Read Chapter 11: THE EMPTY FORMS

The morning patrol left without Vautrin and came back one aircraft short.

Valette landed first, firing a red flare before his wheels touched the grass. The mechanics ran toward him. He tore off his goggles.

"Adrien Cazeneuve is down beyond the Vesle. Engine stopped after combat. I saw him land in our lines."

Luc felt an ugly flicker of relief. A forced landing meant one fewer target in the sky, even if the pilot belonged to the family at the centre of the plot.

Armand Cazeneuve appeared from headquarters.

"Was he hit?"

"No smoke. No visible damage. The engine simply stopped."

For once, Cazeneuve looked like nothing more sinister than a frightened cousin.

A recovery truck brought Adrien and his SPAD back after noon. Adrien had a cut lip and a furious temper.

"It seized," he said. "No warning. One moment perfect, the next locked solid."

Luc was still technically under arrest, but Captain Bellon allowed him to inspect the engine under guard because he knew the Hispano better than most available mechanics.

The sump held metal flakes.

Luc removed the oil filter and found its passage partly blocked by a wad of fibrous material almost identical to the contamination from Girard's fuel system.

He looked at Armand.

The lieutenant looked back.

Something had changed.

This failure had targeted a Cazeneuve.

"Who serviced the oil system?" Bellon asked.

The sheet carried Besson's signature.

Besson was in custody miles away.

Bellon went very still.

"Now," Luc said quietly, "do I sound less mad?"

The security captain folded the sheet and placed it in his pocket.

"You sound dangerous to several people."

That evening Bellon secretly met Luc and Perrin behind the infirmary. They showed him copies of Roche's ledger, not the original. Vautrin remained hidden.

Bellon read the list twice.

"If genuine, this could bring down officers well above the squadron."

"It is genuine," Luc said.

"I did not say I doubt you. I said others will."

"Roche can identify it."

"If Roche lives to testify."

Bellon had reached the same conclusion.

He proposed transferring the original ledger to group headquarters under armed escort.

Luc refused.

"Roche controlled dispatches. We don't know who at group level is involved. Fabre's complaint disappeared there."

"Then where would you send it?"

Vautrin, when consulted that night, had an answer.

"Directly to Inspector General Barrès in Paris."

Perrin raised an eyebrow. "Do you know him?"

"No. My father does. They hate each other. That may help."

Vautrin's father had been a magistrate before the war. Luc had never asked about his family.

"A letter from a dead lieutenant will attract attention," Vautrin added.

They prepared three packets: copies of the ledger, the forged signature practice sheets, Fabre's registry entry, and Bellon's written statement regarding the impossible Besson signature on Adrien's aircraft.

One packet would go by military courier. One through Vautrin's family. One Bellon would retain.

Before any could leave, the aerodrome received orders to move.

German shelling had intensified. The squadron would relocate twelve kilometres south before dawn.

Chaos followed.

Tents came down. Fuel drums rolled onto trucks. Files were boxed. Aircraft were assigned to fly or tow.

In chaos, Luc realized, evidence could disappear without arousing suspicion.

He went to Bellon.

"Watch the records room."

They arrived just as smoke began seeping from beneath its door.

Someone had set the files alight.

Bellon kicked the door open. Luc dragged boxes into the yard while clerks formed a bucket line.

Half the maintenance archive burned.

The victory files were gone.

But one bundle survived because Roche had placed it in the wrong cabinet.

It contained blank confirmation forms signed by Delorme.

Bellon held one up.

"No commanding officer signs blank combat claims."

Luc looked toward Delorme, who stood directing the evacuation with perfect calm.

For the first time, they possessed evidence no mechanical ambiguity could explain.

Then a messenger ran across the yard.

"Captain! Lieutenant Cazeneuve requests you at once. His cousin's aircraft has been tampered with again."

Armand Cazeneuve was beginning to understand that conspiracies had no loyalty.