‘Like?’ he asked.
Kat smiled. ‘Well, if a man has red hair, you call him Bluey.’
‘Bluey?’
She nodded. ‘And someone from Western Australia is called a Sandgroper.’
Leonard laughed. ‘How so?’
Kat shrugged. ‘No idea. And, of course you have a stickybeak, which is someone who is nosy. What about you? What’s some American slang?’
‘The troops have a blanket drill.’ He looked around at the blank faces. ‘It means a nap.’
Ellie laughed with the others, enjoying the happy atmosphere. She got up and cleared the last of the dishes. Louis and Maude did the same while Mrs Hanley fanned her face.
‘Are you all right?’ Ellie asked.
‘Yes, yes, my dear. I’m just feeling a little warm.’
‘Why don’t you go and lie down? We can finish up here.’
‘Thank you, my darling, that would be lovely.’ Mrs Hanley turned to Leonard. ‘I’m sorry I’m not good company right now.’
Leonard held Mrs Hanley’s hands and said, ‘It’s been wonderful. Thank you so much for asking me into your home. It means a lot.’
Mrs Hanley held out her arms and Leonard gave her a hug. They stood like that for some time.
‘You are welcome any time, Leonard. Please, look after yourself.’
‘I will.’
Mrs Hanley went to her room and shut the door. Ellie washed, Maude dried and Louis put the dishes away. Leonard and Kat chatted like no one else was in the room.
Ellie raised an eyebrow at Louis who returned a two-eyebrow raise. When the kitchen was in order once more, Louis and Maude said their goodbyes.
‘Bug, do you want a lift to the barracks?’ asked Louis.
‘Thanks, that would be great.’
‘Would you like a lift too, Leonard?’
Leonard looked at Kat then at Louis. ‘I might stay a little longer, if that’s all right with you, Kat?’
‘That would be nice.’ Kat’s cheeks were the rosiest they’d been in a long time.
Ellie gave Kat a hug, then Leonard. She skipped down the steps and the garden path to Louis’s car, her heart happy to see Kat’s bright smile.
Wolf’s call sign filled her ears. Where had Wolf been these past couple of days? Sheep’s call sign was followed by a loud succession of dits and dahs. She pulled the earpiece away. ‘Jeez!’
She concentrated on writing down the message and waved at Lieutenant Cox to come over.
Her fingers hurt. Her pulse raced. Her ears strained. The communication finished and Ellie passed the papers to Lieutenant Cox who quickly left the room.
Sheep and Wolf disappeared from the airwaves and she waited patiently for them to show again. When they didn’t, she left one earpiece on and took a moment to catch her breath.
Richard, who sat next to her, lifted his headphones off his ears and said, ‘You’re doing a great job.’
‘I am?’
He laughed. ‘You shouldn’t sound so surprised. I have to say, though, me and the boys weren’t exactly impressed to have a sheila here.’
‘I’m not quite sure how to respond to that,’ she said.
‘We didn’t think you’d be able to keep up.’
Ellie pointed her pencil at him. ‘You’re not exactly endearing yourself to me.’
‘I’m sorry, this is coming out all wrong.’ He took a deep breath and said, ‘We understand how valuable the AWAS ladies have been with the TypeX machines—’
‘You knew about us? Yet we knew virtually nothing about any of you.’
Richard’s face turned a light shade of red. ‘We may look out the window occasionally.’
‘What?’
‘Who is your friend, the blonde one? You two are always out the front of the garage having lunch.’
‘Florry?’
‘Maybe?’ Richard said.
Ellie laughed. ‘Would you like me to introduce you?’
Richard picked up a pencil and twirled it with his fingers. ‘I don’t think we’re supposed to mix.’
‘No, we’re not,’ said Charlie Murphy, who sat on Richard’s other side. ‘You shouldn’t even be here.’
‘Charlie—’
‘It’s all right, Richard,’ Ellie said quietly. ‘You don’t need to jump to my defence.’
