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- Herausgeber: Next Chapter
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
Belgium, 1940, during the German invasion. Camille Bonnet accepts an impossible challenge: steal the most valuable industrial diamonds in the world from an Antwerp bank before the Germans get them.
Needed for advanced technology the Allied war effort demands, the diamonds are secured in an impregnable basement vault. As Germans swarm the city, Camille sneaks into Antwerp, breaches the vault, and steals the diamonds. Her escape launches the most intense hunt in military history, almost certain to fail.
Chased by allies, enemies, crooks, and con artists, she confronts a complex cast of characters: a Gestapo major who hates people but loves animals, a drunken doctor who lost his wife and daughter in an accident, a Parisian housewife linked to the upper echelons of the Nazi Party, and an American double agent.
Her mission is to deliver the diamonds to Paris before the Germans capture France... and untangle friend from foe while doing so.
A historical thriller with non-stop action, John Anthony Miller's 'All That Glitters' is a story of love, honor, intrigue, and betrayal.
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ALL THAT GLITTERS
JOHN ANTHONY MILLER
CONTENTS
Acknowledgment
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Epilogue
About the Author
Also By John Anthony Miller
Copyright (C) 2023 John Anthony Miller
Layout design and Copyright (C) 2023 by Next Chapter
Published 2023 by Next Chapter
Edited by Graham (Fading Street Services)
Cover art by Lordan June Pinote
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the author’s permission.
For Steffany, Danielle, and Christopher
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Special thanks to the staff at Next Chapter
CHAPTER1
PARIS, FRANCE - MAY, 1940
The Germans advanced quickly—faster than the world expected. First, they came through Holland and Belgium, luring Allied armies north from France. A second assault followed, south of the front, piercing defenses. The Germans raced for the sea, trapping the Allies between their armies, forcing a massive evacuation to England. The politicians who managed the masses, those who governed mankind, knew a different war now had to be fought. A battle birthed in secrets, deeds done in darkened alleys, risks taken that few could fathom, and most would never know existed.
Jacques Dufort parted the curtain at the front window of his Parisian apartment. A cobblestone street lay beyond, snaking out to the boulevard. Barely thirty, he had black hair and blue eyes that hid what lay behind them. He glanced at his watch, frowning. A black Renault then came down the street, stopping in front of his apartment.
A woman climbed out—not what he expected. Slender with brown eyes, blonde hair streaked with darker strands, she seemed too young, too feminine, to have mastered the skills he needed. She spoke to the driver, gestured that he wait, and crossed the pavement. A slight mist marred the city, an early rain bathing buildings in a crystal sheen. When she reached the door of the limestone townhouse, she tapped lightly with the brass knocker.
Emilie Dufort came from the parlor into the foyer. Slight, with waves of black hair difficult to tame, she had dark eyes and olive skin. Striking and unforgettable, she was better suited for films than the wife of a government official. She seemed surprised to find her husband at the window, ignoring the knock on the door.
“Shall I get that?” she asked with a curious glance.
Jacques looked away and shook his head. “No, it’s for me,” he said. “We’ll be in my study. Please don’t disturb us.”
Emilie nodded and turned to leave. She wasn’t to meet the visitor. Whoever came to call was part of the secret world her husband lived in—not accessible to her.
Jacques waited while the faint click of her heels grew dimmer. He opened the door. “May I help you?” he asked. He eyed the woman before him, a few faint freckles dotting her face.
“All that glitters is not gold,” she said, mouthing a prearranged passcode.
He leaned from the doorway to glance up and down the street. “Are you Shakespeare?”
She smiled. “Camille.”
“Come in,” he said. “I’m Jacques Dufort. We’ll use my study.”
He led her into the foyer and then to the left. Open French doors spilled into a room lined with bookcases, a walnut desk in front of a twelve-paned window that faced a narrow alley, the curtains open.
“Please,” Jacques offered, motioning to a leather chair.
Camille sat in front of the desk. Her gaze wandered the room.
He looked at her curiously, wondering what captured her attention. “You’re admiring my study?”
“It’s charming.”
He smiled faintly. “Something interests you. What is it?”
“Many things,” she said, her gaze now fixed on his. “The window, and the lock on top of the lower sash. The brass paperweight on your desk, a daunting weapon if needed. The umbrella stand in the foyer, holding two canes, one with a brass handle that could do much damage if swung at a foe. And I hear someone moving about—a wife or girlfriend. Maybe a child?” She paused, smiling politely. “It’s important for me to know this. Should our meeting not go as planned.”
Jacques’s eyes widened and, for an instant, he felt a flicker of fear. He had misjudged her. “I’m impressed,” he said softly.
Her expression remained unchanged. “No need. But don’t underestimate me.”
Jacques nodded respectfully. “I’m told you were recruited by French intelligence while a student at the Sorbonne. Stationed in Tournai before returning to Paris.”
She nodded. “Two years in Tournai. I came back six months ago.”
“Do you speak languages other than French?” he asked, already knowing the answer.
“Yes, two more.”
He still had a nagging doubt. “Trained by Nicolas Chastain, a legend in French intelligence,” he said in English.
“I’ve been fortunate,” she replied in the same tongue.
“Your English is flawless.”
“Mein Deutsch auch,” Camille countered. “My German, also.”
He no longer wondered if she was too young or too fragile. “You’re being sent to Belgium.”
“My driver is waiting. I’ll catch the first train.”
“It’ll be difficult, given the German advance,” he said, glancing at his watch. “You don’t have much time.”
“No, I don’t.”
