
Barely half of the Bomber Command&s aircrews survive a full tour but wireless operator Billy Angell has beaten the odds & completed his 30th – & final – mission Now Billy is due two-weeks leave a posting to a training squadron & a six-month exemption from active duty Except that MI5 need an airman to drop into Nazi-occupied France MI5 are interested in Helène Lafosse a Frenchwoman keeping unusual company in her small family chteau in the depths of the Touraine Helène has begun an affair with a senior Abwehr intelligence officer who in return has turned a blind eye to the succession of Jews refugees resistance fighters & downed Allied airmen to whom she offers shelter MI5 believe they can exploit this relationship & plant a false lead about the anticipated allied invasion of northern France It falls to Billy playing a downed airman to find Helène to win her confidence & to plant a lie that will only make sense to her German lover But this time Billy isn&t flying at 20000 feet & he won&t be able to escape the incendiary consequences of his actions