Spymistress

By Aviv Rubinstien
Based on the Book by William Stevenson

Notes on the world:

-Status, wealth and family dictates what you can and cannot do.
-Nazis believe in the superiority of the Aryan race.
-The British believe that gentlemanly wars should be fought by gentlemen. Even spies
should be of high class.
-To the British, what something looks like, is as important as how effective it is.
-Communism is the only thing worse than Nazism.
-To the British, Nazis aren’t evil because they’re killing Jews, they’re evil because their
imperialism encroaches on British imperialism.
-This is true for everyone except a select few.
‘Spy thrillers use a simple formula: You take three things a long way apart—An old blind
woman spinning in the western Highlands, a barn in Norway, a little curiosity shop in London
kept by a Jew with a beard. Not much connection between the three? You make a connection.’
(p59)

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 Act I
OPENING IMAGE:

Winchelsea England, 1995:

A YOUNG GIRL, 11 or so, rides her bike through the village. Up the cobblestone streets, giving
us a visual tour of the peaceful seaside town.

She comes upon SHOPKEEPERS, STUDENTS, PEOPLE going about their business. She hands
them each a flier. They chat, inaudibly before the little girl goes back on her way.

As the young girl continues her journey through the village, she makes her way to a secluded
cottage, tucked away from the rest of the town.

She knocks on the door.

After a moment, an elderly woman, VERA ATKINS (80s), opens the door. She greets the girl with
a warm smile.

The girl hands Vera one of the fliers, and for the first time we see what it is for: A townwide
celebration for the 50th anniversary of VE Day.

Vera entertains the girl’s questions for a moment: Do you have a husband? Children?
Grandchildren? Why not? before bidding her farewell and telling her she hopes to see her at the
celebration.

As the young girl retreats on her bicycle, we see, for the first time, behind the elderly Atkins.
Behind her back she holds a gun, cocked and ready to use.

The young girl disappears down the road, and Vera finally relaxes. She takes the VE Day flyer
and places the gun back in its hiding place.

Still clutching the flyer, she trudges out the back door of her cottage and down to the water.

She gets comfortable on a small bench and places the flyer next to her. She squints out over the
Straits of Dover. She can barely make out the coast of France.

Quietly to herself, she hums a TUNE--

DISSOLVE TO:

Romania 1932: A lavish party. The tune Vera was humming is now part of a big band number..
We scan through the party, we don’t know who we’re supposed to be following just yet.

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Then we find her, VERA ATKINS, 23, beautiful, cold. Hardly the same 85-year-old that we just
met. She chats up FRIEDRICH WERNER VON DER SCHULENBURG, 50s, a balding
diplomat. She flirts with him. It’s all very calculated. She wows him with her ability to speak
English and Romanian perfectly. Schulenburg shows off for Vera, touting his rank (German
ambassador to Romania) and his knowledge of current events.

INTERCUT WITH: A basement. Vera, still in her party attire hustles into the wine cellar, careful
not to be noticed. She scribbles coded words on a piece of paper. CX, Intrepid, Stalin, Oil,
Sabotage, Phoenix, Bismarck, Nazi.

Meanwhile Schulenburg tells Vera that Otto von Bismarck told him that Romania was a window
to the Soviet Union, and he was in place to avoid war with Russia at all costs. Vera brings up
Germany’s wild dog, Hitler, who is currently in the process of seizing control of German.
Schulenberg counters with Bismark, tells her that Bismarck is a defender of the Jews (p8). Vera
points out that Bismarck founded an ethno-nationalist newspaper in Prussia. This intrigues
Schulenberg more. He asks her to call him Fritz. The conversation is both intellectual and
flirtatious.

Meanwhile, in the basement, Vera finishes scribbling her notes. As she trots up the steps from
the privacy of the wine cellar, she runs face first into Schulenburg. Her heart stops.

He reaches into his pocket. Vera braces for something. He hands her a note asking for a secret
rendezvous.

London: Vera meets with WILLIAM STEPHENSON, 35, a Canadian businessman. His office
is adorned with pictures and commendations he received in The Great War. Through their
conversation it becomes apparent that Stephenson is providing intelligence to Winston
Churchill, a conservative MP who is frothing at the mouth to set Germany straight. Vera delivers
her information regarding Schulenburg to Stephenson. Before he dismisses her back to Romania,
Stephenson questions Vera on her lineage and loyalty. He tells her to keep her Jewish heritage a
better secret. They are operating extracurricular of official British intelligence, who does not
hire Jews, and they certainly do not hire women. If she is caught by either side she would be
labeled an Enemy Alien. He tells her the British Royal family doesn’t care about the plight of
the Jews, and sees Hitler as their only protection against Stalin. Therefore, Chamberlain, the
current Prime Minister, to ingratiate himself to the Royal family, and to not plunge his country
into another Great War, is dead set on appeasing Hitler. Many think he’s hateful rhetoric
(consolidating power, anti-Semitism, anti-free-press, and anti-globalism) is just for show, and
once he’s in power he will become more moderate.

