Guerrilla espionage tactics?

gwendy85

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Hi guys!

I'm in the process of editing my manuscript. Right now though, I'm having better success by turning it into a web comic, but anyway, I am encountering some plot holes especially in regards to guerrilla espionage tactics used during World War II in the Pacific.

Here's the scenario. A guerrilla woman has been detained in the mansion of a Japanese officer. Said Japanese officer is in love with her and they become lovers, but the guerrilla woman is after access to his documents, and she gets this after she gains his trust. Now, since she's known to be a prisoner, any ideas how she can relay all the information she has to her comrades outside?

I've thought about pigeons, but that would be too obvious if they flew in and out of the window too often.

I'm out of ideas I'm afraid. Hope someone can help. Thanks!
 

chickenma

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When you see this in the movies, they always have a little ham set hidden in the bottom of their suitcase. But, as she's a prisoner, that seems unlikely. Is this actually a love story between extreme unequals (good luck handling that!) or is she seducing him to gain his help to smuggle the messages out?
 

gwendy85

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When you see this in the movies, they always have a little ham set hidden in the bottom of their suitcase. But, as she's a prisoner, that seems unlikely. Is this actually a love story between extreme unequals (good luck handling that!) or is she seducing him to gain his help to smuggle the messages out?


It's both actually. The two characters have quite a history behind them. The officer is the one who's in love with her while the guerrilla woman is struggling with her own feelings and her loyalty towards her country. She DID seduce him, but mainly to gain his trust and this was pretty easy. He's really blinded by his love for her.

My problem really, is how she's going to get the message out. I'd thought of pigeons, clandestine phone calls (but too traceable), maybe morse code by use of lamps at night (this would've been obvious to japanese soldiers in the vicinity) and I also thought of possibly another spy from the inside....like a cook or a maid or a messenger boy. But I am also looking for other options.
 

waylander

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Is she allowed out of the house to, maybe, walk in the garden under guard where she could do a dead letter drop.
 

Marlys

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How long and detailed is the message she needs to get across?

If she went in after a specific bit of information, she could relay it by a simple visual code: sticking a flower behind her left ear means the attack is coming by air, behind the right if by land.

If there's a large garden, a more elaborate flower code could be used.

Music is another possibility--maybe if the officer and other people in the house were used to her singing while she hung clothes out to dry, they wouldn't notice if she changed a couple of words to get a message across (especially if their native languages were different, and/or a code was set up in advance).

For that matter, she could hang laundry in some sort of flag code.

But again, it depends on what she needs to convey.
 

gwendy85

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She needs to constantly send out the messages.

She will be staying the mansion for a matter of months.

I have been thinking of letting her out a little more, but this will get more difficult so I was hoping for something more clandestine.

Singing is good. Something I'll have to think about it because it will definitely alter the pot.

Thank you so much for the ideas guys!
 

VikingRaider

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What about balloons/paper lanterns with messages tied to them? If she could gain access to the materials and a window, say at night? The trick would be local weather conditions (steady breeze from the ocean in one direction, etc.) and her comrades actually being able to find the notes - that also opens the possibility of the Japanese finding them and where that leads.... But the Japanese used balloons to sail bombs across the Pacific, so it's not out of the realm of possibility.