Chapter 34
Jack made himself a black coffee and smoked a cigarette in the whispery light of dawn.
He hated the flat when Lizzie wasn’t there.
At this hour it was silent, with no rumble of army trucks moving supplies or shopkeepers opening for the day.
It was still too early for London to spring to life, and as he sat there, he turned the Berlin mission over and over in his mind.
Val had informed the head of X Section about the traitor, and they were pretending to operate as usual, but feeding him only false information.
What worried Jack most was not knowing what intelligence had already got through to his handler in Berlin.
How much did the Boche know? Granted, it couldn’t be much, because of how the operation had been set up, but were they already searching for two women and their source?
If they were, then Lizzie, Hannah, and Ingrid Becker could be under suspicion at any moment.
When Jack arrived at Baker Street, he went straight to Val’s office, but it was empty. Another place he disliked intensely when Lizzie was away. He went on a fishing expedition to see the head of X Section to learn the latest news.
Val had beaten him to it, and she stood in the doorway talking in a low voice. ‘Ah, there you are. I was just saying you should be here too.’
Once the door was closed, the three of them sat at the table.
Jack was scared for Lizzie. This unscheduled meeting wasn’t a good omen, and he felt like howling as he imagined all the awful things that might have happened to her.
Had the Gestapo got wind of the specifics of the mission?
Had the handler already located the women?
Scaring himself was doing no good, so he shut his whirlwind of thoughts down.
‘What’s the latest?’ Jack said, looking from one face to the other and back again as he tried to calm himself.
The head of X Section replied, ‘It’s not good, I’m afraid. We received a message from our people in Bern. Sources reported that the Gestapo have increased security. It seems they were warned of possible infiltration by female spies.’
Jack’s whole body went rigid. ‘How close are they?’
Val interjected. ‘We don’t know. Until we hear more, there’s no way of knowing. There’s also no way of warning Seagrove or the others, so we’re in quite a bind.’
The head stubbed out one cigarette and lit another amid a flurry of coughs. Jack refused his offer of a cigarette. He could barely catch his breath at the thought of the Nazi net closing in on Lizzie, and she wouldn’t even suspect it.
Jack leapt to his feet and started pacing the room. ‘With no radio contact and no way to let them know, they’re like sitting ducks. We must warn them before it’s too late.’
Val sighed. ‘I imagined you’d say that. We’ve been considering sending you in, but I’m not sure it’s for the best. If they’re actively searching for enemy agents, it seems foolish to send another one right into their backyard.’
Jack’s heart lurched, and he swung around to face Val. ‘You mean we will sacrifice Seagrove and Angel rather than counter the threat by warning them?’
The head stubbed out his partially smoked cigarette. ‘It’s tricky. This is a rare opportunity to feed exactly what we want right to the Nazi leadership.’
‘It will be tricky for our agents if we don’t take action!’ Jack snapped, his emotions getting the better of him.
Val held up one hand. ‘We’ve established where you stand. You’re for going in and warning the girls. Leave us now while we thrash it out, and I’ll have an answer for you later. It’s unlikely, but just in case, prepare for a trip to Berlin at short notice.’
Jack was fuming as he left X Section, and he shut himself away in his office.
Val always dragged her heels about sending him into the field and only signed off on it as a last resort, but the X Section head was slowing her down even more, and it infuriated him.
They had lost too many courageous agents recently, and throwing them to the wolves like this was supposedly the price they must pay for infiltrating the Nazi leadership.
It was a Wednesday morning. If all was going according to plan, Hannah would be at the Reich Air Ministry, waiting for Ingrid Becker to pass her the next piece of intelligence.
What they’d received via the courier network had the potential to change the war, and their science boffins were hard at work decoding formulas and figuring out their next move to undermine Germany’s secret weapon development.
There was no doubt the mission was essential and had already been worth the risks.
But to abandon the girls to their fate in Berlin whilst they played cat and mouse with the handler?
