She slipped away, climbing the servant's staircase to the second floor. Von Hammer’s study door was locked, but a hairpin from her impossibly coiffed blonde hair and a soft click later, she was inside. There, on the mahogany desk, was the leather folio. She photographed each page with a miniature camera hidden in a powder compact.
The shot was a soft phut . Von Hammer crumpled like a sack of flour, a surprised look on his face.
He smirked. "Empty your… uniform."
She tugged at the starched white apron of a chateau maid, the black dress hugging every curve the war hadn't rationed. "This corset is a more effective interrogation device than a pair of pliers," she muttered, adjusting the lace collar that did nothing to conceal her primary assets. The mission was simple: infiltrate General Klaus von Hammer’s soirée, locate the D-Day invasion plans hidden in his study, and signal the incoming airstrike.
She slipped out the service entrance just as the first Allied bombs began to fall, the stolen microfilm safely nestled in the one place no Nazi officer had ever thought to pat down. The Inglourious French Maids had struck again, and the Duchess had proven that the greatest weapon of all wasn't a gun—it was the distraction of a perfectly tailored uniform. She slipped away, climbing the servant's staircase to
Her hand, previously occupied with buttons, shot to the garter belt hidden beneath her skirt. She drew a Derringer, no bigger than a lipstick tube.
Pop. The second button.