Shadows of the World » Band of Brothers

33: Turn the Key

"Imagination, of course, can open any door - turn the key and let terror walk right in." - Truman Capote, In Cold Blood

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Juliette pushed her shoulders back and tilted her chin up, keeping her back up straight in the appropriate posture to manifest confidence. With the necessary forged documents clutched tightly in her arms she kept her eyes locked firmly forwards, approaching the door to the building and the guards posted outside it as though she didn't expect to be stopped.

"Halt! Papiere," one of the two guards demanded when she got close. She turned an eye on him disdainfully, as though affronted that he had had the audacity to stop her.

Jules thrust out her identification papers with a sneer and rolled her eyes when the guard glanced between them and her repeatedly to check the information on there was true.

"Und warum sind Sie hier?" the guard asked. Juliette flicked her hair back before handing him the documents she carried.

She told him she was there to check on the health of the prisoners, and smiled sweetly when his eyes shot back up to her in shock at her knowledge of them.

"I am an undercover agent," she said in perfect German, smiling smugly as she looked between the pair of them, "and I have been sent from Paris to ensure that their safety both here and in transmission is maintained." She held out a hand for the documents the first guard still held and raised her eyebrows expectantly.

The man looked to his companion, who pursed his lips and looked away, before looking back at her and taking in the entirety of her, as if trying to decide from her appearance alone whether she looked like a spy. Eventually, with a resigned sigh, he gave the order for the second guard to let her in.

When she got into the building she was met with yet more guards in the entryway and proceeded to explain the same thing to them, adding that she wished to be taken directly to the prisoners without further delay as their transportation would be arriving soon. This lot of guards accepted her story and her forged documents much more readily, likely because the fact that she was inside meant that the guards on the door had also believed her. One of them lead her up the stairs and to a bedroom which was guarded by another soldier.

The guard escorting her explained the situation and she was allowed in, though when the guard went to follow her she turned back to him with the most disgusted expression she could muster. When he shrank back from her she knew it had worked.

"Ihr Vorhandensein ist hier nicht notwendig, Soldat," she told him sternly. She looked him up and down with disdain before turning back to the room before her. She heard his footsteps retreat before the door closed behind him, and smiled.

That was the first part done, at least.

There were three men sat in the room, all relatively unimposing-looking, though Juliette obviously knew better; all spies had to look unimposing, that was how they worked so well undercover. She walked closer to them and realised they were all handcuffed together, their chains interlocked behind their backs to make their escape impossible. They were all staring at her.

Jules came close enough that she could whisper to them and be sure that she wasn't overheard. She explained as quickly as she could who she was and why she was there. Naturally, however, the men were sceptical, as spies were always taught to be.

"How do we know we can trust you?" one of them asked, a slender, dark-haired man with a stern face that was aged beyond his years. He looked to be scowling at her, though Jules thought that this was perhaps merely the nature of his face.