Code Name Hélène

The timeline then jumps back eight years, to before the outbreak of World War II. Nancy is racing to meet her friend, Stephanie Marsic, at the chic Pont Royal bar. They joke about Nancy’s French and her attempts to learn Parisian ways, such as how to day drink without getting drunk. Nancy reveals to Stephanie that she has a small white dog in her purse. Its name is Picon, after a kind of aperitif. Nancy tells her that she bought the dog on a whim.

Nancy notices a handsome man looking at her from her bar. Stephanie tells her his name is Henri Fiocca, a wealthy playboy whose family is in shipbuilding. Stephanie warns Nancy that he is trouble. They then talk about the man they are waiting for, a Jewish refugee. A photo of him on his knees, face covered in blood, had been published in Hearst newspapers two weeks before but no one had been able to locate him. Stephanie’s wealthy, mysterious husband, “The Count,” had found him. The refugee is coming to the bar to meet with Nancy.

While they discuss the situation, Fiocca sends Nancy a fancy gin-and-champagne cocktail called the French 75. She acknowledges the drink, but before she can go over to greet him, the refugee, Jonas Lieberman, arrives. Lieberman is in rough shape with a massive scar on his face. He tells Nancy what the Brownshirts, the Nazi paramilitary, were doing in Vienna. Henri reflects on how much he likes Nancy’s laugh; he is disappointed that she did not come over to him.

Sometime later, Nancy is in Vienna with the British photographer Frank Gilmore. In St. Stephen’s Square, they see a bonfire and an old woman tied to a waterwheel. A Nazi, Obersturmführer Wolff, is whipping her while yelling “Jews forbidden” in German. Wolff notices Frank taking pictures and destroys his camera. When Nancy intervenes, he destroys her notebook. Then the Nazis set the old woman’s hat shop on fire and leave.

Nancy and Frank decide to go to Berlin, where they attend a Nazi rally. The crowd goes wild for Hitler, and Nancy and Frank are disturbed. Nancy tells Frank that she once interviewed Hitler, but she had no idea at the time what a danger he would become. As the crowd is whipped into more and more of a frenzy, Nancy and Frank decide to leave the rally.

The story returns to the 1944 timeline. Nancy is in a field in Auvergne while the Frenchman, who says his name is Henri Tardivat, tries to get her into a car to take her to Hubert. While they argue, Hubert appears. He is late because he had been burying his parachute, as they had been instructed, while Nancy had kept hers, following the suggestion of Tardivat that the material might be useful. Tardivat tells them that their intended contact, Maurice Southgate, has been arrested by the Gestapo and that the radio operator Denis Rake (code name Denden), has also not appeared.

Tardivat, Hubert, and Nancy drive to the château in Mont Mouchet, Auvergne to meet a different pair of Resistance contacts, Gaspard and his lieutenant Judex. The two teams do not trust each other, but Nancy and Hubert decide to spend the night in a bedroom of the château. In the morning, they sneak downstairs and overhear Gaspard and Judex and their men plan to rape Nancy, kill her and Hubert, and steal their money.

At the Hearst Newspaper headquarters in Paris in 1936, Nancy’s editor, Milo Caron, tells her and Frank that they cannot publish her report from her trip to Vienna and Berlin because they have “a man in Berlin” to write these kinds of stories (44). Caron also argues that Nancy does not have enough proof because Frank’s camera was destroyed, but Nancy reveals that she interviewed the refugee, Lieberman, who has now escaped France. Nancy refuses to put her editor in contact with him, saying that if Caron will not run the story, she will sell it somewhere else. Frank congratulates Nancy on her firm stance but warns her that “all the articles and photographs in the world won’t be enough to stop what’s coming” and that a time may come when they have to fight (45).

Later, Nancy is crying in the bathtub when Stephanie comes over and insists she needs a vacation in Marseille. They go to Marseille with Picon the dog and have a lovely vacation exploring the city and the surrounding countryside and spending time on the beach. One night, Stephanie takes them tango dancing at Le Bar de la Marine. Nancy is dancing with someone else when she sees Henri across the room.

