Page 21 of Summer of Fire
They repeated the exercise and the parachute’s canopy didn’t open at first. Then, as if by some miracle, it opened, and she landed safely.
‘What a thrill it is,’ she said when they were driving back to London.
Jack laughed. ‘You took to it like a fish to water.’
‘A bird to flight?’ she said.
‘Yes, that too.’
During the journey, Lizzie studied the map she would take with her in one of her hidden pockets, and then Jack ran through what she should do once she landed.
‘I can’t quite believe I’m doing this,’ she said, excitement tinged with terror gleaming in her eyes.
‘We move quickly in this business. One minute you’re living a perfectly normal life, and the next you’re throwing yourself out of an aircraft,’ said Jack.
‘Was that how it was for you?’ Lizzie asked.
‘Something like that,’ he said, the shutters coming down again.
‘I wish you would tell me more about what you have done in the service.’
He shifted in his seat as they whizzed along the country roads towards London. ‘What I did is of no consequence.Focus on your mission. I want you back here in one piece,’ he said.
‘Let’s make a deal. If I come back in one piece, will you tell me how you came to be doing this work?’ Lizzie said, undaunted by his stern tone.
He shook his head. ‘You are incorrigible, Lizzie Beaumont. I suppose I’m never going to hear the end of it until I do.’
‘Is that a yes, then?’ she asked.
He studied her for a moment. ‘We’ll see. It is supposed to be theSecretService, you know…’
Lizzie laughed, and they passed the rest of the journey in a companionable silence. She glanced at him from time to time.
He was more handsome every time they met.
CHAPTER 10
The car rumbled along the deserted, dark roads. The entire country was under blackout, and it showed. Lizzie couldn’t quite believe the rehearsals were over and tonight was the night she would be dropped into occupied France.
They turned abruptly and came to a stop after several hours of driving. Jack explained he wouldn’t tell her where they would fly from because the airfield was at a secret location and this way, it was safer for everybody.
The Luftwaffe was targeting and dropping bombs on military facilities in England every day and they couldn’t risk them finding out about this one.
‘We have plans for this airfield as soon as SOE gets into full swing. It’s very early days yet,’ he said. ‘You’ll look back on this moment and realise just how early you were involved.’
‘The less I know, the better…’ Lizzie said, repeating the mantra they had drummed into her over the past few days.
Shortly after, Lizzie was wedged close to Jack in the Westland Lysander plane, her heart banging so rapidly shecould barely catch her breath. She saw his pensive expression in the moonlight and was curious what was going through his mind. They fell against each other as the aircraft picked up speed and made its bumpy take off.
‘The funny thing is, this plane is nicknamed Lizzie, like you,’ Jack told her, and she welcomed his attempt to distract her.
In the short time since they met, she already knew him well enough to know he would reassure her if she told him just how terrified she was at this moment. But she didn’t tell him. Instead, she gazed at him surreptitiously and drank his calming presence in without saying a word.
Jack caught her look, raised his head, and smiled. His eyes were full of compassion as he ran his hand through his thick, black hair.
‘It’s nearly time,’ he said, a while later, his voice gravelly with exhaustion.
He can’t have slept much in the past few days, she realised.
