The Iron Storm by CW Browning (classic literature books TXT) 📕

and established. They wouldn’t risk passing that kind of information to a new and untried agent.

Hans picked up his coffee again and drank thoughtfully. There were two or three people he knew of that would fit that bill, but only one was located on the route between Brussels and Paris. His cold blue eyes dwelled unseeingly on a point across the road from the café.

Asp. He would be willing to bet anything that she was taking the package to the agent known to Voss as Asp.

He tapped his long forefinger on the map, lost in thought. Asp was an enigma. They didn’t know very much about him, and Hans didn’t even know what he looked like. Yet he’d manage to bring himself to the attention of both the Abwehr and the SS. Located in Marle, he was the only reliable Allied agent north of Paris, and that was all Hans needed to know. He would be the only possibility for the woman to pass the package to.

She was going to Marle.

Hans was suddenly as sure of it as he was of his own name. It was the only possibility that made sense. She would have to keep the package moving and, short of taking it to MI6 herself, Asp was the closest way to do that. The thought that she might very well be taking it directly to the English crossed his mind briefly, but Hans dismissed it immediately. Couriers did not go from Antwerp all the way to London. They moved the information through the network. And that was what Marie Fournier would be trying to do.

He didn’t have to find her in Paris. He only had to go to Marle.

Lowering his eyes to the map again, he traced a route south to Marle. He was west of Maubeuge now, and could be in Marle in two hours. Hans looked at his watch and reached for his pastry. Once there, he would find Asp. If he already had the package, Voss’s search was over. He would settle for the package and abandon the courier. If Asp didn’t have it, then Voss had the chance of both eliminating the courier and getting the stolen plans back in one swoop.

Finishing his late breakfast, Hans felt a surge of satisfaction. Despite the setbacks, despite the untimely German advance, and despite spending most of the day yesterday sitting in a line of cars escaping Brussels, he now saw an end to this ridiculous chase. His lips tightened. It was a chase that should never have happened if the man in Antwerp hadn’t been incompetent. Hans shouldn’t be in France. He should be in Berlin, preparing to follow the army into the newly conquered west. Yet here he was just the same, making his way through the north of France on the trail of an unknown female courier. She may have already reached Marle, or she may still be making her way there. It didn’t really matter which it was.

Either way, Hans Voss would have those plans back within twenty-four hours.

Evelyn and Jens looked up, startled, when the door to the kitchen flew open and Josephine burst in. Her short brown jacket was open and her hat head tilted to the side of her head, exposing thick black curls whipped by the wind.

“Fort Eben-Emael has fallen!” she gasped, letting the door slam closed behind her. “I’ve just heard it in Maubeuge!”

Evelyn gasped as Jens sat back in his chair heavily.

“Already?” he breathed. “So soon!”

“Where is Marc?” Josephine asked, pulling her hat from her head and tossing it onto the counter. “Have you seen him? Luc is on his way in, but I couldn’t wait. I ran from the road across the field.”

“He went outside about an hour ago,” Evelyn said, motioning to the back door. “You didn’t see him on your way in?”

“No.” Josephine got a glass and carried it over to the sink to fill it with water. “He must be in the front where the car is.”

“I’ll go get him,” Jens said, standing.

Josephine gulped down a glass of water then refilled the glass. “Thank you,” she said. “He’ll want to hear this as soon as possible.”

Jens nodded and went out the door, grabbing his jacket from the back of a chair on his way. Once the door had closed behind him, Evelyn looked at Josephine, her brows drawn together.

“If the Germans already have control of the fort, Holland will fall quickly. Once Holland falls, Belgium won’t be far behind.”

Josephine went over to sit at the table, cradling her glass of water in her hands.

“I can’t believe how quickly it fell,” she said. “It’s only been a day!”

“We thought it would happen quickly. After all, they landed soldiers on the roof!”

“I’m still amazed about that,” Josephine admitted. “I’m fairly sure that it’s never been done before, at least not successfully. It’s almost as if the German army isn’t human.”

“Oh they’re human all right,” Evelyn said. “They’re just very well organized.”

Josephine looked across the table at her thoughtfully. “Do you think Jens will go back to Belgium if it falls?”

Evelyn shrugged. “I have no idea. It depends on why he left in the first place. If it was to escape the German invasion, then I wouldn’t think so.”

“But you don’t think that’s why he left,” Josephine pointed out. “Are we any closer to discovering why he’s here?”

Evelyn shook her head and pushed the roadmap that she and Jens had been studying out of her way.

“Not really. He seems very anxious for us to be on our way. We’ve been looking at this map, trying to determine the fastest route to Paris. He says it’s so that I can get back to my job, but I don’t think that’s what’s causing all the urgency.”

“Your job? What does he think you do?”

Evelyn smiled ruefully. “He thinks I’m a secretary for a very prominent businessman in Paris.”

“Who just happened to be in Brussels?”

“I told him I was there on behalf of my boss,” Evelyn said