‘But—’
‘I can handle the likes of Charlie.’ She sat straight and said loudly, ‘Are you saying women can’t do men’s jobs?’
‘That’s exactly what I’m saying.’
‘Interesting,’ she drew it out. ‘Because my boss at Qantas Empire Airways was a woman. In fact, she was more qualified than the men. If you feel so strongly that women can’t do men’s work, then maybe you’d like to state your thoughts to Commanding Officer Buckley or General MacArthur as they don’t have a problem with women doing “men’s jobs”.’
Charlie snorted. ‘You think you can hold your own, but you’re wrong.’
‘Now, listen here …’ Richard’s words trailed off when he caught Ellie’s look.
‘You’re entitled to your opinion, Charlie,’ said Ellie. ‘Although it is entirely wrong.’
Richard and a couple of other men within earshot laughed.
‘She’s got you there,’ said Jonathon, who sat opposite Ellie. ‘Come on, mate, we’re on the same side here. Don’t give Ellie a hard time.’
‘She’s got you fooled. Just like all women. They don’t care about anyone except themselves.’
‘Charlie’s just sore because his girlfriend dumped him.’ Jonathon flung a scrunched up piece of paper at Charlie who batted it away angrily. The paper landed at the feet of Lieutenant Cox, who had just walked back into the room.
‘Get to work!’ he yelled.
Ellie quickly turned her attention to the radio, even though it was silent. She risked a sideways glance at the men who had their headphones on and were tweaking the knobs on their machines. The only one not working was Charlie, who openly glared at Ellie.
Ellie turned her attention to the radio where Wolf had been dipping in and out. As much as she tried, she couldn’t hold his signal long enough to get the full message.
Jonathon did the rounds, collecting messages from other operators then sorting the paperwork and delivering it to translations.
Wolf came across the airwaves loudly and began communicating with someone she hadn’t heard before. She hastily wrote down the message, managing to keep up with the quick succession of dits and dahs. Two words cropped up regularly: Ten-Go and Yamato.
As the messages flew across the airwaves, Ellie’s hand cramped but she pushed through. The communication finally finished and she checked her notes.
‘Lieutenant Cox!’ She waved him over and pointed at her pages. ‘Can this go to the translators right now?’
‘Why?’
‘It feels important. Like something is about to break.’
‘We don’t go on feelings, we go on information we obtain.’ He looked at the pages then at Ellie. ‘Although I did say we need people with intuition.’
He strode to the door, turned around. ‘Good work, O’Sullivan.’
Lieutenant Cox had finally referred to her by her surname like the other men. Maybe she wasn’t as much of an outsider as she’d thought.
After the intercept with Wolf, the airwaves had quieted and her shift finished. She made her way through the house to the back door.
‘Wait up.’
She stopped and found Charlie walking towards her. ‘Yes?’
‘You’re getting too big for your boots.’
‘Excuse me?’ His attitude was getting tiresome.
‘Don’t play dumb with me,’ he grumbled.
‘But all women are dumb. Isn’t that what you’ve been telling me and everyone else within earshot?’
‘Look, I have nothing against women—’
‘Is that so?’
‘Yes, it is, as a matter of fact. Women are good when they know their place. And I can tel
l you that it is not in my department.’
‘Your department, eh? Oh, silly me,’ she placed her hand on her heart, ‘I should never have thought women were smart enough to work with the men because they are more intelligent and stronger than us.’
‘Signals is not your job.’
‘It’s not your job to harass me.’ She clenched her fists, reminding herself to keep her cool. ‘You can believe whatever you want but I’m not going to fit neatly into some little box because you think that’s where I should be.’
‘You should be in the kitchen.’ He turned and stormed up the hall.
She’d had no illusions that working with the men would be easy. What frustrated her was this would not be the last of these types of battles. Even worse, she was not the only woman enduring them.
Although Charlie Murphy may have done his best to intimidate Ellie, he’d wasted his breath. She would not go down without a fight.
