Chapter 9
CHAPTER 9
L izzie was nervous and tussled with her thoughts as she tried to fall asleep in the unfamiliar hotel room. She drifted off eventually and woke to the distant hum of an aircraft. Her heart thumped as the realisation she would be jumping out of one tonight hit her sleepy brain. Fear slithered through her like a poisonous snake.
Too keyed up to fall asleep again, she swung her bare feet out of the warm bed and placed them on the carpet. She stretched sleepily and tiptoed across the room to move the blackout blind and peer outside. A watery first light shimmered in the pale dawn sky, illuminating the outline of Westminster Abbey, but there was no sign of an aircraft. Perhaps she’d dreamt it because she’d fallen asleep with the parachute jump on her mind.
There was a knock at the door from one of the SOE staff, and she dressed and hurried downstairs for a rare breakfast of poached eggs, toast, and a cup of real coffee. At precisely 6 a.m. she exited the lobby as she had been instructed. Her heart performed a little jig when she saw Jack waiting for her in the black car .
The dapper old driver jumped out as soon as she appeared and opened the car door for her with a flourish. ‘Good morning, miss. It looks like we have another beautiful day ahead of us.’
She slid into the back seat of the car next to Jack. He was freshly shaven and smelled as luscious as a pine forest and looked good enough to eat. She clutched her hands in her lap and wished she didn’t find him so attractive.
‘Morning,’ he said. ‘Sleep well?’
‘No, not really.’
‘That’s a good sign,’ he said, the trace of a smile on his lips.
‘You always surprise me. I didn’t expect you to say that.’
‘I’ll take that as a compliment, then,’ he said.
‘I doubt you hear much of anything else,’ Lizzie quipped without missing a beat. She’d noticed how everyone at SOE hung on his every word and seemed to idolise him.
‘Except from you,’ he said.
‘Oh, stop fishing. Anyway, why is it a good sign that I didn’t sleep? I don’t understand,’ she said, screwing up her forehead and pursing her lips.
‘You’ll stay like that if the wind changes. You’d better watch it when you parachute.’
‘You are doing it again,’ she said, laughing at his silly comment.
‘Doing what?’
‘Avoiding my question. I ask you a question and you go off on a tangent instead of answering it.’
‘Ah, you noticed. Too many years in the intelligence game, I suppose. Not revealing any more detail than you need to, becomes second nature.’
‘Well, for the record, it’s extremely annoying. We’re in London, not deep undercover in Paris or Berlin.’ Her lovely smile took the sting out of her cutting words .
‘You really should practice speaking your mind,’ he said, his tone acerbic.
‘Ha ha, hilarious. But you know I won’t drop it. Come on, tell me. Why is it good?’
‘Because it means you are ready and alert. You are mentally and physically preparing yourself for the field. One more day of training is all we have left, so it’s a good sign.’
‘Ah, I see. Yes, that makes sense. I hadn’t thought of it like that.’
The black Austin wound through the deserted morning streets. Only those who did early shifts were out at this time. London hadn’t yet properly stirred. Lizzie yawned. ‘It may be a good sign, but I’m exhausted,’ she said.
‘You can sleep on the way. Then I need you to bring your A game. We’ll get you some coffee at the airfield to help you wake up.’
‘Where are we going?’ she asked.
‘It’s not important. All you need to know is I’ve arranged to take you somewhere you can jump out of a real aircraft, so you can practice using a parachute and landing safely. What we did so far just isn’t enough.’
She met his serious eyes. ‘I hope I can get the hang of it. It doesn’t seem like much time to learn something so tricky.’
‘It isn’t much time. That’s why we’re doing the quick intensive version of training. If all goes according to plan, you will receive more in-depth training upon your return. Should you wish to continue working with us, that is. For this mission, you shouldn’t need much of what we’ve taught you. But we’re covering the basics, just in case.’
‘Val was absolutely brilliant yesterday,’ said Lizzie.
‘Yes, she always is. You’ll have another session with her later when we return to St. Ermin’s. It’s a bit of a drive to the site, so close your eyes and rest now if you wish.’
Lizzie lay her head back against the seat as the car sped along and left London behind. She thought she wouldn’t be able to relax, but the movement of the warm car lulled her into a deep sleep. It seemed like only a few moments had passed when she awoke to Jack’s voice. ‘Here we are. Wakey, wakey, sleepy head. We’ve reached our destination.’
Lizzie stirred and eased slowly out of the car when the driver opened the door. Her mind was still befuddled by sleep, and she stretched as the cool morning breeze in the open space hit her face.
Looking about, she saw they were in a large green field bordered by tall, thick hedges and trees. There was no signage, so she was no wiser as to their location. It could have been a field anywhere in the British countryside. A man in army uniform with a file under his arm waited to greet them and then escorted them to a nearby hut.
‘May I get you a coffee or tea?’ he asked.
Lizzie smiled gratefully. ‘Coffee would be wonderful.’
Jack agreed, and soon after, they were sipping piping hot coffee from enamel army mugs. The sergeant said he was going to make the final arrangements for the training exercise to begin and would return shortly.
‘Regular coffee seems to taste worse as time goes on,’ Lizzie said, grimacing.
Jack chuckled. ‘Yes, it’s bloody rough. Tea is probably the answer.’