Jacques sat back in his chair. “Shall we begin?”
“Yes, of course.”
He opened cabinet doors at the base of the bookshelf behind him. He withdrew a sturdy suitcase, carried it around the desk, and set it beside her. “Your radio. It weighs twelve kilograms. I’ll show you how to use it.”
She opened the lid and looked inside. “I know how to use it.”
He was surprised by her confidence. “Make sure you’re in a high location—an attic or church steeple.”
She nodded. “Where’s the crystal?”
He opened his hand, revealing a black device with short prongs on one end. “Start every message with all that glitters. That’s the code.”
She closed the radio and put the crystal in her skirt pocket. “Updates as needed?”
“As soon as possible after the mission. You’ll then receive further instructions.”
“I understand,” she said, waiting for more.
He turned to the cabinet and withdrew a cloth bag. “Have you ever been to Antwerp?” he asked as he laid it on the desk.
“I have,” she said, eyeing the satchel.
“Antwerp is the diamond capital of the world, as I’m sure you’re aware. Most think of rings or necklaces when they think of diamonds.”
“Industrial diamonds,” she said quietly.
He nodded. “Yes, industrial diamonds.”
“The passcode,” she said. “All that glitters is not gold. It’s about diamonds.”
“It is,” he admitted. “The war hinges on industrial diamonds, especially those needed for advanced technologies like radar.”
“Why haven’t the diamonds been removed—taken to London or Paris?”
“Most have,” he replied. “But we have a problem.”
“A problem I am expected to solve.”
He pursed his lips. “The best industrial diamonds in the world remain in ten safety deposit boxes at a trading house in Antwerp—Sternberg and Sons.”
“Why are they still there?” she asked. “Especially if they’re the best.”
“Sternberg refuses to release them. We suspect he keeps them as insurance, to pay off the Nazis to protect his family should Antwerp be captured.”
“Why be concerned with a small amount?” she asked. “If the rest has been removed.”
“Sternberg’s diamonds are superior, the best for radar technology. We can’t let them fall into enemy hands.”
“The Germans are almost there—not far from the city’s outskirts.”
“You need to get there first,” he said, moving the satchel closer. “Two hand drills, with industrial diamond tips, to access the deposit boxes. Written instructions for entry by a back door, through a garden. Hidden on a wall behind a shrub, as the drawing shows, is an electric box. Wire number eight powers the alarm. A key to the door will be left on top of the box. A map of the building is enclosed, with instructions on how to get into the vault and different escape routes. Two items are missing.”
She took the satchel and glanced through it. “The combination to the vault.”
He nodded. “And the key to a secondary gate.”
“How many diamonds do the boxes hold?”
He removed a canvass satchel from the cabinet, larger and sturdier than the first. “The diamonds will fit in this bag.”
She moved the satchel closer. “Do I work alone?”
He handed her a paper with an address on it. “Your London contact is a man named Roger. Meet him tomorrow at ten p.m. He’ll help you get the diamonds. Then take him to the docks—he has the address. He’ll board a fishing trawler to London.”
She paused, as if considering contingencies. “What if we can’t get to the docks?”
He leaned forward. “Roger has to get to London. Only he knows where to take the diamonds.”
“And if he can’t get to London?” she asked, persisting.
Jacques frowned. “Bring the diamonds here—back to me.”
“But only if all else fails.”
He eyed her sternly. “You won’t fail. Regardless of threats. The Germans cannot, under any circumstances, gain possession of these diamonds. Do I make myself clear?”
CHAPTER2
Emilie Dufort was born in a small village near the Rhine River. She had come to Paris several years before to work in her uncle’s store, All Things Napoleon. Specializing in military memorabilia: busts, books, sabers, guns, maps, clothing—it housed a huge collection devoted to the Napoleonic Wars. Located in the fifth arrondissement near the Sorbonne, her clientele included intellects from the university, collectors from all over Europe, and those who loved French history. Emilie had worked hard, saved her money and when her uncle passed, she inherited his shop. But she was much more than the owner of an antique store.
She had met Jacques Dufort through a planned introduction eighteen months before. He was a government official who supposedly worked in the transportation department although his role was never discussed. Even though she pretended she didn’t, she knew exactly what he did. But she had learned early in their relationship not to ask questions, so she didn’t. Married less than a year, not much escaped her, even though it seemed as if it did.
Jacques occasionally met acquaintances in his study. Most came at night, speaking in hushed whispers she could never hear. His most frequent contact was a man named Guy Barbier, who Emilie never liked. She once interrupted their meeting and Barbier rudely asked her to leave. They had shared nothing but looks of disdain ever since. But Emilie suspected this meeting was different. Jacques had never met anyone so early in the morning, while he waited impatiently at the door for them to arrive. It must be critical. From the kitchen, she could faintly hear them, able to decipher a word or two.
Emilie glanced at the clock. She had to leave. It was almost time to open her store, and she wanted to first stop at the café around the corner. She would use the back door, so she didn’t disturb Jacques and his mysterious guest. But she wanted the newspaper, which she had left in the parlor. As quietly as she could, she went to an Art Nouveau table by the sofa, the newspaper upon it. As she grabbed it and turned to go, she heard Jacques mention industrial diamonds and radar. She paused to listen.
She could hear them clearly: Camille, Antwerp, Sternberg & Sons, diamonds, a man named Roger, two satchels, London, the radio. It was her first detailed hint of her husband’s clandestine operations. She shouldn’t eavesdrop; it was too easy for her husband to catch her. But she couldn’t resist. It was too important—something she needed to hear.