But Churchill, Stephenson and now Vera know better. They don’t want to give Hitler the
opportunity to make good on his promises. Stephenson instructs Vera to go home to Romania
extract more information from the German ambassador to Romania, Schulenburg. Perhaps they
can kill Hitler before he has a chance to enact his plans.

CUT TO:

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Romania: Vera exits her home to see Schulenberg waiting for her in a Rolls Royce. Vera’s heart
stops at seeing the coach, it waves two Nazi flags above the headlights.. Their meeting is
discrete. He tells her of his task to engineer a Nazi-Russian peace pact. He tells her of his
ambivalence between helping the Nazis and saving the country that he loves. He thinks Hitler is
a mad dog, but would never be able to hold onto power.

Vera returns home to find a letter from Stephenson demanding that she move to London. He has
a full-time job for her. (p14)

Vera, conflicted, unearths a box of artifacts from her family. Namely her father, Max Rosenberg.
She struggles with her decision. Should she leave her home? Ultimately, she decides she can do
more good in England. Maybe she can make a difference.

London: Once face to face, Stephenson explains as a part of his cover as a businessman he got a
chance to inspect German steel plants and it looks like they’re preparing for war. He introduces
Vera to a group known as “Our Mutual Friends”, High Society business-types who secretly
railed against the Nazis. There Vera meets HUGH DALTON, the only parliamentarian worth a
damn.

Vera’s new job would be as a secretary-translator at Stephenson’s Steel Company, this will allow
her to pass into German territory to gain information for Dalton.

Now that one cover is secure, in order to help create her domestic cover as a British aristocrat,
MARY STEPHENSON introduces Vera in to London High Society. At a debutant ball, Vera
deflects questions about her past, while charming young men. Many of the high society types
express happiness at Hitler’s plan. With Hitler ruling Europe, it would leave Britain control of
the middle east and Asia. And after all, they’re just Jews. “I can’t think why the Jews make such
a fuss over a few dozen of their people” (p20).

Egypt: On a mission posing as Stephenson’s secretary, Vera comes across RICHARD THOMAS
WYNDHAM KETTON-CREMER, a mouthful of a name to be sure, but everyone just calls him
STRINGBAG (given the name for piloting a four-winged plane through enemy fire). Stringbag is
a young, handsome pilot whose braggadocio entices Vera to put him in his place. He clucks to
Vera about the prowess of the RAF. Vera’s quick wit impressed him, but she is decidedly not
impressed by him. They bond over their common dark sense humor, but Vera has no desire to
see him again.

England: Stringbag calls on Vera socially. She has no interested. He entices her by offering to
take her up in his plain, a mix of trying to prove the RAF is the strongest arm of the military,
trying to impress Vera. She jokes that she doesn’t know whether she’s smitten with him or his
plane.” (p21). Vera insists that modern weapons are not what wins a war. Who cares how
armored a train is when you can blow up a bridge with a couple of stick of dynamite. Their one-
upmanship is a poor front for their electric connection.

Berlin: On another drive with Schulenburg, Vera’s been at this for a couple years. She seems
cooler, calmer, better at extracting information. While Schulenberg seems worn out. He says

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“Two million Nazi’s can’t tell 70 million Germans what to do. British diplomats are listening to
Nazi bigwigs at cocktail parties, instead of venturing into street bars where ordinary Germans
ask openly when the British will help overthrow the Nazis.” (p35).

Vera holds her head high as she travels through Berlin, seeing the Nazi ideology spread. On the
street, the Nuremburg Laws (Laws segregating Jews and stripping them of their rights) were in
full effect. Jewish businesses were boarded up. Signs prohibiting Jews from moving freely exist
everywhere. German police forcibly remove Jews from public spaces. Their cries echo in the
streets. Vera travels freely through the Berlin streets, enjoying the protection of being part of a
foreign envoy, and successfully passing for a gentile. Inside she’s shaking. She longs to reach
out to a child being torn out of her school, but she does not, cannot react.

London 1938: Chamberlain addresses Parliament asking for appeasement for the Germans.
Churchill begs against it.

Stringbag and Vera engage in a night of hard drinking and gallows humor about the whole thing.
What else is there to be done? With war only days away (their prediction is that Hitler will soon
break his armistice treaty with Poland )Vera insists that Hitler and his ideology can be defeated
without a full-scale war. Stringbag tells her of a mythical Section D (for destruction) run by a
Scottish crackpot who believes the same as Vera does. He even wrote a couple books about it.

When Vera returns home, she finds a message from Schulenburg revealing a little information.
HORST KOPKOW is the new head of the Gestapo. They’ll have to put their visits on hold, lest
Kopkow catch and kill her. Signed “Old Fritz”

Stephenson instructs Vera to reveal very little in return, for Schulenburg may already be
compromised by the third Reich.

That night Vera has visions of HORST KOPKOW, a weasel-y little prick. Grinning smugly as he
executes a JEWISH SPY in front of her husband and children.

Vera wanders through the East End of London. She watches factory workers, shopkeepers,
women, Jews, all of low caste. She studies them as they go about their lives.

