Page 68 of The London Girls
‘Who would you send in my place, George?’ she hissed, her anger rising. ‘Olivia? Or perhaps one of the less experienced riders? What on earth is wrong with you?’
He didn’t say anything straight away as she stood her ground, her breath coming in rapid pants.
‘You told me yourself that I know that route better than anyone else. I’ve been riding it for months now and I’m not putting anyone else at risk just because you’re suddenly worried about me.’
‘It’s dangerous out there tonight,’ he said. ‘I know you’ll hate me saying this, but I don’t want anything to happen to you.’
‘And I don’t want any special treatment,’ she snapped. ‘I’m good at my job, and I don’t want you protecting me. Not when it means putting someone else in danger instead of me.’
‘There’s no one else I trust more with the Devonport deliveries, I just ...’ His voice trailed off.
‘Why have you changed your mind, George? About women?’ she asked, impatient to hear what he’d begun to tell her earlier.
‘Because when I was away fighting, the only thing that kept me going was knowing that the women in my life were safe at home. I needed to imagine my mother, my sisters, my nieces all safe, to believe I’d have them to come home to. It wasn’t because I didn’t see them as capable, it was because I needed to know they’d be there, that it wasn’t all for nothing.’
George held her gaze for the longest of moments, before he stepped closer to her. She was about to fight him, thinking he wanted to take the satchel from her, when she saw the way his eyes had dropped to her mouth.
He wants to kiss me.
She quickly stood back, holding the satchel close to her body. She knew better than to become entangled with a man at work; if her liaison with the general had taught her anything, it was to be careful whom she fancied.
‘Ride safely then,’ he murmured.
‘Always.’
With that, she strode away from him, collecting her hat and gloves and mounting her bike, before starting her engine and rolling backwards, giving him one final look before riding out of the garage and into the night.
Ava shifted her weight slightly, her bottom starting to feel numb after sitting for so long. The trip to the shipyards took hours, but she was well used to it and she was also proud of the fact it was her route. George had told her on countless occasions that it was one of the most important outposts, due to its proximity to the coast, which meant she was entrusted with some of the most highly classified, highly important, war documents.
The night was almost too quiet, the houses and buildings she’d passed all blacked out so no one could see them from the sky, and she had her headlamp on to show the way. Some nights, if there was enough light from the moon, she left her light off completely. She hated the thought of being a target to a hidden plane lurking in the airspace above, but most often there was simply no way to ride without having it on. They were all told to ride as fast and efficiently as they could; the hope was that their speed would make them an impossible target, or at least that’s what they were told.
A loud noise made Ava jump, and she glanced over her shoulder, not sure where it had come from. It almost sounded like a lorry crashing, but she just kept riding, accelerating a little more as her nerves started to rattle.
You’re fine, just stay focused on the road and keep riding.
Another noise, a much louder boom this time, and just like that she knew how bad the night was going to be.
The road ahead was straight and Ava went even faster. She couldn’t get caught in whatever devastation was happening behind her; she had to get to the shipyards as fast as she could. She leaned into a slight bend, breathing slowly as she did her best to keep her mind calm, her focus absolute. But she suddenly couldn’t stop thinking about the look on George’s face as he’d kept hold of her satchel, as if he’d known something she didn’t. Why had he been so concerned about tonight when he’d returned? Why was tonight any different from the other nights she was dispatched with a memo? Or was it that he suddenly felt differently towards her after the moment they’d shared dinner in his office?
Stop overthinking everything, you know this route like the back of your hand. You just ride like you always ride, there’s nothing to worry about. He was probably just feeling protective of you, after spending some time with you.
Ava sat up a little straighter, taking comfort from the weight of her satchel at her side, her eyes trained on the road, carefully keeping a lookout for any dangers.
Only, no amount of focus could have prepared her for what was to come.
The blast was so sudden, so intense, that she didn’t even know what had hit her. Her motorcycle jerked abruptly, making it impossible for her to stay in control, her ears feeling like they were bleeding. She hung on to the handlebars for as long as she could, her body falling as she collided with something, as the ringing in her ears made her scream from the pain.
It was like being slammed into a concrete wall, her fingers losing grip as the motorcycle went one way and her body flew through the air and hit the road.
Smoke curled through the air, threatening to choke Ava as she slowly opened her eyes. She reached out a hand, fumbling in the dark, clawing at the ground as she tried to drag her body from the hard road beneath her.
Where am I?
She blinked, the black skyline in the far distance punctuated by large, rising clouds of white smoke that she knew could only mean one thing.Bombs are falling on London.
The ringing in her ears was so loud she could barely think; a high-pitched scream that made it almost impossible for her to piece together what had happened.
Ava finally hauled herself up, frantic now as she realised she’d come off her motorcycle on the road and could be hit by a vehicle at any moment. The blackout meant that the roads were the most dangerous place to be as night fell, with most vehicles forced todrive without lights. She couldn’t remember what had happened, how she’d ended up on the ground, her body flung so far from her bike. Had she hit something? Had a bomb been dropped near her?
