Page 15 of Tides of Resistance
‘For Pete’s sake, man. Open the damn window and let in some fresh Highland air,’ Charlie snapped.
Jack opened the window,and a curtain of cold rain sprayed through the window and splattered onto their faces.
They laughed as the glow of Jack’s cigarette almost fizzled out but valiantly clung to life as he inhaled to revive it.
‘Smoke or rain in your face? Which is it?’ Jack said, arching one dark eyebrow at Charlie. They had become good friends holed up together at Arisaig.
‘Rain, any day of the week. I detest the smell of those nasty smokes.’
Jack rolled his eyes. ‘I don’t know what your problem is. For a military man, it’s odd. Besides, Senior Service are mellow. Just as well I don’t smoke Gauloises like in France.’
‘It is just as well, or you would have had to find yourself another chauffeur,’ Charlie said, humour laced through his words.
‘You’re a rare bird, not smoking, that’s for sure.’
‘Well, unlike the masses I value my health. It seems downright stupid to make so much effort staying fit and training agents, and then bang nails into my own coffin on the sidelines.’
Jack blew a ring of smoke out the window. Charlie was an impressive man who was popular with the ladies. ‘You make a fair point, but you won’t meet many agents who don’t smoke just to pass the time.’
A loud grinding noise echoed through the window.
‘Oh hell, what now?’ Jack said.
The car juddered to a standstill. Charlie sprung out, and Jack did the same.
‘The wheels are stuck in the mud,’ Charlie said, straightening his large muscular frame. ‘Come on, don’t just stand there smoking like a Senior Service advert. I need you to push.’
It took some time to shift the Austin, but eventually they resumed their rain-soaked journey. Charlie asked after Lizzie. Jack recalled her mentioning Charlie had been especially attentive to her during a training course at a stately home in the early days.
Charlie continued, oblivious to the anguish his words caused, saying he might look her up next time he was in London. ‘She is a bright one. And stunning, too. It’s been quite some time since I saw her.’
Jack swallowed hard as a tight knot formed in his chest. What he wanted to say was, ‘Don’t you bloody well dare look her up,’ but he bit back his angry retort. Charlie was no fool and would smell a rat if he protested, and it would probably only make him more likely to look her up. And besides, so what if he did look her up?
Jack trusted Lizzie with every sinew of his being and rebuked himself for his Neanderthal caveman reaction. He was being ridiculous, so instead he replied in a casual tone, ‘Yes, you should. She mentioned what an excellent trainer you are.’
Charlie looked chuffed, and Jack instantly regretted his response.
Idiot. Just calm the hell down.
What he wouldn’t give for the day to arrive when they could openly be together. The thought reminded him of the sparkling gemstone nestling in the pouch in his briefcase, and a swirl of excitement shot through his stomach as he imagined Lizzie’s face when he revealed the ring and asked her to be his wife. When the war was over, he would of course formally request permission from her father.
Charlie’s big meaty hands gripped the steering wheel, and the car rumbled along towards the station in Inverness. Not long now, and they would be together again, alone at his flat. He’d have to get through the debriefing and the turmoil of seeing her at Baker Street whilst acting as though they were just colleagues. He would grit his teeth and pretend he didn’t long to scoop her up in his arms and hug the breath out of her.
Their long-term secret relationship was proving more difficult to handle than any of his undercover operations. His brother Henry knew they were a couple, but he rarely came home, so he couldn’t confide in him. Not that Jack was the type to need a confidant, which was just as well because he and Lizzie kept their situation between them. Overall, she struggled with it more than he did, but that added to his angst. He couldn’t bear the thought of her being troubled and would do anything in his power to assuage it.
In his power.They were the key words, and this war was most definitely not in his power.
At the station, the platform guard asked to see his national identity card and railway ticket and studied Jack briefly before waving him through with a hearty Scottish ‘Good morning, sir.’
Jack had a carefully crafted identity for his journey. He was posing as a civil servant on essential war work. Travelling asJack King in his officer’s uniform would attract far too much attention. Lizzie liked to tease him that he was a magnet for the ladies and his dashing good looks didn’t go unnoticed by anyone. She said she didn’t know how he was such a legend in the Secret Service when he stood out so much.
When they planned his trip to the Highlands, she’d said as much and he laughed her off like he always did, but Val had shut him down, saying she was absolutely right.
‘We’re not looking to attract a crowd of lovesick drifters on your way up to Scotland. It’ll be bad enough you’ll be breaking hearts right, left, and centre at Arisaig.You know how impressionable young recruits can be, and they love an older mentor.’
Lizzie had buried her face in a pile of papers and fallen silent.
Later that evening when they were lounging in bed at the flat, she said he’d better behave himself during his long stint in the Highlands. She spoke lightly as if in jest, but he could tell Val’s words had shaken her.
