Page 54 of The Secret Librarian
She glanced back and saw that William and Camille were both watching her, and she smiled and shrugged. ‘No one. Sorry, I was just distracted.’
‘Come and enjoy your champagne with us,’ William said, beckoning for her to sit beside him. ‘It’s not often I get to enjoy drinks withtwobeautiful women.’
Avery blushed and took the spot beside him as Camille gave her a tell-tale look. And she would have enjoyed herself if she didn’t have such a sinking feeling in her stomach that she’d hurt James. She had the most overwhelming sense that she was never going to see him again, that he thought she’d taken up with William when it couldn’t have been further from the truth, but she also couldn’t quite figure out why the two men had been so frosty towards one another. They were both British, after all, and either there was something between them already that she didn’t know about, or James was simply prickly over William being with her.
‘Ahh, I can see my date,’ Camille suddenly said. ‘Would you mind terribly if Kiefer joins us? I know you’re technically enemies with him, William, but surely we can put all our differences aside for an hour?’
‘So long as we keep the conversation neutral and no one tries to steal secrets, I’m certain I can make an exception,’ William said. ‘Avery, are you comfortable with that?’
She found herself shuffling a little closer to him as Kiefer neared. There was something about the German officer that put her on edge from just seeing him, and she was even more cautious now that she was photographing his maps. She didn’t even want to think about what he might do if he found out.
‘Of course,’ Avery said. ‘Just promise me that neither of you will leave me alone with him.’
When Avery arrived home later that night, having been out all day and in such a hurry to get ready when she’d dashed home in the late afternoon that she hadn’t seen her roommate, she was surprised to see Tom waiting up for her.
‘Tom! What are you doing up? Have you just got home, too?’
The expression on his face told her that he wasn’t happy with her, and the pleasant tingle through her body from the champagne she’d consumed disappeared the moment she stepped into the living room.
‘I stayed in, but Avery, we need to talk.’
She took off her coat and placed it over one of the dining chairs, along with her bag. She saw a letter there then, addressed to her, and reached for it. ‘This came for me?’
He nodded. ‘Can we talk first, before you read it?’
She was itching to open it, especially when she saw that it was her mother’s handwriting, but she set it back down and took a seat opposite Tom.
‘Should I make us a coffee or—’
‘Avery, where’s your camera?’
‘My camera?’ Avery clenched her fingers and dug her nails into her palms. ‘You’ve been looking in my room?’
Tom stared straight at her. ‘I haven’t just looked in your room, Avery, I’ve searched the entire apartment and your camera isn’t here.’ He paused. ‘I’d hoped it was with you, that you’d somehow decided it was safer to keep it on you, but I can see from the size of your purse that’s not the case, so I’m going to ask you one more time. I need you to tell me where your camera is.’
‘How dare you go through my room! You have no right to look through my things.’
‘Even if I’m looking for government property?’ he asked. ‘Because I’m sure Kilgour would like to know why your camera isn’t here, Avery. Are you even completing the work you were sent here to do? You haven’t been working in your room all week, which is the only reason I looked in the first place.’
‘Don’t you dare accuse me of not taking my work seriously, Tom, and threatening me is not going to work. You wouldn’t dare contact Kilgour.’ But her pulse was racing just thinking about it, because she was starting to wonder if perhaps he would be so bold. It wasn’t as if she knew him well enough to know that he wouldn’t. ‘Do you think you’ll get a promotion by telling on me? Because I doubt a man as busy as Kilgour would care for gossip.’
‘Tell me where it is then,’ he said, not backing down. ‘Where have you been using it? Why are you being so secretive?’
‘I have a new source of information, if you must know,’ she said, standing up to make herself a drink so she didn’t have to sit in front of her colleague as if she were being interrogated. Her heart was pounding, and she hoped he didn’t know about the other work she was doing with Camille. ‘You know how difficult it’s becoming to find material, especially with the latest directive asking us to reduce the amount of film we’re using, and I was fortunate enough to find a new source of sensitive information that I very much believe is worth photographing.’
‘You weren’t sent here as a spy, Avery. If that’s what you’re playing at—’
‘I’m microfilming documents and other items of great sensitivity, if you must know,’ she said. ‘But to do so, I have to work away from here. I have very limited time in which to complete these tasks.’
‘I know you didn’t spend long at training, but you do realise this is against protocol, don’t you? I have an obligation to tell our superiors that you’re breaching the very purpose of our—’
‘You wouldn’t dare.’
He narrowed his gaze, and she thought for a moment that he might apologise and acknowledge that she hadn’t done anything so terrible, but instead he just stood and glared at her. Perhaps she shouldn’t have called his bluff.
‘Either you tell Kilgour or I do. The choice is yours, but you know that our work here is classified. What you’re doing is showing our hand, that we’re trying to source important Axis information to send home.’
‘You’re prepared to sacrifice the work I’m doing for what? A promotion? To somehow prove yourself to Kilgour and make yourself look better than me? I’m doing my job, Tom, I’ve just had to find a more creative way to do it well!’
