by Jana Petken
Dieter and Heller eyed each other, neither speaking until Max snapped again, “One of you had better tell me what the blazes is going on around here? I’m in no mood for mysteries. Seriously, it’s been a bloody long day.”
“Son, you’re probably wondering about a lot of things right now…”
“Hah. That’s an understatement. I hoped Mother would leave Germany but bugger me if I know why you’re both here now.”
Dieter and Jonathan seemed to mull over what they were going to say next, but Max refused to wait. “Oh, for the love of God! If you don’t say it, I’ll ask; Jonathan, have you spoken to my parents about my job? Are they being investigated?”
Dieter took breath. “No, no, Son. Jonathan is here because he and I have worked together for years, and when he told me you’d come back from a mission this morning, I asked him to come over.”
Dumbfounded, Max’s eyes flicked from one man to the other.
“That’s right, Max. He and I have a professional arrangement. Do you understand now?” Dieter asked making the situation even more baffling.
Max looked to Heller for an explanation, however, he seemed unwilling to get involved at this stage in the conversation strolling to the window where he looked out on the street. Max stared at Dieter as he lit a cigarette. It was a preposterous notion to think that his father was involved in MI6 – ridiculous – laughable? “You worked with Jonathan in what capacity?”
Dieter joined Max on the couch. “I’ll tell you, Son, but you need to keep calm. I know what a fiery temper you’ve got, and I’ll not have you upset your mother’s homecoming.”
“I’m fine,” Max retorted. Calm down? He was wound up like a ticking clock!
After an uncomfortable silence, Dieter said, “I’m an MI6 agent. I have been for almost eight years. I joined long before you were approached by Romeo in Oxford, a meeting I set up, because I’m Big Bear.”
Max’s jaw dropped, as Heller finally turned to face him and nodded in confirmation.
“I can see you’re struggling, Max, and I’m sorry we’ve had to spring it on you like this,” said Heller. “But your father’s involvement with British Intelligence was on a need-to-know basis, and you of all people should accept that without question.”
“Accept it? You put me in the field with my bloody father and didn’t tell me!” Max blazed; then he turned on Dieter. “I’ve been passing messages through Romeo to Big Bear for years. I’ve written reports about Vogel Industries’ involvement with the Reich. I’ve profiled you as a Nazi. You milked Paul for information on Brandenburg, didn’t you? Is that why you forced him to work with Rudolph? Father, tell me you didn’t destroy your son’s life for the sake of intelligence gathering?”
Dieter shook his head. “No. No, it wasn’t like that at all. As I told you in Berlin, I encouraged Paul to go to Brandenburg because the family was being blackmailed by Hans Rudolph and that creep, Leitner. I was telling the truth. We were all in danger, including Paul.”
Max, unappeased, faced Heller again. “You saw how disgusted I was with my father when I came back from Berlin – that would have been a good time to tell me he was not the monster he was pretending to be – don’t you agree?”
“Watch your tone, Max,” Dieter warned.
“No, you watch what comes out of your mouth from now on because if it’s another lie, I’ll walk out of here and I won’t come back.”
“This was a mistake. This is neither the time nor the place for this discussion,” said Heller. “Why don’t the two of you come to my office in a couple days and we’ll sort this out. Your father’s right, Max, you need to relax for the sake of your mother and sister.”
Dieter said, “You have no idea what your mother has gone through in these past few weeks...”
“Maybe not, but I know what she’s put up with for years. Your perception of the truth has always been lax, at best, but this is a low bar even by your standards.”
Heller glared at Max. “That’s enough. Instead of being a sanctimonious little prick, why don’t you ask your father why he’s even here, why he can never return to Germany unless the Nazi Party falls, or Germany is defeated? Why he destroyed his life’s work. Or why everyone he left behind thinks he’s dead. Ask him about the sacrifices he’s made to protect your family, and the treason he committed against his country to help ours. Sit him down one day and ask him how many Jews he’s managed to get out of Berlin to safety, including a Jewish woman called Judith Weber, whom he personally had escorted to the Swiss border. Does her name ring a bell?”
Max’s eyes widened. “Judith? Paul’s Jewish friend?”
Dieter nodded. “I dealt with it because he couldn’t handle it. He’s not like us, Max.”
Max squeezed his eyes, he didn’t want to think about Paul right then, or ask where Judith Weber was now. Struggling to unscramble his thoughts, he sat in stony silence, his hands covering his face to hide the emotions running the gauntlet from anger to astonishment. A long conversation with his father would come, but overwhelmed by these revelations, he declined to launch into it now. “How much does my mother know?” he needed to ask.
“Everything, except for what my job entails,” Dieter answered. “She also knows you work for British Intelligence…”
“I gathered she knew something when she didn’t question my uniform.” In pain, Max tried to stand to stretch his legs, but the walk from the station to the house had crippled him.
“Oh, Son,” said Dieter, helping Max to sit again.
