Page 57 of Echoes of Betrayal

CHAPTER 48

London, April 1943

Lizzie went straight to Jack’s office when the car dropped her at Baker Street, but the door was locked. He mustn’t be back from Bletchley Park yet, she realised, the earlier disappointment rising in her chest again.

Never mind, she would see him soon and if his posting was still not over, she decided once she had been debriefed and caught up on her sleep, she would take the train to Bletchley and meet him there. They had been parted long enough, and she would not allow a few miles to stand between them now that she was on home ground.

Val’s face broke into a wreath of smiles as Lizzie entered. Her boss tried to pretend she was stern and unemotional, but Lizzie had glimpsed the real Val beneath the surface many times and knew how much she cared about her agents.

‘Seagrove! Jolly good to see you back in one piece.’

‘Thank you, ma’am. It’s good to be home.’

There was a knock on the door. ‘Ah, perfect timing,’ Val said when the tea lady appeared. ‘Lizzie is here, just arrived after a long spell away, and I’m sure she’d love one of your legendary cuppas.’

Stella welcomed Lizzie and dispensed tea and biscuits with a warm smile before pushing her trolley back through the door and leaving them alone.

‘Tell me all,’ Val said, biting into a ginger nut.

Lizzie started at the beginning, only stopping when Val interrupted to ask questions, her eyes never leaving Lizzie’s face.

‘You have once again achieved an amazing feat. So, that bastard Pemberton thinks he has got one over on you and he’s free to continue cashing in on his treachery?’

Lizzie nodded. ‘I suspected him of not playing straight from the very beginning, but it wasn’t until Tom saw him stealing the ledger copies from the cipher room that we knew for sure he was working against us.’

‘And Voss, the Swiss counterintelligence agent had to let you go.’

‘Tom said his priority would be to stop a diplomatic scandal, which would only draw more attention to what is going on in Switzerland. And he believes he and Pemberton retrieved all the evidence from Brunner’s dead drops, and they think I can’t prove Switzerland is colluding with the Nazis.’

‘And can you?’ Val said, drinking from her mug of tea.

Lizzie stood and fumbled with the waistband of her skirt before withdrawing the tiny camera and depositing it on the desk between them.

‘Is this what I think it is?’ Val asked, her eyes gleaming behind her thick glasses as she reached to retrieve the camera.

Lizzie nodded vigorously. ‘Pemberton and Voss were right about the dead drop copies. If Brunner hadn’t let me into the vault and Tom hadn’t provided me with the camera, I really would have wasted months and come home with nothing to show for my efforts.’

Val twirled the camera in her hand. ‘And what have we here exactly?’

‘Photographic evidence of everything you need from the Brunner & Cie bank vault to show the Swiss banking system is in up to its neck with the Nazis’ looting and laundering of gold.’

Val leant back in her chair, a wicked grin spreading across her face. ‘Bloody marvellous, Seagrove. You’ve pulled another rabbit out of the hat.’

Lizzie finished her tea and suddenly felt all the energy drain away from her body. She’d done it, and only now she’d handed over the camera did she feel that she’d completed her mission and could relax.

Val stood. ‘I’ll get this film developed immediately and update the Prime Minister. You look exhausted. Go home and get some rest. You’ve earned it.’

Lizzie rose, and when she reached the door, she turned. ‘Where’s Jack?’

‘Never fear. He’s due back from Bletchley at any moment. I swear you two are like a pair of homing pigeons. He didn’t know you were coming home today, but he phoned earlier to say he was leaving on the next train.’

Lizzie emerged into the morning sunshine and breathed in the smoggy London air. It wasn’t clear and fresh like Bern, but it was so good to be home. Reinvigorated, she turned the corner and slotted her key into the front door of Jack’s flat. It smelt musty and unlived-in as she wandered through to the front room and gazed around. Only ten minutes passed before she heard a car engine pull up outside and the door opened to reveal Jack’s tall silhouette.

‘You’re home!’ He dropped his bag and strode through the hallway towards her, scooping her up in his arms and twirling her around.

Lizzie squealed, and he gently rested her back on her feet, and she slid her arms around his neck. Their lips met in a crushing kiss as they breathed each other in and clung together as if they would never be parted again.

That evening at Regent’s Park, Lizzie sat at the table after they finished a welcome-home dinner, prepared lovingly by her mother and Violet.