The Baltimore Bitch

I recognized that I'd met the only woman in the world for me. So, I was thinking that Doublemetre's untimely demise might not be a bad thing. Suzy, who was usually so serious, was in full coquette mode. She said flirtatiously, "It's your turn to tell us your story Papa Jed."

The girls all leaned forward in anticipation. I could have told them the truth. But they needed hope and that was exactly what I gave them. I told them about an idealized America where they would always be loved and taken care of and they would all be princesses once the war was over. They squealed with delight at my expansive tales of the wonderful things a girl growing up in America would experience. It was obvious that for Natalie, at least, that included boys.

The stories didn't last long. The girls had had an eventful day. Their eyes drooped and Josette fell asleep snuggled in the crook of my arm. Suzy and Natalie took the girls to their rooms. I carried my little angel into my room and tucked her gently into the big bed. The rest of my life would be dedicated to making sure that brave little Josette never had to face fear.

There was a day-bed located over in the bay window. I would sleep there, so she could see me the moment she woke up.

I walked back into the main room and Suzy was sitting gazing into the fire. She was a smart woman and she had figured out that something big was about to happen. She was obviously curious about where I fit into those plans.

I told her what had happened, and what King wanted me to do. She gave me a meaningful stare and said, "The girls and I will pray for you. You are very important to all of us."

That was the opening I'd been waiting for. So, I said, "You are all very important to me. I love all of you." Her gorgeous eyes were luminous, looking at me like her happiness depended on what I said next. I said, "But I love you most of all."

That did it. She stood up, walked over to me, stepped in close and dangled her arms across my shoulders, while her eyes searched my face. It was the most intimate gesture a woman had ever made to me. She said, "Your love for Josette tells me that you can devote yourself to another person above yourself. That is rare in a man." Then she raised her lips to a soft kiss.

The lightning crackled again. She moaned loudly and her mouth opened to a wild passion that belied her cool exterior. I'd like to say that we fucked all night - right there in front of the fire. But there were far too many little girls in the house. So, we settled for one passionate kiss.

Suzy's eyes were wild with desire when we came up for air. There were enormous fires burning down deep inside that superb body. But Suzy was above all a reasonable women, with a solid sense of responsibility for her little charges.

The thought of being discovered rutting on the floor by one of the girls, guaranteed our mutual self-control. Still, the bargain was sealed. We were committed to each other. Suzy said, chest heaving with passion, "I am yours from this day on. We have a lifetime of making love. So, let us just sit by the fire and hold each other." That is exactly what we did.

We sat on the big overstuffed couch in front of the fire. She lay back against my chest, nestled in my arms. Her dark mass of curly hair was underneath my chin. It smelled like lavender. Her body inside my arms was solid and lithe. But it was also small boned and delicate. Her hips, which were plastered against mine, were round and feminine and she had a substantial chest for such a small woman.

It was hard to ignore the irony of our current situation. I had spent eight years growing up with Betty Moran and I had literally dropped into Suzy's Milhaud's life nine days ago. Yet, I felt a connection to Suzy that I had never had with any other woman. Sure, there were the usual biological reasons, Suzy was a gorgeous creature. But those were just a minor part of the peace I felt holding her.

I'd read enough cheap romance novels to think that I knew what love felt like. And this situation was decidedly not it. I expected out-of-control passion. But that was for another day. Instead, and above all else, there was a deep sense of peace and unity, of shared values and attitudes.

This statement no-doubt sounds selfish. But Suzy completed me in every way, and I was immediately aware of that fact, without having to think about it, or over-analyze it. She was brave, and steadfast and she had demonstrated a level of a loyalty to the girls and me that transcended her own personal wants and needs.

Now this superb creature was mine. I drifted off thinking that there must have been some time in my past when I was this happy. But I couldn't recall when. Which was a super-ironic, given the fact that we were right smack dab in the middle of a war, and I was about to go off to blow up a dam.

We slept for a few hours, sitting upright in the comfortable couch cuddling each other. I awoke as dawn was breaking. She stirred and said, "Where are you going?" I said, I have to be in my room when Josette wakes up, or she'll be frightened. But promise me you'll be here when I get back."

