March 3, 1940
Paris, France
The three men glanced at one another and turned to take a second look at the group of SS men who were disappearing inside the establishment across the street, particularly at the man who had been pointed out to them as Helmut Wolf. Turning back forward, one of the Frenchmen, a middle-aged man named Henri, asked the man who he knew as "John", "Kill him? Are you serious?"
"Deadly serious.", was the answer from across the table.
Henri shook his head slowly and responded, "Impossible, simply impossible."
"Why?"
Henri gave an exasperated sigh and replied, "We simply can't start blasting away at every SS officer we see. The response would be absolutely brutal. Just look at what the Germans did in Argentan after their patrols starting getting attacked."
John gave a start and exclaimed, "That's it!"
Henri shared a confused look with his companions as John continued, "That's why Wolf is here. The Germans captured a number of Free French members during the crackdown in Argentan right?"
Henri nodded, "Yes they did. Many of those seized were leading members in the resistance."
"These leaders, I assume that locked away in their heads is information that could be devastating to your movement should the Germans discover it?"
Looking pained, Henri replied, "Of course. This is something that we are all concerned about. However, those men are brave patriots. They will not betray us to the Germans."
"Believe me, Wolf will get whatever he wants from them. He's an old hand at that sort of thing, and I'm sure that's why he's here."
"Who is this man that we should be so afraid of him?", asked Henri.
John closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, Henri could see that they were filled with rage and hate as he spoke, "Helmut Wolf was an intelligence operative with a division of the SS called the Sicherheitsdienst. He was a pupil of Reinhard Heydrich and first came to our attention in late 1936 through some contacts of ours in the German intelligence services. Wolf had posed as a Wehrmacht officer opposed to the Nazis in order to infiltrate a resistance movement that was being put together by several high ranking members of the old military establishment. Due to his actions, the entire resistance movement was destroyed and it's leaders executed. In addition, Wolf personally murdered the operative that we had put in contact with the resistance group."
He had the undivided attention of the Frenchmen as he continued while unconsciously rubbing his leg, "We tried to exact vengeance for the murder, but Wolf survived and was eventually sent to deal with partisan activity in occupied Spain. We don't know much about what he did there, but we do know that the entire province rose in revolt not long after his arrival. The rebels claimed that the uprising was in response to the actions of the SS in the province. Though we can't say that Wolf was involved or what he may have done, here's something very interesting: Wolf was arrested and convicted of crimes against the Spanish people immediately afterward by the military governor. He was sentenced to death, but was saved by Heydrich and sent back to Germany. We lost track of him after that, but we had word that he might have been moved to some sort of special unit after returning to Germany."
Henri leaned back in his chair and let what he had been told sink in. After a moment he said, "You certainly seem very well informed about this man."
"As I said, we have some contacts within the German intelligence services who are opposed to the Nazis. Most of what we know about Wolf comes from them. He has also been a sort of project of mine, maybe an obsession would be more accurate. I personally suspect him of certain crimes against the British people, but am almost alone in this. The important thing to remember is that Wolf specializes in handling dissidents and partisans. He will get the information he wants from your men, no question. Assuming that he's in charge, I'll tell you right now that his actions here will far surpass what happened in Argentan. The man has no conscience, no remorse. He will crush your organization and spare no one."
After he finished speaking, the four men sat in absolute silence for long minutes. It was Henri who spoke first, "He seems like a dangerous man, but perhaps his appearance here is a coincidence and nothing more. After all, there are thousands and thousands of Germans in Paris right now. Perhaps he is just part of the garrison. You said yourself that he was moved out of his old intelligence job."
John shook his head, "Not a chance. You don't put a man like Helmut Wolf on garrison duty. He's here for your friends."
"Perhaps you don't have the best perspective on this. You obviously have a personal grudge against this man. Is it possible that you are making him out to be more of a threat than he really is?", asked Henri.
John vehemently shook his head and responded, "I'm telling you that he is the single greatest danger to your movement. If you want to survive, you'll kill him before he can get his hands on your people."
Henri replied, "We have no intention of letting our people reach anyone in Paris. We know that they are being transferred here from Argentan very soon. The only thing that we haven't been able to discover is the route that they will be taking. Now, if we were to go around killing every German who makes you nervous, this place would be crawling with soldiers looking for blood and we would have no chance of getting the information we need or of effecting a rescue. No, our best option will be to find out what route the Germans will be using and intercept them."
John could see that further argument would be pointless and remained silent. He supposed that Henri was right, intercepting the prisoners would be the best option. He reasoned that suddenly seeing Wolf again after all these years may have clouded his judgment, and tried to turn his mind away from Helmut Wolf. Turning his gaze up the street, he saw a young German soldier exit a small jewelers shop and step into a nearby perfume store. Something about the soldier tickled his memory and he realized that it was he same soldier who had dropped Wolf off across the street. With a smile, John rose to his feet and began walking in the direction of the perfume store, telling his French contacts that he would meet them later. If you can't ask the man himself what he's up to , he thought, ask his driver. And one way or another, I'll find out what Wolf is doing in Paris.