Paris: The Novel

for him to pay a visit to Paris. The Germans will be dreading an uprising here.”
    “If he were to come,” Charlie took up the theme, “security would be high. I imagine it would be a secret. But someone like Colonel Walter might hear of it.”
    “If it is Gestapo Müller, I’d hate to let him slip through our fingers.” Max considered. “It might be a trap.”
    “Only if Corinne is compromised in some way. We’ve no reason to think she is.”
    “What about the play? What do you make of that?”
    “The theater’s always suspect. Anouilh’s
Antigone
got through the censors and the Germans have been watching it happily enough, but some people think it’s covert anti-German propaganda. He might want to see it for that reason.”
    “We haven’t much time to get organized,” said Max. “And it’s risky. But I think we have to try.”
    “Try what?”
    “To kill him, of course.”

    Luc told himself that he was worrying unduly. But he couldn’t help it. His last visit to Schmid had been very unsatisfactory. When he’d asked whether there was any news about Corinne, the Gestapo man had remarked that she had not led them to anyone yet. Then he had smiled.
    “But I am still confident.”
    “You had said you would trap her.”
    “Perhaps.”
    “May I ask how?”
    “No. But I will tell you if the outcome is satisfactory.”
    It would be a trap then. But what sort of trap? A likely method would be to feed her false information. Information she would pass on to the Resistance and incriminate herself. But what sort of information? Impossible to know. But a false lead of some kind. Something that would lead Resistance men into a trap.
    It needn’t concern him. Except for one circumstance. What if his brother were caught in the trap?
    He knew Thomas was still going out on operations. He was indefatigable. Indeed, it seemed to have given him a new lease on life. Thomas mightn’t be as fast as the younger men, but he still had a good eye, and he was reliable.
    And every time he did so, of course, Thomas put himself at risk. Commonsense told Luc he shouldn’t worry about it. That was Thomas’s choice, and his own business.
    Yet the thought that his informing on Louise could cause his brother’s death, or worse, his arrest and torture, preyed upon his mind. Was there some way he could persuade him not to go out anymore? Could he warn him off?
    He started to spend more time at the restaurant. As the days went by, Thomas seemed quite content minding the bar. The two of them would chat for an hour or two. There was no hint of any other activity.
    He was in the restaurant soon after noon one day when he noticed two of the young Dalou men approach the bar and start talking to Thomas. He might not have paid much attention if he hadn’t caught sight of Édith. As she stared across at her husband and the two Dalous, her face froze. Lines of anxiety suddenly appeared. Luc went over to her.
    “Are you all right? Is something wrong?” he asked.
    “Yes. No. It’s nothing.”
    After a few minutes, the two Dalou men left and he saw Édith go over to Thomas immediately afterward. She was saying something urgent to him. He was listening, but it was clear that she wasn’t getting anywhere. Luc saw Édith take Thomas by the arm, and saw Thomas shake his head.
    When Édith came back, he could see she was close to tears.
    Luc wondered what to do. He’d like to have intervened, told Thomas some story that he’d heard from one of his contacts that the Germans were going to set up traps to catch Resistance groups. But he couldn’t do that. It would have invited further questions, awkward ones. They might ask him, “How do you know?” Besides, if this was Schmid’s trap, and the Resistance failed to take the bait, then Schmid would surely conclude that the leak must have come from him.
    No, he couldn’t do that. But at least he could try to dissuade his brother from going.
    He called to Édith.
    “I saw what you saw. The Dalou boys. There’s no need to say anything, Édith. Thomas doesn’t tell me about what he does, and I accept it. But I’m not a fool.” He paused. “Do you know why I’ve been around so much lately? Because I started having nightmares. I don’t know why. I never had them before. But I started having nightmares about my brother being caught. They won’t go away. I’m afraid for him.”
    “Tell him,” she said urgently. “You have to tell him at once.”
    “All right.” He got up.