William G Simpson

The Colonel's War William G Simpson

When the head of U. S. intelligence in Europe, Colonel Nathan Steele, visits Berlin in 1914, femme fatale Despina Storch reveals Germany's strategy for war with Britain, France and Russia. Seduced by agent provocateur Véronique Richelieu, Nathan agrees to help the French Douzième Bureau while visiting the giant Krupp works in Essen. He uncovers details of a new secret weapon, but when Germany suddenly invades neutral Belgium, Nathan's daughter Jodie becomes a refugee. Intent on locating her, the colonel joins a Belgian raiding party operating behind German lines and ambushes gigantic superguns deployed to attack Liège. The village where Jodie had been staying lies in smoking ruins, so Nathan returns to Brussels where he learns of a possible sighting of Jodie, nursing wounded British troops retreating from Mons. Determined to rescue her and helped by hospital matron, Edith Cavell, Nathan sets up an escape route for his daughter and wounded British Tommies. But can they evade capture? It all rests on the slender shoulders of agent Despina, now the mistress of the German Military governor of Belgium.