CHAPTER ELEVEN
ROSE
‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’
She watched as Hazel looked up, eyes like saucers. The poor thing was shaking like a leaf.
‘I feel like I have!’
They both laughed and Rose passed her old friend a cup of chicory coffee, hoping she wouldn’t mind the taste of the substitute blend. It was nice to have a brief moment with Hazel. It had taken them hours to get back to her house, and Sophia had left them almost immediately to join Josephine and provide assistance after receiving word that there were allies scheduled to fly overhead.
‘So you’ve been here all this time with Sophia?’ Hazel asked, her brows furrowed. ‘Was it you who recommended me for the job?’
Rose nodded. ‘I managed to make my way here after Peter died. It seemed like the best place for me, even though it’s crawling with as many Germans as Paris is.’ She paused, taking a sip of coffee as she tried to warm up. ‘I met Sophia under trying circumstances, but we’ve made a good team since then. We’ve been together almost six months now.’
Hazel had her fingers wrapped around the cup as she stared back at her.
‘I was asked some time ago, once I’d proven myself, if there was anyone I thought was suitable for a similar role,’ Rose explained. ‘I mentioned you, of course. You were the only person I knew well enough to trust.’
‘Dare I ask if you had another radio operator before me?’
Rose smiled. ‘You’ve obviously heard about the mortality rate.’ She shook her head. ‘You were supposed to be joining my brother’s cell, actually. He and his wife are working for the Resistance, too, and their cell has been short on a good operator.’
‘Sebastian?’ Hazel looked surprised.
‘I know he’d love to see you again.’
‘Is he all right? Why didn’t I join them?’
Rose steeled herself, setting her cup down. She’d become better at keeping her emotions in check, so much calmer than before. Peter would have laughed – he’d been so used to her flying off the handle. ‘We’re not sure what happened, but we think someone my friend Josephine works with was captured, and another from their cell, so everything is in a state of chaos right now.’
Rose was quietly worried about her brother. He’d been supposed to arrive the day before with other members of his cell, but when she and Sophia heard word of the captures, she knew he’d have decided to lie low. Or else something had gone terribly wrong.
‘I can’t imagine, I mean . . .’ Hazel took a deep, shuddering breath. ‘Training is one thing, but actually being here is completely different.’
Rose sighed, seeing the light in her old friend’s eyes, how excited and full of anticipation she seemed. It made her feel one hundred years old in comparison, or maybe she’d simply seen and been through too much. Perhaps she’d had that same light when she’d first told Peter what she wanted to do, how badly she wanted to help.
Rose finished sipping her coffee, liking the almost too hot burn as it slid down her throat and warmed her stomach. It was the quiet moments like this she relished now – the times of doing nothing that might have bored her in the past but now seemed like a luxury. It was what she was looking forward to most when the war was over.
‘I know I’ve said it all in letters already, Rose, but I am so sorry about Peter,’ Hazel suddenly said, taking her by surprise by changing the subject so abruptly. ‘He was a good man, and from everything you said a lovely husband, too, and I want you to know how truly sorry I am, and also how grateful it made me that I attended your wedding all those years ago.’
Rose felt hardened to it now, after everything that had passed, as if she’d steeled herself so much against the pain that now it didn’t hurt her. Until she was alone at night, in bed, trying to sleep.
‘Thank you. I think perhaps it will hit me again once all this is over.’
Being helpful and joining the local Resistance had given her a purpose, something to wake up for every morning. As had looking after Sophia and nursing her back to health. They’d been through a lot together in the months since Sophia had almost bled to death outside her house. There had been so much else to do, so much to think about, that Rose had managed to push thoughts of Peter away.
It was her lost baby who haunted her the most, who played through her memories when she most wanted solitude.
‘We might not be staying here long,’ Rose said, pushing thoughts of her child away. ‘We’re operating right under German noses, and we’ve been working here for months. If we stay much longer they could find us or, worse, the locals will have to pay for what we’ve done.’
‘What do you mean?’ Hazel asked.
‘You don’t want to know,’ Rose said, her voice so cold she hardly recognised it. ‘But let’s just say that when the Resistance disrupts them in ways they don’t like, they find a way to make the locals suffer as penance.’
The floorboards above creaked and she saw Hazel startle.
‘What was that?’
Rose pointed up. ‘We have a guest,’ she explained. ‘We’ve been working with others in the area, rescuing pilots, but this one was injured and we couldn’t get him out when the last of the submarines came through. He’ll be gone with the new moon.’
Hazel looked uncertain and Rose understood how she felt. It was overwhelming, and all the training in the world couldn’t possibly have prepared her for what she was going to be doing. If she hadn’t been recruited on the ground as she had, Rose was certain she’d have looked just as worried.
