Arsenic

III

  Drystan traveled from the farmhouse and into the streets of Paris using the bike he borrowed from the farmers. He carefully looked through the streets, his sight keen enough to capture the sight of his intended stop. As he biked, he saw grocery shops, cafes, book shops, and all the like.
Suddenly, he saw a hotel and his advancement came to a halt. He got off his bicycle and set it against a wall. He entered the hotel and walked through the hallways to find a specific room. Once he found it, he took out the spare pen and squatted down. He quickly threw the pen under the door and walked away. He left the hotel and grabbed his bike.
  This hotel was owned by one of the many groups of the French Resistance- willing to house agents of the SOE.f Drystan began to bike away from the hotel and towards his next stop before night fell- as the Germans had imposed a curfew upon occupied France.

  A woman with dark brown locks of hair sees the pen that has been thrown from under her door. She was currently having dinner while drinking tea- before the presence of the pen had interrupted her supper. She got up from her chair and bent down to pick up the pen. She stood up straight and went back to sit by her table to examine it.
  She opened the pen, seeing a note fall out. Unfolding the note, she saw a coded message written onto it. However, she easily deciphered the message as it was written by a fellow agent.

  The next morning, Drystan was sitting on his bed, staring at a collage of images onto a small photo. However, his eyes were fixated on a particular man depicted on one of the images. The man was seemingly middle aged- most likely a hardened veteran from the Great War. He was in uniform with a stern expression on his face.
  Barrett, Drystan pondered on the codename of his target.
  Still staring at the photo, he gripped it tightly between his fingers. He grits his teeth in frustration, although his expression remained neutral- contradictory to his feelings boiling inside. He could not express his anger, sadness, intrigue, or any emotion; as the fascists had taken away that capability from him a long time ago. He could no longer identify what he was feeling even if he felt a particular emotion.
  Gretilde, a woman whose ethnicity was associated with that vile party was someone he was supposed to consider a comrade or an ally. He stared at the photo once more before putting it down.
  Klara, an ally?
  Drystan proceeded to take out a small folded piece of paper from his breast pocket. He unfolded the written reply that Eloise sent him with the assistance of a little boy. Once the message was completely unfolded, he read the message.

  Sounds of clicking can be heard from a bike cycling by the farmhouse. The sounds of clicking stopped as the woman who rode the bike ceased pedaling and got off the bike. Her hair was a distinctive dark brown. She brought her bike to lean against the wall before releasing her grip on the handles. She opened the lid of the basket attached to her bike. She reached down to remove the white cloth covering the object that was concealed underneath; revealing a suitcase.
  She took the suitcase out by the handle and returned the white cloth into the basket before closing the basket. She walked towards the door of the farmhouse and knocked. After a couple of seconds, the door opened in response.
  "I'm Eloise. I believe you've heard of that codename as Drystan's fellow agent." the woman with dark locks introduced herself.
  Gretilde was the first to greet Eloise, welcoming her warmly with a smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Come on in!"
  "Thank you." Eloise giving a formal, slight smile as she entered the farmhouse.
Gretilde closed the door as Eloise saw the other farmers sitting by a table.
  "I go by Klara." Gretilde stated before introducing the codename of the three farmers.
  "Welcome." Yvonne greeted.
  "I thank you all for your warm welcome." Eloise expressed her gratitude. "However, I believe I am here today to teach you how to use one of the devices used for sabotage."
  "That's right. But what exactly are we sabotaging?" François questioned curtly.
  "We're derailing track using rail charges." Eloise answered.
  Gretilde and the farmers seemed to be intrigued of the device that Eloise had promptly brought up. Eloise walked towards the table that the farmers were sitting at and placed her suitcase onto the wooden surface. As she was unlocking her suitcase, she began to explain the importance of derailment.
  "Destroying track can help delay the transportation of troops supplies to the Germans." she spoke as she unlocked the final lock.
  Gretilde walked closer to the table to see the device's appearance after the suitcase had been opened. Like her, the farmers were staring intently on the suitcase.
  Eloise proceeded to unlatch both latches on the suitcase and opened it, revealing 3 sets of Sten gun parts and what seemed to be a few kits containing objects unfamiliar to them.
  "We're using a type of rail charge called the Fog Signal Mk. IA." the agent stated as she pointed towards the circular-like object; where it had parts that looked like hooks and a handle were attached to it. "We place these on the rims of the rail."
  Eloise pointed over to a portion of wrapped cord. "This is detcord- we link it to the fog signal and to a pair of explosive charges."
  She pointed at the explosive charges which were small in size. "Once the train crushes these fog signals, they will ignite the charges and destroy a meter of track."
  Gretilde and the farmers found intrigue in the mechanism of the device and prioritized the intake of information intently.
  "Now. Within an hour, there will be a train moving near this area. Our mission is to derail the track using the fog signal."
  Her declaration caught them off guard.
  "We're using these now?" Francois asked, clearly stunned.
  Eloise nodded. "Yes, however I'm sure you are aware that there is the danger of arrest or deportation to a camp if we are caught."
  "Of course we do. But we'll take the risk if it means the freedom of France from those wretched Germans." Yvonne sternly stated.
  Eloise nodded in acknowledgement of their determination before redirecting her attention at the parts of the Sten guns in her suitcase. "I'll quickly demonstrate how to put the firearm together. Once you fully understand, it should be relatively fast to put it together."
  Eloise took the parts of a Sten gun, introducing each piece and explained the process of assembly to Gretilde and the farmers.
  "Take one set of Sten gun parts and conceal it within your pockets. It is possible that we may face close combat."
  Gretilde and the two farmers grabbed a set of Sten gun parts and stored them into their pockets before Eloise closed her suitcase.
  "It will be better if one of you stay behind in the farmhouse as too much people will attract attention."
  "François, you should stay." Lucien advised.
  "No, I'm going to fight against the Germans!" François retorted.
  "You are a boy, you have a life ahead of you."
  "I am not a boy, Lucien. Ever since the occupation, I couldn't be a boy anymore. I'm going to fight even without your approval- you aren't my father anyway."
  Lucien winced at his response and hesitated before delivering a response himself. "You are right, I'm not your father and you are not my son."
  "Then we have agreed that I'll be the one going and that you'll stay."
  Lucien nodded with slight hesitance in his action.
  "Lucien, if you want-"
  "No, he is right." the middle-aged man interrupted Yvonne. "You all go on ahead."
  Eloise acknowledged their hesitant agreement.
  "We must leave now. The train is coming soon and we should not keep Drystan waiting."
Gretilde seemed surprised of Drystan's informed presence in their mission. "What is he there for?"
  "Drystan is an agent of many specialities- marksmanship being one of them. He will look after us and shoot any Germans or anyone that endanger the success of our mission." Eloise informed as she grabbed her suitcase. "Come on now."
  Gretilde, Yvonne, and François followed after Eloise as she left for the door, leaving the hurt man inside the farmhouse.