The Special Operations Flotilla Page 14

  “Wait a minute” said Marty “wouldn’t it be easier if I was in the army to get the information we need?”

  “Only if you were in the supply core” replied Linette dismissively . “We will have the cover story that we are representatives of the committee checking on the deployment of the army and supplies.”

  “Won’t that be easy to check?” said Armand

  “Yes we want it to be because they will find that there is in fact a two person team that has been sent from Paris and they will be Mademoiselle Antoinette Riccard and her colleague Philippe Dominique who work for the Ministries of war and supply respectively. The orders for the two have been carefully placed in both the Ministries files. Signed by the Minister of War himself.”

  “How on earth did you manage that” Marty asked in astonishment

  “Your friend who you brought back to England before Christmas. The one you” she nodded at Armand “rescued from the Revenue cutter. Returned to France and at great risk to himself planted the orders in the file. The signatures are genuine as well.” She gave a coy smile that told them not to ask how that had been achieved.

  “So how long has this mission been in planning then?” said Marty

  “Since he returned to England with the initial information,” she replied

  “Damn and I only got involved today” Marty said

  “You were always involved” Linette smiled “Wickham was most insistent that you be the one that was sent along with me”

  “I don’t think any of my clothes are suitable for this part” Marty said after thinking over the cover story for a minute or two.

  “Do not worry I have several sets of clothes in my trunks for you. We checked with your tailor for your size so they should all fit perfectly.” She said with an arch look that teased about how much Wickham and his organisation knew about him.

  Not to be out done Marty said “Shoes too?”

  “Of course” Linette replied with a chuckle, “and boots with your special modifications as well.”

  “Modifications?” asked Armand in surprise.

  “That will be the hidden blade from a razor stitched into the leg of the boot” Marty replied.

  “And the extra strong laces” added Linette

  “Damn it, is there nothing Wickham doesn’t know” Marty muttered in irritation.

  “Nothing that matters” replied Linette with a smile

  The next morning they had a good breakfast with just the usual on offer, lamb chops, devilled kidneys, bacon, kippers, sausages, fried and scrambled eggs, toast, coffee, tea, jam and marmalade. Linette ate some toast and marmalade. The boys fuelled up. Tom came in and told them that the Deal boys had arrived and had boarded the Alouette (currently called the Swan while they were in English waters). The tide was coming in and would peak at just after noon so they would set sail just after the turn on the ebb. Tom helped himself to breakfast while the others got themselves and their sea chests out of The Farm onto the cart that took them to the dock.

  Marty left Blaez with Will with instructions for feeding and exercise. He hated to leave him behind but he was too young to accompany them on this mission.

  They settled in quickly. Armand gave up half his cabin for Linette and Marty had the first Lieutenants cabin as he usually did when Armand was on board. The crew had partitioned the cabin so that she had the use of the private head so Armand had to use the heads at the bow like the rest of the crew, much to his dismay. It was cold hanging over the water and his healing leg made it slightly hazardous!

  They planned to stop over at Gibraltar to restock and top up the water before the final run up to Toulon. The Alouette would stay nearby while the two ‘agents’ were in place so they wanted to have maximum endurance.

  To enable regular contact, Armand would come ashore via the fishing village of Sanary, just to the west of Toulon, and make his way to a particular Café in the Toulon harbour district where he could pick up messages dropped by Marty without actually meeting him face to face.

  This was done by Marty being at the café at a particular time on a particular day. He would read a copy of Le Monitor. Once he spotted Armand he would leave his table with the paper left on the seat. Armand would move in on the table and buy a coffee. When he left he would just take the paper with him. The message would be encoded in the paper itself by pin pricks below the letters that made it up. By holding up the pages to the light Armand could retrieve the message letter by letter. Anybody else who picked up the paper wouldn’t notice the pin pricks or if they did wouldn’t understand their significance.

  It was late January and the trip down was beset by storms and contrary winds. It was so bad it took them 3 weeks to get to Gibraltar. They restocked and watered in two days and headed out into the Mediterranean towards the east. Their luck changed and they had a stiff south-westerly wind to drive them along at a good 11 knots. The Swan changed into The Alouette and flew the French tricolour.

  Their cover story had them travelling from Paris via Lyon down to Marseilles and then to Toulon. So they would land close to where Marty landed with Armand when they had infiltrated Marseilles, make their way into the town and rent or buy a carriage to take them to Toulon. They spent every minute perfecting their new personas as they knew their lives depended on them being very convincing.

  They arrived in really good time which made up a little for the delay in getting to Gibraltar and the landing went smoothly. The walk into Marseilles was chilly but the exercise kept them warm. They planned to stay in the town for a couple of days to fix their trail there, so they found a hotel frequented by government officials and set about establishing their identities.

  They got lucky, no one there was from Paris and the fact that they were, kept most people at arm’s length. So after two days they rented a carriage and set off for Toulon. It was about fifty miles so they stopped to change horses at La Ciotat and have some lunch. They arrived in Toulon just before dark. They checked into a hotel that had been chosen specifically because it was frequented by Army officers and where Linette could use her charms to gather information.

