CHAPTER SIXTEEN
ROSE
Ever since Rose had started to work with the Resistance, she’d felt a strange sense of calm. Perhaps it was the fact she was filled with purpose, or that she had nothing to lose, but she felt oddly in control and capable in her role. Even now, as they walked endlessly towards their target, she wasn’t so much nervous as filled with anticipation. Finding out they were charged with blowing up a railway line bridge had been a surprise for her; it wasn’t the type of work she’d done before, but her friends were highly trained and she was more than confident in their abilities.
‘I’m sure if we were stopped by Germans, we’d easily talk them around,’ Hazel said. ‘Three pretty young students taking a walk in the woods? They’d be putty in our hands.’
Rose laughed and noticed Sophia roll her eyes, but she also saw her smile, which told her that Sophia was definitely defrosting where Hazel was concerned. She was glad, because they were both important to her, and it made it much easier if they all got along.
‘How much further?’ Rose asked.
‘We’ll walk for another half hour, maybe an hour,’ Sophia said. ‘Then we need to lie low until we have the cover of darkness.’
The sky was clear and Rose was grateful; it would make the moonlight easier to see by later in the evening, which would make working simpler, but the downside was they could be seen if they weren’t careful.
‘It’s going to be a busy few days,’ Hazel said, and Rose glanced back at her. She was hefting her radio around in a satchel, since they’d all decided the suitcase she’d been issued with originally looked out of place and too obvious. Although Rose had offered to take it for a while since it must have been so heavy, Hazel had declined. It seemed that she liked to keep it close. ‘The lorries of ammunition will be blown up shortly, and the petrol supply should be next.’
Hazel knew everything that was happening, and she’d been instrumental as the point of contact throughout the morning. Rose liked having her on her team. She was capable and calm, and they could radio instantly after their attack to confirm what had taken place and to receive any new orders.
‘Plan Violet is in full force,’ Rose replied. ‘After all this time, I can’t believe we’re finally going to start gaining ground back here. Their cables will be down soon and there should be explosives detonating everywhere!’
Eventually, when they were all exhausted and breathing heavily, Rose held up her hand.
‘We need a rest,’ she said. ‘Surely this is as good a spot as any?’
She waited for Sophia to disagree, but to her surprise she nodded. ‘We need a little water and something to eat,’ she told them. ‘We can share some cold meat.’ One of the men had come back with rabbits for dinner, and Harry had taken them to the kitchen to cook the meat, no doubt in an effort to start pulling his weight around the place. They’d all been grateful for the stew the night before and some cold cuts to take with them on the road.
Rose looked around and noticed something in the distance. A small building that looked like an old, falling-down barn or stable. ‘Do you see that?’ she asked, pointing down into a field. ‘Maybe we should stop there instead?’
Sophia took a few steps forward, hand up to shield her face from the sun. ‘I’ll go take a look,’ she said. ‘It’s safer that way.’
‘I can transmit from the roof if I can scramble up there,’ Hazel said, moving closer, her shoulder brushing Rose’s. ‘You’ll have to help me up, but the signal will be better.’
Rose put a hand on her arm. ‘Sophia’s right, she’s best to take a look first.’
‘If it’s safe, we can wait there until dusk. Good spotting, Rose.’
They waited, leaning against a tree and catching their breath as Sophia moved quickly towards the old structure. Rose always expected the worst; she waited for a gunshot, for a shout, for an army of the enemy to lurch towards Sophia, but thankfully nothing untoward happened. Inside the stable could be another matter entirely, though. It could be occupied, it could be under surveillance, it could be—
‘Rose,’ Hazel said, her hand falling to her shoulder. ‘Just breathe.’
Rose smiled. Trust Hazel to notice that she was falling apart with worry. It was unlike her, so maybe that’s why it had been so obvious. ‘I always prefer to be the one risking my neck,’ she said quietly, ‘than the one watching.’
