Page 2 of Tides of Resistance
‘Anyone would think Captain King didn’t trust anyone else,’ said the young woman, who was about the same age as Lizzie, in a slightly peeved tone.
Lizzie shook her head. ‘It’s not that at all. It will be about one of our agents in the field. The tighter the circle, the better. You know it’s nothing personal.’
The cryptographer nodded, collected her things and said she’d be back later.
Lizzie glanced over her shoulder to make sure she was alone in the room and unfolded the precious paper. It wasn’t a telephone call or a handwritten letter, but it was the next best thing. Jack had promised to message her, but it had been weeks since she’d received a private message for her eyes only.
She scrawled down the letters and numbers using their special S & R code. What the cryptographer didn’t know was that she could have tried to decode the message all she liked, but it would have been fruitless using her usual Raven codes.
It didn’t take long for Lizzie to decipher the brief message, but as she read the words, joy permeated her whole being.
Seagrove, my dearest, darling love. I ache for you and long for when you are back in my arms, where you belong. All going to schedule, expect me home in two weeks. More updates as soon as I have them. Take care and stay safe.
Your Raven
Lizzie’s eyes shone with emotion as she clutched the paper. She wished she could keep it to read at night, but it was against all security protocols, and they were already pushing far beyond the usual boundaries. She read Jack’s words once more, and then watched the paper burn to ash amidst a fierce orange lick of flame from a lighter.
Thank God. He would be home soon, and things could go back to normal. Life was too hard without him.
CHAPTER 2
At noon, Lizzie finished an uneventful shift in the cipher room and relocated to Val’s empty office. There was a mountain of paperwork waiting for her on her desk, and she got right to it. The building was unusually quiet, and Lizzie wondered where Val had gone.
Stella, the tea lady, rumbled in with her trolley. ‘Tea, my lovely?’
Lizzie said that was just what the doctor ordered, and how was it she always knew the perfect time to show up? The two chatted briefly, with Stella asking after Lizzie’s family and Lizzie listening to the latest movements of Stella’s grown children. It was a familiar and comforting pattern of conversation. Lizzie bit into a ginger biscuit, and crumbs scattered onto her lap, which she brushed off, complaining to herself about her messiness.
Val entered, brisk and businesslike as ever. ‘Ah, there you are. I was hoping you’d be here.’
Lizzie stopped herself quipping, ‘Where else would I be?’
As Evie, her younger sister often teased her, she had no life and worked all the time. There was a glint in her eye as she said it, because they both knew that Evie was aware there was more to her sister’s relationship with her commanding officer.No matter how many times she warned Evie to keep it quiet, she never missed an opportunity to tease Lizzie.
Lizzie looked up at her boss. ‘What do you need?’
Val waited for Stella to close the door behind her and then pushed the papers to one side and cleared space to perch on the edge of Lizzie’s desk. A sliver of sparkly afternoon light bathed Val’s face in sunshine, and she squinted as she fixed her eyes on Lizzie. ‘I’m afraid we’ve received some alarming news.’
Lizzie stared at her expectantly, all her senses instantly alert. In the old days, when Val sprung statements of this nature on her, it would usually mean the start of a mission. But it had been so long since she’d been posted undercover, she was beginning to think her days in the field were over for good. Jack said it was far too dangerous to keep going back into France, and he was relieved she was cocooned safely in the office in London, but sometimes Lizzie missed the thrill of undercover life. Operating in enemy territory was as addictive as it was terrifying.
‘The bloody Boche are up to something new,’ Val said, ‘and I don’t like the sound of it.’
Lizzie waited for her to reveal the details, which she knew she would all in good time.
‘Hitler has issued something significant called Directive No. 40,’ she said, spinning her thick glasses between her fingers. ‘We got whispers that something new was in the works a while ago, but I’ve just received confirmation from one of our agents in Berlin with the bones of it.’
Lizzie could barely contain her curiosity, but she forced herself to sit still in her chair. Throughout her almost two years at the SOE, she had been trained in all manner of spycraft and one of the key skills was the ability to hold a poker face so no one could read what you were thinking. This had proved to be one of the biggest spy challenges for Lizzie, whose emotions naturally spilled all over her features. Nevertheless, she wasmuch improved since her rookie days and now she sat poised, her hands folded in her lap. If anything were to betray her emotional response, it might only be the faint trace of pink on her cheeks, but even that was in Lizzie’s control, and she no longer betrayed her every feeling like a blushing teenager.
Lizzie cleared her throat. ‘What is Directive No. 40?’
‘The Germans are planning major construction that involves erecting new coastal fortifications in occupied Europe.’
Lizzie gulped. ‘That sounds ominous for the Allied invasion plans.’
‘Ominous is a fitting word for it. We need to know exactly what they’re cooking up so we can alter our invasion strategy accordingly.’
‘What do you have in mind?’ Lizzie asked, a slow thump in her chest gaining momentum as she waited for Val’s reply.
‘We need eyes on the ground. I’m hoping we’re overreacting, but we need to know what we’re dealing with.’