Inciting Incident

Vera approaches Colonel COLLIN GUBBINS, 40s, brash, Scottish, the madman to which
Stringbag had referred, and asks him to use his influence to sway the British army into creating a
brigade made of Jews, women and commoners, the ones ready to fight and with the most to lose.
They would work for SIS and sabotage German steel mills, rail stations, etc. (p42) “The only
cracks in Germany’s armor will be in the factories, spies could point out the weak spots to
trained saboteurs who could wreak more havoc, at least cost and with more precision than
aerial bombers. ‘In the building of tanks, I tell you what. There is always somewhere a weakest
spot.”

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Gubbins asks where she got this notion of closework, which is when Vera plops a book on his
desk: Housewife’s ABC’s of Homemade Explosives, by Collin Gubbins.

Gubbins, after asking Vera of her background and religion (which she lies about), tells Vera of
STEWART MENZIES, deputy general of the SIS (Secret Intelligence Service), and a real
asshole who would prefer the clandestine fighting done by gentlemen of high class. Gubbins:
Policy is run by those who waver between opportunism and morality-- if dumped in a cannibal’s
cooking pot, would see the cannibal’s point of view” (p46)

Gubbins wants to think more creatively. It’s not just about blowing up tanks and factories,
closework can be used for a myriad of things.

Vera suggests trying to finagle a meeting with Hitler only to shoot him in the face. Gubbins
thinks this is hilarious. He and Vera are two of a kind.

Gubbins lets Vera in on a secret: A team of Polish Scientists have come into possession of a
German Enigma Machine. And when war breaks out, possession of this will be crucial. But
where does Vera fit in? Gubbins has requested an official mission order to extract the Polish
scientists from their home country before it is invaded. That request has been denied. Gubbins
needs Vera to steal official SIS letterhead and forge a mission order.

Intercut with: Vera steals stationary from Whitehall (the headquarters of the SIS) and forges
documentation authorizing resources for Gubbins to extract the Polish scientists: Military
Mission Number 4.

Back to Gubbins’ office: Vera agrees on one condition: She will go to Poland along with
Gubbins.

On the eve of her mission, Vera and Stringbag drink at a pub. (Polish vodka story p67). She tells
Stringbag that she will die on her mission, and to prepare himself for her fate. Stringbag gives
Vera his RAF badge as a token of good luck. Vera supposes that he’ll want it back safely? No.
Stringbag replies, it’s to help them identify her body. There’s that dark humor again. Stringbag
and Vera finally consummate their relationship. Vera sneaks out in the morning, leaving
Stringbag asleep in her bed, being sure to take the RAF badge with her.

Marseilles: Vera and Gubbins (and the rest of their team) arrive 36 hours late. A British
warship, the HMS Shropshire (headed for India) is about to leave without them. (Ruth Jew story
here p74)

The space tight, that night, Vera, Gubbins and the handful of other troops sleep on the deck of
the Shropshire.

Alexandria: While waiting for their flight, Gubby and Vera discover that the war has started.
Germany has invaded Poland. They have no way to fly there.

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Vera heads directly into a pub, and bluffs a couple of Polish pilots, saying that she and Gubbins
are British secret service and they’re out to save the world.

CUT TO:

Warsaw: A dozen uniformed British soldiers, Gubby in a kilt, and Vera march through Warsaw.

As the gunfire and riots break out around them, they march into GENERE WIART’S office, (a
gruff man with an eyepatch). He gives them the Enigma machine. The POLISH SCIENTISTS beg
Gubbins and Vera to take them back to England too. It breaks Gubbins’ heart to say no. Vera
arranges for them to be smuggled into France.

They ask Wiart how they’re supposed to get back to England, he just grins.

CUT TO:

Athens: Vera, Gubby and the group narrowly escape the Athens airport in a small plane, amid a
hail of gunfire from Greek officials.

London: Vera marches into Dalton’s office, enigma in hand, and demands resources for Section
D.

Act II
It’s been a couple of years since Vera’s mission to Poland. World War II is in it’s second year,
and Vera is slightly older, wiser, less fiery and more put together as she leads Hugh Dalton and
MAURICE BUCKMASTER on a tour of the Winchelsea campus of the SOE (Special Operations
Executive.) Vera recounts to her bosses Hugh Dalton and MAURICE BUCKMASTER an
assassination attempt made on Hitler’s life. (Kopkow is present at this assassination attempt)
(p106). Hitler has taken to calling himself invincible, and doing God’s work by exterminating
the Jews. Dalton instructs Vera to recruit spies to help 1) gain intelligence. 2) sabotage 3) train
civilian armies in France 4) run safe houses (knowns as letterboxes) in France for other agents.

In a pub, Vera finds VIRGINIA HALL, they talk of her escape from Vichy, France where she
was a nurse with an ambulance service. Vera convinces her to go back to France to raise a
civilian army. Hall wonders if Cuthbert will give her a problem. Vera tells her, if so, Cuthbert
should be eliminated. Hall lifts her dress to reveal a wooden leg. That’s Cuthbert.

Ringway Airport, Manchester: Vera psychs up another recruit VIOLETTE SZABO who
readies herself for a practice jump. The idea is she throws the suitcase tied to a tether, and when
the line goes slack, she pulls her chute.

