Page 79 of Whispers At Dawn
Lizzie perked up at the news. ‘I’m so pleased we can get the airmen home. I can only imagine how awful it must be for their families, if they’ve been advised they are missing in action.’
Lizzie thought of her brother Archie, and Oliver, Juliet’s fiancé, who were both fighting. She shook her head. It didn’t help to dwell on her loved ones in danger. Lizzie had learnt soon after the SOE recruited her to use her anguish to fuel her motivation. She didn’t want to look back in years to come and regret not doing all she could when she was in a position to make a real difference.
Jack interrupted Lizzie’s thoughts. ‘Me too. As a plane is coming, I asked for weapons and supplies. We must do all we can to prepare Lev and Marguerite to run an organised Resistance network after we leave.’
‘Do you think they are up to the job?’ she asked.
Jack lit a cigarette. ‘He’s obviously a strong character. I’d put money on him being a good leader.’
‘And what about Marguerite?’
‘Everything she’s done so far has been helpful. She’s gone out of her way to arrange our meetings with Lev. Without her, we wouldn’t have even met him.’
Lizzie agreed with Jack’s analysis, but wanted to hear his calculations. ‘Why Lev? Could she not be the leader? She is committed, and they have already carried out extensive Resistance activities collaborating with her contact at the border.’
‘Yes, that’s true. They’re a good team. Marguerite is well positioned to gather intelligence at her job at the café, whereas Lev can no longer work as an artisan and is doing his best to avoid forced labour.’
‘I didn’t know he was an artisan.’
Jack dropped his voice even lower. ‘He was before the statutes. I believe he’s better positioned to be the official network leader, but Marguerite is a key player, too. We were lucky to find them so soon after we arrived.’
Lizzie frowned. ‘I have to say it. What if it’s not luck? Even after all this, it may still be a trap. Lev—and even Marguerite—might not be who they say they are. Have you thought of that?’ Lizzie asked. ‘They could be double agents working with the Vichy regime.’
Jack nodded. ‘I considered the risk, of course. It’s almost impossible to know for sure who to trust in this melting pot, so I must go with my gut.’
‘And your gut still says we can trust them?’
‘It does, but logic backs up the feeling. In my experience, you can’t fake the pain in Lev’s eyes. And meeting Marguerite like we did couldn’t have been a setup because even we didn’t know which café we would choose on our first visit to the city.’
Lizzie searched Jack’s face. ‘It’s so difficult when every decision is a matter of life and death.’
‘Which is why most people aren’t cut out for this line of work.’
Lizzie sighed. They would just have to pray they had made the right decision. ‘What shall we call the network?’
‘I haven’t given it any thought. They should name it,’ Jack said. ‘Our job is to give them the resources to scale up operations so they can get more airmen out and sabotage the Vichy infrastructure that feeds the Nazi war machine.’
Lizzie said, ‘I promised the doctor’s wife we would help them get out of France. Their granddaughter is well enough to travel now. Could they leave on the plane with the airmen? There are only two adults. It would be tight but doable.’
Jack looked downcast. ‘No, I’m afraid not. London would never agree to it, darling.’
‘I was afraid you’d say that, but after we took Hannah back with us last time, I thought perhaps we could bend the rules for a good cause.’
‘We must apply our resources to prepare the way for the Allied invasion. Our orders don’t include helping Jews escape.’
Lizzie was momentarily taken aback by the harshness of his statement, but then she realised she shouldn’t be shocked. Jews, even some who were British born, were routinely interned in Britain and classed as enemy aliens. The British governmentwas paranoid about German spies and no one with any potential connection to Axis powers was safe.
Lizzie didn’t approve of the situation, and neither would Hannah, although she wouldn’t be surprised. In the past, Val had turned a blind eye to Hannah using British resources to help Jews escape as long as she was an asset to the SOE operations. It was a fair deal, and one Val didn’t report upline to their boss, who wasn’t as understanding.
As if reading Lizzie’s mind, Jack said, ‘Val is sympathetic to the plight of the Jews, but the SOE is tangled up in bureaucracy and we can’t always act how we might wish. The government hasn’t allowed Jewish immigration into Britain since early in the war.’
Lizzie, who thought of Hannah like a sister since their time together in Paris, raged inwardly. ‘I understand we must follow our orders, but how will we live with ourselves if we don’t do all we can to save everyone who is fleeing from Nazi persecution, not just the lucky few?’
Jack sighed. ‘I wish I knew, but war is like a savage game of chess. We can’t move all the pieces, or we’ll lose focus on winning.’
Lizzie wasn’t satisfied with his answer and stared into the distance, wondering what more she could do. It was so long since she’d seen Hannah, and she missed her.
Jack reached for her hand. ‘We took a significant number of Jewish children on the Kindertransport programme, who managed to flee Nazi-controlled territories in time.’