“Bring the diamonds to me as a last resort,” Jacques said, his voice louder. He was coming closer.
“I understand,” Camille replied. “But now I must go if I hope to catch the train.”
“It might be the last one,” Jacques said, “given how quickly the Germans advance.”
Emilie leaned against the wall so she wouldn’t be seen. The front door opened.
“I can’t stress how important this is,” Jacques said. “Or how dangerous.”
Emilie hurried out the back door. She went through the alley to the intersection, eyeing dark clouds that had broken to show the sun. As she reached the corner, the black Renault that carried Camille turned onto the boulevard. Emilie looked away.
She went to a cafe on the Boulevard Saint-Germain and sat at her favorite outdoor table, close to a window box so she could smell the flowers. Military trucks drove by, and an occasional motorcycle, hurrying to reach their destination, as if the Germans would get there first. Pedestrians passed on the pavement, people living their lives as they knew they must. The café was crowded, tiny tables with patrons around them, many with newspapers. Sandbags hid nearby buildings, covering windows that would crack and shatter should bombs arrive.
Emilie sipped her coffee, scanning the Paris-Soir. Headlines screamed German victories: Holland conquered, Belgium falling, the enemy on Antwerp’s doorstep. She thought of Camille, the woman who had met with her husband, and the limited time she had to get the diamonds—if she even reached Antwerp. Emilie was immersed in the article when interrupted.
“May I join you?” a man asked.
She looked up, shading her eyes with her hand. He stood by her table holding a cup of coffee, average height with brown hair and eyes, attractive and anxious, early forties at most. His suit was hand-tailored, his shirt silk. He seemed better off than most. Maybe not wealthy, but comfortable.
“I prefer to sit alone,” she said. She looked away, wondering why he was there. Was it planned, or was he only interested in an attractive woman sitting alone?
“As do most,” he replied. “I do offer my apologies. But we have something to discuss.”
Emilie eyed him curiously—bold, but polite, a stranger wanting more. His accent wasn’t quite right—French wasn’t his primary language. English, maybe, but she couldn’t say for sure.
“Holland falls, Belgium falters,” he continued, pointing to her paper. “What does it mean for France?”
“I wonder the same,” she said, glancing at the article.
He sat, uninvited but not caring. “Louie Bassett,” he offered.
The corners of her lips curled in a smile. “You are persistent, M. Bassett.”
“I have to be,” he said. “My work demands it.”
“It does?” she asked, not introducing herself. “What is your work, M. Bassett?”
He hesitated. “I’m in the information business.”
She looked at him strangely. “A vague description.”
“Yes, I suppose it is,” he said. He leaned closer. “Intentionally, I might add.”
Emilie smiled. She was beginning to like him, her unwanted visitor. “What can I do for you, M. Louie Bassett, who is in the information business and has come to my table uninvited? I suspect this isn’t a chance meeting. Or do you often join women you don’t know for coffee?”
He shifted in his seat. “No, not normally. Only women I’ve been instructed to contact.”
With his simple reply, she knew his purpose. She feigned ignorance, casting a curious glance.
He leaned forward, as if sharing a secret. “But I’m sure you knew I would come. Or someone like me.”
She tensed, her suspicions confirmed. Afraid of a trap, a clumsy attempt to convince her to cooperate before she was ready, she tried to disengage. “I thought I was special,” she teased. “And that you found a woman you couldn’t forget. Is that not the reason you are here, M. Louie Bassett?”
He smiled, nodding politely. “Yes, I suppose it is. You are special. But for reasons not obvious to most.”
Emilie glanced at those around her, their thoughts consumed with a war coming closer. She turned to Louie. “Tell me what you want, M. Bassett.”
“I have a message from your family.”
She hesitated. “What might that message be?”
“It’s time to play your part,” he said softly.
She knew what he meant but pretended she didn’t. “If my family wanted to send me a message, they would call me.”
“Except the telephone lines are down from the fighting.”
She knew he was right but didn’t comment. “It’s a strange message, delivered by a man I do not know.”
“It’s quite clear to me,” Louie said. He averted her gaze to look at the tables closest, making sure no one could hear.
Emilie eyed him cautiously, unable to confirm what he claimed. “I have no information, M. Bassett, if that’s what you want. Even if I did, I wouldn’t share it.”
He sat back in the chair, his gaze fixed on hers. “This can be easy, Mme. Dufort,” he said, his smile fading. “Or it can be difficult.”
Her eyes widened. She wasn’t surprised he knew her name, only that he was so direct. “I don’t like your tone.”
“I know you don’t,” he continued. “I can’t afford to be nice, to exchange pleasantries, to gradually get to know you. I don’t have time. And quite frankly, neither do you.”
Emilie folded her newspaper and prepared to depart. “Our conversation has ended.”
He put his hand on her forearm. “It’s important to stay a moment longer, Mme. Dufort.”
“I prefer not to.”
“You’re in Paris for a reason. Just as I am.”
She glared at his hand on her forearm. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
His face firmed. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. No one in Paris knows who Emilie Dufort really is. No one except for me.”
“Maybe no one cares,” she said, standing to go.
“The time has come,” Louie Bassett said, also standing. “As you knew it would.”
She paused, eyeing him coldly. “I decide when the time has come, M. Bassett. Not you.”
CHAPTER3
ANTWERP, BELGIUM
The River Scheldt turned and twisted from northern France, through Belgium, to the North Sea. Eighty kilometers from the river’s mouth, Antwerp straddled its banks, one of Europe’s greatest ports and the diamond capital of the world. Over eighty percent of the world’s diamonds came through Antwerp, and the merchants who traded them had done so for centuries.