Stringbag flies the plane. Violette jumps, but pulls her chute too late and breaks her ankle. Vera
rushes to her aid.

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In a poor part of London, Vera enters a factory to see hundreds of WOMEN, welding bomb
parts. She tears a propaganda poster off of the wall (WOMEN OF BRITAIN COME INTO THE
FACTORIES). She asks who among the women want to make a real difference. A few women,
including ODETTE SANSOM raise their hands. Vera let’s a smile escape.

At the Winchelsea campus, Vera teaches her GIRLS how to shoot, how to operate a radio. She
mentions that the first wave of agents will drop into France at the next new moon.

CUT TO:

Violette Szabo drops behind enemy lines for real! This time she lands gracefully.

In a safe house, Odette Sansom radios back to England.

Vera explores the poor of London, recruiting women and Jews to join her secret team.

In his lab, LEO MARKS, 20, a Jewish, coding genius shows Vera, Szabo, Sansom, Virginia Hall
and a handful of other spies, including TOMMY YEOTHOMAS, a list of silk cyphers that can be
used for coding messages. To be destroyed after use.

Leo pulls Vera aside and tells her that Virginia Hall needs no assistance with her cypher
because she has a photographic memory.

In France, Virginia organizes a civilian army of women. Handing out guns and homemade
explosives.

As Vera trains a crop of recruits, KRYSTYNA SKARBEK approaches, telling Vera that she
heard people were looking for idiots to jump out of planes. “Germans behave like bullies when
they move in packs, but piss their pants when separated from their pals.”

In Gubbin’s office, Vera tells Gubby of Krystyna, how she set fire to a nun (p161-164). Krystyna
enters and insists there’s a way back into Poland. She just had to ski over the mountains.

At SIS, Steward Menzies tells his assistant that he’s worried about SOE infiltration from
communists and Nazis. He calls in a YOUNG AGENT who he tasks to infiltrate SOE.

At a high society party, Vera recruits NOOR INAYAT KHAN, a gentle, soft spoken, Indian
princess fluent in English, French and Russian.

Leo Marks teaches each spy a poem cypher and gives them code names. YeoThomas is White
Rabbit, Szabo is Three Blind Mice. Noor is Madeline, etc, etc. The poem cypher must have one
intentional spelling error to indicate that the agent hasn’t been compromised. What are the code
names given to other featured spies? And can we always refer to them by their code names after
this?

8
Vera gets a letter from Old Fritz reporting on the German alliance with Russia. Vera gives it to
Leo and YeoThomas to decipher whether Schulenberg has been compromised.

Vera approaches a munitions depot. She scans the territory for any tough looking women.

In training, Gubbins teaches the recruits, Hall, Szabo, Sansom, YeoThomas, the SIS Spy,
everyone, how to hide explosives in the carcasses of dead rats.

CUT TO:

A German power station blowing up in France.

Back in her warehouse, Virginia Hall congratulates herself with her team.

In his dimly-lit office: Kopkow laments, “I’d give anything to ring the neck of that Canadian
bitch”

An indecipherable code comes in. Something garbled and broken. Vera breaks it with ease. It’s
like a crossword puzzle. Vera, with her ear to the radio transmitter learns that Germany has
invaded Russia, and now Russia is an ally. Now Gubbins has seen everything!

Vera scribbles out a letter to Old Fritz asking is he’s okay.

Meanwhile, in Moscow, Schulenberg is arrested by the soviets for his ties to Germany.

Stringbag teaches emergency landing techniques to a handful of recruits including Noor.

Gubbins, Buckmaster and Vera sit in Buckmaster’s office, going through a list of agents: Chuck
Yaeger, Christopher Lee, Julia Child, Roald Dahl, Noel Coward, all ready for their assignments.
They snuff out the SIS spy, and send a spy of their own, Julia Child to infiltrate SIS, Gubbins
objects to sending Odette Sansom back into the field, saying she’s too temperamental and
stubborn. Buckmaster overrules him and tells Vera to send her out. They have a shortage of good
agents.

In the hallway, Buckmaster indicates that he knows Atkins true identity. He deduced it by
discovering that there was no citizenship records for Vera Atkins. He leaves the threat right
there.

Vera prepares VICTOR FREDRICKS for release in Hungary. She checks his cover story.
Listens to him speak in four different languages. She tells him of the rumors of Concentration
Camps and Germans gassing Jews. It’s his mission to recon the torture. She gives him his silk
cypher and removes the labels from his clothes. She tells him he’s probably going to die there,
and to mentally prepare himself for it. She gives him the L pill. A cyanide capsule to use instead
of succumbing to torture. He understands.

QUICK MONTAGE:

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*Victor Fredericks dropping behind enemy lines.
*Bombs drop as Germany pummels France England.
*Krystyna Smuggling Weapons into Poland
*Chuck Yaeger training an army in France
*Odette Sansom transmitting in the dark of night.
*Violette Szabo, dressed provocatively, romancing a Mark.
*The White Rabbit (Tommy YeoThomas) lays in a coffin as two FRENCH WOMEN transport
him across the border. They’re stopped by the Gestapo and narrowly talk their way out of it.

