her cigarette into the sink.

The engine growled. Louis grunted.

They pushed aside the table and quickly plucked out the boards.

Brakes screeched. The engine sputtered, then stopped.

Boar slid into the hole. Ollie followed. Madeleine reached for a board.

“Wait,” Ollie said. “Duchess.”

A car door slammed.

Madeleine plucked the cage from the table, causing Duchess to flap her wings. She lowered the pigeon. Boards slapped into place. As she slid the table over the floor, there was a hard knock. Louis snorted. She rubbed the hog’s head, then went to the door.

“Herr Dietrich,” Madeleine said, opening the door.

Through a crack in the floor, Ollie saw what he believed to be a Nazi SS officer. The man wore a gray uniform with a swastika patch on his left sleeve. His visor cap was gilded with silver skull-and-eagle insignias. Polished jackboots shined like volcanic glass. Ollie’s pulse pounded.

The Nazi had waxen skin and pink eyelids that appeared almost translucent. And even more distinguishable, a chunk was missing from his left ear, like a moth wing that had been clipped in half. The absence of cartilage caused his cap to sit cockeyed.

The officer glanced at Louis and wrinkled his nose. “Schweine-stall.”

Madeleine retrieved her leather satchel and gave him a handful of truffles.

The Nazi felt the weight in his hand and shook his head. He grabbed Madeleine’s bag.

Louis snorted.

Ollie sensed Duchess moving in her cage. He braced himself, ready to leap from the hole.