‘Gosh, I felt like I was top of my class during training and now I’m like a fish out of water!’
‘Stop,’ Rose said. She stood and moved around the table, holding out her hand and waiting for Hazel to stand. When she did, Rose opened her arms and hugged her friend long and hard. ‘It’s so good to see you again. We’re sitting here talking, all stiff like we’re strangers, and it’s silly. It’s been so long since I’ve seen someone from my past life, it’s as if I need to be taught how to behave again.’
Hazel hugged her back and relaxed in her arms. ‘It’s good to see you again, too.’ She sighed audibly. ‘I definitely never expected to find a familiar face over here, that’s for sure.’
Rose pulled away and wrapped her arms around herself. ‘The work we do, it changes you. I didn’t mean to be cold with you, but I feel different now. As if I’m not even connected to the old me, like I’m watching from above or something peculiar.’ She knew how silly that sounded, trying to explain her feelings.
Hazel touched her arm before dropping back into her chair again. ‘I can see that. I know you’ve been through so much and I haven’t done anything other than be put through my training. I don’t know how we’re supposed to do the things they train us for, then simply return home at the end and pretend like nothing has changed.’
Rose nodded. She understood completely; her old life felt like a distant memory that she could barely reach out and touch. She couldn’t imagine going home and being the same person again, especially not being able to divulge how active they’d been during the offensive in France.
‘Hazel, I—’
A thump outside made Rose jump. She was used to the unexpected now, but a loud noise when they were so careful to be quiet and go unnoticed was unusual.
‘Wait here,’ she said, glancing at Hazel before hurrying to the door. She waited a second, then opened it a crack to take a look, ready to fight if she needed to. She was always on guard, always on edge, one eye half-open even when she was sleeping.
She gasped when she saw Sophia buckling beneath the weight of a man dressed in a British RAF uniform. Rose dashed out, calling for Hazel to join them.
‘Help! Quick!’ Sophia hissed.
Rose grabbed one side of him, taking part of his weight as her boots skidded on the damp grass. She slumped beneath him, trying desperately to stay upright.
‘Who is he?’ she asked Sophia as the man moaned. ‘And how the hell have you ended up with him?’
‘What in the world?’ Hazel gasped.
Sophia collapsed just as Hazel reached them, darting to help catch the man as he grunted and slipped forward. He was filthy, his face covered in dirt and dried blood, his uniform torn and snagged.
‘Found him,’ Sophia panted as she let Hazel take over, ‘crawling through the wooded area on my way back.’ She stumbled to the door and held it open. ‘I could hardly leave him, could I? Josephine had already gone.’
‘What’s your name?’ Rose asked as they hefted him up the steps. One of his legs was working, but he was cradling an arm and the other leg was dragging and making him groan with every bump.
‘Harry,’ he muttered, barely audible.
And just as she was about to reply, he slipped straight from their arms and landed with a thud on the hard timber floor.
Rose stood dead still with the others for a moment, all of them frozen with the shock of what had just happened, before jolting into action.
‘What do we do with him?’ Hazel asked as Rose dropped to the floor beside him. She bent low and listened to his breathing. It was shallow but at least he wasn’t dead.
‘He’s alive,’ she said, glancing at Sophia. ‘We can’t carry him upstairs, so let’s get him to the sofa and then we can check over his injuries.’
Sophia looked as though she was about to pass out, and Rose wanted her to rest. She’d been out for hours and the last thing Rose needed was for her to collapse from fatigue when they were on high alert.
‘Samuel, get down here!’ Rose called to the man who was sleeping upstairs. She’d told him not to come down unless he was told to, preferring to keep him well hidden until it was time to leave. There had been too many of their own caught by Germans in the past few weeks, their countrymen turning on them and giving information to the Nazis. They no longer knew who they could trust.
‘Hazel, get hot water and towels. They’re in the kitchen,’ Rose ordered, kneeling beside their new patient as she waited for Samuel to come down to help her. ‘I’ll need bandages, too. Bottom cupboard.’
Samuel came down the stairs so quietly she didn’t hear him until he was standing near her. He looked worried and she didn’t blame him. He was so close to getting back home and away from an enemy who’d take pleasure in his capture; he was probably a nervous wreck.
‘Help me lift him,’ she said. ‘I need to get him to the sofa.’
Samuel had his own injuries, but they were the least of Rose’s worries right now. She needed to get this airman fixed up so they could hide him and figure out what to do. They’d only radioed in for one pickup from their circuit, and she’d need to figure out if she could take this one with them to the submarine drop-off or not. She wasn’t meeting Josephine until the next day, and it was too risky to go over and see her before then.
