Page 92 of The Number of Love
Wondering, always wondering, where Jaeger fit into it.
The OB was officially closed for the night, but it wasn’t empty. It was never empty, especially not on the floor that the intelligence hive had taken over. The night shift was there, waiting for the new codes to come in shortly after midnight. And Hall was still there, pacing his office like a caged lion.
He charged out of his door as they drew near. “There you are. What did you find?”
They briefed him as succinctly as possible, Margot handing over the telegrams. The admiral’s lips pressed together as he blinked, taking it all in. “We have these in our files?”
Margot nodded. “And a few others besides.”
“Then let’s see what the others are, where they came from. See if that lends us any aid.”
Drake didn’t know what to look for or how to help as they pulled down box after box and riffled through them, so he just leaned into the threshold and set his mind toward prayer. The best possible use of his time just now anyway.
“Here they are.” Margot pulled out what was clearly a logbook, and Hall handed over a stack of papers. The other intercepts, he assumed, in the code in question.
She flipped page after page, ran a finger down the charts.
“Well?” Hall looked over her shoulder.
“All the ones our fellow had in the book originated in Berlin, which is no surprise. It looks like they were sent to a variety of locations, though. France. Spain. Ireland. Here.”
“He must have got around, whoever he is. What of the others?”
Margot checked the papers, flipped a few more pages in the log, and then looked up with bright eyes. “There are a few intercepts with reverse locations—originating here or the other places and senttoBerlin. And others from Berlin to South America, more to the Continent. But a few went to zeppelins.”
Drake straightened. “Does that mean zeppelins would carry the codebooks?”
Hall slapped a hand to his knee and stood up from where he’d crouched. “It’s likely.” His eyes met Drake’s.
Drake knew exactly what he was thinking. “A zeppelin just went down yesterday in France.” It had been part of the information he’d sorted that morning. He’d flagged it, because he always flagged it. Hall must have reviewed his flags already. “The French reported nothing salvageable from the wreckage.”
“Bah.” Hall took a step past him, his brows drawn. “I’ll offer a reward for anything useful brought back. That’ll inspire some of our chaps to scour the area, widen the search. I only pray we’ve time enough. It will take at least a week for our lads on the ground to be given leave to hunt through the wreckage and then get anything they find back to us by ship. I do worry that—”
“I’ll go.”
They went still, both of them. Hall, in front of him. Margot, behind him. Both of their eyes drilling into him. Drake straightened his shoulders. “We need answers now, or this bloke’s going to vanish on us.”
Hall shook his head. “By the time you could get there, the others might as well—”
“Camden can fly me in.” He summoned a smile. “Assuming you can help him get his hands on a plane again, sir.”
Hall lifted his brows. “You’re going to askhimfor a favor? I know he is your friend, Elton, but he hasn’t been in the best frame of mind recently. I wouldn’t count on his good graces.”
“He owes me one.” He turned to Margot. “I’ll get you the codebook.”
She gripped the logbook until her knuckles went white. “No. Let the others do it. We can wait.”
But they couldn’t. “You know well we can’t. He attacked you and Dot tonight. He lost his flat to the authorities. He’ll be on the move, and if we don’t act now ... I have to.”
She must be clenching her teeth, given the tic in her jaw. “I’m sure there’s someone else who can do it.”
Drake lifted his brows. “Perhaps. But this is at least in part because of me, linked to Jaeger. I need to see it through. And Camden will know what we’re looking for. It’s the perfect, quickest solution, Margot.”
Hall’s footsteps sounded, padding away. “I’ll see to that plane.”
Drake turned to face her. He pried the logbook from her hands and set it aside so he could take those hands in one of his. “I’ll be all right.”
“You don’t know that. The number of planes shot down—”
