Page 56 of Shadows In Paris
Lizzie hurried out of the room and up to the attic to retrieve the wireless from its hiding place.The Count of Monte Cristolay beside it, and Lizzie quickly jotted down her coded message. It said:
Raven. Sabotage op gone bad. Man down. Don’t know if alive or dead. Operation in the devil’s lair is strong. Angel won’t leave in case cover is not blown. I should stay too.
Seagrove.
The words felt so uncaring, but she daren’t risk saying how much she loved and missed him in case someone else decoded the message. She’d be compromising them both.
Lizzie waited; her heart wretched with emotions shecould not express to Jack. There was no place for feelings in espionage. She was desperate to key in her message but unable to send anything until she got the go-ahead sign. It seemed like she waited forever, pacing about the dusty cold attic, but eventually the signal came, and she sent the message.
Lizzie was anxious to hear what Jack would say. She wanted to stay with Hannah, even though the vision of the Gestapo banging on their door tonight was a terrifying one. She didn’t feel right leaving her, when Hannah was risking her life every day to gather intelligence to pass to the SOE.
Seagrove. Abort mission. Get out now. Pickup usual place and time tomorrow. Angel too.
Raven.
CHAPTER 27
Jack’s message tugged at Lizzie’s emotions. What he said made perfect sense. Leaving was the sensible thing to do. Before she returned downstairs, she stuffed the bulky wireless and novel back into the hidden compartment and wondered how she could get Hannah to leave with her.
‘What did he say?’ Hannah asked.
Lizzie told her he ordered them both to abandon the mission and to leave the farmhouse. ‘He said he’s arranging a pickup at the usual place for tomorrow night.’ She paused. ‘I don’t know where that is. You could come with me…’
‘I will explain or take you myself.’
Lizzie knew what Hannah would say before she said it, but she hoped she was wrong.
‘I can’t go now. I’m only just getting started. The office is a goldmine of information. You should get out now, though. I will figure out where you can stay and give you directions for the pickup.’
‘Won’t you reconsider?’ Lizzie asked, conflicted betweenher loyalty to Jack and to Hannah. It didn’t feel right to leave her, but it didn’t feel right to disobey Jack’s orders, either.
There was a rap at the door. They both jumped and stared at each other.
‘Expecting anyone?’ Lizzie whispered.
Hannah said, ‘No, did you hide the wireless?’
Lizzie nodded, panic shooting through her. ‘What shall we do?’
Hannah walked over to the window and peeked through the slit at the side of the blackout blinds. There was another louder knock, and she froze as if deciding whether to answer, before she strode to the door and turned the handle.
Lizzie stood watching, her heart bouncing in her chest, half expecting to see menacing Gestapo figures in trench coats.
The thoughts swirled through her mind. Had Francois been unable to hold out any longer? Was this the end of her time as a special agent? She remembered her trainers saying it would be a miracle for an SOE agent to survive longer than a few weeks in Nazi occupied territory, which is why they designed operations of the get-in, get-out style. Lizzie had defied the odds by staying longer, but maybe this was the day her luck ran out.
The tension drained from Lizzie’s body when she saw Margot, the lady who had begged her to take the Stern family in.
Hannahgrabbed her arm and pulled her inside. ‘Thank goodness it’s you. Come in quickly. We might be blown.’
‘What happened?’ Margot asked. ‘You both look like you’ve seen a ghost.’
‘They’ve got one of ours. It’s better for you if you don’t know the details. What do you need?’ Hannah asked, her tone businesslike.
Margot said she had come to see if there was any news ofthe Sterns. ‘I can’t get them out of my head. Did they make it over the Pyrenees and into Spain?’
‘You shouldn’t have come just for that,’ Hannah scolded. ‘You’re supposed to make contact only in an emergency.’ Hannah’s voice softened as she saw Margot’s distraught expression on her lined face. ‘I got word yesterday the Sterns made it to Spain. I don’t know more than that.’
This was news to Lizzie, who had thought about the family’s progress too. ‘Will they be picked up from Gibraltar and taken back to London like the airmen you rescued?’ she asked.