Camille sat in a stolen 1936 Minerva, the green fender dented and scraped, a taillight missing. Parked a few blocks from the port, near warehouses and wharfs damaged by Nazi air raids—bricks, stone, shattered glass, and timber blocked some of the roads. A wisp of smoke spiraled skyward; an occasional explosion rocked the ground. It had been difficult getting to Antwerp, the Germans arriving just as she did.
She waited in darkness until just after ten p.m. A man approached, dressed in black, pausing to study the deserted street. Once satisfied it was safe, he approached the car, and opened the passenger door.
“All that glitters is not gold,” he said in stilted English, poking his head in the car.
“Get in,” she said, confused by the accent. She had expected an Englishman. Even though he pretended he was, he wasn’t. “I’m Camille.”
“Roger,” he said. “We haven’t much time. Just over an hour. I have to get into the vault.”
“That’s why I’m here,” she said as they drove away.
“The Germans are close.”
She left the river, clogged with wharfs and warehouses, and entered a residential neighborhood. She passed empty rowhomes, a few destroyed by errant bombs meant for the port. Debris clogged some streets, but destruction waned the farther they got from the river. Air raids had ebbed, the city soon to fall.
“Most of the Belgian army left,” Roger said.
“They had no choice. The British and French have already gone.”
Camille drove down cobblestone streets to the diamond district. A few residents still fled, hurrying down boulevards, but most who wanted to leave had already gone. She passed her destination, Sternberg & Sons, rounded the corner, drove another block, and parked beside a tree, the limbs sprawling over the road.
As they exited the car, she handed him an empty satchel. “For the diamonds,” she said. She carried the cloth sack.
“What’s in your bag?” he asked,
“A map of the building and tools to breach the deposit boxes.”
She led him to the rear of Sternberg & Sons. It sat in a row of similar buildings, two or three stories high, scalloped rooflines and narrow six-pane windows. They entered a garden wrapped by buildings, a kaleidoscope of colors and scents, an oasis in a sea of stone. A winding walk led to the doorway, and she knelt when she reached it, a shrub next to the building. A metal box, hidden by branches, was attached to the wall. A key sat on the top. She grabbed it, put it in her pocket, and took wire cutters from her bag. She cut the lock on the box, and opened it. Finding wire number eight, she snipped it.
“The door alarm,” she said simply. She fished the entry key from her pocket and opened the door. “If we get separated, find your way back to the car.”
Roger glanced at his watch. “We have to hurry.”
The Germans came closer, farther down the street, shouting. “They want what we want,” she said. “The best industrial diamonds in the world.”
“How were they missed?” he asked as they hurried through the building.
“The owner thought they would save his soul. But no souls are saved from the Germans.”
She took the sketch from her bag and led him to a set of stairs. They descended one floor, the rattling of gunfire coming from nearby streets.
He looked at her nervously. “They fight just outside the door.”
Camille took him down a second flight of steps. She studied the sketch, wondering who had drawn it, and pointed in the opposite direction. “Those stairs lead to the main lobby, the bank entrance.”
“An escape path if we need it.”
They hurried down the hallway and reached the vault, defined by a steel door with a combination lock.
Roger looked at her skeptically. “It seems impregnable.”
She smiled faintly and put her satchel on the floor. She stood in front of the lock, listening, her fingers caressing the dial, eyes closed.
Gunfire erupted above them, closer than before, mixed with shouts in Flemish and German.
“We have to—”
“Hush!”
She turned the face of the dial, right, left, right, her delicate fingers feeling the tumblers. After a moment, and a failure or two, an audible click disturbed the silence. She turned the four-pronged handle and yanked the heavy door open.
“You did it!” he said.
“There’s more.” The opened vault exposed the next barrier, a flat steel door,
He pointed to the lock. “We don’t have the key.”
Camille referred to the sketch. She darted across the hallway and opened a narrow door, a utility closet filled with mops and brooms. Feeling inside the door frame, she found a strange key on a hook, twenty centimeters long with a triangular head. She took it to the vault, inserted it, and opened the steel door.
“How did you know where the key was hidden?” he asked.
“Another lock,” she said, pointing to the vault.
A mesh gate blocked their path. She took a narrow wire from the bag, bending the end.
Shouts came from the street, close to the entrance. Gunfire followed, bullets spraying brick and cobblestone.
“Hurry,” he hissed.
She inserted the wire into the lock, twisting and turning. Twenty seconds later, she frowned and withdrew it.
“They’re almost here!” he said.
Camille bent the end of the wire and inserted it again, twisting left and then right. The tumbler clicked and she opened the gate,
“We’re in!” he exclaimed but stopped abruptly.
“Over a hundred deposit boxes,” she said. “We want sixty through sixty-nine.”
Roger eyed her anxiously. “They’ll be difficult to breach.”
She took two drills with hand cranks from her satchel. She handed him one and touched the lock. “Drill here.”
“But this will take hours,” he said. “I have to hurry.”
Camille pointed at the bit. “Industrial diamond. It’ll take less than a minute.”
They started drilling, moving from one box to the next, the drawers filled with small diamonds. As they breached the last two boxes, a crash erupted from the upstairs foyer.
“Germans!” he said. “They broke into the building.”
“Hurry, we’ve only two more.”
They finished drilling and flung open the lids. Roger dumped the diamonds into the satchel as she tossed the drills in her bag.
“Come on,” she said, running from the vault. “Let’s go.”
