Page 37 of Echoes of Betrayal

Ernst sighed, and his mood sank lower. ‘That’s all we will say on the matter for now, but I warn you, this is something we need to give further thought to, no matter how unprofitable it may be.’

Franz bent over Ernst’s chair and patted him on the shoulder. ‘Leave the worrying to me, partner, and all will be well. Didn’t the doctor say you need to watch your blood pressure and keep your nerves in check? I’d take his advice if I were you.’

Ernst watched his partner leave the room and sat there feeling listless for several moments, running through the conversation again in his mind. Franz was totally unconcerned by the latest developments in the war. Had he overreacted, and if so, was it too late to pull back from whatever it was he had entered into with Miss Gale? She couldn’t force him to give her more information. He drank the remains of his cold coffee and tried to calm himself, but it was no use. If anything, the meeting had only agitated him further and cast doubt on his actions. If Franz suspected him of betrayal, what might he do? His senses spun and his thoughts whirred into pure panic as his chest tightened and he loosened his tie so he could catch his breath.

Kurt Voss and his intelligence thugs were always watching. Thank goodness the bank didn’t have regular contact with German intelligence, and the gold transactions were processed through the banking system. Perhaps Franz was right, and he should just keep quiet, let the war play out, and the gold roll in.

There was a knock on the door, and the secretary entered. She removed the tray, and he returned to his office, still deep in thought. Trying to do the right thing, even for questionable reasons, was proving more complicated than he’d anticipated.

He had jumped into collaborating with Elizabeth Gale on a whim. He knew nothing about her other than that she was British and a translator to the Commercial Attaché. What had seemed like a great idea in the moment suddenly seemed like madness.

What if Miss Gale didn’t know how to handle the incriminating information that he had passed to her? For all he knew, it was shoved in a safe somewhere in the Legation and another member of staff might see it at any time. Who else knew about their dangerous arrangement? Had she told Pemberton? The thoughts kept spiralling through his head until he made a decision. He must put his mind at ease.

It was time to reevaluate his position and seek out Miss Gale again before he gave himself a heart attack.

CHAPTER 33

Lizzie busied herself at the Legation as though her entire purpose for being in Bern was as a translator. Tom kept her busy too, and between Pemberton’s workload and the cipher room intercepts, she worked long days, only walking to work and back to her apartment. It was dull at night on her own, and she hoped there would be some more action soon, as nothing was happening. Reviewing her progress whilst she ate a simple supper of bread and soup in the kitchen, with the backdrop of the evening lights twinkling on the skyline, she concluded things were moving too slow. She needed to speed up the flow of evidence if she were to extract enough to complete her mission. Otherwise, she could be marooned in Bern for the rest of the year.

Obviously, there were worse places to be based in wartime. The Luftwaffe had resumed its offensive on London after the post-Blitz reprieve, and there were frequent air raids again. So far, fortunately, they weren’t as deadly as in the early years, but it was still a terrifying experience to be woken in the night by German bombers overhead and have to flee for cover.

Earlier in the month, there had been a terrible disaster at Bethnal Green station where hundreds had been trampled underfoot in the rush to take shelter. The Legation had held a moment’s silence for the victims, and members of staff expressed gratitude that they were safe from such dangers, but their thoughts were with loved ones back home who weren’t so lucky. Many of them, like Lizzie, had brothers or husbands fighting on the front line, and every report from London sent them into a spin when they feared the worst.

Despite the bombing, Lizzie yearned to return home to Jack’s arms. They had exchanged several more messages, and he was still at Bletchley. There was no news from Hannah, and Lizzie tried not to think about what might have happened to her friend. Tom said he had received word of more roundups and arrests as the Milice expanded their operations.

Lizzie didn’t have access to specifics about missing agents, as Jack couldn’t tell her, and Val wouldn’t tell her, but the mood at Baker Street had grown darker as more agents disappeared.

Only after her initial recruitment did Lizzie learn that she was the first female SOE agent to be dropped into France. There had been many new SOE trainees since, but they weren’t trained at Baker Street, so she didn’t meet them. Like Lizzie, they underwent their basic training at stately homes around the country. Brave men and women, mostly young but some older, went undercover to serve as dedicated couriers and wireless operators. Others were tasked with infiltrating the enemy or supporting Resistance networks.

What had been a fledgling organisation when Lizzie joined had grown into a huge operation made up of cells, networks, and agents throughout Europe and further afield. Churchill’s rallying cry to set Europe ablaze had been implemented by the SOE, but their people paid a heavy price. Just as Val or Jack accompanied her whenever she left on a mission, Val did the same for other women she recruited. She called them my girls, and Lizzie witnessed the crushing effect losing agents had on her boss and mentor. The loss of many of their finest was a tragic reality of working with the SOE, just as it was in all branches of the military.

The difference was when an agent was captured, interrogated, tortured and murdered by the Gestapo, or sent to rot in a concentration camp such as Ravensbrück, the infamous Nazi women’s camp outside Berlin, their families weren’t told how brave they were, or even what had happened to them.

Lizzie’s thoughts were drawn to Ravensbrück. She heard whispers at Baker Street that female agents had been sent there. As the war limped on, more details of the camps were published in the press and talked about on the wireless. People found it hard to grasp the scale of the evil that was being revealed. The women’s forced labour camp was comprised mostly of political prisoners, but also Jewish, Romani, and others the Nazis deemed unsuitable for the Third Reich.

Lizzie knew from SOE reports that there was a gas chamber and a crematorium on the camp, and they were even said to conduct cruel medical experiments such as drug testing on inmates. Lizzie shivered and clutched her cardigan closer to her body. If the Nazis ever captured Hannah and discovered she was the Jewish Resistance agent who went by the codename Angel and who had caused such chaos for them, it would be the end for her.

Hannah had infiltrated Nazi organisations in France and even in Berlin and she had assassinated high-level officers along the way. How she had evaded capture for so long was a miracle that Lizzie avoided thinking about when possible. By any measure of reasonable statistics, Hannah should be dead already, but she defied every statistic and refused to be beaten by the damn Boche, as the brave Resistance leader called them.

Hannah’s blue eyes and fierce spirit brought tears to Lizzie’s eyes as she imagined her in action, organising railway sabotage ops, blowing up bridges to halt the Germans' war machine, and training new recruits so they could multiply their efforts. The Lavender Network was one of the SOE’s most daring F Section circuits, and Lizzie’s lips moved as she prayed with all her might that she and Lev would somehow evade the latest round of arrests in the south of France.

‘Miss Gale.’ Pemberton stood in his office doorway, summoning her.

She’d been miles away, and it took a few seconds for her to hear him. ‘Yes, sir, sorry I was distracted for a moment.’

‘Happens to the best of us,’ he said, his tone unusually jolly. ‘I’m afraid you’ll need to undistract yourself as you’re needed immediately.’

Lizzie stood and went into his office to receive his instructions.

‘Brunner has his knickers in a twist again. I don’t know what’s going on with him lately, but he’s asking for you to pop in and attend to another contract amendment. I won’t be able to come with you this time as I have an important lunch meeting.’

‘Very well, sir. I’ll go over there immediately and hopefully catch him before lunch.’

‘I can’t keep appearing at his beck and call every two minutes. I’ve more important things to do.’

‘Of course, sir. It’s not a problem. I’ll check the amendment and organise it for you to countersign here.’

‘He was quite right when he said you’re more than capable of handling it. Remind him of that so he won’t feel slighted when you show up alone. You’d better call for the car to take you to save time.’