She looked puzzled and said, "Why would you even ask me that?!!" I had changed back into my olive drab shirt and pants for our expedition. So, I had the letter in my pocket. I handed it to her wordlessly and walked back to my room.

I was watching my precious little Josette sleep, hugging her teddy bear. Her beauty and innocence gave me a profound sense of calm. I knew I would make it - if nothing more than because she needed me. That's when Suzy appeared in the door. Her beautiful eyes were full of tears. She hugged me and said, "That will never happen to us."

********

In the morning, King and Bernadette took me out to acquaint me with the Sten gun. It could spray 600 rounds per minute, and it was so easy to use it could turn your grandmother into a mass killing machine. But it was a piece of shit. It was so wildly inaccurate that I told them I'd rather use my .45.

Suzy and the girls were all standing on the porch as we set off walking in the direction of the dam. I knew that they were all tucked away in a secure place, hidden and safe and we'd left a Sten in case. I looked back in Suzy's direction and she gave me a reassuring wave. There were no tears, or reproaches. This was a very strong woman. Little Josette's voice called, "I love you Papa." There were no childlike hysterics. Of course, Josette was very brave.

We walked northwest and then due west. It was a beautiful alpine day. Our target was twelve kilometers away, approximately 8 miles as the crow flies. But the trip was much longer because we had to arrive without anybody knowing we were there. Consequently, we stayed in the folds and ridges of the forested hills leading down to the Rhone.

We were walking single file, King in front. We five pack mules were in line behind him, and Bernadette followed. King was carrying TWO of the 90-pound satchels of RDX like he was toting his lunch. The rest of us struggled along with only one. Bernadette had her infernal devices in her pack; detonators, wiring and fuses.

The path was steep at times and the going was difficult. I was in pretty good shape. But my knees were wobbling when we got to a wooded area on the eastern side of the Rhone. We ate without lighting any fires and then settled down to wait for dark.

The dam was situated in the Rhone river valley which was surrounded by higher elevations. We dropped our packs about three hundred yards from the dam itself. It was downhill to the roadway and heavily forested. It looked like the place was guarded by a couple of platoon-sections of German troops, perhaps two dozen men. But all we could see were a couple of sentries.

The Germans were camped on the western bank, which was flatter and more open. King had said that these were Ostlegionen, meaning the bottom of the barrel for the Wehrmacht. Their discipline and morale were so poor that they were only fit for guard duty and that was evident in how lax they were in maintaining their defensive perimeter.

Still, even King couldn't hold off two dozen Germans. So, the plan was to blow the dam in the dark of the night. King would eliminate the sentries at either end and then he and the four Maqui would guard the western approach while Bernadette and I set the charges.

Andre was supposed to be the one helping Bernadette. But his body was currently residing somewhere in the woods behind our base of operations, all thanks to King. Since I was by far the biggest and strongest among those left, except for King of course, he designated me to haul the seven packs of RDX over to where Bernadette would place them.

In the meantime, Bernadette took me off to one side, over to where the packs were stashed, ostensibly to show me what she planned to do. We couldn't carry enough explosive to actually blow-up the whole dam. Instead, she and the OSS planners had decided to blow the control gates at the top, along with the road that ran above them.

The gates were moved up and down to regulate the flow of the water out of the upstream reservoir of the Rhone and into the tailrace. The dam itself hadn't been completed before the Germans arrived in France. So, there were no turbines installed. Instead, the gates were set to keep the reservoir at a reasonable level while only allowing the right amount of water to spill over the top of the dam and flow downstream to keep the Rhone navigable.

There were two gates. They fronted fifty-foot rectangular galleries that had been built into the top of the dam. The roadway stretched above the galleries. So, blowing them would allow the contents of the reservoir to cascade into the tailrace and flood the downstream part of the river. While at the same time, it would take out the roadway. That would be extremely inconvenient for the Germans, because they would have to make a long detour to get south across the Rhone.