Footsteps thundered down the stairs, coming toward them.
“We have to hide,” he hissed.
She looked at the shadows quickly approaching. “In the closet,” she said. “Hurry.”
CHAPTER4
Camille and Roger hid in the closet, barely breathing. Boot heels clicked on tiled floors, soldiers inspecting the vault. They summoned an officer, his voice loud but his words not clear enough to understand.
After they finished in the vault, the Germans left. They passed the utility closet and climbed the stairs, their footsteps fainter until they couldn’t be heard at all.
“I have to get out,” Roger hissed. “The boat won’t wait.”
“Where am I taking you?”
He withdrew a business card from his pocket, checking an address scribbled on the back. “Godefriduskaai 99, Pier #3.”
Camille cracked open the door. The hallway was empty. She stepped out, no Germans nearby. “Come on!” she hissed, tugging on Roger’s sleeve.
They ran toward the back stairwell. After only a dozen steps, heavy boots came down the front stairs.
Roger stopped, hesitant to continue.
“We can make it,” Camille assured him, fearing he might surrender.
He followed her into the far stairwell, closing the door behind them. They quietly ran up two flights of stairs, and exited near the garden door.
“We’ll leave the same way we came in,” she whispered.
As they approached the exit, shadows appeared on the hallway wall, coming closer.
“We’re trapped,” he hissed.
She glanced at the sketch. “This way,” she whispered, pulling him in the opposite direction.
“Where are we going?”
“Second floor.”
They retraced their steps and returned to the stairway. She eased the door open and urged him in.
“Halt!” a German called, rounding the corner as they closed the door.
Roger tugged on Camille’s elbow. “We’ll never make it!”
“Yes, we will,” she said, urging him up the stairs. “Come on. Hurry.”
They left the stairwell and ran to the end of the corridor.
“Where are we going?” he asked, gasping.
“In here,” she said, opening a door.
The Germans ran from the stairway, heavy boots pounding the hallway floor. “Halt!” a soldier commanded.
Camille locked the door, slid a narrow table in front of it, and scanned the room. The office was small, a desk by the window, paintings on the walls—street scenes of Antwerp—a bookshelf behind the desk.
Hurry,” she said. “To the window.”
Roger hesitated, staring at the door. “They’re right behind us!”
“We’ll make it,” she insisted, racing across the room. She opened the vertical windows, exposing a slender alley, an adjacent building a few feet away.
Roger looked at the ground two floors below. “What are you doing? We can’t jump from here!”
“Open the door!” the Germans shouted, trying the knob.
“You go,” Camille urged. “You’re more important. Slide down the drainpipe.”
He looked at her, eyes wide. “I can’t,” he said. “They’ll kill you.”
“Go!” she said. “Hurry!”
He started to climb out the window. Gunfire erupted, bullets destroying the lock and splintering the wood around it. A pattern of holes formed on the door, bullets burrowing into the wall across the room.
Camille dove behind the desk. She crouched low until the firing stopped. When she peeked out, Germans pushed the door, the table blocking them. She scrambled to her feet.
Roger lay on the floor, bloody holes across his chest. His eyes were open, staring at the ceiling.
The Germans barged through the door, tripping over the table.
Camille yanked the satchel from Roger’s shoulder and climbed out the window. Bullets sprayed the jamb and molding, shattering the windows. Broken glass fell to the floor. She grasped the copper drainpipe that ran down the outside wall, put her feet against the brick, and shimmied to the ground. Staying close to the building, she darted down the alley.
A soldier appeared in the window, frantically searching below. He fired when he saw her, spraying bullets that ricocheted off the wall. Camille rounded the corner, slivers of stone flying past her. She sprinted down the street, more Germans at the corner of the main road.
“Halt,” a soldier called, running toward her.
Camille kept going, staying in shadows, hiding behind trees and parked cars. She made her way to the Minerva, climbed in, and started the engine. The soldier chasing her fired, spraying bullets into the back of the vehicle. A bullet hit the dashboard, centimeters from her. She sped away, racing past an older couple watching from their stoop.
She turned left at the first intersection, drove two blocks, and made another left, speeding toward the river. She avoided debris and approached the docks, fires raging around her. When she reached Godefriduskaai 99, Pier #3, a fishing boat waited. She would use it to escape, taking Roger’s place. But just as she was about to stop, German soldiers walked down the wharf. She drove to the next dock, where two men stood near a tugboat. She pulled over and rolled down the window.
“How do I get out of Antwerp?” she asked.
An older man with a grizzled beard leaned toward the window. “The Nazis hold the port. Nothing can get in or out.”
His younger companion came closer. “Antwerp is almost surrounded.”
“I have to get out,” she said. “Should I go west?”
“The army went west, but the Germans followed.”
“Go southwest,” the companion suggested. “There’s a sliver of the city open. Follow the west bank of the river and you’ll stay ahead of the fighting.”
“But hurry,” the older man said. “You don’t have much time.”
“Thanks,” she called as she drove away. She sped down winding streets away from the port, heading southwest. She had to get out of the city. The port was closed. She couldn’t get to London.
She had to take the diamonds to Jacques Dufort in Paris.
CHAPTER5
Major Josef Ziegler was tall and gaunt with dark eyes that saw what others often did not see. In his late forties, his hair was black with strands of grey, lines of life etching his face. His uniform was black, a red band with a Swastika around his left bicep. A member of the Gestapo, the German secret police, he had a unique assignment. A cache of high-quality industrial diamonds, the best in the world, were kept in the vault at Sternberg & Sons. Major Josef Ziegler was tasked with taking them. But he now had a problem.