Ellie sat in the courtyard of Nyrambla on her break, wishing the minutes wouldn’t tick by so fast. Since her run-in with Charlie a little over a week ago, she’d kept her distance but remained on guard.
‘Ah, I’m glad you’re here.’
Ellie looked up to see Lieutenant Cox blocking out the sun. She stood and adjusted her hat. ‘Why?’
‘Your intuition was spot on.’
‘It was?’
‘When you brought Ten-Go to my attention and I took it to the translators, we uncovered a Japanese operation to sail battleships to Okinawa and attack the US troops.’
‘Oh no.’
‘Their plan was to run the vessels aground and attack the Allies. Then when the Japanese ships were destroyed, the survivors planned to fight as infantry on land. However, we foiled their plan by destroying the Yamato, one of the largest battleships in the world. We also sunk four of their destroyers.’
‘Has a navy ever done this before?’
‘Not that I know of,’ he said. ‘It was a bold plan. We are holding ground but the Kamikaze pilots are a real threat.’
‘Kamikaze?’
‘Pilots who belong to the Special Attack Units. They fly in purpose-built planes loaded with explosives and deliberately crash into enemy ships.’
‘Suicide?’
‘They view it as a great honour,’ he said.
‘I can’t even imagine …’
Lieutenant Cox clasped his hands behind his back. ‘You are a surprise package, O’Sullivan. We could do with more of you within our ranks.’
‘There’s plenty over there.’ She nodded towards the garage.
The back door flew open and Jonathon appeared, dripping with perspiration. ‘Lieutenant Cox. You’re needed inside.’
Lieutenant Cox tipped his hat and disappeared into the house. She checked her watch and went inside and straight to her desk, ready for another busy afternoon. Placing her headphones on, she twisted the knob, trying to get a better hold on the signal.
The door opened so hard it smashed against the wall. Lieutenant Cox clutched a wad of papers, his eyes wide. ‘Hitler is dead.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
For the past week Ellie had been glued to newspapers and the wireless, examining every piece of information that made its way out of Europe. After the discovery of Hitler’s suicide, the German forces in Italy had surrendered to the Allies. And when Hitler’s successor, Admiral Dönitz, had the audacity to try to capitulate to the Allies but still continue to fight the Russians, he’d been refused. Since then it had been an intense wait to find out where this situation would lead. While all this was going on, she’d pinned her hopes on the war ending and her beloved Harry being with her once more.
She entered her hut to find a letter on her pillow.
‘Harry!’ she ripped it open, delighted to finally receive word after weeks of silence.
30th March 1945
To my darling Ellie,
I love you.
I know it’s to the point but I don’t want to miss an opportunity to tell you. It’s been shocking and scary to see how easily life can be ripped apart. I feel so very far away from Australia right now. Not just physically. It’s like my life there was a dream. The memories of sandy beaches and warm nights and eating fresh tropical fruit have faded. But my memories of you are as strong as if I’d seen you yesterday.
I don’t have much time to write as we are heading out on another mission and haven’t been told for how long. I promise, though, as soon as I get the chance, I will write a much longer letter. I just wish I could see a bright future. That would make it so much easier to get up in the morning. What humans do to each other is deplorable. Just know, my darling Ellie, I love you with all my heart.
Harry
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Unease wrapped around her as she re-read Harry’s letter. All she wanted was to hold him in her arms and tell him it would be all right, that this will pass and soon they could start their lives as husband and wife. Although, all that seemed to be too much wishful thinking right now.
She looked at the date on the letter. It was from a few weeks ago, way before the world knew Hitler was dead. Now the Allies had refused Dönitz’s offer, she had no idea if he would retaliate. Could he be worse than Hitler?
No. No. No. She couldn’t let herself worry about things she couldn’t control. What she could do, however, was keep working hard and hope for the safe return of Harry.
The shift had gone smoothly and the next group of men had filed in and were already at their desks. Ellie picked up her bag and hat and walked out into the courtyard. Lieutenant Cox was waiting under the tree. He crooked his finger at her.
‘Is everything all right?’ she asked.