The two of us walked over to the edge of the forest, where we had staged the packs for easy access. Bernadette said, "What I need you to do is obvious. Just bring these to me as quickly as you can. I will be underneath the roadway setting the charges."

Then Bernadette paused and looked at me intently. She said with meaning in her voice, "But, of course, that is NOT why we are talking. I want to let you know that; King will do something about Doublemetre if you don't."

I must have seemed astonished and confused. Bernadette looked at me baffled for a minute. Then she smiled sympathetically, like the fact had suddenly just dawned on her, "I forgot, you don't speak French!!"

I continued to look at her in total bewilderment, I spluttered, "I don't have the slightest idea of what you're talking about? How does this involve me? I thought Doublemetre and Suzy were friends?"

Bernadette gave me a pitying glance and said, "You Americans understand nothing. Suzy loves you and when a French woman loves, she gives herself totally and without reservation to her man. King was full of naïve American ideals about women too. The first time we made love I practically had to rape him."

I was flabbergasted, "Suzy loves me like that??!!"

Bernadette said fondly like she was talking to the family dog, "How could she not. You are handsome and an American flyer. You have been kind and brave and devoted to Suzy and the girls since the moment you met. You even killed for her."

She added, "Suzy is a very rich and sophisticated woman. You are worlds apart. But she loves you and that is all that matters. She will be yours for as long as you appreciate the gift that she gives you. Which is why none of us can understand why you have allowed Doublemetre to take the liberties he has."

I thought to myself, "I am going to kill that fucker." But I said out loud, justifiably concerned, "Liberties? What liberties? Has he touched her??!!"

Bernadette read my expression and said warningly, "For tonight, King and I need you to focus on the task at hand. There will be time to settle this later. Doublemetre hasn't, how do you say it - crossed any line. But he has gone way too far in his stated intentions."

That did it!! I looked at the slippery snake sitting there with his three jolly cohorts and thought, "Fuck it - why not just kill him right now. I'd be doing the world a favor."

Bernadette saw what I was thinking. She added with steel in her voice, "You need to be smart about this. Suzy is an intelligent woman. She realized it would spoil our plans if you did anything to Doublemetre before the mission. So, she has been friendly to him for our sake. But Doublemetre has been very insistent and explicit about the many things he will do to her when the mission is over, and she is frightened."

I growled, "Not if I get to him first," and I touched the .45 in its snug shoulder holster. There would be a reckoning tonight.

The moon was only a quarter full. But it provided enough light and it would be hard for the sentries to spot shadows moving through the forest. That is, if they were even looking for them.

The sentry on our end of the roadway was smoking a cigarette and staring longingly at the sleeping camp when a specter materialized behind him. There was a slight grunt and the apparition laid his body out of sight.

I had expected King to slit the sentry's throat. But it looked like he had simply snapped his neck. The shadow ghosted sixty yards down the roadway and did the same thing to the other guard. It was all over in thirty seconds and there hadn't been any noise to disturb the rest of the sleeping Germans.

Three Maquis rushed silently over to join King. They scattered to take up firing positions on the western approach to the bridge. I followed behind lugging two of the six packs. It was 180 pounds of deadweight. I thought my arms were going to fall off.

Meanwhile, Bernadette had scampered over the side of the dam and was hanging upside down on a stantion beneath the roadway like a squirrel on a limb. I lowered the packs one at a time and she guided them to where she wanted them.

Bernadette set the detonators while I ran back to get the next pair. We repeated this three more times. The last trip was easier. Because it was only one pack. Meanwhile, there was nothing going on, on the German side.

Bernadette made a sharp little whistle. It sounded like the golden eagles that are everywhere in the Alps. Then she and I sprinted back to our original position unspooling the detonator wire as we ran.

The two Maquis ran past us and King appeared, walking slowly backward holding a Sten on each hip. He looked like the god of war. The entire raid had taken twenty minutes and still the German camp slept.

The thunderous detonation of over a quarter ton of artfully-placed RDX must have finally wakened them. Large chunks of concrete roadway blew off into the reservoir, and the face of the dam began to spew tons of water out of two big holes where the galleries used to be. Bernadette was clearly the Michelangelo of demolition.