  Dressed in the austere black suit and hat that was the de rigour dress of government employees Marty actually looked much older than his seventeen years. He had a leather document bag with the seal of the Ministry of Supply embossed on the flap in which he had fake ledgers and letters of lading. Linette had a similar bag with the seal of the Ministry of War.

  They stayed strictly in character, only using their cover names and speaking French at all times. They assumed an arrogance that only government officials have and didn’t hesitate to be demanding of people they came across.

  They were, however, underneath it all very nervous. They were after all at a major French Navy Port that was also being used to stage a huge army and the supplies required for an important expedition. There were not only the military police but also the civil and secret police to contend with. One slip and they would be undone.

  They decided that the first thing they needed to do was establish exactly what ships were assembled to transport the army. So they took a walk up to one of the forts that overlooked Toulon Harbour and started making notes. Now, they knew if they were caught with notes about things that didn’t concern their characters they would have uncomfortable questions to answer, so they had come up with a substitute code.

  1 x nnn x n = 1st rate x nnn guns x number of

  2 x nnn x n = 2nd rate x nnn guns x number of

  And so on for ships of war and

  T x nnnnnnn x n = Troop ship x tonnage x number of

  HT x nnnnnnn x n = Horse Transport x tonnage x number of

  And so on for all the different types of transport. They didn’t make lists. Instead they embedded the numbers in other documents, seemingly randomly, to hide them. They counted ten ships of the line including the massive L’Orient and two frigates. They knew that ships would come and go but these were sitting with yards crossed and looked to be unprepared for immediate depart
ure.

  There weren’t many transports, but that wasn’t a surprise as you would expect transports to arrive just before they were needed.

  Having done that they moved on to checking out the supplies. There wasn’t much there yet but the army had laid out areas where they would be stored and it was very impressive. They were also setting up assembly areas for troops and artillery and stabling for cavalry mounts and draft horses. They marked them all on a map and would revisit them regularly.

  The first message drop day was approaching so they prepared the message and encoded it in a week old newspaper. They used an out of date edition as that was less likely to be picked up by a stranger.

  Marty was at the café at the time allocated for that pickup day. The time varied from drop to drop so no one could pick up on a routine. He waited and drank his coffee slowly, then he saw Armand wandering into the square and up to the café. He finished his coffee and stood to leave dropping the paper on to the seat of the chair he had been sat on. He wandered off without looking at Armand at all, which was hard.

  Armand saw Marty get up and leave. The drop of the paper was done so well he didn’t even see him do it. He walked up slowly and took a seat at the same table. There was the paper on the seat Marty just left. Job done.

  A few days later Marty and Linette met up as usual in her room to review what they had found. Their next drop to Armand was due in two days and they had woefully little information for him. The build-up of supplies was progressing slowly. An Artillery brigade had arrived and set up camp in one the pre-designated areas. There was no sense of urgency.

  “We need to find out something more concrete” Lisette sighed “I think it’s time I tried working one of the officers”

  “Which one?” Marty asked “There are two or three that would love to get you into bed.”

  “Pheh! None of them are worth the trouble” she said scornfully “I had in mind that Colonel from the Infantry. The one with the braids and spectacular moustache.”

  “Ha! I would have more luck with him! He prefers boys,” Marty laughed

  “Then the dashing Commandant of Grenadiers who is on the central staff” she said also laughing.

  “Hmm yes, he would do” Marty said thoughtfully “He carries around that document case all the time. I wonder what’s in it other than a saucisson”

  The next evening Linette found the Commandant sitting at a table in the café next to their hotel slurping down a bowl of onion soup. She made a play of looking around and then approached him and asked if she could share his table. He stood up so fast he nearly tipped the table over and bowed deeply to her.

  “Certainly! My pleasure madam” he all but crooned.

  “Mademoiselle” she said batting her eyelids “Antoinette Riccard,” she held out her hand.

  “You are with the Ministry of War I believe” he said as he bowed over it.

  “Why yes I am” she replied as if surprised that she was worthy of such notice. She sat down and he followed suit.

  He offered her a glass of wine which she accepted and then called over a waiter. She ordered Bouillabaisse and some bread.

  She let him serve her more wine as they sat and chatted. Marty was watching from another Café just down the road while he had a dinner of Duck liver and salad. Marty knew that despite her slim build Linette had a prodigious capacity for wine. He had never seen her drunk even after a couple of bottles.

  The same could not be said for the Commandant who after a bottle was noticeably wobbly. Linette got another bottle from the waiter and two glasses and after they had drunk half of it led the slurring and staggering man to her room. He just about made it to the chair by the bed and plopped himself down. Linette fed him another glass of wine while sitting on his lap and then his head lolled back and he started to snore.

  She went to the door and opened it. Marty was leaning on the wall opposite and immediately made his way in to the room.

  “Didn’t take much to get him soused” he said.

