While the three enjoyed their tea in the Ambassador's office, David returned the conversation to reconnaissance when he asked Henry Picot, "Have either we or the French any aircraft capable of doing an observation flight, possibly even dropping bombs? My examination of the maps showed me that Nancy is the closest large community on our side of the Front, about a hundred and twenty miles from Oppau and Mannheim."

Henry looked up from his cup. "Indeed, yes. The French have conducted reconnaissance flights to the Mannheim area, and there is a report of some bombs being dropped, but with no great effect. Because it's near the limit of their flying range, very little time could be spent in the area. There's a folder marked Air in your files with reports of these."

Henry held up a finger. "But, we've two new aircraft in production by the Royal Aircraft Factory, both with longer ranges than the Caudron and the Breguet of the French, and both capable of dropping bombs."

"Sufficient range to make Oppau and back to England?"

"No, that would require an operational radius of three hundred and fifty miles. The FE2 has a safe radius of a hundred and forty, so they need to operate from France." Henry paused to sip his tea. "We now have several squadrons equipped with them in Flanders and northern France. The new longer-range RE7 is expected to arrive in the spring, and I believe their operating radius is two hundred and fifty miles. The data are in your files."

David slowly nodded as he absorbed the information. "The aeroplanes I've seen all look so light and flimsy. Can any of these carry sufficient explosives to cause damage?"

"The Breguet can carry up to a hundred and eighty pounds, so sixty to a hundred pounds of high-explosive. The information on the payload of our FE2 is in your files, but if I recall correctly, it's around three hundred pounds. I have no data yet on the RE7."

"Aerial bombing would be far easier than trying to get past the sentries. They appear fully committed to guarding access with an entire battalion dedicated to the sites."

"The major problem the pilots face is in identifying the targets. It's a complex task to navigate and fly at the same time, but the difficulty of finding their objective causes most missions to drop their bombs on targets of opportunity – bridges, railroads, whatever, then turn for home."

"Yes, I can see that." David stroked his beard as he thought. "The chemical plant at Oppau would be an easy target to identify. It sits beside the confluence of the Necker and the Rhine rivers – and we already have aerial photos of the plant site for the pilot's reference."

The three continued their discussion, examining the most effective ways to employ the men in locating targets and in finding identifying marks to assist the pilots in spotting them. Then, they turned their thoughts to conceiving plausible disguising activity the men could use to explain their presence if they were questioned.

After several possibilities were dismissed as being too flimsy, David looked up from a long silence. "What about having them as representing a Swiss watchmaker and searching for munitions plants so company officials could approach with offers of supplying fuses? They could explain the need to keep their factory running with the slowing of exports."

"That might work." Evelyn pursed his lips as he slowly nodded. "They would have to present themselves as being with a small company, though. An unsophisticated one. The larger makers would most likely know that the procedure is to go through the German Embassy."

"Mr Wilsdorf could supply us with a selection of sample fuses to add credence to their story." Henry looked back and forth between David and Evelyn. "A lot of merit to this. Let's expand the idea and see what else we can think of."

<><><>

David entered the suite and strode across the room as Maria set her book aside and rose from the chaise longue. He wrapped his arms around her. "Sorry. That took much longer than I had anticipated."

"You all missed tea. We were expecting you there."

"Evelyn had arranged for ours to be served in the office." He bent and kissed her, and then they deepened it as their pent-up passion sent their hands exploring. By the time they broke the kiss, David had raised the rear of Maria's skirts to cup her butt cheeks in his hands, and she had nearly completed unfastening his trouser front. "It'll be much quicker if we undress ourselves," she said as she undid the final buttons and sprung him free.

Within a minute, they were conjoined beneath the duvet on the bed, and they remained silent in their enjoyment until Maria released in a series of trembling convulsions and short, deep-throated moans. They then settled into their more usual gentle movements as David recounted highlights from his trip.

"So, Tante has two suitors?"

"No, only one. And she hopes Wachtmeister Schwarz takes her response seriously and stops calling. She's given him nothing but a cool reception from the beginning, and she's decreased its temperature with each call."

"What about Herr Grünmann? You say she is encouraging him. Won't he suspect something strange about the activity?"

"I've tried to look at the work as an innocent outsider would see it, but I'm too close to it and likely biased. Jacob said it appears no different from a crew preparing the new land for planting vines. The amount of work required before spring easily justifies the size of the crew."

"And if the relationship grows beyond simply being friends?"

"Bethia said she'll do nothing to compromise our cover. She's had more than her fair share of great companionship, and if she senses anything odd about Karl, she will tone down her response to him until he gets the message."

"That's noble of her. But what if there is more than a spark between them? What if she grows to love him?"

"Tante said her life is delightfully uncomplicated now, and she has no great desire to change it. She's simply enjoying the attention and the company." David paused to chuckle before he added, "Then she winked and told me her fingers still work very well and that they're completely predictable and easily controllable, unlike a man."