are in trouble.’ Her voice was low and gravelly with the recognition of Terrier’s name and the effect of the cigarettes she obviously smoked.
Vivi nodded her head.
‘Come with me,’ Madame Mazella instructed and, turning away, made her way up a remarkably elaborate staircase as another girl wearing nothing but her underwear came tripping down the stairs holding the hand of a man who looked drunk.
It was only then that Vivi realised what this was. She was in a brothel. Oh, good God, Terrier had sent her to a bordello? This would have been highly amusing to her if it wasn’t for the fact she was in such a desperate state. Vivi followed behind the madam, and as they passed room after room, she could hear people in the throes of passion.
Vivi tried to orientate herself. All her training had not prepared her for this.
‘You can have Marie’s room. She is not well, so will not be here today.’
Madame Mazella unlocked a door and pushed it open. The smell of more cheap perfume, stale cigarette smoke and whisky greeted Vivi’s nostrils. She stepped into the room, afraid someone would be having sex right there in front of them. But as the madam put the light on, the room was empty apart from the large double bed that dominated the room.
‘You will be safe in here, but we don’t serve breakfast,’ the older woman quipped with a curl of her lip. ‘You can stay here until someone comes for you.’ She then shut the door and locked it before Vivi could say anything.
Exhausted, she sat on the edge of the bed, wondering what to do next. She searched the room and found a half bottle of Scotch and a packet of cigarettes. Unscrewing the top she swigged straight from the bottle. She was so thirsty, but she also needed to calm her shaking limbs and fast-beating heart. It wasn’t until she finished her second cigarette that her breath started to slow and then the weight of all that had happened started to sink in. At first Vivi tried to sleep on the top of the cover, not sure it was clean enough to climb inside, but the sounds all around the house were very distracting and she was so on edge she kept waking with a jolt, her body prepared for combat.
Then at one point, in the early hours of the morning, someone hammered on her door.
‘Marie, it is me, Marceau. I am here, my flower, my pet. Are you in there for me? Marie, don’t be mad. Open the door.’
She sat bolt upright, trying to figure out what to do. If she answered him, she was worried that when he saw that his usual girl wasn’t there, he’d come in after her and she didn’t want to draw attention to herself or have to tackle someone in a brothel. Vivi waited, breathing quietly in the darkness, as he continued to hammer on the door.
Eventually, he left, and she walked to the window and pulled aside a threadbare purple velvet curtain with gold tassels, heavy with dust. Paris was still alight with fire and in the distance there was the hum of bombs dropping. She felt sick, Yvette was injured and the family that had taken care of her were gone. What would happen to them all now? More than anything, there was guilt. It was because she’d left the antenna on display that they were even being arrested. She had been so stupid and foolish. They had trained her, but nothing had prepared her for how it would feel to cost people their lives. Vivi was crippled by the pain and the sting of regret.
Lying down, she must have fallen asleep then, because the next thing she knew was somebody else beating on the door. Vivi looked towards the window. Even through the thin, dusty, greying net curtains she could see the sun was high. It must be late morning already; she must have slept straight through.
The person hammered at the door again.
‘Go away!’ she shouted. ‘Marie is not here.’
Suddenly she heard a key in the door. Someone was coming in. Vivi thought through her training. She hadn’t been expecting to use it in a brothel, but she was skilled in hand-to-hand combat. She looked around the room for anything she could use as a weapon, but there was nothing but a chamber pot. Picking it up, Vivi swung it up over her head. The door opened, and she held it