“There’s a tunnel to the barn from this gardener’s cottage, sir,” she explained. “I didn’t have time to tell you before. The tunnel is old, but it is open. The Maquis have been using it for months, partly for wounded men. The barn was our headquarters. We just moved out yesterday.”
Marie came up through the old tunnel
Captain Dobie nodded, speechless with relief. He pushed back his helmet, mopped his forehead, and switched on the radio. “I’ll cancel those smoke shells,” he muttered.
At that moment the air overhead whined ominously. A curtain of shells fell around the barn and exploded. A dense pall of white smoke drifted across the field.
“Where’s Weller?” the captain asked Slim. “And what about the Nazis still around that barn?”
He was interrupted by grenade and rifle fire and the thrashing of men breaking through shrubbery.
“Watch it!” Weller’s voice rang above the din.
The shooting stopped suddenly, and German and American voices mingled.
Captain Dobie listened a moment, smiled, and switched on the radio.