‘So I’ve noticed.’
They stood silently, side by side, until Sophia finally emerged and waved to them. They set off towards her, not rushing in case for some reason they were being watched. They were simply three students wanting to immerse themselves in nature and have a picnic out in the open, and they had to make every part of their cover story believable, from their words to their actions.
Sophia collapsed and leaned against the old stable or barn or whatever it was. It was so ramshackle in appearance that Rose wasn’t sure herself about leaning so heavily on it, but it was a relief to have somewhere to operate from, albeit temporarily.
‘I can’t believe we’re actually doing this,’ Rose said as she passed the others some bread before taking a small bite of her own piece. Her stomach growled loudly in response. ‘I mean, rescuing airmen and couriering packages was one thing, but blowing things up?’ She laughed. ‘It’s unbelievable. Never in a million years would I have imagined myself doing anything like this.’ Peter had thought her desire to drive an ambulance was extreme, so she could hardly imagine what the poor man would think if he could see her now!
Sophia chuckled but Hazel stayed quiet. It was usually the opposite.
‘I can believe it,’ Sophia said. ‘I’m ready to blow up anything that’s used by the Nazis.’
They sat in silence for a while, chewing their bread and taking turns to sip water from the bottle Rose had been carrying. She nudged her hand past the explosives materials to put the leftover food back, careful with her movements even though she knew the bag was safe until they actually detonated the device.
‘What are you most looking forward to, once this is over?’ Hazel asked.
Rose wasn’t sure. She honestly wasn’t sure. ‘I don’t know. I mean, this is what pulled me through after Peter’s death and then after I lost . . .’ She sighed, not wanting to mention the baby. ‘I haven’t thought past the work we’re doing here, I suppose.’
‘I want to find Alex,’ Sophia said, her voice low and surprising Rose with her honesty. ‘I have to believe he’s still alive, otherwise I don’t think I’d be able to keep going. After everything, after what I’ve seen and fought for and witnessed, I just need to believe that once this is over I’ll have him to return to.’
Rose reached for Sophia’s hand but her friend pulled away and stood, pacing a few steps away and then back again. It wouldn’t have been easy for her admitting that, and Rose only wished that she’d let them comfort her instead of feeling as if she had to be the strong one all the time. Of all of them, the war had affected Sophia terribly, made her live through horrible things, and her heart went out to her whenever she thought about how she’d been forced to flee Germany.
‘I just want to go home,’ Hazel admitted. ‘Or at least I think I do, but then I don’t know how I’ll go back to just being the old me.’ She shrugged. ‘Does that sound crazy? I mean, I’m still me but I feel so different now. I liked earning money and being part of something bigger, instead of being told what my future is supposed to hold.’
‘We’re all different now,’ Sophia replied. ‘We’re not the women we were, because we’ve been forced into situations we should never have had to confront. We’ll never be the same, no matter how hard we try.’
Hazel nodded and Rose watched her, understanding how conflicted she felt. The war had taken her fiancé away from her, and her comfortable life had been pulled out from beneath her. Of course she wasn’t the same person any more. Rose certainly didn’t feel like the same woman who’d been happily married and living in a beautiful big home in Paris before the war, either.
‘I’m going to clamber up there now,’ Hazel said, pointing to the roof. ‘Anyone fancy giving me a hand?’
Rose nodded and set the water bottle down before walking around the dilapidated structure to look for the safest point. ‘We could boost you up here?’ she suggested, seeing one side of the stable looked sturdier with the roof completely intact. ‘But you’ll have to work quickly, I don’t want you up there for long.’
Hazel already had her aerial out and the length of cord connected to it, and she quickly climbed up on to Rose’s shoulders. Sophia gave her a push, trying to help her as she scrambled to get up. Finally she made it, and with a triumphant smile down at them, set to work.
‘She’s determined, I’ll give her that,’ Sophia muttered.
