Cast No Shadow, Peter Sharp [books to get back into reading txt] 📗

after the war, although it was a shame Kelly’s gun had jammed just at that moment.

Kelly shot a glance at Rahn who failed to meet his gaze and looked steadily ahead.

A visiting ‘safe’ doctor confirmed that the bullet had passed through Kelly’s shoulder, chipping away part of the clavicle as it went. There was likely to be a hairline fracture as well, but the good news was that the bone was still in one piece and attached.

The next few weeks were spent lying low. Tonton refused to risk anyone in futile gestures so close to an invasion that everyone was convinced would happen soon. Kelly and Élise stole whatever quiet moments they could to lie in each other’s arms and to make love.

Élise was as passionate as ever in her lovemaking, but Kelly sensed something was troubling her. They talked in the quiet moments of their affair, and Élise confessed her love for him but was confused because she still loved her husband and couldn’t wait to see him again. Was it wrong to love two people, she asked him?

He had assured her of his love for her and told her how he understood her need to return to her husband as soon as ‘this business’ was over. Kelly understood her feelings. He knew only too well how it was possible to love two people at the same time. Despite the temptation to take her into his confidence, he kept his relationship with Sybilla from Élise. It would serve no purpose and could complicate matters.

The last days of May were blissful as he and Élise spent as much time as they could in each other’s company whenever the opportunity arose. Perhaps each was inwardly aware that their time together was drawing to a close.

They were awakened in the early hours of the fourth of June and scrambled to their places in ambush teams along the Dunkerque to Lille road, their intention to harass any reinforcements coming north to reinforce Dunkerque.

It occurred to Kelly how incredibly dangerous this could be. Any German units attacked in this way would need to totally eliminate any opposition to keep open the re-supply route. He was doubtful that the tactic of hit and run would enable them to disengage at will.

Convoys were moving up the road to Dunkerque, but their orders were clear, no action until the invasion was confirmed. There was no confirmation. There was an air of anti-climax as they made their way back to their homes. Barely had they been in bed more than a few hours when they were scrambled again. Again, no confirmation was received that day, the fifth of June.

In the early hours of the morning of the sixth, they were yet again scrambled and were in position before first light. Just after dawn they received a radio message. The invasion had begun. In Normandy!

Kelly staggered away from his hide position and moved deeper into the wood, which had provided cover. Élise ran to catch up with him but he waved her away. She looked hurt as she retraced her steps. He walked for about four or five hundred yards before slumping down onto the trunk of a fallen tree.

Through his mind whirled visions of a German officer and a driver in Norway, the young frightened face of a child soldier in Dieppe, SBS marines, Andre, Claude, Jürgen Meyer and now nearly Élise. All for what? At the final push they had been nothing more than a decoy, expendable but useful for a time.

Kelly dropped his head into his hands and wept.

Part V

A New Direction

The Quest

Kelly passed the barn twice before he convinced himself it really was the same barn.

The whole of the external structure had been refurbished. Gone were the old shutters, with new windows in their place. Pretty floral curtains hid behind nets, and flower boxes were set under each window. The old wood and felt roof, or what there had been of it, had been replaced with bright orange tiles.

A white fence now surrounded the barn and a garden had been laid, half to vegetables and half left semi-wild, overgrown with many varieties of wildflower. In one corner there was a sand pit scattered with children’s toys.

Kelly opened the white gate, strolled down the crazed path, and knocked on the dull red door. He could just make out the outline of where the double door had been; he remembered seeing Élise framed in that door.

A small man of significant girth, with a receding hairline, compensated by a luxuriant drooping moustache, opened the door.

“My name is Dan Kelly. Does Élise Reynaud live here?”

Before the man could answer there was a bustle behind him and a short portly woman flew out of the door, carrying a child in her arms with another grimly hanging onto her skirts. She thrust the baby into the arms of the startled Frenchman then flung her arms around Kelly. The body that embraced him was that of a matron, but the face looking up at him was unmistakeably that of little Élise!

She looked alive and radiant, a woman in full bloom. Kelly’s heart leapt to see her and he embraced her warmly. As they disengaged, Élise wiped the tears that were forming in her eyes and took the child from the startled man standing by her. She explained to him that this was Dan Kelly, the very man she had told him so much about, the brave Englishman—Kelly winced—that had fought beside her during the war. As she explained, the man’s face lit up.

As Élise introduced him as Raymond, the gallant husband who had fought with the Free French, the Frenchman embraced Kelly and kissed him in Gallic fashion before thoroughly ringing his hand. It fleetingly crossed Kelly’s mind that he hoped Élise hadn’t told her husband everything about their wartime experiences, but judging by his reception that was not the case.

They exchanged small talk as they went into the palace that had once been a cold and draughty dilapidated