The torrent was already beginning to flood the tailrace 150 feet below. And the roadway now looked like a mouth full of broken teeth. The German armor wouldn't be crossing the Rhone anytime soon.

We didn't need to hurry. The Germans were on the other side of a raging torrent, with no place to cross. But we wanted to get back to camp as soon as possible, even if it meant walking all night.

We were packing up when we discovered that Doublemetre had disappeared!! We instantly realized what that meant, and it horrified us.

*****

We had made the trip out in a little over three hours. The trip back took more like two. We alternated running and walking. The Maqui had long since disappeared. My only thought was, "Good riddance."

I'm not much of a church-goer. But I was praying we would arrive in time to prevent, or at least interrupt, the thing that he had planned. I knew that Doublemetre couldn't be that far ahead of us. He'd been present when the raid started. So, it was perhaps a half hour lead.

We were running as fast as we could. I'm built for speed and yet my legs were on fire. King has many fine attributes. But he's more of a gorilla than a gazelle. And he was lugging all of the remaining gear. So, he was lagging far behind.

The guilt was killing me. I knew that I should have murdered the son-of-a-bitch the minute Bernadette told me about him. But I was way too civilized and awash in naïve delusions about honor to do the smart thing. King wouldn't have made that mistake. Now, the thought of Doublemetre violating my one true love had turned the cold analytic me into a raving beast.

It was the middle of the night and we were perhaps a quarter mile from our destination when I jolted to a stop and stared with utter astonishment. There in the moonlight, was a curly blond head chugging determinedly up the trail, running as fast as her little legs could carry her. It was Josette!!

The resolute look on her sweet little face made it clear that she wasn't running FROM anything. My brave little girl was coming to find me. And she fully intended to run just as far as necessary, through an Alpine wilderness, in order to do that!! It was the most selfless act of pure courage I've ever witnessed.

I sprinted down to my little angel and she said, urgency in her voice, "Papa, there is a man with a gun at our house!! We thought he was coming to take us away, like the Nazis did with our friends. So, we all ran into the woods to hide. Natalie told me to stay hidden. But I knew you could fix it. So, I came to get you!!"

Bernadette, and I both realized what Doublemetre was actually planning, even if Josette didn't, thank God!! That was the point where King came puffing up. Bernadette scooped Josette up and said emphatically, "I'll take care of her. You take care of Doublemetre."

King, who was clearly blown reached into his pocket and handed me his gleaming pair of brass knuckles. He said, still breathing heavily, "These might come in handy until I can get there." I said, "Thanks," and took off sprinting down the last of the trail and up onto the wide porch.

There's a protective instinct hardwired into the human race. Most of the time it's covered by a thin veneer of civilization. But in particular circumstances, it will transform into the ferocious ground ape that we're all descended from and that creature doesn't harbor any silly notions about mercy, or restraint!!

Love evolves a person and I was a long way from the naïve kid who'd parachuted into France a mere ten days ago. I was that creature now and the thought of Doublemetre harming Suzy drove it to a new pinnacle of fury.

I was creeping through the empty lodge along looking for the room with Suzy and Doublemetre in it. I had just reached the big bedroom at the end of the hall when I heard a silky voice say something in French. It sounded like he was gloating. I kicked the door open, gun raised. Thank God I looked before I fired. Doublemetre was sitting in a chair facing the door perhaps three feet from Suzy.

She was in front of him, also facing the door, completely naked. He had a Sten leveled at her back, using her as a shield. He said calmly and in almost perfect English," Ah, the American. I was hoping you would come to witness your woman's degradation."

Then he added almost like an afterthought, "Put the gun down. You will never be able to stop me in time."

He was right. Even if I got a kill-shot off, he would cut Suzy in half before he died. She was looking at me pleadingly. She wanted me to take the shot, even if it cost her life. She knew what would happen to the girls if I surrendered the gun.

I had no choice. I couldn't lose her. I raised my hands, spun the gun up by its trigger guard, and laid it carefully on the floor.