Four German soldiers waited in the second-floor office when he entered. Bullet holes riddled the walls, barely missing landscapes hanging beside the window. He turned to his aide, Sergeant Ernst Bayer, a man who had served him in Austria and Poland—a man he trusted. “How do you access a bank overrun by the enemy, steal diamonds, and escape?”
Bayer shrugged. “It was well-planned, sir.”
A soldier pointed to the floor. “The body was found just under the window, sir.”
Ziegler crossed the room. He studied the bloodstained carpet and then looked out the shattered windows, eyeing the alley below. He turned to Bayer. “Do we know who he was?”
A soldier stepped forward. “No identification, sir.”
“Did anyone see his accomplice?” Ziegler asked.
“It was a woman, sir. Young, with blonde hair.”
Ziegler paused. “A man would be easier to find. Most are in the army. Few are in Antwerp.”
“She may have fled the city, sir,” Bayer said. “During the chaos.”
“She didn’t escape through the port, sir,” another soldier said. “We captured it before the diamonds were stolen.”
Ziegler evaluated possibilities, finding no solutions. “How did they get in the vault?”
“They knew the combination, sir,” a soldier said.
Ziegler frowned. “Take me to the manager.”
They went downstairs to the lobby, a spacious room with green plaster walls and broad white crown molding. Victorian couches welcomed waiting customers, paintings hung from the walls. With only a glance, Ziegler knew they were works of the masters—not reproductions. He also knew they wouldn’t be there much longer. The Reich would take them.
They were met by an elderly man dressed in black, his long grey beard spilling onto his shirt. He had been waiting anxiously, knowing they wouldn’t be pleased. “Good morning, Major,” he said with frightened eyes. “I’m Jacob Sternberg, proprietor.”
“Show me the vault,” Ziegler directed.
“It’s this way, sir,” Sternberg said. He led them down two flights of stairs. “I had been holding the diamonds for your arrival. The British took the rest last week.”
Ziegler didn’t reply. He didn’t care why the Jew held the diamonds. He only cared that they were gone.
A hall at the foot of the steps led to the vault. The thick door was open, as was an inner door with the key still in the lock, and a mesh grate. The vault was square, the walls lined with deposit boxes of different sizes. Ten of the drawers were open, empty trays on the floor.
Ziegler stepped in the vault, eyeing the boxes. “Why are only a few opened?”
Sternberg cringed. “Just those containing the diamonds were disturbed.”
Ziegler surveyed the vault. “I’m told they were the finest industrial diamonds in the world.”
“Industrial diamonds are our specialty,” Sternberg explained. “They were the best of the best. That’s why I kept them. As a gift for the Germans when you arrived.”
Ziegler turned away. “Whoever stole them knew what they were doing.”
“It seems so, sir,” said Jacob Sternberg, his voice trembling.
“How did they get in the vault?”
“The first door was opened with the combination. They found the key to the second door, which was hanging in that utility closet,” Sternberg said, pointing. “And they picked the lock on the gate.”
Ziegler glared at Sternberg. “One of your employees must be the dead man’s accomplice.”
Sternberg shook his head. “No, sir. My employees would never do such a thing.”
“Who knows the combination?”
“Only myself and a few others. Most employees don’t have access.”
“Give me their names.”
Sternberg was hesitant to provide them—as if he knew he had nothing to trade for their safety.
Ziegler withdrew his pistol. He put the barrel against Sternberg’s left temple. “Tell me who they are.”
CHAPTER6
Camille eluded the German noose that tightened around Antwerp, threading a needle through the German advance and Allied retreat. She sped southwest, avoiding Brussels. Her first objective was Tournai, where she had once been stationed. She had contacts there who could help her escape. If she got there before the Germans. But she had to get out of Belgium and into France, ahead of the advancing German army.
The bullets that sprayed her car had done some damage. Most pierced the trunk, burrowing into the back of the automobile. But one had hit the dashboard, passing through to the engine compartment, barely missing her. She eyed the petrol gauge—not enough to reach France. She would have to leave the highway, find a vehicle, and siphon petrol.
An hour from Tournai the engine began making a whirring noise. She wasn’t sure what caused it, but suspected a German bullet did more damage than she had thought. When she saw a village with no sign of Allied or German soldiers, she left the highway and drove toward it. A church sat on the outskirts, the steeple staring at heaven.
Camille rode down a residential street, the houses undamaged, some people outside. The battle hadn’t found them yet. But it would. She parked beside the church and waited. No vehicles were near, none from which she could siphon petrol, just a truck parked beside a house across the street. She got out of the car, opened the hood, and searched for whatever caused the strange noises. No damage was obvious.
She glanced at the houses, ensuring no one watched her. A man and woman a few doors down were loading crates onto a wagon, ready to flee. She studied them for a moment—she wanted to make sure it was safe to leave her car—and then opened the back door of her Minerva. The radio was stashed behind the driver’s seat. The diamonds and bag with the drills lay beside it, a cloth bag with some clothes and personal belongings on top of them. She removed the radio, locked the door, made one last check to ensure no one was near, and approached the church.
The walkway was rimmed with flowers, splashing color onto an ordinary landscape. Farm fields stretched past the church, deserted, the wind kicking the dirt to dust. She hurried down the pavement, watching for any observers, and climbed stone steps. Arched doors marked the entrance, and she opened one to peek inside. The church seemed empty, she couldn’t see anyone, but noises came from a room beside the altar—someone moving about. The stairs to the steeple were to her right. She quietly made her way toward them and started up the steps.
