Page 16 of Tides of Resistance
He’d kissed her and assured her she was the only woman for him. ‘You could lock me up in solitary confinement and throw away the key, and I’d pine only for you. Every day and forever. There’s no one else for me, Lizzie Beaumont, no matter where they banish me to.’
She’d laughed, and her green eyes sparkled at his effusive gallantry. ‘You could charm the birds out of the trees. Maybe that’s why they call you Raven. You woo me until I’m quite silly with love for you and can’t think straight.’
‘Just as it should be,’ he’d said, and then they made passionate love to the sound of low-flying aircraft overhead.
Jack boarded the train in the nick of time, mud spatters on his shirt and his mood irritable. He consoled himself that at least he would blend seamlessly into the sea of weary passengers.Wartime travel was infamous for its delays and arduous nature, so it wasn’t unusual to look the worse for wear.
He wove his way through the train, past full carriages, to locate his sleeping berth. He stumbled into it as the train jerked into motion and saw the berth served as a seating area by day. He stored his case on the luggage rack but kept his briefcase containing confidential papers and the diamond ring with him and went in search of a bite to eat before bedding down for the night. He slept with his briefcase near his head and the train was inevitably delayed several times because of various calamities ranging from flooding to signal failures and munitions trains taking precedence over the route.
Val was waiting for him on the platform at King’s Cross, and he was disappointed that Lizzie wasn’t at her side. He consoled himself that it was easier that way, but in his imagination, he had pictured seeing her at the station.
‘This is a pleasant surprise,’ he said to Val. She wasn’t in the habit of picking him up and usually sent a driver.
Val smiled wryly. ‘Good to have you back from the sticks. You look a trifle dishevelled, but other than that I trust you had a successful trip?’
They chatted in the car whilst Jack gripped the dashboard and Val thundered down Euston Road as though she were on the Brooklands racetrack.
‘There’s no time to waste. I thought I’d bring you up to speed on the way, before they whisk you off for a debriefing.’
Jack said, ‘Well, you’re certainly bringing me up to speed.’
He looked out the window, and his mood lifted at the sight of the familiar London streets he loved. It was good to be home.
‘Tell me all. What’s going on?’ he asked after his daredevil driver didn’t warrant his jibe with a response.
Val filled him in on the broad strokes of the operations carried out by several of their French networks in his absence.He’d been away for months, so there was a lot he’d missed. Jack asked for more details of the Lavender Network he and Lizzie had set up in Vichy France. Val had nothing new to report, saying she hadn’t heard from Hannah or Lev for a while.
After she slowed to swerve a pile of debris on the road, she turned to face him. ‘By the way, all going to plan, Seagrove should have arrived in St. Malo this morning.’
Jack’s body turned to ice, and he felt like he’d been punched in the gut simultaneously. He stared at Val, speechless.
What?
No words came out.
The world lurched around him as though he were in some kind of hellish nightmare. Why would Lizzie be in St. Malo?
Val noticed his uncharacteristic silence. ‘Must have been a tiring journey. You’d better grab a coffee to revive yourself before the debriefing.’ She pushed her foot down on the accelerator, and they shot along the road again and stopped abruptly in front of Baker Street HQ.
Jack struggled to contain his feelings as agony gripped his heart. He wanted to shout and rail at Val. His hands shook, and he forced them to his sides, not trusting himself to light a cigarette without displaying his loss of control.
‘You’re right, I could do with a coffee.’ His voice was gravelly as he battled with his emotions.
Val continued, unaware of the death blow she had dealt her top agent. ‘So, the St. Malo mission. I know you think it’s dangerous to send Lizzie in again, but you probably know she has close family there, so she was the obvious choice. She hasn’t been in since last year, and we calculated the benefits outweigh the risks.’
The words echoed in Jack’s ears. His head felt like he was drowning underwater. He couldn’t think, he couldn’t speak, and he couldn’t believe it.
Lizzie wouldn’t meet him at the flat that evening.
The love of his life was somewhere in St. Malo, which he knew without a doubt was one ofthemost densely Nazi-occupied territories in Europe. They’d sent her in like a sacrificial lamb when he wasn’t around to stop them.
Jack lit a cigarette and drew on it hungrily. The tobacco surged through his nose and throat and had a slightly calming effect on the anger that threatened to blow like an awakening volcano.
He took a deep breath and finally spoke. ‘Why did you send her in before I arrived?’
His voice sounded irritable although relatively normal to his own ears, but he was dying a slow, painful death on the inside.
Val glanced at him. ‘Come on, don’t be all territorial. I know you recruited her, but we can’t wait for your permission at every turn. We’ve got a war to win, and the Jerries are up to something big in St. Malo.’