Meanwhile: Audio: Old phonograph music plays underneath news reports of how the Royal Air
Force is pummeling the Jerrys.

Manchester: On a countryside campus, Vera, in the middle of a tour, talks with Stephenson and
BILL DONOVAN— another wealthy American investor— of their group’s success. They are
accomplishing more and for less money than the RAF, but the British government continues to
put all their resources behind conventional military strategy. She leads them to a train track
where they find ROLANDE COLAS tied to the track. The exercise is supposed to switch the
oncoming train at the last minute, but there’s something wrong. Everyone scrambles to try to
help Rolande. Vera yells. And whoops. It turns out to be a training exercise, and the train misses
Colas completely. (p136-137)

Donovan asks who came up with this torturous scenario. Vera introduces them to IAN
FLEMMING. Flemming, speaking out of turn, tells Donovan of OPERATION RUTHLESS
(p133).

INTERCUT WITH: OPERATION RUTHLESS (p133).

-A downed German Bomber is repaired and made air-worthy

-A crew of FIVE MALE SOE OPERATIVES dress in German uniforms
-Flying above the English Channel, the crew purposely calls an SOS Mayday in German and
crashes into the channel.
-A German rescue boat approaches, and “rescues” the downed airmen.
-The SOE operatives shoot the Germans and dump their bodies overboard. They scour the cabin
for information and take the boat back toward England.

Vera, fearing Donovan and Stephenson’s reactions, redirects them to Gubbins who, with
CHARLES FRASIER SMITH, head of Q gadgets. He shows his class of spies a watch that turns
into a microphone, a uniform button that becomes a compass, and a key with a hollow pillar to
be used for smuggling information.

Things Fall Apart

Paris 1942: An entire safe house, Code Name: Prosper, is broken up by Gestapo.

London: Leo Marks, in love with Noor and afraid for her life, begs Vera to call her back, Vera
wirelesses Noor and tells her to return immediately. Noor turns down the offer.

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That night at her home, Vera receives a coded transmission from “Peter”. It’s a letter from
Kopkow threatening Vera and asking her to join him. Vera is shaken. Stringbag comforts her.

The White Rabbit demands to be sent back to France, but Gubbins hesitates, saying he knows too
much. The White Rabbit insists he can stand up to torture: If you can get through the first few
minutes of torture, you’ve got it made. Everything beyond that is a small inconvenience” (p241)

Vera implores them to send him (and points out the hypocrisy of sending untrained, unready
women).

Menzies approaches Hugh Dalton with the news the Vera has been compromised and is now
working for the Nazis or the Russians. Dalton takes this news seriously.

Meanwhile, a perfect code comes in from Gilbert Norman. One without a spelling error.
Buckmaster blames an overworked-but-not compromised Norman. Vera speaks up, but
Buckmaster silences her with a look. Buckmaster responds: You have forgotten your true check,
be more careful next time.

In his office, Kopkow listens to coded British transmissions. He pulls a name out. Sansom.

CUT TO: A foot chase on a war-torn Paris street. Odette runs for her life from the encroaching
Germans.

She makes her way into her bunker hideaway and begins destroying all the information that
adorns the walls.

England: Vera is furious at the news of Odette’s capture, blaming Odette for staying in the same
safe house for too long. She begs Buckmaster and Dalton for more resources, but all the money
is going to the “gentlemen” in the RAF. It is after all, the pilots who will win the war…

France: White Rabbit goes to a meetup. “You must be Shelly”. It’s a trap. He’s rounded up by
the Gestapo.

England: Gubbins and Buckmaster are furious that Vera and Leo Marks let The White Rabbit
back into the field. Violette Szabo volunteers to break him out of his prison camp. Buckmaster
protests. He has affection for Violette and is letting that govern his actions. Ultimately Vera
demands sending Violette to rescue her captured agent.

France: Odette is taken to a concentration camp. There she meets Kopkow. He tells her is told
that she’s condemned to death on two counts, to which she responds, "Then you will have to
make up your mind on what count I am to be executed, because I can only die once." 

MONTAGE: Vera’s agents get captured, and killed.

*MADELIEINE, a young agent, gets dropped directly into a field surrounded by Germans.

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* Odette sees the horrors of the concentration camp, people resorting to cannibalism. She meets
PETER CHURCHILL another British spy with an interesting name.
*Chuck Yaeger narrowly escapes France on a boat.
*At the French prison camp, Szabo breaks in and provides papers and clothes to help White
Rabbit escape. She kills 40 people. He barely makes it out, but Szabo is shot dead. (Story on
P279-280)
*Rolande’s radio transmission is intercepted/indecipherable code (p280)
*Krystyna waits to jump from a plane. The winds are too high. She gets impatient and jumps
anyway, fractures her hip. Claims it’s only bruised.
*Noor Khan, sleeping in her bed in France is awakened in the middle of the night by a knock on
the door. Without thinking she answers in English. The Gestapo breaks down the door and takes
Noor.

