He turned to her and tenderly kissed her. ‘You know, my greatest fear is that you’ll be taken from me, tortured or worse, and I won’t be able to do the right thing at the right time.’
She pulled away. ‘Marcus, you can never think like that. I could never be happy if I knew you’d done the wrong thing to save me and help the Germans win this war. We have to stay strong for one another.’
He nodded, and then took her in his arms, holding her as though he never wanted to let her go. When they made love that night it was tender, as if he wanted to appreciate every part of her, not just her body, but that he desired to be joined with her on a much deeper level.
31
Within a matter of weeks, Vivi appeared to win over the Germans’ trust, all except Captain Von Klaus, who continued to eye her warily whenever she came into contact with him. However, her cover story was established and believed, and Vivi continued working as Marcus’s assistant as, day by day, he recovered.
The first time she put on her German uniform was surreal and she had stood looking at herself in the mirror, tears streaming down her face, knowing at this point there was no going back. The office they worked in was a long, sprawling building with a vast network of staff working with them. Marcus had an office on the second floor.
The information came in all different forms, but mostly wireless transmissions that had been intercepted by the people in the listening room. Those messages were always coded, and the staff would copy them down precisely as they were received. They would then hand those off to the decoders, who would do their best to figure out the information using captured code books and then pass the messages back to Marcus’s office.
The Germans also got intelligence from reconnaissance missions. The pilots took photographs of land-transportation movements, Allied ships’ whereabouts, air bases and the number of planes, and any amassing of the forces in particular areas that could alert them to upcoming attacks.
The last way they would acquire information was through Allied agents who were captured in the field. After they were interrogated, any new intelligence would be verified against other information Marcus had received from alternative sources.
To do her job as his assistant, Vivi was allowed to move freely between all the offices, so often went down to visit the girls in the listening pool or speak to the officers’ wives and even the children that sometimes came to the office to visit their parents. She became popular, with her friendly outward demeanour and the desire to help in any way she could, often taking extra work from colleagues. Vivi quickly earned a reputation within the office as being not only industrious, but capable of doing whatever needed to be done. And the fact she also spoke good French boded well for her within the office; she found other members of the Gestapo would rely on her to decipher messages or correspondence that came in.
Lastly, she would aid Marcus in sorting through documentation and writing the reports he would present to the Reich. As a spy, his most essential job was to deceive them. As the information from the Allies filtered through the network, he intercepted it, changed it, and offered it to high command as the truth.
‘We have to be extremely careful, Vivi,’ he’d informed her. ‘We have to let some of the true information through, and some we can manipulate. We cannot bring any suspicion to this office.’
As Marcus’s secretary, she also attended the high-level meetings to take notes. She was there one morning as he presented his findings to the group.
‘It appears the offensive we have feared may be considered over the next few months,’ Marcus stated as he stood in front of a desk of ten of his peers. They met every week in an underground bunker that was dimly lit and smelled of mildew. An experience Vivi did not enjoy, but it was secure, and the higher members in the Reich insisted on caution to keep them all safe. In the dingy room, they assembled around a circular mahogany table, officers of the highest calibre from all the departments.
As he spoke, Marcus handed out a picture of an operative who had been killed. Vivi made sure to avert her eyes.
‘This man managed to give us information that the Allies will indeed attack, and though he wasn’t clear about the target destination, everything I am receiving continues to point to an assault in the Calais area.’
‘How can we be sure this is not subterfuge?’ stated Von Klaus as he rocked back in his chair.
Marcus continued, ‘To be fair, sir, we can’t. But I think we have to go with the best available information we have as it comes in. My task, as you know, is to coordinate and gather all that information. So, please, anything you get, bring to me, and then we’ll continue to have these weekly meetings, where we can see any pattern emerging, so we can defeat this enemy and their pathetic network of underground spies. It should not be hard; they are only a group of women and Frenchmen.’
There was a ripple of arrogant laughter around the table as Marcus gave up the floor for another senior official, who wanted to update them on what was happening on other fronts.
During the meetings, Vivi purposely kept her head down and proceeded to take notes of everything that was said. At the end, it was her responsibility to make copies for everybody. And she made sure they all got them in good time. Her role, she decided, was to make herself invaluable, yet keep a low profile. No one knew about her and Marcus’s affair. They kept that very quiet, travelling home separately and leaving home at different times. The evening was the only time they could relax. And for those moments, those few hours a day, they lived for being like any other loving couple.
Every day her love for him grew. Not only did she love the strength she saw in him, but also his kindness and gentleness. For a man who had lived his whole adult life as a soldier she was amazed at his depth of compassion and caring for her. He adored her, and his love for her was immense and he showed that love however and whenever it was possible.
She generally tried not to think about where this affair would go. She feared they’d both be captured and killed, but she pushed those thoughts from her mind. At night she lay in his arms and for the briefest of moments all she had to be was herself and to love him.
Deceiving the Germans in their office seemed to work more smoothly than she’d expected. No one appeared to suspect either Vivi or Marcus. Vivi was amazed how easy it was to lie as long as she was convinced of it herself, even though it was a balancing act to know what intelligence to let filter through.
However, a few weeks into their mission, Von Klaus informed them he had requested their office receive a visit from high command.
‘Is there something you are unhappy with, Captain Von Klaus, that I should be aware of?’ Marcus enquired with obvious irritation.
Von Klaus walked over to the adjoining door that belonged to Vivi’s office and closed it. Vivi quickly moved to the door and pressed her ear to it to hear the muffled conversation.
‘I met with Field Marshal Rommel on my last visit to the north, and he has some interesting theories about the possibility of an upcoming assault. I think it wouldn’t do any harm to have his opinion on this matter. So, I believe he will be sending someone to work with us, to help you with your assessments of the situation.’
Marcus sounded agitated as he responded. ‘It is, of course, kind of Field Marshal Rommel to assist us in this matter, but I am surprised he has the manpower to extend to us when we have been having such a high success rate here on our own. Do you have concerns about my work I should know about?’