Henderson naked in your bed.’
He wouldn’t have dared say that if Henderson was healthy. Maxine looked uncomfortable. Marc, Rosie and Paul couldn’t help smirking.
‘I can’t stay,’ Maxine said. ‘But I’ve arranged for everything you need. Hot water, towels, clothes, food, identity documents. Don’t go out. Keep the noise down and try not to flush the toilet too much because the people downstairs might wonder who you are.’
Rosie looked at the undertaker. ‘You’ll get the doctor here soon?’
He nodded. ‘Hopefully half an hour.’
Marc looked at Maxine as she pulled on a navy coat that seemed too heavy for a July morning.
‘What happens next?’ Marc asked.
‘If you wish to return to Britain it can be arranged,’ Maxine said. ‘But if any of you want to stay, I’m sure I can keep you busy.’
Marc wanted to stay because it meant he’d be close to Jae. For the others, the decision would be more complex.
‘Think it over,’ Maxine said, as she pulled out long hair trapped under the collar of her coat. ‘Right now you’re exhausted. Wash, sleep, eat and relax.’
The undertaker politely opened the door for Maxine to leave.
‘Oh,’ Maxine said, turning back when she was halfway out of the door. ‘I forgot to say: welcome to Paris!’
EPILOGUE
FZG-76
Hitler eventually renamed FZG-76 the V1. On 13 June 1944 it became the first of his much-hyped victory weapons to be used in anger.
Over the following eighty days, 8,554 V1 pilotless bombs were aimed at London, killing over 6,000 people and injuring 17,000 more. But by this time Allied troops had invaded Northern France and by September 1944 all V1 launch sites capable of targeting Britain had been captured or bombed to destruction.
Once Britain was out of range, V1s were launched against targets in Holland and Belgium. The last V1 to be used in anger was fired towards the Dutch port of Antwerp on 29 March 1945.
HIRAM GOLDBERG
Two years after the successful destruction of the bunker near Rennes, Sergeant Hiram Goldberg returned home to his family in New York, where he wrote a memoir about his work as a sniper attached to the US Army Intelligence service. Like all ex-servicemen, Goldberg was required to submit his book to the US Army censorship office before trying to get it published.
In an internal memorandum, the office produced a list of reasons why all references to the bunker raid should be removed from Goldberg’s book:
M E M O R A N D U M – T O P S E C R E T
REF: GoldbergHC/Intelligence Memoir/0045816
DATE: 8/22/47
RE: CHAPTERS 8–13 RENNES BUNKER RAID
After further discussion and meeting of 8/17/47 decision taken that none of material contained in chapters on Rennes Bunker Raid is currently considered publishable. Reasons as below:
1. Cap Charles Henderson’s use of chemical spray during military operation was clear breach of 1928 Geneva Protocol. Henderson used the cylinder without UK or US authorisation and the matter is still under investigation.
Any admission to use of chemical weapons during war, even unauthorised, likely to result in significant and undesirable publicity for UK/US military.
2. Of nine bunker scientists who made it out of France, seven now work in United States on USAF rocket-guidance systems programmes. These men regarded as targets for Russian espionage and any publicity relating to them best avoided. Also, British/French still believed sore and feel that US ‘poached’ these scientists from under their noses at the end of the war.
3. Version of guidance system removed from bunker was more advanced than unit deployed in the finished V1 flying bomb. Key technologies taken from this unit remain secret and are still probably unknown to Soviet Russia.
4. Although Espionage Research Unit B disbanded late 1944, UK remains keen to hush up matters relating to use of underage persons in espionage ops.
A new unit reporting to the British Secret Intelligence Service named CHERUB is experimenting with use of boys in peacetime intelligence operations. CIA currently studies this project with interest and may implement similar unit of its own at some point. For such unit to be effective, it is imperative no publicity be given to use of underage agents.
NOTE ON DEALING WITH GOLDBERG
Take all reasonable steps to ensure that Goldberg’s book is not published in ANY form. It is not desirable for a man involved in such a sensitive operation to attain any public notoriety.
Goldberg is a family man, with good service record, wounded at Battle of Okinawa and decorated on two occasions.
Suggest matter be discussed with him face to face using carrot/stick approach:
Carrot: Appeal to patriotism, offer further military decoration if felt necessary and