*After dropping an agent into France, Stringbag takes fire. With a grin, he dodges and dog
fights, this is the kind of work he most enjoys. Enough of this sneaking around crap.

After a few maneuvers, Stringbag gains the upper hand against his attacker. He fires on the
German plane, striking one of its engines. The night fills with smoke as the German fighter goes
down.

Suddenly, BRAP BRAP BRAP, the smoke has obscured another German fighter’s approach. He
fires into Stringbag’s wing. Stringback struggles to regain control of his airplane. He loses
altitude and dips below the clouds.

Gubbins wakes Vera solemnly. He tells her that they’ve been completely compromised, that
Stringbag is missing-presumed dead. Vera shows no emotion. She completely shuts down.
Gubbins tells Vera that Dalton, Menzies and Buckmaster want to see her.

In a clinical room, Vera is interrogated by Dalton, Menzies, and Buckmaster for potentially
being a spy. If she’s not a spy then she’s incompetent. So which is it? She’s asked if she knows
Horst Kopkow. She’s asked if he’s contacted her. Buckmaster exposes Vera’s heritage. She is
mortified.

She knows too much to be fired, and they’re not sure if they need to imprison her as an enemy
alien or execute her. They leave her with next to no authority in the managing of her spies.

Vera retorts that her loyalty wouldn’t be questioned if they thought she was of noble birth, a
male or Christian. Menzies can’t help but agree.

As Vera leaves she sees Leo being led in to be interrogated. How convenient…

Act III
It’s been another few years since the war started. Vera has only gotten colder. Most of the fire in
her has gone out. She looks tired. Krystyna begs Vera for aid to Poland. They’ve only made two
successful drops in the past four months. Vera, with tears in her eyes, lights a cigarette and says

12
“I’m sorry. Something’s going on at high levels I don’t understand. Our foreign office and
Washington are obsessed with one thing: What will Stalin think if we help you?” Krystyna
responds: Power is as power does.

The White Rabbit visits Vera, now languishing behind a desk, resigned to never having control
of her girls again. He inspires her, telling her that Violette killed 40 people on her way to rescue
him. He tells her that he heard La Marseilles (the French National Anthem) through the vents in
his dungeon in the concentration camp. But it’s too late. The British are going to get their big
gentlemanly war that they wanted. Operation Overlord (the invasion of Normandy) is only weeks
away. They share a moment. The White Rabbit all but admits his feelings for Vera. She is barely
consoled. Vera eyes Stringbag’s badge, which sits on her desk among other trinkets .Referencing
Stringbag, she insists that emotional involvement will only lead to death.

That night at the pub, Vera drinks alone, watching Virginia Hall wine-and-dine young spies
returning from their duties. She very clearly is trying to get them to admit that they’ve been
compromised. None of them bites. Hall and Vera lock eyes with understanding.

Gubbins enters the pub and approaches Vera. He talks of his greatest regret, not being able to
raise a Polish militia so Poland could defend itself. Now Poland is completely in the hands of the
soviets. Vera: “I need to go back to a time that seems enviably predictable. It helps deal with so
much uncertainty.” Gubbins and Vera commiserate, the Americans are bound to fall into the
same quagmire as the British. Throwing money and bombs at the problem. D-Day will fail if the
allies continue to reject closework.

Vera’s ready to give it all up. Nothing makes sense anymore.

When Vera returns home, The White Rabbit is waiting for her. Vera preemptively rejects his
advances. That’s not why he’s there. He puts her in the car, won’t tell her where they’re going.

As the drive gets longer and the night gets darker, Vera begins to suspect The White Rabbit of
being an assassin. She readies her defense.

Until they arrive at their destination: An unmarked house on the countryside. Vera doesn’t want
to go in. The White Rabbit persuades her.

Inside sits Winston Churchill and his assistant DESMOND MORTON. White Rabbit introduces
the two. He says that Vera has some specific resource requests that are going unanswered:
White Rabbit: You asked SOE to create a gigantic guerrilla with the order to Set Europe Ablaze.
The flames are dying in official channels”

Churchill (p240): You short-circuited those official channels. This might make trouble for you.”
Then he breaks into a cherubic smile “But I shall see that no such thing shall be allowed to
happen.

Vera outlines for Churchill the effectiveness of her girls and the need for them to be utilized
when the troops surge. After a back and forth (p240) Churchill asks what Vera needs.

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Aircraft: 100 RAF planes with pilots, autonomy for Vera and her agents.

Churchill: Why does Menzies tell me you’re a spy for the Soviets?

She exchanges a look with The White Rabbit. He nods with acceptance.

Vera admits to Churchill her true heritage. She’s not British but Romanian. She’s Jewish.

They discuss Vera’s work. She has been working for SOE as a civilian due to her lack of British
Citizenship. Churchill produces a paper, an application he claims Vera filled out applying for
British citizenship. Churchill signs the document and immediately commissions Vera as an
intelligence offices in F-Section (the section that holds SOE). He asks what branch she’d like to
be a part of (as her cover), she, of course, replies, the air force.

Churchill will give her 78 planes. That’s all he can spare.