‘Let me help,’ Sophia insisted, her voice hoarse as she stood. Rose looked up and saw how unsteady she was on her feet. Something was wrong; Sophia was never like this, always kept going no matter what as if nobody and nothing could exhaust her.
‘No, sit there and rest. You need fluid and something to eat,’ Rose said, taking command. They had a deep level of trust between them, and she knew Sophia would listen to her if she demanded it. She was more concerned about Sophia’s welfare than her own most of the time, and given how many months Sophia had worked in France before turning up on her doorstep, Rose knew she was too strong to collapse merely from exhaustion. ‘Hazel, how’s that hot water coming?’
‘Here,’ Hazel replied, hurrying to her. ‘What can I do?’
Samuel helped Rose to heft the airman higher up on the sofa, cushions propping his head and back. He moaned, his cracked, dry lips parting, every time they moved him. Once he was slumped there she stood back and swapped glances with Hazel. She was no nurse and yet there was Hazel waiting for her to issue instructions.
‘I think we should clean his wounds as best we can, from what we can see. Then we can check him over properly once he comes around more.’
Hazel nodded. ‘I’ll bathe his face first,’ she said. ‘He’ll need water and something to eat once he’s awake again.’
Rose watched Sophia stand and slowly make her way into the kitchen. She knew how hard the other woman would find it to sit still and not do anything, but at least she wasn’t doing too much. Rose’s biggest worry was whether they were about to be raided, their door smashed in by soldiers who’d followed Sophia.
‘What happened?’ Rose called out as she carefully checked Harry’s arm and took a clean towel, dipping it into the warm water and bathing the deep cuts and scratches etched into his skin.
‘Everything’s turned to hell out there,’ Sophia called back. ‘We didn’t see any planes come down. Josephine left because she wanted to double-check we hadn’t been followed. She’s been frantic since Sebastian went missing, and she told me more from another network have disappeared from contact.’
Rose took a deep breath. She could cope with a lot, but being captured by the Germans? The things they could do to a person to try to extract knowledge weren’t something she liked to think about. She had to remind herself that right now, they didn’t know anything for sure.
‘I got the package though,’ Sophia said.
‘What was the package?’ Hazel asked, her voice low.
Rose shook her head, knowing Sophia would be furious that Hazel had asked so openly. She saw the hostile glare Sophia gave her old friend and cringed. The fact that the men with them were allies didn’t mean they could disclose their secrets, not any of them, and Sophia was unforgiving when it came to protecting the work they did.
‘How’s his arm looking?’ asked Sophia.
Rose kept going, checking his scratches, cleaning him up, pleased that everything looked fairly fresh. The blood hadn’t long dried, and in some places he was still bleeding. But it was his leg she was most worried about, and she hadn’t even examined that yet. The way he’d been resting it, she worried that there might be something too sinister there for them to treat with their crude supplies.
‘Rose, we had the delivery confirmed for tomorrow night,’ Sophia called out. ‘We need to rest tonight, then get the package to the drop-off point and figure out whether it’s safe to come back or not.’
It was the worst kind of news, to have to think about whether to leave the house or not, and there was obviously a lot Sophia was waiting to tell her. She wasn’t looking forward to making the drop, that was for sure.
Samuel caught her eye and she smiled at him, not giving anything away. He’d trusted them this long, and the last thing she wanted was for him to think they weren’t going to follow through on the promises they’d made him.
‘You’ll be on your way soon,’ Rose reassured him. ‘I promise.’
She kept going, methodically checking their new house guest over, wondering if he’d be the one to get them caught. Even if Sophia had been careful, she’d been trying to support the weight of a man twice her size. There was simply no way she’d have known if there were Germans hidden, watching her. ‘Go back upstairs for now. It’s safer there. Just bring down some new clothes for this one first, then we can burn his uniform.’
Rose sighed and stood. If the enemy had been watching Sophia, surely they’d have stormed the house by now, and a simple change of clothes for their guest wouldn’t help at all.
‘I’ll be back in a moment,’ she said to Hazel as Sophia reappeared. ‘Keep going as best you can, and once he’s patched up we need to strip him down and burn those clothes well enough so there’s not even a thread of his uniform left.’
She motioned to Sophia with her head, looking towards the kitchen and walking to the corner with her. They stood close, heads bent, and she could tell from Sophia’s eyes that something was troubling her. She’d seen that look on her face only once before, and that had been when they were both losing too much blood, side by side, and things were going horribly wrong.
‘What happened?’ she asked, keeping her voice deliberately low.
‘No one has heard from Sebastian or Charlotte, but the other, the man Josephine has been working with, was confirmed as captured.’ Sophia let out a breath. ‘And the members of their cell we’d heard had been taken? It’s confirmed.’