‘Depends which way you look at it.’
‘Oh?’
He frowned. ‘You’re free to go.’
‘Pardon?’
‘You can go back to the cipher office. We’ve had a couple of men return from the Philippines with ailments that make it difficult to work in the tropics, but they can maintain their duties here.’
‘I’m not needed any more?’ She was excited to return to the Garage Girls but the feeling was also mixed with sadness. ‘I’m going to miss working for your unit.’
‘We will miss you too. And if there is any chance to have you back with us, we’d be delighted. That’s if we’re still here, of course.’
‘You’re moving to the Philippines?’
‘I’m not sure yet. Even if we could keep you in our unit, we couldn’t take you with us.’
Ellie nodded, thankful the Garage Girls still had their jobs. But if all of Central Bureau was going to the Philippines now, perhaps the women wouldn’t have their jobs for much longer.
Lieutenant Cox gave a short whistle. ‘Come on, boys.’
The men from her shift walked around the corner and into the courtyard. Richard held a manila folder that had been made into a card and handed it to her. ‘It’s been a pleasure working with you, O’Sullivan.’
‘Thank you.’ She opened up the card. It was filled with messages about how much they’d enjoyed working with her, along with a few inside jokes. The only exception was Charlie. He had written his name—no message—and the scratchy letters looked like he’d written it under duress.
Ellie looked up at the men gathered around her. For seven weeks she’d been a part of their unit and even though she had initially felt like a fish out of water, she’d found a camaraderie she hadn’t expected. Well, apart from Charlie.
‘Sergeant O’Sullivan,’ said Lieutenant Cox, ‘we sincerely thank you for your help and wish you all the best.’
‘Thank you so much.’ Her throat tightened. ‘It’s been a wonderful experience and I hope one day soon you can all return to your loved ones.’
Charlie was the first one to leave while Jonathon and Richard and the other men took turns to shake her hand and offer their best wishes. They disappeared down the driveway, leaving Ellie with Lieutenant Cox.
He turned to her and said, ‘O’Sullivan,
you did yourself proud.’
Ellie sat at her desk in the garage, finding it difficult to adjust to the dark room once more. Working in the house had given her access to big windows and sunlight and a view of the garden. But even though the conditions were better inside the mansion, she was overjoyed to be back with her Garage Girls. She’d missed their friendly conversations and the way they held each other up if someone was homesick or had received heartbreaking news. There was something very special about a group of women coming together for the common good.
Ellie studied the codebook and picked the right key for the message, set up the machine and got started.
‘Lillian!’ she said in a loud whisper.
Her friend trotted over. ‘Yes?’
‘There’s something you should read.’
Ellie passed the paper to Lillian who took it eagerly. She read the note, dropped it, then sat on the empty chair next to Ellie.
‘I don’t believe it,’ she muttered.
‘I think you better.’ Ellie grabbed Lillian’s hand. ‘What do you think?’
Lillian stared into the empty corner of the garage. ‘I don’t know what to say.’
‘What’s wrong?’ Florry came over.
‘A message from Sam,’ said Ellie.
‘And?’
Ellie bent over, picked up the paper and gave it to Florry.
‘Oh my word!’ Florry clapped her hand over her mouth. ‘You’re going to say yes, aren’t you?’
Lillian blinked rapidly. Cassandra and Joy appeared at her side.
‘Quick,’ Ellie said, ‘I have a message to send to the Philippines. Tell me what you want to say.’
‘Just tell him yes!’ Lillian stood, threw her arms wide and shouted, ‘I’m getting married!’
‘What’s all this noise about?’ Lieutenant Andrews walked through the door.
‘Lillian’s getting married,’ Ellie said.
‘Well, this is cause for celebration. And so is this.’ He held up a sheet of paper and the Garage Girls crowded around it.
Allied Victory in Europe. The war has ended.
Ellie put her hand on the desk to steady herself. ‘It’s over?’
Tears welled in her eyes as screams of delight bounced off the garage walls.
The Codebreakers Page 23