D-Day (Operation Overlord)

On the Winchelsea campus, Vera makes an impassioned speech to her girls: Krystyna, Virginia,
Rolande Colas, The White Rabbit, Chuck Yaeger, many other, younger spies who we don’t
know as well. They ready for the big day.

She ultimately reveals who she is, Max Rosenberg’s daughter. She asks them to fight for
England and for her.

INTERCUT WITH: (p273-300)

Leo Marks: “whoops” in an already broken code corresponds with the fictional USFAG (US
First Army Group, thanking them for their help and supplies for their attack on Pas-De-Calais
(not the actual D-Day target).

Kopkow has an office of his own. A giant, dark wearhouse with rows and rows of Germans
intercepting and decoding radio chatter. One of the Germans breaks Leo Marks’ code and
frantically waves Kopkow over. He listens, and grins. He boasts of fooling the SOE.

DECEPTION TEAMS: Parachute into Pas-De-Calais (once again, not the actual D-day target).
Once on the ground, they unload wind up gramophones with the sounds of tanks and military
chatter.

Downrange, German soldiers are fooled by this ruse and call for backup.

Virginia: Congratulates Vera, and says she can’t wait to get back to France. The home office
was boring her to tears.

Krystyna: Tells Vera of compact powders that can eat through metal. Like the axel of a car. So
easy, a school child could do it.

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CUT TO: Two young SCHOOLGIRLS apply powder to a German army transport vehicle. They
quickly disappear into the night.

BOOM! The night lights up and Germans scatter as the transport vehicle blows sky high.

Krystyna drops back into North of France. Munitions in hand. She takes the place of the man
who took the place of Peter Churchill (where’s Peter Churchill!?), leading a secret Polish army.

Odette: Around the walls of Odette’s prison camp, young girls and boys on bicycles circle
screaming “BBC Standby” messages. Odette knows what this means. The allies are coming!

Leo Marks: As bombs drop overhead, he describes to Vera: It took the 77th German Armored
Division 13 days to make a 36 hour journey.

Rolande Colas: makes strategic cuts to a train track in the south for France. She drops a portion
of it off a bridge.

CUT TO: Train after train holding German troops is stranded in a line that stretches for miles.

Chuck Yaeger: leads guerilla troops against panzer (military cars and tanks) divisions, leaving
traps and blowing them up with IEDs.

Virginia Hall: in France, leads her 2500 person civilian army against German troops. They
attack from all around in the streets, smothering a German battalion. One of the French
battalions breaks off, eventually fighting the others as well as the Germans.

Leo Marks is Frantic. He alerts Vera of the in-fighting among the home-grown army in France.
Virginia is pissed. Vera will have to sneak into France to make peace between the two rebel
armies.

Another of Vera’s spies, PEARL WITHERINGTON blows up a munitions depo.

Kopkow puts a reward on Pearl Witherington’s head. He commands his officers to exact
revenge for the guerilla tactics on French Citizens.

CUT TO: Vera, on a small boat, crossing the English Channel. She receives a wireless message
from Krystyna, telling her of a schoolboy who claimed POW status because he was working with
an American GI group. The Germans cut out his tongue and eyes and bayonetted him to death.
Vera transmits: German terrorist reprisals will only inflame civilian resistance.

German Soldiers take refuge in a farmhouse barn. Outside, an old FARMER’S WIFE lights the
barn on fire, killing the soldiers inside.

15
In a secret compartment under a railcar filled with guns an ammunition, Vera lays, traveling
toward Paris. She watches through a crack in the floor, a Nazi board and search the passenger
compartment. She checks her watch.

Paris: Vera unites the two resistance factions, Communists and Gaullists against the Nazi
enemy. She sits with leaders of the two battalions negotiating a piece. Afterwards, a resistance
fighter approaches Vera asking her to help him set up a Jewish brigade. Vera grins.

Kopkow: Orders the liquidation of every concentration camp.

Noor Kahn: Faces a firing squad in Dachau. She links arms with her fellow prisoners.

The White Rabbit: Helps innocent Poles escape concentration camps. One of them asks him
when they can return to the fight. As they escape, she sees the Gestapo guards destroying
documents.

Victor Fredericks: breaks into Dachau to find he’s too late to save Noor.

In Odette’s concentration camp, she and Peter are marched toward the chambers. They see the
guards scrambling and thinks fast. Odette steps out of line and asks for the guard’s attention. She
tells them that Peter Churchill is the son of Winston. That she knows the liquidation of the
concentration camp means retreat, means the Germans are losing the war. Any officer who
wanted to make good with Britain could trade her and Peter for immunity. Peter rolls with it.

In Churchill’s office, bombs go off overhead. Vera coolly lights a cigarette. Stephenson, Dalton,
and Buckmaster are all in attendance. Stephenson admits that SOE has been instrumental in the
success of Operation Overlord.

Churchill plans to tour Normandy tomorrow and tell Stalin that Britons are out enjoying the
sunshine. An obvious lie, but important in the growing fight against the soviets.

