Chapter 26
CHAPTER 26
T he colour drained from Hannah’s face as she turned to Lizzie. ‘What? How?’
Lizzie explained how the group of armed soldiers had appeared out of nowhere and gunned Francois down just as the train was approaching.
Hannah wrapped her arms around Lizzie as if she was holding herself up, and she rocked back and forth on her clumpy shoes. Her eyes reflected the pain Lizzie felt, and she whispered, ‘Did they kill him?’
Lizzie removed her coat and sank onto the sofa, exhaustion gripping her muscles like a concrete vice. This was the first time she had stopped moving since they fled the scene, and now she was drained of energy.
‘I don’t know,’ she said, her voice as faint as Hannah’s. ‘It’s possible, but we couldn’t wait to find out.’
Hannah sat down heavily next to Lizzie and took her hands, rubbing them in hers. ‘My God, you’re like ice.’
Lizzie started trembling, and the tears flooded her eyes and spilled onto her cold cheeks. She sobbed. ‘I feel awful for leaving him, but there didn’t seem another way. ’
‘No, you did the right thing—the only thing you could do, in fact. If you’d tried to rescue him, they would have mown you down too or hauled you off for interrogation.’
Lizzie knew what Hannah said was true. She had followed procedure. The number one priority was to not get captured, so you couldn’t be interrogated.
‘Does Francois have a cyanide tablet?’ Lizzie asked, sniffing.
‘He does. Whether he had it on him or can take it is another matter. But he’s smart.’
‘I need to contact Jack immediately for orders,’ said Lizzie.
Hannah crossed to the kitchen and made them some tea. ‘You’re in shock. You need something sweet, and I took some proper sugar from the canteen today. Here,’ she said, passing the mug to Lizzie, who took it gratefully. ‘You wouldn’t believe how much food they have hanging around there for anyone to help themselves to. It’s like a different world.’
Lizzie knew Hannah was trying to calm her down by chatting and taking her mind off what had happened to Francois. It helped, and she rested against the sofa and the hot sweet tea coursed through her chest and soothed her.
‘How long do we have if Francois is alive, and they interrogate him?’ Lizzie asked, raising her tear-stained face.
Hannah ran her hand over her scalp after freeing her blonde hair from the tight plaits. ‘It depends. On so many factors. Who the interrogator is and how cruel their methods are. How strong willed the person being interrogated is and what state they are in, both mentally and physically.’
‘How strong is Francois, do you think?’
‘Oh, he’s strong—stubborn as a mule—that one. He won’t make it easy for them. He’s loyal too. The Nazis gunned his parents down in front of him when France fell, so he has every motivation. ’
Lizzie’s eyes widened. ‘How terrible, I didn’t know.’
‘Well, he’s not one to talk about it, but he makes up for it with action.’ Hannah paused, a shadow crossing her face. ‘It sounds heartless, but it might be better for him if he’s dead.’
Lizzie stared at Hannah. ‘Sometimes this just gets to be too much. I don’t know if I can handle it and I wonder who I’m fooling, pretending to be a tough SOE agent.’
Hannah nodded. ‘I know what you mean. It’s a crazy world, and it’s getting crazier every day, but our job, and the only job we need to focus on right now, is stopping the Nazis from carrying out their diabolical plans.’
‘How will we know what’s happened to Francois?’
‘That’s simple enough. If there’s a series of loud bangs on the door in the next few hours, we’ll know he’s talked.’
‘What should we do?’
‘You’d better leave, Lizzie. That’s what Jack will tell you to do.’
‘And what about you?’
‘He’ll tell me that, too,’ she said. ‘But I’ll ignore him. I’m not going anywhere. If there’s a chance I can stay undercover, it’s far too valuable to give up. If I run and find out later that Francois died after they shot him and the Gestapo know nothing about us, it will have been the biggest wasted opportunity I’ve had to hit the Nazis in their soft underbelly. They don’t even know I’m the enemy, and the longer I work there, the more documents I can access. I wish I’d done it sooner, like my gut was telling me to.’
‘I don’t want to leave you. That wouldn’t be right. I’m here to support you and the network.’
‘Dear Lizzie. You are the best friend I’ve had in a long time. What you’ve done for us here means so much, but I can’t ask you to risk your life any more than you already have. You’d be disobeying orders, and you’ll get in trouble even if you return to London to tell the tale. ’
‘Couldn’t we find another safe house?’ Lizzie asked.
‘I’m sure we could, but that’s not the real problem. If we’re blown, they’ll search for us everywhere and they’ll have details about who we are and how we look. They may even have our cover names, so it’ll all be over. But if we’re not blown, I need to stay here. This is my cover address for the job, and I can’t mess that up for nothing.’
Lizzie saw Hannah was resolute, and it was a waste of time trying to change her mind.
Hannah continued, ‘You and I operate by different codes. I’m grateful to London for all they do to support the network, but ultimately, the responsibility is mine, and I would never forgive myself if I didn’t do all I could to keep access to German High Command.’
Lizzie understood the dilemma, and she was torn.
‘I had better contact Jack and explain what’s going on. You’re right, I need to get my orders even if I don’t like them.’
Lizzie hurried out of the room and up to the attic to retrieve the wireless from its hiding place. The Count of Monte Cristo lay beside it, and Lizzie quickly jotted down her coded message. It said:
Raven. Sabotage op gone bad. Man down. Don’t know if alive or dead. Operation in the devil’s lair is strong. Angel won’t leave in case cover is not blown. I should stay too.
Seagrove.
The words felt so uncaring, but she daren’t risk saying how much she loved and missed him in case someone else decoded the message. She’d be compromising them both.
Lizzie waited; her heart wretched with emotions she could not express to Jack. There was no place for feelings in espionage. She was desperate to key in her message but unable to send anything until she got the go-ahead sign. It seemed like she waited forever, pacing about the dusty cold attic, but eventually the signal came, and she sent the message.
Lizzie was anxious to hear what Jack would say. She wanted to stay with Hannah, even though the vision of the Gestapo banging on their door tonight was a terrifying one. She didn’t feel right leaving her, when Hannah was risking her life every day to gather intelligence to pass to the SOE.
Seagrove. Abort mission. Get out now. Pickup usual place and time tomorrow. Angel too.
Raven.