Sunday, May 25, 1941
In Bruz
Having driven off the man from the butcher van who had been watching them, Raymond and Norris hid the van along the road back to Rennes. Then they returned to the inn, where they examined what they had recovered from the van. After that, Raymond and Laurent went to the taproom for a meal along with the other guests of the inn. Raymond struck up a pleasant conversation with a young woman whose older female companion was not so friendly. Laurent and Olivier the telephone repairman played a game of checkers at the bar over their sausages and greens. In the meantime, Norris looked over the various clues again to see if he had missed anything.
Raymond and Norris considered why they had twice been attacked by cleaver-wielding madmen. At first it seemed that Norris was the target. He had been being watched in the library. He was attacked in the marketplace. However, he had not been to the Gestapo Headquarters, the Hotel Royale, or the Rancourt penthouse. Only Laurent had been at all the locations, and he was the one attacked by the byakhee.
Raymond struck up a conversation with the other travelers in the taproom and led the conversation toward their experiences with security. One said that he had not experienced much in terms German officiousness. He was traveling by bus, and rarely did the Germans stop the bus, usually on a bridge, and had the passengers disembark check papers. He had not seen anyone arrested.
Another traveler had frequent business in Vichy where the French authorities were handling most day to day operations and officiated with a traditional French manner. He had also noted that the Germans were not out in force in the southern part of the country.
The third traveler had been doing business in northern France and the Low Countries. In his travels there was much more scrutiny of papers by German authorities, and several people had been pulled from trains with little or no pretense. He had been lucky so far. He mentioned that in his travels he had been seeing the same officials frequently, but they were very resistant to any attempts at familiarity.
The Gendarmes Return
A little while later, Inspector Duranseau and a squad of armed gendarmes returned to the Abbey Arms and took positions at the front and rear doors. They approached Raymond and informed him that Raymond and Norris were being arrested on charges of assault and theft. One of them went to collect Norris.
At that moment, Raymond made a scene of falling to the floor with a clatter and making as if the gendarmes were assaulting him. Laurent accosted the officer approaching their room and asked him what the trouble was. Both were trying to warn Norris of the impending search. Norris heard the clatter and figured out that something was up, but was caught in the act trying to hide the butcher’s clipboard. Upon searching their room, the butcher’s delivery schedule and toolbox were discovered. Raymond, Norris, and the evidence were taken to the police station.
Raymond was taken to the Inspector’s desk for interrogation. The inspector asked if Raymond could explain how the butcher’s clipboard and route map were found in his group’s possession. Raymond said that he found them on the street right before curfew.
The inspector asked him why the man, who Raymond had not seen, identified him as the person who stole his van, which was actually missing. Raymond replied that the man seemed to have been following them, and perhaps was trying to get them in trouble for some reason.
The Inspector asked why the man would be following them and trying to get them in trouble. Raymond explained that they had found marks on the map in invisible ink and offered to show him. He surmised that the man might be involved with the art thieves he was pursuing.
The Inspector sent for the evidence. Raymond assembled the black light and show the marks on the map. He explained that the marked locations indicated places they had been over the past few weeks. The inspector considered the story. He sent Raymond back to the cell and called for Norris. As they passed, Raymond whispered to Norris that their accuser must be one of the art thieves. Norris got the hint and was taken for interrogation. It did not go well.
In the Cell
While Norris was being interrogated, Raymond could hear the vagrant in the next cell mumbling repeatedly. The gendarmes came by periodically and ordered him to shut up, but he resumed a few moments later. Listening carefully, he could make out some of the words through the thick cell wall.
MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI existed alone before there was any other life. Eventually it created the gods who in turn created the rest of life.
MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI eternally sleeps, and when it wakes it will destroy all of creation and start anew.
MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI is between, but the walls are old and cracking.
Raymond asked the guard about the vagrant and learned that his name is Thierry Lacasse, and he had worked as a janitor at the Museum of Fine Arts in Rennes until around the time of the rail yard bombing. He was sent to the sanitarium in Rennes, but released when it was commandeered by the Germans for the POW Hospital
Thinking about all this led Raymond conjecture that the dreams started shortly after the Rennes rail yard was destroyed when the troop train and neighboring passenger train were bombed, and that that event probably awakened the Sleeper sufficiently to send dreams to attract more magical energy to Rennes. He also surmised that perhaps the object of the sensitives’ searches was at the Museum of Fine Arts in Rennes.