Vera tells the group of another attempt made on Hitler’s life, the 31st, after which he claimed he
was invincible. Churchill insists that they’ll get him. They’ve just turned the tide of the war.

Churchill tells Vera of the death of Schulenburg, Hitler found out he was anti-Nazi and
specifically requested that he be hung publicly and the pictures in the papers. Vera tries not to let
this get to her.

She asked how Hitler discovered it. One of the Nazi officers has turned coat. Cut a deal with
Odette Samson--

Cut to: Odette, Peter and a third officer, ride in a Mercedes Benz through the countryside. They
are delivered to Kopkow, who is thrilled to be able to deliver relatives of the Prime Minister back
to him.

16
Back in the office: Vera asks about her missing spies. Churchill apologizes, there’s no money or
resources in order for Vera to go looking for her girls.

1945

Several months later, Vera is now approaching Forty, but stress has aged her prematurely.
She’s still beautiful but the fire within her has completely gone out.

Vera walks quietly on the SOE campus. Snow falls. It’s a distinct difference to the last scene.
Peaceful. The war is over. She holds a newspaper: VICTORY IN EUROPE. GERMANY
REBUILDS.

After a moment, Leo Marks joins her. He’s in the middle of a big project: combing through old
transmissions of agents looking for their whereabouts.

Vera tells him that Stalin is shoveling homeless Jews into Palestine, as the Nazis did, to ignite
Arab tension against the British. If they’re not careful, they’re going to have another war on
their hands. Nothing has changed.

Before Leo returns to his work, Vera tells him that she called Noor back, tried to save her. Leo
tells Vera a story of when he was training Noor and she refused to lie (p297-298). Her father
had taught her never to lie. This posed a problem when Leo was teaching Noor how to “bluff”
security checks and keep a cover. Both of those were lying, and Noor refused to do them. Leo
had convinced Noor to lie, to keep up appearances, to sacrifice not only her life, but her eternal
soul in order to perpetuate a greater truth. That people deserved to live. That fascism cannot not
be allowed to rule the world. Leo expresses guilt for convincing Noor to take up those “lies”
against her own moral code. He tells Vera that once Noor went out into battle, he knew, one way
or another, she was never coming back.

When Vera returns to her office, Buckmaster introduces her to their newest double agent,
HORST FRIGGIN KOPKOW. He’s going to help them defeat the communists. They size each
other up silently. Kopkow smiles. He won. She asks him if it’s true that 1.5 million people had
been killed at Auschwitz. “No! No! It was 2,345,001” Kopkow replies.

Vera comes very close to shooting him on the spot.

Vera marches into Gubbin’s office, ready for a fight, when Gubbins tells her he’s been fired.
None of this makes any sense to him anymore. It’s a gentleman’s war once more. He tells her
Krystyna is stuck in Cario—she was given a special Middle East movement job, looking for
rusting cargo ships whose owners would run the naval blockade to deliver refugees to Palestine.
She’ll fight for what she believes in, no matter the nation.

That night, Vera talks with the White Rabbit. He expresses his feelings for her once again, but
she resists. She feels the same cannot get emotionally entangled again, ever. She expresses to
him that she has hope that Stringbag is still alive. That she feels responsible for putting him in
that situation, that she feels responsible for all the girls she has lost. She asked them to fight for

17
her, personally. Stringbag suggests Very ask Kopkow for information. Vera says that if she ever
sees him again, she’ll kill him. She won’t give him chance after chance like she feels she gave
Hitler.

She tells White Rabbit of the story she heard: sixty-two railway cars entering Auschwitz each
crammed with children under eight. All gassed and burned. The wife of a German death camp
officer boarded a train and saw the horrors. And he cremated her to keep her from telling… And
Kopkow is now on their side.

The White Rabbit asks Vera what she plans to do now? How will she track down her girls? Vera
thinks for a moment.

Auschwitz: Vera, dressed as a Russian soldier uses fake papers to enter the soviet-held
concentration camp. She asks to see Rudolf Hess. I will not leave his cell until he tells me
everything.

She sits in the cell with Hess and questions him about the fate of her girls. Her spies. Her pilot,
Stringbag. One by one. She demands answers. As we pull back and--

FADE TO:

1995: Vera on the small bench, flyer in hand, looking English Channel. Her voice, listing names
of missing agents in Hess’ cell still echoing in her ears.

In the distance, Vera sees the young girl on the bicycle, making her way back to town. She calls
for the young girl and asks her to sit next to her for a while.

The little girl asks what Vera is looking for, out on the channel. Vera thinks for a moment. She
responds, old friends. She misses them very much.

Cut to black: The big band waltz from Vera’s 1932 Romanian party plays over--

TITLE: Vera worked tirelessly trying to find the whereabouts of her missing spies. She visited
over ______ camps.

TITLE: Records of the SOE’s role in WWII were mysteriously destroyed in an office fire.

TITLE: After testifying at a war crimes trial that resulted in the execution of seven female camp
guards, Vera remained silent about her role as SOE Spymistress in WWII until 1998, in the
morning.

TITLE: Vera Atkins died in the year 2000. Her wishes were to have her ashes spread across the
English Channel.

Spymistress

18