Lizzie sensed he was humouring her with small talk to help her stay calm about the impending exercise.
The sergeant returned and held out a bundle of heavy-duty camouflage patterned fabric to Lizzie. ‘Here, put this on over your clothes. This is what you’ll need to wear tonight, so we’ll have a run through now.’
Lizzie stared at Jack, and a look of amusement lit up his face. ‘They call it a striptease suit,’ he said .
‘I can see why,’ she replied, fumbling with the zips, and stumbling into the suit. ‘This is quite something.’
Zips ran parallel along each side of the suit from neck to ankle.
The first exercise they did was Lizzie jumping from a static balloon, and Jack, who surprised her by demonstrating it himself, explained that she would be dropped at a low altitude from the aircraft. ‘The lower we can drop you, the better, to avoid radar detection.’
Lizzie practiced jumping over and over from a safe height and found it easy. She was lithe and fit from her years of daily swimming in the sea and cycling up steep hills in Jersey. She reflected that despite Jack’s initial grumpiness and aversion to her undertaking the mission, he was patient with her and proved to be an excellent teacher.
After they finished the balloon jumping, he turned his attention to her jumpsuit. ‘You can hide quite a few surprises in this ingenious garment.’ He pointed to a little spade attached to the leg of the suit. ‘What do you think this is for?’
‘Hmm, burying dead bodies?’
His lips twitched. ‘Let’s hope not, although you never know. This should be a simple assignment, but you must be prepared for the unexpected in enemy territory. Anything can happen.’
Lizzie’s heart raced as she listened to him and thought about what she had signed up for.
His voice was sombre, and he fixed her with a serious stare. ‘It’s for you to bury your parachute and jumpsuit after you land. The Gestapo will arrest you on the spot if they see you walking to the safe house wearing that!’
Then he showed her the different pouches and pockets and the various tools she could hide in them. Next, he showed her the protective jump helmet and how to attach it to the collarless neck of the suit .
The intense physical training consumed her and helped to ease the nerves she had been battling since they set the date for her flight to France.
‘Right, now, let’s progress to using the parachute.’ Jack fitted the harness carefully and showed her how it operated as he talked her through the process.
Lizzie watched his large hands move deftly around her as he worked.
‘Let’s have you do a higher jump wearing all the kit from the balloon and then we’ll be ready for the real practice round from the aircraft.’
Lizzie gulped and her heart flapped in her chest like a wild bird. She took a deep breath and then scarpered back up into the adjusted balloon, covered from head-to-toe and now bearing the additional weight of the parachute.
Jack counted and signalled. The wind rushed into her face as she jumped. She did exactly as he had instructed and for one terrifying second, she thought nothing was happening. Then the parachute opened, and she imagined she was an angel descending in slow motion from heaven before she bent her legs and hit the padding on the ground.
‘Very good. You’re doing well,’ Jack said. ‘Now do it again.’
Lizzie jumped a few more times until Jack was convinced she was ready for the next level. Then he checked her suit and parachute once more, and they boarded the aircraft that awaited them on the other side of the field.
Lizzie tried to stay calm, but all her senses were on fire as she waited for Jack’s signal.
‘You’ll be fine,’ he said, his voice calm, as though she jumped out of planes every day.
They had practiced how to exit, and now she plummeted through the air, praying her parachute would open. She understood what people meant when they said their life flashed before their eyes. Her mother’s face appeared in her mind, and she hoped she would live to see her again.
Then the parachute jerked and opened, and she glided down in slow motion and landed on the grass, bending her legs just as Jack had shown her.
She’d done it! Exhilaration flooded her veins and when the plane landed and Jack appeared, she was so excited she ran and threw her arms around his neck.
‘You’re a natural,’ he praised, swinging her around and then lowering her to her feet. Her heart thumped harder, but not because of the jump.
They repeated the exercise and the parachute’s canopy didn’t open at first. Then, as if by some miracle, it opened, and she landed safely.
‘What a thrill it is,’ she said when they were driving back to London.
Jack laughed. ‘You took to it like a fish to water.’
‘A bird to flight?’ she said.
‘Yes, that too.’
During the journey, Lizzie studied the map she would take with her in one of her hidden pockets, and then Jack ran through what she should do once she landed.
‘I can’t quite believe I’m doing this,’ she said, excitement tinged with terror gleaming in her eyes.
‘We move quickly in this business. One minute you’re living a perfectly normal life, and the next you’re throwing yourself out of an aircraft,’ said Jack.
‘Was that how it was for you?’ Lizzie asked.
‘Something like that,’ he said, the shutters coming down again.
‘I wish you would tell me more about what you have done in the service.’
He shifted in his seat as they whizzed along the country roads towards London. ‘What I did is of no consequence. Focus on your mission. I want you back here in one piece,’ he said.
‘Let’s make a deal. If I come back in one piece, will you tell me how you came to be doing this work?’ Lizzie said, undaunted by his stern tone.
He shook his head. ‘You are incorrigible, Lizzie Beaumont. I suppose I’m never going to hear the end of it until I do.’
‘Is that a yes, then?’ she asked.
He studied her for a moment. ‘We’ll see. It is supposed to be the Secret Service, you know…’
Lizzie laughed, and they passed the rest of the journey in a companionable silence. She glanced at him from time to time.
He was more handsome every time they met.