“You have a lot of explaining to do, Father, but Jonathan’s right, not today, nor about who you’ve just claimed to be, and what you’ve done to get out of Germany.” Grimacing with pain, he slumped further into the couch and ran his fingers through his hair. “I should congratulate you two, you had us all fooled…”
“Well, I could cut the atmosphere with a knife in here,” said Laura, returning from the kitchen with a tea trolley laden with a pot of tea, cups, saucers and cake. “We could hear you three argy-bargying from the kitchen. Can we have a truce, please, at least until we’ve had a nice cup of tea?”
Hannah followed her mother with the sugar bowl and milk jug. “I’ll be off,” said Heller, “I don’t want to ruin your family reunion any more than I have already.”
“You will not go anywhere until you’ve tried my cake, Mr Heller,” Laura said. “I couldn’t have managed without you in Switzerland. You were so very kind to me, absolutely wonderful, a real godsend.”
Hannah said, “Why don’t I bring your Godson down to see you, Max. I can hear him stirring after his nap.”
A somewhat flippant, yet light-hearted conversation went on around him, and Max suspected that the others were giving him a bit of a breather. He was grateful, for he was still reeling with the life-changing events of the last two weeks without having to deal with today’s bombshells. He needed this respite, albeit for a mere five or ten minutes. He was also in urgent need of a couple of restful night’s sleep in a bed without air raid sirens going off or bombs dropping on the city.
Tea cup in one hand and cake on a dainty plate in another, Max glanced at a photograph of Paul hanging a little askew on the living room wall. He still felt his brother’s lifeblood flowing – a stupid thing to think – maybe he was in shock and just couldn’t accept Paul’s passing, or perhaps his gut feeling felt a truth that was more powerful than the suggestions laid before him. Before long he’d be forced to tell his family about his twin’s disappearance, and he’d watch them spiral out of control into the depths of anguish as they waited for news.
His mother and father sat together on the other couch, holding hands, love shining from their eyes. Soon, they would most likely hear of Wilmot’s dramas on the Russian front through a source his father had not yet mentioned, and they’d worry themselves sick about their youngest child. He, Max, the cold-hearted MI6 spy, would leave them to go back to the ugliness of war, and in some dismal setting, would deal with his heartache over Klara and his tw
in brother, and continue to handle the business of staying alive.
Hannah arrived with the baby in her arms, and Max teared up. For now, he’d throw the war to the kerb, enjoy this family reunion, appreciate his mother’s warm embraces and tender words, fall in love with his godson’s innocent smiles, and make himself oblivious to the madness of the world he’d been born into. And just for a little while, he’d stay inside this wonderful cocoon of love, for it was for times like this that men would continue to fight and die.
Other titles available from Jana Petken:
Multi Award Winning #1Bestseller, The Guardian of Secrets
Screenplay, The Guardian of Secrets
Audio book, The Guardian of Secrets, with Tantor Media
#1 Bestselling Series: The Mercy Carver Series:
Award-Winning Bestseller Dark Shadows
Award-Winning Bestseller Blood Moon
Multi-Award-Winning #1Bestseller, The Errant Flock
Award-Winning Bestseller, The Scattered Flock
Flock, The Gathering of The Damned
Multi-Award-Winning #1Bestseller, Swearing Allegiance
The Mercy Carver Series and The Flock Trilogy on audio books in association with Cherry-Hill Audio Publishing
The Vogels: On All Fronts: The Half-Bloods book 2
Before The Brightest Dawn: The Half-Bloods, Book 3
Coming 2020, the sequel to Swearing Allegiance
The Guardian of Secrets
Winner of the 2016 Outstanding Historical Book of the Year the IAN Awards
Silver Medal, 2015 Readers’ Favourite Awards
Reviews
“It has been a long while since a book has pulled me in as much as this one did. Spanning generations and countries, we are taken through WW1, the Spanish Civil War and the build-up to WW2 and beyond, almost a century of history, culture and creed. From the green fields of Kent to the orange groves of Valencia, we go on a journey with Celia Merrill as she seeks to escape her abusive husband. I cannot begin to describe where this book takes us, for this review will then be pages long, but it is an emotional journey.
“The author clearly researched well. I was there for every bomb that fell and smelled the hot air filled with orange blossoms. This is so well written it did not feel as if I was reading; it felt as if I was there, in place and in time. Excellent work.
“This is a big book in every way; how wonderful to read something with depth and length. Guardian of Secrets deserves each of the five stars and I highly, highly recommend it.”
About the Author
Jana Petken is a bestselling historical fiction novelist. She served in the British Royal Navy and during her service studied Naval Law and History.
After the Navy, she worked for British Airways and turned to writing after an accident on board an aircraft forced her to retire prematurely.
She is critically acclaimed as a gritty, hard-hitting author who produces bold, colourful characters and riveting storylines, and she has won numerous major international awards for her works.
Contact Jana Petken
Website: http://janapetkenauthor.com/
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