May 1944 Occupied France, Burgundy Region

They pushed ashore on the riverbank, then pulled the rubber raft under some shrubbery. It had been a long, cold journey, first by sub, then a series of fishing boats, finally by rafting the last miles. Not Garrison's first choice, but days of bad weather had delayed their airdrop too long. His team was in a foul mood. Garrison worked his way to the top of the bank and flashed the signal. An answering beam of light, and their contact moved forward. They exchanged code words, and the man introduced himself. "I am Jacques Forêt. I will take you to Renard."

Garrison flagged his band to move up. The man led them up the dirt road to a waiting panel truck with Emile's Boulangerie painted on the side and opened the back doors. Chief threw his pack down and stationed himself at the door. The truck was fitted with racks and carried the faint scent of fresh bread. The others settled down on their bags with a sign of relief.

Goniff squirmed as they hit a rough spot in the road. "How much longer, Warden? I'm fair knackered."

"About 15 miles. Our main contact is at a safe house is on the northern edge of the city," said Garrison. "We can rest there and get started in the morning."

The truck slowed, and they heard the tell-tale barks of a German checkpoint station. They tensed for action, but apparently their man had the right pass, for he moved on after a brief exchange. They soon hit a paved road and all of them dozed except for Chief, peering out the small back window. The vehicle traveled through a number of turns, slowed, and came to a stop in an alley. Chief cautiously opened the door, looked around, and jumped out. The others followed to a warehouse door where Jacques-Emile was waiting. Dusty wine barrels were stacked randomly around the vast space, probably empty ones, thought Casino with resignation, just their luck. Their contact led them to the front wall, twisted the top of one barrel, then swung it aside to reveal an opening. He headed down the ladder, leaving the Gorillas to follow.

A slight young woman in trousers was standing in the dim cellar, a Mauser at the ready. Goniff nudged Casino and whispered "Look, a skirt!"

"Tout est allé en douceur ,'' said Jacques.

"Merci, Jacques" she replied. "Allez-vous rester pour une boisson? ''

"Non merci, je vais rentrer à la maison maintenant. Au revoir. '' He went back up the ladder.

Garrison spoke, "Je suis Garrison. Nous sommes ici pour rencontrer Jaques Renard.''

She stuck the Mauser in her belt and surveyed the five men. She spoke in English. "I am Jacques Renard. Welcome."

Garrison started. "You're Jacques Renard? The Gray Fox?"

"Yes. It's a good cover, is it not?" She looked Garrison in the eye. "You will not tell London." It was a statement, not a question.

Garrison nodded and the girl smiled humorlessly. "You may call me Suzette, in this place only. Otherwise I am Jacques. Did you bring the supplies I was promised?"

Garrison indicated the bags the men still held. "Only some small items. The bulk will be airdropped as soon as the weather clears." He introduced the cons. "This is Actor, Goniff, Casino, and Chief."

"Come this way, gentlemen. " She turned and led them into a larger room that apparently served as kitchen. She indicated a rough table. "You may drop my supplies here and I will show you this place."

This room was better-lit and the girl looked very young. Her red hair was pulled back in a braid, and she wore serviceable looking boots. Casino exclaimed "Kerist, she's just a kid!"

Suzette looked at him impassively. "I am nineteen, and I have been fighting Le Boche for four years now. How long have you?"

"Now come this way." She moved to the end of the room, which met a long cellar hall, and pointed to the left. "Behind this shelves is a door to the next building, which is not vacant. This way, there is a metal cover that leads to the sewers. Here," she pointed to a door in the kitchen wall, "there is a small window in this room. " She looked them over and stopped at Goniff. "Very small, I think only you will fit out of it."

Chief liked knowing their escape routes. She might know her stuff, he thought. The girl led them to the right and pointed to another door. "This is the toilet and bath. You may not flush the toilet during hours of working, but may use water at any time, this is safe. And this is your bedchamber."

She turned up a small kerosene lamp to reveal a rough-walled room equipped with a half-dozen cots and beds. Goniff sighed rapturously. "This is grand! Real beds for a change, isn't this great guys?" He was trying to lighten the mood; this French girl seemed pretty stiff. Actor also turned on the charm. "It does look very comfortable here, Suzette. We appreciate this."

Suzette turned to Garrison. "Have you had a tiring journey? Perhaps you will like wine or tea? "

Garrison smiled at her. "Ma'mselle, tea would be great, thank you. We've had almost four hours in a rubber raft, anything hot will be appreciated."

Suzette nodded and left the room. She was barely out of earshot before Casino exploded. "Jeez, do we have to rely on a kid for this mission?" He threw his backpack on a cot. "Ain't there another resistance group we can work with?"

Garrison spoke sharply. "Enough, Casino. This Gray Fox group is the best resistance unit in the area. They have been highly effective, and apparently this woman" he emphasized the word "has a solid number of contacts in the city."

"But she's just a teenager," objected Casino. "Barely drinking age, let alone the age of consent for a broad."

Actor that said mildly, "I believe that said age of consent is fifteen here in France." Garrison frowned them down as Goniff giggled. "Suzette is our best contact and we will work with her, got it?"