The stairs ended in a square room, open arches on each side, an iron bell centered in the open space. She unpacked her radio and laid the antenna wire against a windowsill. She inserted the crystal, ensured no one was coming up the stairs, and started to transmit. To ensure it was received, she sent the message twice, pausing in between. She watched the east, clouds of dust visible on the horizon.
She waited. As the dust clouds grew larger, she sent the message a third time. A few seconds later, a reply came, requesting more information. She hesitated, watching the billowing dust—the retreating Allies or advancing Germans, she wasn’t sure. Just as she was about to transmit a reply, she saw German motorcycles at the front of the dust cloud. She had no time to waste. She packed her radio and started down the stairs.
“What are you doing?” a male voice called from the altar.
She ran to the door. The pastor was coming down the aisle, an older man, tall and straight with gray hair. She ignored him.
“Stop!” he called.
She kept her head down so he couldn’t see her face. As she flung open the door and sprinted out, he started running after her.
“What are you doing?” he called.
Camille dashed toward the car. The pastor exited the church and paused, looking in different directions, trying to find her. She tossed the radio on the seat and started the engine. The whirring noise was more pronounced.
“Stop!” he called, racing toward her.
She pulled away and turned at the first crossroad. The pastor kept coming, but slowed, watching her suspiciously, too far away to stop her. She turned again and went back on the highway to Tournai. A glance in the rearview mirror showed no one following, the dust cloud approaching on the horizon.
Camille drove as fast as she dared, the engine noise getting worse. When she was a half dozen kilometers from Tournai, the engine coughed and sputtered, the car slowed, and the engine died by a bridge that spanned a stream. She scanned the landscape, finding nothing but farm fields, a stone cottage not far away.
She had to hide the diamonds.
CHAPTER7
Jacques Dufort paced the floor of his Parisian study. He had just received Camille’s update from a member in his network. She had faced a difficult task, the Germans arriving in Antwerp on the same day that she did. Odds had been against her. But if anyone could do it, she could. But then her message came. He read it again.
ALL THAT GLITTERS. PACKAGE REMOVED. DID NOT REACH DESTINATION.
It was a cryptic message he had to decipher. It started with the prearranged passcode, so it was authentic. The diamonds had been removed from the Antwerp vault. But then something went drastically wrong. They either never got to the dock or, when they did, they couldn’t get to London. Or worse, the diamonds had been taken from them, maybe by the Germans, but they had escaped. The message could have different meanings. A clarification had been requested; no reply had been received. Camille must have been rushed, facing capture or worse, and couldn’t continue transmitting.
He tried to imagine what thwarted success. Was it the Germans? A problem with the boat? An unexpected intrusion? He didn’t know. He focused on what he did know, dissecting the message word by word. The diamonds had been stolen from the exchange—that was clear. Camille was safe—she had sent the message. But Roger hadn’t reached the port. Or if he did, he couldn’t get out of Antwerp. Jacques assumed Roger was with Camille. Maybe they were still in Antwerp. Or maybe they weren’t.
He had to develop contingencies, offer help when she sent her next message. If she couldn’t get to London, and her chances diminished with each day that passed, she would have to bring the diamonds to Paris. But with the Germans advancing across northern France, racing for the coast, she had little hope for success. She was likely trapped somewhere in Belgium. His thoughts were interrupted when Emilie came in with two glasses of merlot.
“I brought some wine,” she said, handing him a glass. “You seem so focused—the wrinkles in your brow tell a tale I may not want to hear. I thought a distraction would help.”
He smiled weakly. “Even wine won’t ease the pain.”
Her eyes widened. “What happened?”
He wouldn’t share what she didn’t need to know. It wasn’t fair to her. He focused on the war. “Holland fell, Belgium follows. Antwerp and Brussels surrendered; Tournai is next.”
She eyed him curiously. “Maybe there’s a diplomatic solution, an armistice.”
“I doubt it,” he muttered. “Hitler steals Europe one country at a time. Why would he not take France?”
She eyed him uneasily. “Should we leave Paris?” she asked. “Some flee south. Maddie, the woman next door, has already gone.”
“You have the store to manage,” he reminded her. “Your life will continue as it is, despite who controls the country.”
“But why would we stay if Paris is threatened?”
He leaned back in the chair. “I must remain, even if the Germans come. My duties demand it.”
She hesitated. “I don’t know why you would. Especially if you’re in danger.”
He laughed lightly. “I’m in danger every day.”
Her face firmed. She wasn’t amused. “You say you’re in danger, but I don’t know why.”
“I misspoke,” he said, not wanting to scare her. “No one in the transportation department is at risk.”
She frowned. “Is it time, perhaps, to end this charade?”
His eyes widened, not sure of how much she knew. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“You won’t tell me what it is that you do. But I doubt it has much to do with transportation.”
“Why would you say that?”
She fixed her gaze on his. “You were in the military before I met you. And sometimes I think that you still are.”
“Would it make a difference if I was?”
“I know it shouldn’t concern me. But it does. I’m worried about you.”
He sipped his wine. She deserved an explanation—she was his wife. But he couldn’t reveal too much—for many reasons. “I am assigned to the transportation department, but I do very little work there, and only in regard to railroads. But I pretend to do much more.”
She eyed him curiously. “You have an office in the transportation building.”
“Yes, I do,” he said. “And sometimes I perform a needed function.” He paused, watching her expression. “But you’re right. I actually work for the military.”
She hesitated, her face marred by a hint of betrayal. “What do you do for the military, other than your duties with railroads.”