Henri is there with a blonde woman, Marceline, but when he hears Nancy’s laughter, he goes looking for her. Henri approaches Stephanie, whom he knows already, and she introduces him to Nancy. Then, Henri takes Marceline to a taxi, puts her inside without getting in himself, and wishes her goodnight. Marceline is furious.

Nancy is annoyed at Stephanie for attempting to set her up with Henri. As she leaves the bar, she runs into Henri, who is “besotted” with her. She tells him if he wants to spend time with her, he will have to make the first move; she will not be chasing after him. In the bar, he buys her another French 75 and asks her to dance. While they are dancing, he asks her to dinner. She refuses. When the song is over, she wishes him goodnight.

In the French château, Nancy and Hubert discuss what to do about Gaspard. Nancy wants to kill him, but Hubert argues against it because he is their contact. Gaspard enters the room and is surprised to see Nancy and Hubert sitting on the bed, fully dressed. Gaspard awkwardly attempts to seduce Nancy. Nancy reveals that they have overheard their plan to kill them and steal their money and shows Gaspard that they are both armed. Gaspard asks them how much money they have, and Nancy lies and says they don’t have very much. Gaspard says if they do not have money, he does not need their help, so Nancy and Hubert leave the château on foot.

They sit in a cemetery while they figure out the route to Chaudes-Aigues, the town where their next contact, Henri Fournier, is located. They tense up when they see a car coming down the road, but it turns out to be their radio operator, Denis Rake. A few hours later, Nancy, Hubert, and Denis arrive at the château de Couffour and meet Fournier, whom Nancy immediately likes. The château is large, remote, and comfortable. Nancy tells Fournier her name is Madame Andrée and, when he begins to ask Hubert questions, Hubert tells him that she is the head of the operation. Fournier says they need money and supplies, and Nancy says they can help him.

A little while later, they meet in the study to prepare to radio the British government to arrange airdrops for supplies. They discuss the best airdrop locations with Fournier. Denis transmits a test message to the British service. Afterward, they listen to the BBC French Radio service. When they hear the code phrase, “A cricket chirps in Kent,” they know their message has gotten through (76). Then, they transmit their specific requests. The next night, an airplane arrives with an airdrop of supplies. Nancy, Fournier, and his men work all night unloading the weapons. While they are unloading, a car appears. They hide and a man in a German uniform with a whip gets out.

Nancy and Stephanie are on a luxury train from Marseilles to Paris. Nancy decided to leave a night early to avoid Henri. She and Stephanie discuss Henri. Nancy says she does not care about his money, but she is attracted to him. However, she does not want to be “desperate for his attention” or for him to think she is “a sure thing” (81). Stephanie tells her she is in love.

When they return to Paris, Frank Gilmore meets Nancy and Stephanie at Nancy’s apartment and tells her the article has been published. However, she has not received credit for it because Hearst has a policy of not publishing the names of female journalists. Frank is outraged, but Nancy is used to being overlooked due to her gender. Frank asks Nancy how she got into journalism in the first place, and Nancy explains how, after a course at the Queen’s College for Journalism in London, she got an interview with Hearst Newspapers. They asked her if she knew anything about Egypt and she bluffed and said she did. She even said she knew Egyptian, faking it by writing in “Pitman shorthand,” or backward shorthand (85). They sent her to Paris where she met Stephanie after overhearing Stephanie throw a pitcher of water at her husband’s head while “cursing simultaneously in French and Yugoslavian” (86).

Henri calls. Nancy asks him to call her back and then asks her friends to leave. When he calls back, they agree to go to dinner the next night because she is meeting her friends at Luigi’s that evening. Later, at Luigi’s, Nancy’s friends congratulate her and Frank for their big story. Henri arrives and Frank is suspicious of his intentions. Nancy and Henri leave together and they kiss by the river Seine at sunset. Later that evening, Henri takes Nancy back to her apartment. She has had too much to drink, and he helps her to her bed and tucks her into bed. She falls asleep and he leaves.