The barn doors had been propped open, and Estelle and Rachel stepped into the cavernous space. Along the wall to Estelle’s right, a dozen patients languished on beds of straw. The one closest to her was moaning and mumbling, an empty space where his lower left leg should have been beneath his thin blanket. The others lay motionless, a handful watching her with haunted eyes shadowed by pain and exhaustion.

At the far end of the barn, a radio had been set up on a barrel, the long antenna snaking up through the hayloft and out the roof. A knot of men in various uniforms was crowded around. Estelle picked up her pace, anxious to hear what was being said. Rachel was on her heels. But as they got to the end, someone reached up and turned off the radio, the silence in the space unnerving and absolute. Only the whimpers of the patient by the door could be heard.

Estelle faltered. The expressions on each face ranged from grave to dismayed, furious to forlorn. One aging soldier, old enough that he had likely fought the Germans twenty years ago, was crying openly.

She grabbed the arm of a nearby medic. “What has happened?”

“We’ve surrendered.”

Estelle stared at him, not comprehending. “I don’t understand.”

“Reynaud has resigned, Pétain has taken power, and his first action as premier has been to ask the Germans to let France surrender.”

“That’s not possible.” Because that would mean everything in these last months had been for nothing. That all this suffering and death and sacrifice had been for nothing.

That Alain’s sacrifice had been for nothing.

“It’s done.” The medic pulled his arm from Estelle and stalked away.

Rachel made a tortured sound in her throat and sank to the ground on one knee, her hand over her mouth.

The others who had been listening to the radio were dispersing. Estelle and Rachel were left alone, staring at the space the crowd had just occupied. Dust motes danced in the light streaming down from the open loft door above, disturbed by their movements.

The generals in resplendent uniforms and the politicians in tailored suits had assured Estelle and everyone else that France was prepared for Germany. They’d asserted that France would crush any hostile overtures the Germans might dare to make. They’d proclaimed that the Maginot Line, with all its tunnels and troops and arms, was indestructible and impenetrable. And they’d affirmed that there was no tactical way an army could invade through the Ardennes or navigate the River Meuse. France would never fall.

They had all been liars.

Chapter 4

Chapter
4

Gabriel

Paris, France
28 June 2017

Gabriel Seymour was turning into a liar.