  “Aah, but he was drinking far more than he thought” said Linette and took a small flask out of her sleeve. She offered it to Marty and he took out the stopper and sniffed it.

  “That’s raw spirit!” he said as his eyes watered.

  “Yes, almost pure alcohol” smirked Linette. “I slipped some into most of the glasses he drank”

  “Poor bastard is going to have a hell of a headache in the morning” laughed Marty

  The Commandant’s bag laid in the floor next to him. It was locked but that didn’t hold Marty up for more than a few seconds. He carefully removed the papers from inside making sure he noted in what order they were in. He then settled down to read them. Most were just memos between departments of the staff, but some were copies of orders that had been sent to the commanders of various units. One stood out above the rest. It was to the commander of the Army of Italy and ordered him to send five thousand troops to Genoa for embarkment on to ships by the beginning of April. Marty copied it and returned it to its correct place in the stack.

  “What are they up to?” Marty mused. “A formidable fleet and looking at the prepared staging areas at least twenty thousand men in Toulon plus the five thousand from Genoa.”

  Lisette went to her valise and took out a small bottle which she uncorked and held under the Commandants nose. Marty picked up a whiff of ammonia and identified it as smelling salts. The Commandant coughed as the acrid fumes registered on his alcohol sodden brain. He opened his eyes and Linette sat on his lap and cradled his head.

  “Where are the soldiers going?” she asked

  He just rolled his eyes up into his head and passed out again.

  “You will get more out of a corpse,” Marty said

  Just then the Commandant jerked awake and slurred “Nobody knows. My god they tell us nothing. Only Napoleon” and promptly passed out again.

  There was a knock on the door. They looked at each other and Linette pointed to the bed. Marty crawled under it and stayed very still.

  She opened the door. There was an army officer outside.

  “Can I help you?” she asked

  “Good evening Mademoiselle. I am looking for Commander Hermion he is needed at the Headquarters” He replied

  Linette laughed “Then you will have to carry him” she opened the door fully to show the unconscious man prone in the chair.

  The officer made a face and then shrugged.

  “I see. The fool cannot take alcohol, any more than half a bottle and he just passes out. It happens every time. Where is his bag?”

  Linette pointed at the, now, relocked bag propped by the chair. “It is where he dropped it.”

  “Good, I will take that as it has the information that is needed. I will send a couple of men over in an hour or so to help him home”, he said and bent down to pick it up.

  Linette held her breath as one glance the wrong way and he would see Marty under the bed, but he just stood and tucked the bag under his arm.

  She forced herself to take a slow breath.

  “You should not waste your time on this fool” he said “However if you are looking for companionship with someone who won’t pass out on you then it would be my pleasure to entertain you”

  “You are very gallant Capitan” Linette smiled thinking, what a slimeball and opened the door for him to leave. “I will bear that in mind next time I feel in need of company” she told him with a smile.

  She waved a little, coy goodbye as he went through the door and she closed it leaning her back on it and letting out a huge sigh of relief as Marty crawled out from under the bed, slid a stiletto back into the sheath on his forearm and started brushing off the dust bunnies he had picked up.

  “Interesting” said Marty “I better get out of here before they arrive. See you at breakfast”

  The next morning he met Linette as usual and she told him that two Lieutenants had turned up and half carried, half dragged the Commandant back to his quarters.

  They left on a �
��tour of inspection’ of the depots and assembly areas as they had for the last few weeks. Half way around when they were visiting a remote warehouse Marty suddenly asked “What date is it?”

  “In the revolutionary or Gregorian calendar? responded Linette

  “The one we use in England” He had never heard of the Gregorian calendar

  “The 28th February 1798” laughed Linette

  “It’s my birthday!” said Marty “I’m seventeen today”

  “Congratulations Mon Chere” Linette said and kissed him on the cheek.

  Just then a man in a grey suit walked up to them.

  “Why are you concerned with the date in England?” he asked

  Marty realised he had made a mistake. The man was obviously secret police and must have overheard what he had said. He was the last person they wanted paying attention to them.

  Linette stepped forward and asked who he was and what business was it of his. Marty looked around, there wasn’t anybody else in sight.

  “Citizen Caron, Security Police” he replied “Now would you be so kind as to answer my question”

  “We are inspectors for the Ministries of War and Supply” Linette explained “We need to keep abreast of the dates in England as our schedule is linked to what the Roast Beefs are doing”

  “I don’t think so” Citizen Caron replied “I clearly heard your friend say ‘The one we use in England’. I think you will accompany me to our headquarters for further questioning and for us to verify your identity”

  That was enough for Marty. With a final scan of the surroundings he moved out from behind Linette and his hand flashed out and back. Caron looked at him with a look of surprise and said

  “What did you just do?”

  Then he sighed and slid to the ground quite dead.

  Linette looked down at him and at the tiny patch of blood on his jacket that lined up with the gap between his fourth and fifth ribs. “Very professional” she said. “Now what do we do with him?”