‘Yvette, you’ve time for that. You’ve had to grow up quickly.’
‘And there is no one around,’ Yvette continued as she snatched at a clump of grass with frustration. ‘Even if I had the chance, there’s no one to have the chance with. I really hope it ends soon.’
Vivi nodded, lighting a cigarette and looking across the water. ‘We all do.’
On returning home, Vivi ate dinner with the family and then excused herself to transmit back to headquarters in Britain.
Locking herself in her room, she closed the curtains, pulled out the wireless, and the crystal she needed to make the radio work. Vivi placed them both on a small dressing table in the corner. As she turned on the wireless, the signal was weak and she was unable to establish a link. Tentatively she opened the window and looked up and down the road, surreptitiously. All was quiet, so she snaked the antenna that came with her equipment outside. Vivi had been instructed to do this if the signal was weak. She noticed her hands were shaking. It was risky transmitting this way with German detector vans roaming the city to find wireless operators just like her and she would only have a limited amount of time to convey information to the signal centre for SOE in England.
Listening in on the device, she took a deep breath as she fitted her crystal and waited for it to warm up. Then, with great speed, she tapped out her code name and hastily transmitted the message that she’d arrived safely. Vivi waited with bated breath as information filtered back to her, confirming in code they had received her message and wishing her luck.
As Vivi listened, she kept her eye on the clock. She knew she could not transmit for more than fifteen minutes. If the Nazis that drove around the city spotted the antenna or encountered her transmission, not only would it place her in jeopardy, but the whole family in the house.
She finished her message and slid the wireless in its case back under the bed. Glancing in the mirror, Vivi noticed beads of sweat glistening on her forehead and felt her heart pounding through her ribcage.
The following evening Vivi slipped out of the house to connect with her circuit leader, Frank, for the first time at the Resistance meeting. Her job eventually would be to work for him as a courier between others in the circuit and transmit messages back and forth to London.
On the way, she used Terrier’s zigzag pattern of moving through the streets, trying not to lose her way. When she finally arrived, she knocked on the door and gave a coded word, and a nonchalant young man nodded and brought her inside. He led her down a hall and into a darkened room.
Inside, the members of her cell, within the Physician Network, were huddled around discussing their plans. As her eyes started to adjust to the darkness, she was surprised by the sight of the different types of people. A motley cluster of very young men, some still boys, too young to fight, and also mature men, several with war wounds, probably from the First World War, she surmised. They stood huddled around a map talking about the nearby Renault factory that they were hoping to sabotage.
‘The pianist is here,’ declared the young man who had opened the door to her. ‘The pianist’ was the general code name for the women or the men who were working as wireless operators around the city to transport information back to British headquarters about anything the Resistance needed.
They all acknowledged her and the leader stepped forward and introduced himself as Frank, before quickly moving on to business, eventually turning to Vivi. ‘We need explosives and more guns. Could you request an airdrop for the end of the week?’
Vivi nodded and only then did she realise how much she was a part of this. An active part of this war. Until now, everything had felt detached or overwhelming, even operating the wireless. But when she looked at the picture on the map of the Renault factory that she and Yvette had observed the day before, she suddenly felt emboldened. This was why she was doing this, to fight for France and for England.
After the meeting, she slipped back out of the house. As the curfew was already in place, she crept along the darkened streets, finding her way home. Moving in through the back door, Vivi was intercepted in the kitchen by Yvette.
‘You’re not supposed to be out after curfew,’ she stated, her eyes huge, staring up from the book she was reading.
Vivi smiled. ‘Yvette, I know. Sometimes there are no alternatives. This is when the meeting was planned.’
‘Is there anything I can do?’ she enquired enthusiastically. ‘I want to be part of the war effort.’
Vivi looked down into the face of this young woman who seemed so keen to help out. ‘You’ve already been a tremendous help, Yvette. Thank you.’
The next evening, Vivi communicated the information to headquarters, and by the end of the week, she had information to relay back to Frank and her cell. After the broadcast she made her way out of the house in the evening, to let them know all was set. Vivi reached the location of the underground meeting. Slipping inside, she saw the same group was there, and she informed them that the drop would happen at the end of the week at around 2 a.m., just outside the city, this time in a field of an obliging farmer, another Resistance sympathiser. They acknowledged and thanked her, but on leaving the house, Vivi sensed that someone was behind her. Her lessons in espionage and how to lose someone had been drilled into her, plus her short time with Terrier had sharpened her senses even further. She moved swiftly away, swung down an alley and then another one, and then slipped back onto the road. Turning another corner, she could still hear footsteps behind her. She stepped into a darkened doorway. The step sounded high-pitched, like a woman behind her in heels. She held her breath as the individual approached but was relieved to see who it was.
‘Yvette, what are you doing here?’ she hissed into the darkness.
Yvette’s face was full of remorse but also pinked with slight excitement. ‘I wished to see what you were doing. I want to be part of all of this.’
‘Yvette, do you know how dangerous this is? The reason I do not tell you anything is that I’m trying to keep your family safe.’
‘Were you meeting with the Resistance tonight?’ she asked in a hushed tone.
Vivi looked around her, then moved rapidly off down the street. ‘Say nothing more until we are at the house,’ she whispered, glancing over her shoulder.
Yvette walked sheepishly beside her as they made their way for home.
Stepping inside the house, Vivi closed the door and drew the shades shut. She tried to control the fear mixed with anger she felt just below the surface.
‘Please listen, Yvette, this is not a game. You put us all in danger: me, your parents, everyone. You cannot follow me again. Do you understand? This is highly dangerous. So many people’s lives would be at risk if anything were to go wrong.’
Yvette’s eyes grew wide, and Vivi could see tears brimming. ‘I just wanted to help. I don’t want to be the only person who’s not doing something. I want to be a spy like you.’
Just then, her mother appeared at the kitchen door, and had obviously overheard the exchange between the pair of them.
‘Yvette, I do not want to hear any more of this talk. You will go straight to your bedroom. Do you understand me?’
Yvette nodded and left the room.
Her mother shook her head, visibly shaken. ‘She is such a foolish child, I cannot believe she put you in danger. I am so sorry.’