Page 32 of Echoes of Betrayal

‘Well, well. Look what the cat’s dragged in!’ she said.

‘Lovely to see you too. Thanks for the warm welcome.’

‘Oh, don’t be like that,’ she said, gesturing for him to sit. ‘You know what I mean.’

‘I do. Which is exactly why I’m here.’

Val had the good grace to look sheepish; the thick frames of her glasses not hiding the expression in her eyes.

‘Good to see you, anyway. I suppose you want to talk about Hannah.’

‘You suppose right,’ Jack said, lighting a cigarette. He didn’t bother offering one to Val, as she lectured him repeatedly on what a horrible habit smoking was and how it would kill him before the Nazis did.

She pushed the papers in front of her aside, almost reluctantly, and turned her full attention to her most senior intelligence officer. ‘Go on, then. I should have guessed you would show up. What is it you want exactly?’

CHAPTER 30

Lizzie unlocked the door to the cipher room. Only when she saw Tom standing there did she realise she’d been holding her breath since the knock. He had told her not to worry, and that he knew how to lose a shadow, but she had worried just the same and feared he might have been arrested.

‘What happened?’ she said.

Tom grinned and withdrew a waxed paper package from an interior coat pocket.

Lizzie gasped. ‘You got it. And I think you enjoyed it too!’

‘I did, rather,’ Tom said. ‘It’s been a while since I did the grassroots stuff. Usually, I just let them follow me.’

Lizzie reached for the package, and he released it. She paused. ‘What do you mean you let them follow you?’

‘There’s often someone on my tail here. It doesn’t bother me, and I just evade them when I need to. Most of the time I’m not hiding anything, so I let them exhaust themselves tailing me with no reward.’

‘If I’d known you are routinely followed, I wouldn’t have asked you to collect it,’ Lizzie said, her stomach lurching. If he had been spotted, the dead drop spot was compromised, and she must let Brunner know at once.

Tom patted her shoulder. ‘I told you. No one saw me. I know how to lose them when I want to.’

Lizzie was doubtful, but it was too late now. Being in Switzerland grew stranger every day. In Nazi-occupied territories, if you had a shadow, your time was nearly up, and you’d better either lose them or kill them.

Tom removed his coat and hung it up. ‘Bloody cold out there. It’s back to winter again after that short burst of spring.’

Lizzie was desperate to open the package and read what Brunner had left for her, but she hesitated. Tom was proving to be a rock, but she still wouldn’t tell him the purpose of her mission.

Tom took the hint. ‘I’ll bring us some tea and biscuits whilst you do what you have to do.’

Lizzie smiled, grateful for his understanding. ‘You risked your neck to get it. Thank you, Tom.’

‘Anytime,’ he said, making a sign to lock the door before leaving the room.

Lizzie did as he said and then sat down and rested the little package on her knee. Nestled inside the creased paper was another copy of an excerpt from Brunner & Cie’s ledger. Her heart thumped and anticipation coursed through her as she laid the paper carefully on the table.

Another knock on the door made her jump. She folded the excerpt and slipped it into her jacket pocket, and then shoved the waxed paper out of sight behind a filing tray. ‘Yes?’ she called, her voice catching in her dry throat. ‘Who’s there?’

They weren’t supposed to let anyone else access the cipher room, and it definitely wasn’t Tom because he would use their coded knock.

‘Are you in there, Elizabeth?’

Pemberton’s voice was unmistakable, and Lizzie was thrown. He’d never sought her out there before. It was an unspoken rule at the Legation that the cipher room was off-limits to all without specific security clearance.

Lizzie crossed to the door. ‘Sir, this is Elizabeth. I’ll be out as soon as I complete the shift.’