He didn’t want to reveal details. She couldn’t be trusted with them—nobody could. “I collect information; sometimes I do more. Nothing dangerous.”
“But you just said you’re in danger every day.”
“Haven’t you been suspicious of what I do?” he asked, ignoring her question.
She shrugged. “I find the meetings in your study curious. If they were visits with friends, you wouldn’t be so secretive. Maybe I haven’t wanted to admit that something wasn’t right. But you never offered any clues, so I know nothing.”
“No matter what happens, I will continue to play the part of a civil servant,” he said. “A role needed for a functioning government. But my primary responsibility is with the military.”
“Even if the Germans come?”
He shrugged. “A war isn’t always fought on the battlefield. A civil servant can win battles if he fights them correctly.”
She was quiet, perhaps not understanding. “I suspect the danger is more than we know. My customers talk. They say horrible things.”
“Citizens fuel fear with gossip and misinformation. But sometimes they know as much as the generals.”
She sighed. “Is the war lost?”
“The next week will show what the world will become. If the German advance is halted, the war will be much like the last.”
“And if it isn’t?”
“It will be a dark day for France.”
“Should we prepare for the worst?”
Jacques didn’t reply. His thoughts wandered to a mission that could change the course of the war. And if it failed, priceless diamonds would fall into the wrong hands. He didn’t have the luxury of running away. He had to find Camille.
And he had to do it quickly.
CHAPTER8
Three German soldiers stood in the vault of Sternberg and Sons, eyeing Major Ziegler as he held his pistol to Jacob Sternberg’s temple. Sternberg’s eyes were wide, his body trembled. Sweat dotted his forehead. He raised his hands, not sure what he was expected to do, and started to sob.
Sergeant Ernst Bayer didn’t want to watch. He had seen many terrified men, begging for their lives. He had no desire to see any more. Already sickened by a war that had just begun, he stepped farther into the vault, his back to the terrified Jacob Sternberg, and focused on the theft of the diamonds, avoiding the scene unfolding behind him.
He hadn’t spent his entire life in the military. A foot soldier during the First World War, he had survived four years in trenches shared with rats, lice, and men more dead than alive, gaunt shadows who barely functioned, their minds damaged, their souls destroyed. After the war, he tried to lead a normal life, hiding the horrors he had witnessed, teaching history in a secondary school—an occupation he truly enjoyed. But he was recalled two years prior, before any fighting began. He had an ability much needed in the military. He had mastered several languages—French, Polish, and Italian. Now in his mid-forties, he was short and stocky, his hair laced with gray. But he had been fortunate, assigned as Major Ziegler’s driver. It kept him from combat. He avoided the hell that most called war. He didn’t have to relive his nightmares, images he wanted to forget but could not.
He examined the pilfered deposit boxes closely, brushing his finger across the drilled-out lock. The mechanism had been smoothly bored, a perfect hole replacing it. The thief had gained access easily. He wondered what type of drill pierces steel like paper. How long did it take to steal the diamonds with such an effective tool? Only minutes, he suspected.
He had listened while Ziegler questioned Jacob Sternberg, and the merchant explained how the vault doors were opened, pointing to a closet where a key had been kept. Not wanting to watch Ziegler threaten the old man, Bayer left the vault, eyeing the hallways to different stairways. He walked the corridors, turning a corner to a rear stairwell behind a closed door. But after finding nothing unusual, he returned to the vault, crossing the hall to the closet Sternberg had referenced.
Ziegler’s demands and Sternberg’s pleas were fainter, which was good. Bayer didn’t want to listen. And he already knew the result—having witnessed the same scene before. He knew that a trembling, sobbing, groveling Jacob Sternberg would do anything to save his life and those of his family—no matter who he had to betray. Bayer didn’t want to see it, hear it, or even know it occurred. Even though it did. Threats were tools the conqueror used, and they were usually effective.
Bayer opened the closet door. Shelves lined the upper third of the back wall, holding cleaning supplies and rags. Mops and brooms hung from holders beneath the shelves. He didn’t see where the key was hung, as Sternberg had described. He stepped inside, examined the closet closely, and saw the hook beside the door jamb in the corner of the closet. He moved back into the hallway and was about to close the door when he saw something on the floor. He picked it up. It was a business card for a shop in Paris: All Things Napoleon, 69 Boulevard St-Germain, Paris, France. Emilie Dufort, Proprietor.
He turned the card over. Scribbled on the back was a name, Jacques Dufort, and an Antwerp address, Godefriduskaai 99, Pier #3.
CHAPTER9
FOUR KILOMETERS NORTHWEST OF TOURNAI, BELGIUM
Lucien Bouchard knew the Germans were coming by the dust that rose from the road. Two weeks before it was a country lane. Now it was crammed with people hurrying nowhere. Parents led bewildered children; the old hobbled on canes. Bicycles kept to the side of the road, suitcases strapped to handlebars. Men pushed wheelbarrows, home to toddlers or overflowing with belongings—although an elderly woman rested in one, frail and frightened. An occasional motor car inched forward, taking its occupants as far as petrol allowed, some with a mattress strapped to the top, a shield from shrapnel, a bed when needed. The swollen tide flowed forward, fleeing death and destruction, searching for safety that didn’t exist.
Tournai lay to the southeast, near the border with France. A commerce center since Roman times, sprinkled with Medieval cathedrals, much of it lay in ruins, pelted by German bombardments. Smoke spiraled from flickering flames, occasional explosions answered by gunfire. The fighting was ending. Allied soldiers scurried across farm fields.