As they unpacked and changed their damp clothes, Casino continued to mutter to himself. Goniff rolled his eyes, and Actor sighed, but Chief was tired of his griping. "Casino" he asked, "How old were you when you started boosting cars?" Casino shrugged, but was silent.

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

The five men joined Suzette in the kitchen. She was standing near a small stove, slicing bread. She turned to say, "I have made hot a soup. There is also tea."

Goniff sank gratefully into chair and poured himself a cuppa. Suzette ladled soup into assorted mis-matched bowls and mugs, then brought two over to the table. Chief met her halfway, put the bowls in front of Goniff and Casino, and returned for two more. "Thank you, ma'm. This smells good."

"This is good!" exclaimed Goniff, as always the hungry one. "Mmm, real home cooking for a change."

"Really quite excellent" said Actor. The girl seemed unimpressed by his charm as she gave a bowl to Chief and put hers down in front of a chair next to Garrison. Hers was the smallest mug, noted Chief.

Suzette returned with the bread on a platter, and sat down. "So, Lieutenant Garrison, do you wish to discuss the mission tonight?"

The men looked up expectantly. As usual, Garrison had been brief in his overview, and they wanted more details now that they were on location.

"It's an important mission, and it may be rather complex." The Gorillas looked at each other with resignation. This usually meant a longer and more dangerous job. " You sent some information a while back about the chemical laboratory attached to the military barracks."

"Yes, this is one of our targets whenever the invasion might come."

"Well, we have to get out a German chemist, along with a critical piece of equipment. He has been working on a new chemical engine that we need to have on the Allied side."

"He wishes to defect, and this engine is his coût de faire?" she asked, tilting her head.

"We have his wife and children already in Britain." Garrison didn't say how the family had been gotten there, and the men weren't going to enlighten her.

"I see," she said. "We have several people inside. We have been to update the blueprints for a time now. However, the location is heavily guarded with the barracks next to it. It will be very difficult to enter."

"That's our specialty, getting in" said Garrison. "But Dr. Schlauss tells us that the prototype engine is locked up in a room with a very unique type of key, and he doesn't have access to it, only the commandant. He sent this through a German double agent."

He pulled a paper out of his shirt pocket, and laid it in front of her. The rough design the German had drawn looked like a squashed letter E with extra bars of varying lengths and widths. "Casino and Goniff are both experts in lock-picking, and they've never seen anything like this. We need to somehow get a copy or tracing of that key."

Suzette frowned, but nodded her head. "Our Jacques inside has access to most of the laboratory building. I must see if he thinks he will be able to do this. It will not be easy. What is your plan to get inside and take away both the Boche doctor and the engine?"

"We'll go in as SS officers." He smiled at her surprise. "That is, if we can get the key and not have to blow the door down. Actor and I are very good at this. But regardless, we need to reduce the number of guards, and this is where your group comes in. We can't bomb the place by air, so we need a diversion to draw the troops away. A couple of diversions in fact. "

Garrison pulled out a map, and pointed at several locations. "If your people can sabotage the railroad tracks east and north , here, as well as down south here, and maybe the central freight station, the Krauts will have to send out a lot of units to search, as well as to repair the lines. We've also had word of a munitions shipment due to pass through in two days."

Suzette was frowning again, but maybe she was just thinking hard.

"Now look, these lines all lead to the coast. We all know, both sides, that the invasion is coming sometime this summer, if not sooner. These would be your natural targets just before or at invasion time itself, right? German command will think the same way, and will make haste to get the railroads back running."

Suzette leaned back from the map, studying Garrison. She didn't look so young now. "This may work, Lieutentant, although I think we may needs adjust your target locations. We have learned that rails are quickly replaced. We will do better by the bringing down of hillsides to bury the rails. " She said slowly, "But we do not have enough Jacquerie for these many targets. We have had losses. ..."

"Do you get along with the Communist cell in Dijon?"

"Qu'est-ce get along?" she said questioningly.

"Can your two groups cooperate with each other?" Garrison asked.

She smiled. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Also, they know that I am not political. But there may be some days before I can make contact with them."

"I have their shortwave frequency and their call hours" responded Garrison, "But it'll be better if you talk with them. They don't get along too well with London."

"C'est bon."

Casino studied the key design again, frustrated that he couldn't figure how it worked. Expert safecracker, he was stumped by a key and lock. He wondered if it fit into three tumblers or five. Garrison gathered up his map. At his nod, Chief and Goniff began clearing up the table with the girl. Actor turned his chair to inspect a large bookcase against the rough back wall.

"Mlle, vous avez une très bonne bibliothèque ici. Puis-je emprunter un livre lors de ma visite ? ''He looked over the titles and mused, "Les Misérables, Wuthering Heights, Tom Sawyer – and Sun Tsu's Art of War! Very eclectic collection."

Suzette turned. "This helps to pass the time here."

Goniff exclaimed, "Blimey, you don't live down 'ere? Full time?"

"But yes", she answered. "When my father died, I became, how do you say, conspicuous. So I go away to live with my uncle in Toulouse."

Goniff and Chief looked around the dismal cellar room in horror. Live the day around in this hole, it was worse than stir! To break the sudden tension, Actor asked with a smile "And do you have an uncle in Toulouse?"

Suzette shrugged and turned back to the sink.