Chapter 2
A t noon, Lizzie finished an uneventful shift in the cipher room and relocated to Val’s empty office. There was a mountain of paperwork waiting for her on her desk, and she got right to it. The building was unusually quiet, and Lizzie wondered where Val had gone.
Stella, the tea lady, rumbled in with her trolley. ‘Tea, my lovely?’
Lizzie said that was just what the doctor ordered, and how was it she always knew the perfect time to show up?
The two chatted briefly, with Stella asking after Lizzie’s family and Lizzie listening to the latest movements of Stella’s grown children.
It was a familiar and comforting pattern of conversation.
Lizzie bit into a ginger biscuit, and crumbs scattered onto her lap, which she brushed off, complaining to herself about her messiness.
Val entered, brisk and businesslike as ever. ‘Ah, there you are. I was hoping you’d be here.’
Lizzie stopped herself quipping, ‘Where else would I be?’
As Evie, her younger sister often teased her, she had no life and worked all the time.
There was a glint in her eye as she said it, because they both knew that Evie was aware there was more to her sister’s relationship with her commanding officer.
No matter how many times she warned Evie to keep it quiet, she never missed an opportunity to tease Lizzie.
Lizzie looked up at her boss. ‘What do you need?’
Val waited for Stella to close the door behind her and then pushed the papers to one side and cleared space to perch on the edge of Lizzie’s desk.
A sliver of sparkly afternoon light bathed Val’s face in sunshine, and she squinted as she fixed her eyes on Lizzie.
‘I’m afraid we’ve received some alarming news. ’
Lizzie stared at her expectantly, all her senses instantly alert.
In the old days, when Val sprung statements of this nature on her, it would usually mean the start of a mission.
But it had been so long since she’d been posted undercover, she was beginning to think her days in the field were over for good.
Jack said it was far too dangerous to keep going back into France, and he was relieved she was cocooned safely in the office in London, but sometimes Lizzie missed the thrill of undercover life.
Operating in enemy territory was as addictive as it was terrifying.
‘The bloody Boche are up to something new,’ Val said, ‘and I don’t like the sound of it.’
Lizzie waited for her to reveal the details, which she knew she would all in good time.
‘Hitler has issued something significant called Directive No. 40,’ she said, spinning her thick glasses between her fingers. ‘We got whispers that something new was in the works a while ago, but I’ve just received confirmation from one of our agents in Berlin with the bones of it.’
Lizzie could barely contain her curiosity, but she forced herself to sit still in her chair.
Throughout her almost two years at the SOE, she had been trained in all manner of spycraft and one of the key skills was the ability to hold a poker face so no one could read what you were thinking.
This had proved to be one of the biggest spy challenges for Lizzie, whose emotions naturally spilled all over her features.
Nevertheless, she was much improved since her rookie days and now she sat poised, her hands folded in her lap.
If anything were to betray her emotional response, it might only be the faint trace of pink on her cheeks, but even that was in Lizzie’s control, and she no longer betrayed her every feeling like a blushing teenager.
Lizzie cleared her throat. ‘What is Directive No. 40?’
‘The Germans are planning major construction that involves erecting new coastal fortifications in occupied Europe.’
Lizzie gulped. ‘That sounds ominous for the Allied invasion plans.’
‘Ominous is a fitting word for it. We need to know exactly what they’re cooking up so we can alter our invasion strategy accordingly.’
‘What do you have in mind?’ Lizzie asked, a slow thump in her chest gaining momentum as she waited for Val’s reply.
‘We need eyes on the ground. I’m hoping we’re overreacting, but we need to know what we’re dealing with.’
Lizzie glanced at her half-eaten ginger biscuit discarded on the plate. She couldn’t finish it with the tension gripping her throat like a viper. She knew what was coming.
Val continued to summarise her meeting with the big boss, telling Lizzie she asked herself who she knew in St. Malo, when it hit her. ‘You have cousins in the city, don’t you?’
‘Yes, my father’s brother and his family. I haven’t seen them since before the war broke out, though.’
‘But they’re still there, as far as you know?’
Lizzie nodded. ‘As far as we know, yes. We received a scribbled note early in the war after we just arrived in London, via a mutual friend who had got out of France before they surrendered.’
‘I see. Where do they live exactly?’
Lizzie told Val what she could, explaining the family had a house in the medieval walled city she used to visit but she didn’t know how they were faring under the occupation. ‘My father worries a great deal about his brother, and my grandparents, of course. We all do.’
Val cast Lizzie a sympathetic glance. ‘Your grandparents in Jersey under Jerry rule. Who would have thought our dear Channel Islands would be under Nazi control? We made a crushing blunder there. I’m ashamed we allowed that to happen, not to mention how dangerous it is.’
Lizzie didn’t disagree. British armed forces hadn’t protected the Channel Islands from invasion, and the result was the Germans had a strategic foothold in Britain. Just the thought of it made Lizzie shiver, and she sent up a silent prayer that her grandparents were alive and well.
Val continued, ‘Anyway, the point being, St. Malo is the perfect location for an agent in occupied France on a reconnaissance mission.’ Val reached across the desk for a biscuit.
‘Lizzie, we pulled you from the field in favour of sending in fresh faces, but I rather fear we’re going to need you to go back in, given your skills and local connections. ’
Lizzie’s heart hammered as she contemplated the reality of another mission. Adrenaline raced through her veins, and despite her logical mind telling her it was a bad idea, she found herself eager to be back in action.
‘If you need me to go, I will go. There is never any question of that,’ Lizzie said.
‘Good girl,’ Val said. ‘I knew you wouldn’t let us down. Jack won’t like it, of course. He says you’ve been seen by too many high-ranking Nazis to risk it, but we’ll make sure your cover is solid, and besides, quite some time has passed since you were last in Northern France.
It was well over a year since she’d been undercover in Northern France, although she had met a high-ranking Nazi in Toulouse.
Von Schneider. His steely eyes flashed into her mind, and she shuddered at the memory.
He had taken an interest in her, and more chillingly, he had said he would travel to St. Malo.
‘There was a member of the Gestapo who came to dinner at Jack’s uncle’s chateau. He would be the one I’d be worried about bumping into, but hopefully his business in St. Malo was concluded long ago.’
Val snorted. ‘The others who got in your way, didn’t live to tell the tale.’
Lizzie didn’t like to think of herself as a murderer.
This was war and sometimes special agents had to do what needed to be done to stay alive.
It was them or the enemy, and several times, she’d had to defend herself in such situations.
The first time she killed a German officer, she had been haunted by it for ages and the scene had replayed itself on a loop in her head night after night.
His face still barged into her mind when she least expected it, but she had hardened to the realities of their secret war and was better at handling it.
Jack told her if they allowed dark thoughts to dwell in their minds, they would overwhelm them, and they wouldn’t be able to function.
Jack’s words echoed in her thoughts. ‘In war, it is them or us. And I choose us.’
‘Can we trust your family in St. Malo?’ Val asked, pulling her back to the present.
‘My uncle was born in Jersey, like my father. I’d bet on it that he’s loyal to Britain.’
Val slid off the desk and faced Lizzie.
‘When do I need to leave?’ Lizzie asked, desperately hoping it wouldn’t be before Jack returned.
‘It depends how long it takes us to prepare you. It’s a perilous mission and you’re going to need some new specialised training.’
Lizzie exhaled slowly. That sounded like it would take a while and she and Jack might steal some time together before she left.
Val was right about one thing. Jack wouldn’t like it. He wouldn’t like it one bit.