Page 52 of Summer of Fire
Who knew what incredible wonders the future would bring when every waking moment wasn’t consumed with fighting the enemy?
Lizzie exited the hotel with a renewed bounce to her step. The joy pouring into her veins must be because she was a fully fledged member of SOE. She had a purpose.
Perhaps just a tiny bit of the ecstatic rush was because Jack had been in touch.
It would be a long night.
CHAPTER 25
It felt like far longer than just a week since Lizzie joined the staff at St. Ermin’s. She had settled into her new job as though she belonged there. Sometimes she worked in one of the main rooms, jammed in with other administrative staff to the point where their legs touched, and their files fell into each other’s section.
Other times, Val wanted to work closely with her in her office, where she would draft translations of French intelligence that had been filtered into SOE by various channels.
The work was absorbing and there was rarely a quiet moment. Val was a fireball of energy and juggled multiple projects at one time. Lizzie did her best to keep up with her new boss and was fascinated by all Val taught her.
They had worked late into the night all week, and just as she was leaving on Friday evening, Val asked whether she would mind coming in the following day. ‘Take a few hours off in the morning. We all need some time to rest, but if you could come in for the afternoon, I’d greatly appreciate it. Saturday is a nice quiet day in here to get a lot done.’
Lizzie didn’t mind at all and even looked forward to it.Working life was proving more and more satisfying to her, and she often thought about how she would have missed out on all this if it weren’t for the war.
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.The adage certainly rang true for Lizzie, and early on Saturday afternoon she hummed as she passed St. James’s Park on foot. It was nearing the end of summer, but the sun was baking hot and the sky a deep blue, with only the occasional fluffy cloud rolling lazily by as she turned into Caxton Street. It was a perfect summer’s day.
At four o’clock, the tea lady, a cheerful, chatty woman called Stella, rolled her trolley into Val’s office. Lizzie raised her head to greet her and accepted a cup of milky tea with thanks.
‘Biscuit, my love?’ Stella proffered the plate to her, and Lizzie took one. ‘Granted, they taste like cardboard with no butter in them, but they’re better than nothing. I’ll leave a cuppa and a few biscuits for Val in case she returns soon.’
They chatted about the beautiful weather and, as Stella turned her trolley around to exit the room, a distant rumble caught Lizzie’s attention.
‘Do you hear that noise?’ she asked.
Stella nodded. ‘It sounds like another plane. It’ll be our boys in their Spitfires, giving those bastard Boche what for up in the skies.’
Lizzie bit into her biscuit, thinking no more of it as she returned to her translation.
As Stella’s trolley reached the door, it rocked violently, and mugs slid to one side and biscuits flew off the plate. ‘What the devil?’ Stella said, as she hung onto the trolley to stop it skidding across the room.
There was a loud boom in the distance, then another. And another.
‘They must be bombing London,’ Lizzie said, her face ashen. ‘We’d better take cover.’
Lizzie grabbed her bag, and they left the room and headed for the stairwell, which was already mobbed.
‘St James’s Park Underground is the closest place to shelter. It’s just up the road,’ called Stella as they joined the throngs of people on their way out of the building.
MI6 staff from an upper floor merged with SOE staff as they rushed downstairs. Disorientated hotel guests joined the crowds on the ground floor and hundreds of people poured out into the street.
‘Follow us to the Underground,’ Lizzie called out to a group who looked like they had no clue where to go.
There were more distant booms as they piled into the dimly lit station. Lizzie heard people calling each other’s names as they lost sight of one another in the rush to get out of the road. Lizzie didn’t know how far away the bombs were falling, but she could hear loud explosions as she rushed along the Underground tunnel with the others. Stella had managed to stay by her side, and they ran together, both panting at the frantic pace.
‘It’s so hot in here. There’s no air,’ Lizzie said.
Stella tugged on her arm after they had been running for a while. ‘Here’s a spot where we can wait it out,’ she said. Lizzie stopped and then followed her, and they found a space amongst the crowds on the hard flooring of the Victorian underground station.
Everywhere she looked, Lizzie saw more people piling in, and she wondered where her parents and sisters were. Was this just a strike near the hotel, or was all of London under attack? Her father had gone into the office today. She hoped he had made it safely to the shelter in the Whitehall building.
Evie and Juliet were quick on their feet, but she didn’t know what they were doing today. She consoled herself they would have got themselves to a station and taken cover.
Her mother’s face appeared in her mind and her heart pounded. Were German bomber planes flying over Regent’s Park? Would her mother have got to the nearest station in time to take cover? Violet would be with her, and she prayed they were safe.