That was a step too far, and he wouldn’t allow it.
Val was his superior officer, but after years working together, he knew how to influence her, and he would pull out all the stops until she gave orders for him to go in.
Besides, he reasoned, even if the Gestapo weren’t on the lookout for female spies yet, he should go and locate the traitor’s handler, so they knew exactly where their pipeline led.
He could neutralise the handler, but they preferred to keep feeding them almost-true facts to throw them off the scent.
It was classic spycraft, and X Section finally stood to shine because of it.
No wonder the head didn’t want his moment of glory snatched from him after the years of failure.
That afternoon, when he still hadn’t heard from Val, Jack went to his mother’s house to check on her.
He was due to pay a visit, and part of the protocol of preparing to leave on a mission was to see one’s family.
He didn’t entertain thoughts of defeat, but it was routine to visit them and to write a letter in case an agent didn’t return.
When Elise, answered the door with a welcoming smile, he asked how his mother was doing. She told him she was a little better every day. ‘At least she’s out of bed and dressing again.’
His mother had always dressed immaculately, and it had been hard to see her confined to her bed, drugged up and avoiding the world. Elise was right; this was an improvement.
Jack saw his mother sitting in a chair by the window, her knees covered in a blanket against the chilly afternoon.
There was still no light in her eyes, and her expression barely changed when he entered the room.
Ever since his father’s sudden premature death, she had carried a permanent sense of sadness, and Jack did his best to cheer her, but the task was an impossible one since they received the news about Henry.
As he reached to squeeze her hand, she summoned a smile, and he realised one thing. He must return. She couldn’t lose another son.
Elise bustled in with tea and cake, and Jack made conversation, but his mother answered only sparingly.
At one point, she rested her beautiful eyes on him. ‘Any word?’
When he shook his head, she visibly slumped, and he reached for her hand again. ‘Maman, you mustn’t give up hope. Thousands of our boys are in prisoner-of-war camps. There is a good chance Henry was captured and is waiting out the war safely. If so, he’s safer than if he were flying.’
She gazed at him, but he could tell she didn’t believe it.
Jack excused himself and left the room, and Elise told him the only time his mother brightened was when the doctor visited.
‘Well, we must be thankful for small mercies,’ Jack said.
Their family doctor had been with them since Jack’s childhood, and he was a good man. ‘Isn’t he widowed?’
Elise confirmed he was. ‘His wife passed away just before the war after a long illness.’
‘Please encourage her to go for walks with you, Elise. Or perhaps Dr Wood can take her for a walk if she responds well to his company. I’m happy to pay more if that’s what it takes. She’s still in a bad state.’
After a depressing hour, trying to lift his mother’s spirits with little success, he left the London townhouse and walked back to Baker Street to clear his head. He hoped Val would have an answer for him by now.
The traitor passed him in the entrance, and Jack forced himself to be friendly. His hands itched to grab him by the throat and wring out of him whatever information he had passed to Germany. How these people could live with themselves he didn’t know.
‘Afternoon,’ Jack said.
The man nodded to him respectfully and left the building.
Jack stared after his back. There was no point in following him.
They already had agents watching his every move and knew exactly when he made a dead drop.
Jack knew he argued with his wife a lot and spent his evenings at a local pub or with the woman he met in the park.
What drove a man to sell out his country?
It was a question that plagued Jack, and he didn’t have the answer.
Val still wasn’t in her office, and his mood grew darker as daylight evaporated and evening set in.
He was longing to get into action, but his hands were tied until he got the order.
To kill time, he paid a visit to the wardrobe department and asked what they could do for him German clothing-wise.
He put together his cover story of a German businessman whilst the seamstress took his measurements.
‘Come back in two days, and I’ll have a suit for you to try on,’ she said, smiling.
Two whole days. He tried not to think about what could befall Lizzie by then. Still unable to find any sign of Val in the building; he locked away his papers in his office and went back to the flat to get some sleep.
If things went as he hoped, he would need it.