"Come back. Tell us what you've seen. Tell us you met a god so reckless, so lonely, it will love us all." - Traci Brimhall, Late Novena
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On the third of June the team of four were let into the airfield, which had been firmly locked up for the previous four days. Their security clearance was higher than anyone who had been admitted previously, and the guards on duty had been told to expect them, so they were let in with little trouble.
The officers of Easy Company were due to be briefed first, and the team had been told to meet one Lewis Nixon in some room or other as he would be the one doing the briefing and thus introducing them. Jules thought that the name rang a bell, but she had met so many Americans during her time in Aldbourne it was difficult to discern whether she had actually met him or whether someone else simply had a similar name.
When they were let into the room he was in, recognition immediately dawned on her; he was one of the officers she had met when helping Gene with supplies that one time. The fun one, who had been all cheeky grins. She remembered liking him.
"You! I remember you!" Nixon exclaimed upon seeing them, pointing at Juliette with a short laugh. "You're a spy?"
Jules grinned. "Certainly seems that way."
Nixon laughed, shaking his head. "I knew there was something about you. Didn't know it was espionage, but I knew there was something."
Tom took over, then, doing the formal introductions. He was required to tell Nixon their real first names (surnames were never allowed to be shared) and their specific areas of expertise, all the while the intelligence officer made note of what he was saying.
"Are the enlisted going to know what you're doing in Normandy?" Nixon asked about halfway into their meeting.
Thomas considered the question for a moment. Sometimes Jules thought that it took him longer to consider things because initially he forgot it was now his job to decide everything. Eventually, he replied, "Just tell them we'll be there helping to make their job easier. That's all they need to know."
Nixon nodded. "Alright." He, of course, had been told what they'd be doing when he was informed of their existence, but there was no need to spread it amongst the enlisted who were much more liable to leak information. Plus, it wasn't necessary that they were in the know on absolutely everything.
The officers of the company were surprised, to say the least, when Nixon's lecture on the invasion and their tactics turned to the team of spies who would be hidden in amongst them. Luck was on their side, however, in that Easy Company's previous commanding officer, who Alex had warned them about for how unpleasant he was said to be, had been transferred elsewhere. The man who was in charge now, Lieutenant Thomas Meehan, was a tad cautious about how to approach asking them anything, either because he was unsure how much he was allowed to know or merely suspicious of them in general, but was generally agreeable. This was much the same with the other officers, though many of them warmed up to them quickly.
Juliette caught sight of a toothy grin seemingly permanently etched onto the face of who she had been told was Harry Welsh, seeming to love the drama of it all, which made her inclined to like him. He sat close to the ginger man she had come across during her first meeting with Nixon, who she now knew as Richard Winters. Winters watched them carefully, though not unkindly.
Their presence in the meeting lasted for around forty-five minutes as a whole, mostly due to the fact that it was in the nature of the officers' jobs to know as much as they were permitted about what a team of spies was jumping into Normandy with them for. They were told about everything they were set to be doing but scarcely anything else: no surnames, no codenames, no previous missions to detail experience, and no details on their training. They were told in no uncertain terms by Thomas, who had had to adopt the stern, serious persona of the commanding officer they had always had in Alex, that they were to ask no questions beyond what directly affected them. When he asked if there were any questions at the end of his short briefing, wisely, they all remained silent.
Jules tried not to laugh. If they knew what Thomas was really like there was no way they would have been so easily silenced into submission, but in Juliette's experience if you slapped the label of 'spy' onto something people did tend to get a bit nervous.
It was a short while after this meeting that Nixon led them back to the small room he had been in when they first met him, which he now used as a sort of waiting area. He informed them that Meehan would be conducting the briefing of the enlisted, and that he himself would be waiting with them to see them in, to ensure the enlisted didn't play up if nothing else.
The five of them sat quietly and listened to the enlisted men of the company file into the makeshift lecture theatre. An unexpected nervousness began to buzz in Juliette's stomach that she hadn't experienced when waiting to be introduced to the officers, though she figured that was likely because she hadn't actually known any of the officers beforehand. In the next room over were dozens of men she had met, laughed with, and beaten at drinking games. Suddenly she was worried how they'd take to being told that they'd been lied to.
They would be well within their rights to be peeved, Juliette thought, which was a thought that hadn't crossed her mind prior to that moment. Would they be cold towards them? Indifferent after not having seen them for so long? Irritated that they were infiltrating their tight-knit company, even if it was against their will?
Jules fiddled mindlessly with the skirt of her dress, the pretty one with the cherries that she liked very much, chewing on her bottom lip as her mind raced with uncertainty. The one thing that set her mind at ease was that Gene already knew, so at least that was one person who wouldn't hate her. And hadn't Gene still been willing to be her friend, even after having been lied to?
But Gene's different, she thought immediately with a dismissive shake of her head, he's a saint among men. And thus her mind was set back on its course of anxious self-destruction, peeling back her confidence bit by bit.
That was, until Martin gave her a firm pat on the back, and offered her a small smile. "You alright there, Jules? Look like you've got steam coming out of your ears you're thinking so hard."
Jules laughed a little bit, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Just wondering how they'll react, is all. We have been lying to them for months, after all."
Nixon, who had obviously been eavesdropping, was unashamed enough to cut in. "They'll be fine," he told her unconcernedly, batting her worries away with a simple grin. "You've got a pretty good excuse."
To his credit, this did make Juliette giggle to herself. She glanced to her right and made eye contact with Thomas, who also seemed a bit pale with worry, but he would be the one having to take over from Meehan to deliver the briefing on what the enlisted were and were not allowed to know. That was a rotten job, and she was certainly glad it wasn't her having to do it.
Will was fiddling with a radio he'd found, and Jules thought that if it had been any other officer who had been chosen to wait with them he probably would have been reprimanded. Nixon didn't seem to care, though, and instead lounged back in his seat and watched him idly, sipping from his flask every now and then. Jules didn't even want to know what was in it.
After having had to sit through the entirety of Nixon's lecture to the officers about the invasion, Jules had a decent idea of what their cue would be to start getting ready for their grand guest appearance. When that cue was hit, she stiffened in her chair.
Martin gave her another pat on the back before jumping to his feet. Jules followed suit and sent him a grateful smile before falling into line behind Thomas.
Nixon was at the front, set to lead them in, with Thomas leading Jules, Will, and finally Martin at the back.
Meehan was in the midst of explaining the presence of spies in amongst their jump into Normandy when Jules risked a glance back at William behind her. Will wore a nervous smile and had an anxious buzz of energy around him.
"Everything's about to change," he told her quietly, and she smiled slightly.
She shrugged. "It's not everyday you get to meet an entire group of people again."
She shared one last smile with Will, nodding to Martin standing behind him before turning back to face the front. Nerves whirled around in her stomach as Tom turned back and gave them all a nod. He caught Juliette's hand and gave it a squeeze before turning back to Nixon.
The intelligence officer was facing them now, and he wore a small grin. "Ready?"
Jules tried to exhale her nerves. It was now or never.
Tom gave him a nod. "Lead the way."
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END OF BOOK ONE