Norris relayed his version of the story to Raymond. It was not quite the same, in the same manner as his account of the attack by the bull. But the Inspector did not show any signs of suspicion. Raymond relayed his version of the story to Norris indirectly so as to not be seen to be getting their stories straight. Norris heard some of the mutterings and Raymond postponed discussing them to a more discrete locations.
With nothing else to do after a long day, the tried to get some sleep in spite of the continuous, repetitious muttering.
Back at the Inn
Laurent queried the innkeeper and Ollivier about the disposition of the gendarmes with respect to the Germans. The innkeeper told him that the local police were pretty officious. Inspector Duranseau was an honest man, but leaned heavily on his authority. He had a fairly good relationship with the commandant of the airbase, and had had private meals there at the inn with some plainclothes Germans who were obviously Gestapo agents. Ollivier told him that the gendarmes themselves were more friendly, except when in the company of the Inspector or the Germans, but they were not corrupt.
Laurent also asked where the police station was and if they knew the procedures for getting them released. The salesmen from the northern route mentioned that they would be released in the morning unless they were actually charged or held over by the Germans, who did not need a reason. He then went back to the room to see if anything had not been taken. He found that the only things that had been taken were the toolbox and its contents, and the butcher’s paperwork.
That night, Laurent, Norris and Raymond had nightmare.
The landscape is long ruined; you do not know how long the world has been this way, perhaps it always was like this and everything else you remember is but a dream. The dead and the dying lie everywhere, black puss oozing from their mouths, noses, eyes and ears. All have the same horrified expression, pleading for help, but you know there is no hope here. You have foolishly tried to prevent this, and your punishment is to be the last to fall, when all others have succumbed to the pain and misery of this slow death. Then it comes to you, and the agony is intense. It seems to last for days, or weeks and then you can bear no more. And you wake.
Laurent was disturbed by this vision, but Raymond and Norris were intrigued. Raymond hypothesized that this was vision of what happened after the Sleeper awakened. Norris suggested that it sounded like the effects of a gas attack. They all suspected that it was the gas being made at the Ollivier factory. And then Raymond had a flashback of the Great War and fell into a fetal position until he passed out.
Monday, May 26, 1941
At the Inn
Laurent packed up their belongings and the innkeeper helped him load their car. He made sure to collect all of their clues and materials and bundle them securely in Norris’ suitcase, as well as collecting Raymond’s briefcase with the meat cleaver inside. Then he went to the police station.
At the Police Station
The Inspector summoned Raymond and Norris to his desk, where Laurent was waiting for them. He said that he had reviewed their story and the evidence, and had no compelling reason to detain them, though he was convinced that they were not being completely honest with him. He went on to say that he had them checked out with the Germans, but nothing negative was reported. The Inspector said that they were free to go, but encouraged them to put Bruz behind them. The toolbox and paperwork would be returned to the butcher.
The climbed into their car and drove back toward Rennes. They stopped to check on the van where they had left it, and everything was as they had left it. They planned to tell the resistance and have them collect it. Continuing on they arrived at the checkpoint.
The officer on duty approached their car and asked for their papers and the nature of their trip. Raymond replied that they were returning to Rennes following their investigation in Bruz. The officer gave their papers a cursory look and sent them on their way.
Returning to Rennes
Driving back to Rennes, as the team passed through the industrial section south of the River La Vilaine, Raymond noted a certain shop front with blown out windows that had had three windows covered over with cardboard. This was a signal from Alexandre that his cover had been blown and that he had had to abandon the radio.
The protocol was to go to a cafe near the Palais Saint George and ask the proprietor for some chocolate macaroons. They found the bakery, and Laurent took a look around before making contact. He saw nothing suspicious. He bought a coffee and an éclair and reported to Raymond that coast was clear.
Raymond entered and asked the proprietor for some chocolate macaroons. The proprietor will say he only has vanilla ones, regardless of what is on display. The response is two or three of those and an éclair. He will pass a pre-packaged bakery bundle to Raymond and collected payment.
The bundle contained an éclair and a message in the form of a string of random, typewritten characters that they knew could be decoded using the book hidden in the vent back at their apartment. They returned to the apartment being careful not to be followed or noticed. Using their established book code, the deciphered that Alexandre’s new identity was Francis Larocque, and that he was a crane operator rebuilding the rail yard in the south of Rennes.
The message said the Gestapo returned the previous day and searched the construction site. He barely escaped, but was able to send the crash code to N, indicating that the radio had been compromised, and to dump a bucket of water on the radio. A new radio would be dropped soon and he and Antoinette would be at the drop site to receive it.