‘She’s better than just determined. She’s damn good.’
Sophia laughed. ‘Fine. I’ve been hard on her, but you two have history. I was never going to trust her with my life without her proving herself to me first.’
‘I know. It’s been just the two of us for a long time.’ She knew it must be hard for Sophia. If it was her, she’d definitely feel threatened by the past she shared with Hazel.
Rose kept an eye on Hazel as Sophia kept scanning the trees around them, careful to keep watch and make sure they were safe. Rose knew Hazel was fast, but seeing the speed with which she tapped her codes was incredible.
‘The RAF failed to destroy their targets, so all circuits are mobilised!’ Hazel announced, her voice full of excitement. ‘The train lines must be blown up tonight!
‘You’re certain?’ Sophia asked impatiently.
‘Stop second-guessing me, I know what I’m doing! We’re—’
‘Hazel!’ Rose yelled, as a cracking noise echoed out and without any other warning, the roof suddenly collapsed with a series of thuds as it fell to the ground. She ran to the door, waiting for the billows of dust to settle, waiting to see if she could see Hazel on the ground. Where was she? Was she dead?
‘Hazel!’ Sophia gasped, pushing past Rose as she stood gaping, and leaping over some of the fallen-in roof.
It was Sophia who reached Hazel first, dragging her out and patting her back as she coughed and spluttered. Rose quickly retrieved the wireless, hoping it wasn’t too badly damaged.
‘You didn’t have to do anything quite so dramatic to prove the message was correct,’ Sophia scolded, still holding Hazel as Rose offered her water.
Hazel coughed. ‘It’s up to us,’ she spluttered. ‘The others will be cutting cables and derailing trains, but we need to blow that bridge or any part of that line up, and then get as far away as we can.’
Rose shivered despite the mild weather. ‘We can do it. Of course we can do it. It’s why we’re here.’
‘Is my radio broken?’ Hazel asked, rubbing her head.
Rose nodded. ‘It’s fixable, except for the aerial. I think that’s as good as gone.’
She packed it all up into Hazel’s satchel, adrenaline starting to course through her veins. This was it. This was what they’d all been waiting for, and now they had to do their part to make the Allied landings a success. London and Paris were counting on them!
‘Come on, let’s rest a little and plan our attack,’ Sophia said. For the first time, Rose thought she looked rattled, although maybe she was just nervous herself and imagining it. ‘We’re going to have a very limited window of time, and the place could be heaving with bloody Germans.’
Rose glanced at Hazel one more time, hoping she wasn’t hurt. It had been a fast, brutal fall.
‘You’re certain you’re going to be—’ Rose started.
‘Don’t worry about me,’ Hazel said, coughing and clearing her throat. ‘I’m tougher than I look.’
Rose already knew that. ‘I think we all are,’ she muttered.
‘What?’ Sophia asked.
‘Tougher than we look.’
Hazel laughed and then suddenly they all burst into laughter. Rose leaned back against the old stable wall and hoped it wouldn’t collapse; Hazel sat there with cobwebs in her hair and all covered in dust; and Sophia stood there in the middle, bent over, giggling like Rose had never heard her laugh before.
‘There’s nothing funny about any of this,’ Hazel said, still grinning. ‘It’s awful and scary and bloody terrifying. Why are we even laughing?’
Sophia shook her head. ‘Because if we weren’t laughing we’d be crying.’
‘Sophia, you have experience detonating explosives. What about you, Hazel?’ Rose asked, wiping her cheeks to brush away stray tears from her silly laughing episode. ‘I mean, this isn’t just a little bomb, this is . . .
‘I’ll take charge,’ Sophia said. ‘But Hazel will know what to do if anything happens to me.’
Rose wasn’t surprised – she knew a lot more about Sophia than anyone else – but Hazel?
‘Don’t look so surprised,’ Sophia said, walking off and looking anxious again. ‘I’m not the only one trained by SOE, remember?’