Chapter Twenty
February 4, Afternoon at the Cafe
As Drew and Angelique ate their lunch, they avoided the subject uppermost in their minds- meeting the informant. Instead, Drew talked about his family: his parents and younger brother and sister. “Dad is a crusty career officer. He must be, oh, 58 now. My mother is his second wife, his first wife died in childbirth, her and the baby both. It took him a while to recover from it. When he met my mother he thought he was too old for her. When he told her that, she looked him right in the eye and said ‘you are the right age for me.’” He and Angelique chuckled. “He was a lieutenant for 16 years and a captain for 14. Now he is a major and training troops back home.”
“Mom is the organizer, she’s had to be with so many moves in her lifetime. She keeps the home fires burning and all of us in line. Dad acts tough, but he would be lost without her.” Angelique could tell that he was deeply attached to his mother, and there was an ache in her heart and a lump in her throat thinking about her Mama and Papa.
“I am the oldest. David is three years younger and a lot like Dad, they bump heads a lot. It used to drive Mom nuts, but then she got so that she would tell them to go outside and fight it out and not come in until they were ready to be peaceable.” Drew shook his head in wonder, “That got their attention, neither of them wanted to upset her. Now that they aren’t living in the same house, they seem to get along better. Betty is the youngest and the apple of Dad’s eye.” He chuckled again, “You ought to hear the third degree Dad gives her young men when they come to call. That used to make her upset until Dad told her that he was waiting for the man that would look him in the eye and stand up to him. That would be the man that would be worthy of her. That caught her attention and the last letter I had from home sounds like she might have found one.”
The time flew past as they conversed, and they looked up in surprise at the nearly empty café when the waitress stopped at their table. “Well, it is so nice to see young people enjoy themselves again,” she heaved a big sigh. “Do you mind if I set down and rest my feet?” “Of course not,” they both answered and she pulled up a chair. “Nowadays young men and women have no time to sit and be romantic with each other. It is all rushing about and looking behind them in fear lest they get clapped on their shoulders and arrested.” She sighed and beamed at them. They moved uncomfortably in their chairs. “Oh, to be back in the old days, sitting on the Left Bank, sipping wine, and flirting with all the young men. How long has it been since you have been in France?”
“Two years,” Angelique answered. Drew-diplomatically-didn’t reply.
“I have been here in Tunisia for twenty years. My husband brought us here, and we opened this café. He named it after me, and we ran it together until he died two years ago. France’s surrender crushed him; he was never the same afterwards.” She sighed again, “Do you know what I miss the most about France?” she asked dreamily, and then went on without waiting for an answer. “The lilies. The lilies are beautiful by the Loire.”
Drew froze.
He gulped, and then answered, “I prefer the lilies of Garonne.”
She bent forward and Drew suddenly noticed the shrewd brown eyes boring into his, “Who is she?” indicating Angelique.
‘She is a long story, and the only way that I was able to get here. But,” Drew looked confused, “I thought that I was to meet a Monsieur Gascoigne?”
She chuckled, “It puts a lot of people off.” Then she grew serious. “You must get this information back to your general. General Arnim is going to attack near Sbeitla with the 10th and 21st Panzer Divisions within a few days.”
“How do you know?” gasped Drew.
The woman’s face grew cold, “My daughter’s lover is a German officer. Sometimes he is indiscreet.” At their looks of horror, she shrugged her shoulders. “One does what one is able,” she said obscurely.
Drew became all business, “The café is being watched from across the street, but I am not sure if the Germans are involved or not. Is there a back way out?”
The woman looked frightened, “If the Germans are watching the front, then they are watching the back also. What makes you think they are out there?”
Drew rapidly explained. “So,” she nodded, “you think they are searching for you so that you will lead them to the informant. If you try leaving by the back door, the Germans will certainly be on to you and it will cause suspicion to fall on me. But if you leave by the front door like any other customer, you may get away if this Abu can’t see your face. But how can that be done?”
They all three thought, and then Drew got an idea. “Maybe if I use this handkerchief to wipe my face as I walk out, until I can turn away, maybe that will work?”
The woman nodded, “Yes, that might work, and you can pretend to shade your face from the sun also.” Angelique sucked in her breath, remembering her conversation with the shopkeeper. On such a little thing like purchasing the handkerchief might decide whether or not they would escape. What had made her blurt out the request to purchase the handkerchief? Or who? She gave a shudder.
“No time like the present, let’s go,” and Drew stood up and pulled Angelique up too. “Thank you for the delicious meal, we shall certainly return,” he announced in a louder tone and paid the bill. They walked to the door and he pulled out the handkerchief. As they walked outside, he mopped his face and they turned and walked down the street.
Abu watched them leave, but could not see the man’s face. There was something about him, though. Abu kept watching him while he worried at it. Suddenly he got it, the man had a military bearing, his shoulders were straight and he walked like a soldier! “That’s him!” Abu shouted, “That’s Captain Matthews!” Instantly two of the Germans rushed to the window and spotted him, while the third got on the radio and called headquarters.
“We spotted the American,” the radio man reported. “He and a woman companion have left the café and are walking down the street. What are your instructions?”
“Has he made contact with the spy?” asked the man on the other end.
“We don’t know.”
Back at headquarters Major Lindisl had charged out of office when he heard the call and was listening. “What are your orders, Herr Major?” he was asked.
Lindisl thought for a second. He weighed in the balance the possibility of capturing the spy versus the certainty of regaining his lost money. “Raid the café with one man from the rear and two from the front. Send two men each from the front and rear to pick up the Americans. Bring them here immediately.” The man on the radio passed on the orders, and then called the watchers at the rear and gave them their orders and the description of the two.
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