Flaneur ✅💋

10. Plus Tot

April 12, 1942

"Merci," Genevieve thanked Noemi as she set down a tray of tea, milk, and sugar beside her lounging chair. Noemi raised the pot and poured two cups, one for her and the other for Belle. She picked up the tiny porcelain pitcher with milk and hovered it over the cups. "No milk for Hilda." She stopped her. Belle smiled at the servant as she humbly backed away, carrying on with her more enjoyable task of running Waltz ragged through the yard with sticks and toys.

"As I was saying," Belle continued in something just below a whisper over her cup, "since I sent you the kettle, the center has been infiltrated. Chloe and Shona managed to set up an operation that liberated the center and freed the women."

"Do we know if the five missing Jews were amongst them? How are they faring now?" she asked all at once.

Belle gestured for her to be discrete, pressing her hands downward with pursed lips.  "The women are being treated for trauma in Sweden now.   As for your missing Jews, we have no knowledge of another agency in the area.  We haven't so much as a blip on our radar indicating another operation.  We're still looking into it.  Whoever is responsible for their freedom is someone the order would very much like to recruit." Belle sipped her tea and turned to look at her.  "There's something more I'm afraid.  Chloe didn't make it out of the center. However, sixty-four infants were rescued from a lab."  "They were performing experiments on the poor dears."

Genevieve furrowed her brows.  Chloe was a good agent, she didn't deserve to be slain like a pig by Nazis.  "On the German children? I thought the whole goal was to populate the world with their pure race."

Belle shook her head, looking into the steaming cup of tea. "They were injecting dye into their eyes to make them blue. Not all of the children were born with the physical attributes that the führer had in mind, so they had to improvise. Our doctor is responsible for the idea of altering the pigment of the irises using an artificial cocktail of melanin and ink." Genevieve's heart hurt to think of the torment the babies had to endure.

"What of them now?"

"They are all blind. As you can imagine, their eyes were clouded with ink. Our doctors aren't hopeful that they'll ever see again. A few had infections so severe that they didn't survive the trip to Sweden. The mothers had no idea the horrors that were taking place. Apparently these facilities were advertised as a safe place for women to give birth out of wedlock, or in it in some cases. A place where they could give their baby up for adoption to a nice family, and have a secure and safe place to progress their pregnancy without being shunned or judged by the public. It was all a farce."

Genevieve swallowed the lump in her throat. "I can't believe the order wants us to wait until the end of the month. I can't bear to spend another day smiling at these heathens and monsters. You know I actually had to let Hitler kiss my hands? It makes me sick," she growled and drank her tea in full.

"We won't have to wait as long as originally expected," Belle said with a smile. They both silenced themselves when one of the men emerged from the shed with gardening tools. Once he began to dig at the earth and turn up some noise, she elaborated. "I've just heard word from our allies that they'll be in place sooner than anticipated. It would seem the new date is the twentieth."

"Hitler's birthday," Genevieve gasped at the pleasant surprise.

"Precisely." She beamed happily and set her cup on her saucer. "How splendid will it be to deliver his present to him that day? And surely the colonel and the doctor wouldn't miss it for the world. It seems that our mission just became that much easier."

"Everything is falling perfectly into place," Genevieve agreed, barely containing her excitement. She let a giggle slip out of her painted lips and stifled it with a hand.

"What is it?" Belle giggled with her.

"I've just thought of a potential plan, and played it out in my mind thrice. It's almost too perfect." She couldn't hide her smile anymore.

Belle sat up straight and waved her hands about. "Well? Don't keep it a secret!" she urged her on.

Genevieve leaned in as close as possible, whispering like a soft breeze into her waiting ear. "I'll convince the colonel that I've fallen for him, it shouldn't be too hard. I'll attend any and all events with him, gain trust within their circles, and I can almost guarantee that I'll earn an invitation to the birthday party. I'll kiss Hitler with this," she pulled the red lipstick out from between her breasts, where she kept it close at all times should the occasion call for it, "and your husband while I'm at it."

"Good riddance," she snorted at the mention of the lieutenant.

"And then I'll fake ill. The colonel, for one reason or another, has taken some sort of interest in my well being. I'm sure he'll help me home, and I'll convince him that I need the doctor. If all goes smoothly, they'll both accompany me home to make sure I'm alright." Genevieve laughed, unable to contain her victorious glee. "You can pass a message onto the ghosts and have everyone in position. Before we near my home, we can have a blockade set up to commandeer the vehicle and capture the colonel and the doctor!"

Belle was staring wide eyed at her. "That's brilliant!  We'll need to make a few adjustments to your plan, should anything not go accordingly. We'll need at least three backup plans for contingency, but I daresay we won't use them. It all sounds wonderful!" She turned very serious suddenly. "Can you pull it off? Convincing the colonel that you have fallen for him?"

Genevieve chewed the inside of her cheek. "I'll have to."  Her skin prickled and she cursed her flesh for responding to his phantom touches that still burned with heat.  A heat that she actively reminded herself was due to hatred, not lust.

She smiled once more. "But, wait!" She grasped her arm. "The checkpoints. How will we get passed them without alerting all the soldiers?"

Genevieve grinned. "That's why this is such a brilliant plan. The checkpoints will be lacking security. Almost everyone in uniform will be attending the party, and once word spreads of how the poor lieutenant and führer met their demise, I'm certain that every band of Germans will rush to the event. The checkpoints will be as useful as paper gates in a siege."

Belle sat back, blinking, absorbing all of the information. "You thought of this just now? While we were enjoying our tea and sunshine?"

"Impressive, aren't I?" She poured herself another cup and relaxed into the chair.

"Tu fais honte átous les autres esprits," she complimented with sheer delight. They clinked their cups together and drank the bitter liquid, enjoying the moment of peace under the spring sun.