Rose felt her heart skip a beat, then thud rapidly. She was relieved Sebastian was still unaccounted for – no news was better than bad news, and she preferred to think of him as hidden somewhere safely – but she knew that Josephine would be devastated. Not to mention worried she could be given up.
‘My guess is they’re being interrogated right now, which means it’s only so long before one of them breaks.’ Sophia’s tone was low, depressed. ‘But I think we’d know if they had your brother.’
Or if he was dead. That was the missing part from what she’d said. They were either being interrogated or they were already dead. And if they weren’t dead then they would be soon, or else they’d be sent to one of those horrendous camps, where it was a matter of when, not if, they perished. She knew her mind was racing, jumping to conclusions, but the chance Sebastian was safely hiding somewhere was seeming less likely by the minute.
‘Any change in the pickup instructions for tomorrow night?’ she asked.
‘No,’ Sophia said. ‘But it’s going to be difficult. There are German guards everywhere, more along the coast than ever from what I’ve heard. It’ll be our hardest yet, and I doubt there’ll be many more men we can rescue and get out. They’re everywhere.’
‘What we will do with any more we find?’
‘There are rumours they’ll have to be smuggled to Spain from now on, through an intricate network of helpers.’
Rose felt shivers go up and down her spine, the tiny hairs on her arms all standing on end. Up until now, they’d been so careful, and they’d done so many drop-offs that it no longer felt as dangerous as before. But Sophia wouldn’t be scaring her if she didn’t absolutely believe that what she’d been told was true.
‘But we still go ahead with rescuing them, regardless?’ Rose asked. ‘At what point do we decide it’s not worth the risk? That maybe we should’ – she paused, hating the words she was about to say – ‘leave them behind and focus on disrupting the Germans instead, with the other cells?’
‘We radio Paris tonight,’ Sophia said. ‘It’s the only way. And then they can communicate with London and follow their orders.’ She looked sad, her mouth drawing down. ‘We don’t give up on any of them, Rose, not until we’re told to. We can’t.’
There was a chance they’d be found out, if the others talked, but they were all trained to keep their mouths shut. Giving away information about another meant certain death, and Rose knew she’d much prefer to die than give up her fellow Resistance members. But if they were spotted trying to get Samuel to the submarine, then they’d be found and tortured regardless.
‘We have a radio here now, and that’s something,’ Sophia continued. ‘If Hazel is as good as she’s supposed to be, and she damn well better be, then we’re going to be stronger than ever. It’ll save me having to make that long ride out to the others in the circuit so often.’ She sighed. ‘Although from the looks of her, a feather could blow her over.’
Rose stifled her laugh. ‘Have you ever heard the saying “don’t judge a book by its cover”?’
Sophia made a face and shrugged, clearly unimpressed. ‘She can prove herself to me and then perhaps I’ll change my mind.’
Rose continued, ignoring the look Sophia was giving her. ‘Look, we’ll do the drop tomorrow night together, just you and I. But I doubt our newest visitor will be in any shape to be transported.’ She turned to make Sophia a drink, certain she needed something hot to keep her going after the day and night she’d had. There was a watery soup that wasn’t half bad still sitting on the cooker, and she wanted to make sure Sophia had some. ‘Hazel will be great, trust me. I’ve known her a long time, and they wouldn’t have sent her in if she wasn’t one of the best.’
She took out two large mugs. They were low on bowls and it was often easier to sip their soup from a cup anyway. It was hardly worthy of a spoon, although she often used one simply to make it feel like she was having a proper meal.
‘Have this and then get some rest. We don’t need you tonight and you won’t be any use to us tomorrow if you haven’t had any sleep.’
‘Sorry to disturb you.’ Hazel’s soft voice floated towards them and Rose turned, taken by surprise.
‘Oh, it’s fine. We’re not keeping secrets from you, we just don’t need anyone else hearing them.’ She personally trusted their allies, especially given the help they were giving these two men, but if they were put under pressure? Tortured? She had no idea if they’d keep their mouths shut or give away their location and what they were doing.
‘We have a problem. With Harry,’ Hazel said, her brows drawn together.
‘What is it?’ Rose asked, putting down the spoon she was about to use to ladle the soup out of the pot.
‘I was wondering if either of you have any experience in dislocated joints?’ Hazel had been frowning, and now she was grimacing. ‘That’s the reason his leg is causing him so much pain, I think, or at least it’s one of the reasons.’
Sophia groaned. ‘I’ll do it. After that I’m trudging up those stairs to bed though.’
Hazel looked relieved and Rose nodded. ‘Let’s get this over with.’