Page 68 of Summer of Fire
‘That’s good. Don’t tamper with it. Even if you change the target details, they’re still going to drop bombs and who knows what they’ll hit by mistake. It would be like playing God.’
Lizzie finished the hot soup and met his eyes. ‘I transposed some figures for the following day. Was that a mistake?’
Jack stared at her.
‘It didn’t seem right to let it go ahead without trying to sabotage it,’ Lizzie added.
‘Let’s hope they don’t put two and two together then. Tell us again exactly what the procedure was when you arrived and when you left.’
Lizzie went through what the guards did in detail, and Jack asked her more questions.
‘The airfield is right outside the office, and I could see some aircraft from the windows.’
Pierre said to Jack, ‘The rest of the team are coming later.’
‘Did I get the information you wanted?’ Lizzie asked Jack.
‘Yes. You did a marvellous job. Now we must make the plan of when and how we’re going in.’
Some other Resistance members arrived, and they stayed in the kitchen until late that night, making their plan.
They would strike in the evening on the third and final day of Lizzie’s temporary position at the airfield.
Lizzie noticed Jack was conscientious about calling them all by their cover names when they were together. The two men and one woman who Lizzie hadn’t met before listened to Jack earnestly, hanging on his every word. They clearly idolised him and called him by his codename, Raven.
One by one, the visitors left. Lizzie said goodnight and went to sleep in the secret room. Jack hadn’t shared the room with her this time. She wasn’t surprised, but she missed him, and lay awake thinking about the mission.
The next day at work passed much like the previous and Lizzie kept her head down and typed piles of tedious documents with orders for the local municipality. There were no flight plans to type today. A German secretary was back in the office, and Lizzie presumed that was part of her job.
It was the night before the operation. The other Resistance members dropped in again for a final briefing and went home before curfew. Camille didn’t sit still for a minute, and Pierre was in and out checking things on the farm.
Jack crossed and uncrossed his legs and then went outside, where she watched him through the window, chain-smoking and pacing up and down the yard. Lizzie sat at the table trying to read a book Camille had lent her, but she kept reading the same lines over and over.
‘I’m frightened,’ Lizzie confided in Camille as she buzzed about the kitchen tidying counters and washing dishes.
The older woman stopped moving for a second and looked at her. ‘You should be. I would be worried if you weren’t. Fear heightens the senses in situations like this.’
‘Are you frightened?’ Lizzie asked.
Camille studied her for a moment and then whispered. ‘I’m terrified! Terrified for you all. It will be a long evening for me waiting here.’ She bent to put something away in the cupboard and turned back to Lizzie.
‘Both of you had better sleep in the secret room tonight. Jack’s been taking a risk sleeping down here. If the Germans were to do one of their surprise spot checks, we’d endanger the operation if they found something wrong with his cover story.’
That night, Jack joined Lizzie in the hidden room behind the shelves when she was already asleep. She stirred and in the dim light of the oil lamp she saw him arrange a blanket at the foot of the bed and fold up his trousers and place them on the wooden chair.
Lizzie was wide awake now. ‘You don’t have to sleep on the floor. There’s plenty of space in the bed.’
Jack swivelled to face her. ‘Are you sure?’
She nodded, breathless. ‘This might be the last night we’realive. The least I can do is not let you spend it sleeping on the floor.’
His eyes never left hers as he sat down on the bed next to her. ‘Scared?’ he asked, already knowing the answer.
‘Never been more scared,’ she confessed.
‘It will be alright. I have a good feeling about it.’
‘That’s encouraging,’ she said.
