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The driver was tall and lanky, and at first Matilda thought she was a man; her blonde hair was cropped short and mostly concealed beneath a cloth cap. The cap highlighted high cheekbones and plush lips. She wore trousers and a baggy knitted jumper, with a pistol belted low. It was only the curve of hips beneath the embossed holster that truly revealed her sex. "Miss Graves?" she said brusquely. "I've come to fetch you."

Matilda stood up slowly and unkinked her back. She'd been sitting on the trunk full of telephone equipment for several hours, and her long wool overcoat had been insufficient against the bitter autumn wind. Adding to her inner chill, the ground shook periodically from distant shelling, unnerving her.

When she'd left England to escort the trunk to Le Havre, no one had told her she'd be escorting it all the way to Colonel Ellis, encamped in a ruined village near one of the Base Hospitals. She'd been ready for an adventure, but only a minor one. If she'd known she was in for a real adventure, she would have worn sturdier shoes, and perhaps some additional long underwear, she thought wryly. 

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