Code Name Hélène

In August 1943, Nancy arrives in London after having picked up the trunk Henri sent ahead to Barcelona. The plan is for him to meet her here. While she waits, she attempts to volunteer at the Headquarters of Charles de Gaulle’s Free French Forces, but they turn her away.

Meanwhile, in Fort Saint-Nicholas in Marseille, Paquet and Marceline make Henri get dressed and they take him to his bank. They force him to clear out his security deposit boxes and give them everything.

In London, Nancy receives a call from someone who tells her if she wants to support “the British cause against Germany” (389), she should go to a meeting in central London that afternoon. There, she meets with Major Morell of the Special Operations Executive (SOE). He tells her they could use someone like her. Sometime later, Nancy reports to a manor house in Kent where she undergoes a battery of psychological tests, which she passes. Then she meets Maurice Buckmaster, the head of the French section of SOE, and Denis Rake, her instructor and future radio operator. She takes on a series of physical tests, which she passes with flying colors. Later that day she joins the other recruits, including John Farmer, who does not seem happy to see a woman join their group. However, she does well in the exercises and Rake and Garrow congratulate her on passing.

On August 26, 1944, in the elevator, Nancy crushes Wolff’s throat with her bare hands. Then, Denis kills the guard who sees her. They throw grenades into the meeting room of the German officers and retreat. Shortly afterward, they get news that Paris has been liberated from German control. On her birthday, August 30, Denis wakes her up to tell her that Gaspard is there to see her. They go outside and she is surprised to see Gaspard, Judex, and the troops saluting her. Two days later, with the Germans in retreat, Nancy returns to Marseille. She goes to the hotel bar and asks Antoine if Henri is all right.

Nancy goes with Farmer (code name Hubert) and the other recruits to Inverie, Scotland for further training. On the way, Farmer tells her she is a legend for getting Garrow out of Mauzac.

Meanwhile, in prison, Henri is being tortured and questioned by Marceline and Paquet, but he refuses to tell them anything. One day, his father arrives. He tells Henri he is to blame for his situation because he insists on standing up for Nancy, a foreigner. After he leaves, Marceline kills Henri.

In Scotland, Nancy wakes up from a terrible nightmare. She convinces herself it was just a bad dream.

Antoine tells Nancy that her husband is dead. She goes back to her apartment and mourns. Then, she goes to look for Ficetole.

In October 1943, Nancy’s training begins. She meets René Dusacq (code name Anselm), the weapons instructor. He teaches her how to shoot and throw a grenade. Denis teaches her hand-to-hand combat.

In 1944, Nancy arrives at Ficetole’s home and picks up Picon, her dog, who is delighted to see her. Later, Nancy goes to the bank and learns that everything has been taken out. She runs into Henri’s father there, and he accuses her of getting his son killed. Afterward, Nancy goes to the bar and gives Antoine a bottle of cyanide pills to kill Monsieur Paquet.

Nancy’s training continues. Denis teaches her Morse code. Then, they go to parachute school in Manchester and learn how to jump out of a hot-air balloon.

In 1945, a year after the end of the war, Nancy is in London meeting with Maurice Buckmaster, the head of the French section of the SOE. While she is there, Hubert, Anselm, Rake, and Garrow come into the office. With them is Patrick O’Leary, who has survived his internment in Dachau. Nancy is relieved to see him alive. He tells her that his real name is Major General Comte Albert-Marie Edmond Guérisse.

In February 1944, Nancy meets with Buckmaster, who tells her she has passed her training and that her mission will be to support the Maquis d’Auvergne. She will be sent in along with Denis and John Farmer (Hubert). A little over a week later, she boards a plane with Hubert to France.