by CW Browning
She nodded and watched as he finished his brandy, one hand tucked carelessly in his pocket. He was the image of idle peerage, but she knew he was anything but idle right now. He was training day and night to defend England from the storm that was coming; a storm that could very well take his life.
A stab of panicked fear shot through her and a lump took over her throat, making her catch her breath. Neither of them knew what was coming, but they knew it wasn’t going to be good for anyone. While he would be defending the skies against the inevitable onslaught from the full might of the Luftwaffe, she would be God knew where trying to gather the information that would give England an edge in this war. Both of them would be fighting for survival, with not much hope of success.
Miles looked over and frowned in concern, setting his empty glass down and crossing to her in two strides.
“What’s wrong?”
Evelyn lifted her face to his and she knew he could see the tears shimmering in her eyes. Any other time, she would be absolutely mortified at the thought of anyone seeing her so vulnerable, but this wasn’t any other time. And she suddenly found that she didn’t care if he saw the tears.
“How do we say goodbye when we don’t even know where we’ll be in a few months?” she whispered around the lump in her throat. “We could be...”
Her throat closed on the words and she couldn’t finish the thought, but it was unnecessary. They both knew what she was trying to say. Miles lifted his hands to cup her face and brushed his lips against hers softly.
“We don’t,” he said. “We don’t say goodbye. There’s nothing that says we have to, after all. Goodbyes are over-rated anyway. They’re so damn final. And there’s nothing final about this. I fully intend to see you again.”
She swallowed and stared into his eyes. Hearing the confidence in his voice and seeing the determination in his eyes gave her strength, and she nodded slowly.
“You’re right,” she agreed softly. “All right. We won’t say goodbye.”
He smiled pulled her close into a warm hug. “That’s my girl.”
Evelyn smiled at the endearment and rested her cheek on his shoulder for a second before pulling away.
“Now I’ve gone and made things maudlin anyway,” she said, forcing a lightness to her voice that she didn’t feel. “Say something diverting.”
“Did you really relieve your brother of fifty quid tonight?” Miles asked promptly.
She blinked, then gurgled with laughter.
“I did,” she confessed, “but he makes it far too easy.”
He grinned. “Remind me never to play cards with you.”
She tilted her head and considered him, a smile playing on her lips.
“Somehow I don’t think you would be as easy to read.”
“Why do I get the distinct impression that you could read hieroglyphics if you so chose?” he drawled.
Evelyn smiled, not answering. She raised a hand to his cheek and stood on tiptoe to press a soft kiss on his lips.
“Take care of your Spitfire, Flying Officer Lacey,” she whispered.
“And you take care of your WAAFs, Assistant Section Officer Ainsworth,” he replied just as softly.
Evelyn smiled and turned to leave the study. As she opened the door, she glanced back to find him leaning against the desk, watching her with an unreadable look on his face. When she met his gaze, he smiled slowly and winked.
As she crossed the hallway to the stairs, Evelyn felt a rush of emotion that she couldn’t understand. She didn’t know what the future held, or what the next few months would bring, but that suddenly didn’t seem to matter. No matter what happened, she knew that she wasn’t alone. Miles would be fighting the same war against the same odds. While he went back to his Spits and training, she would go back to her classified missions, knowing that they always had tonight.
And she would carry the memory of that slow, sexy wink with her into the shadows.
Epilogue
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Berlin, Germany
December, 1939
Herr Renner sat upright with his hands on his knees, waiting. He was dressed in full uniform, not a crease or speck of lint in sight, with his hat placed carefully beside him on the bench. He stared across the entryway at a portrait of the Führer hanging opposite, his face void of any expression. Silence reigned in the waiting area, broken only occasionally by the sound of a telephone in a distant office.
A tall door opened suddenly to his left and a man in the black uniform of the SD emerged. He looked at Renner and stood to attention.
“Herr Obersturmbannführer Voss will see you now,” he announced.
Herr Renner rose to his feet and placed his hat under his arm, turning precisely to go through the door without a word. Once inside, he stopped and clicked his heels together smartly as he raised his arm in salute.
“Heil Hilter!”
A tall blond officer turned from the window, casting a swift glance over him. After a moment of silence, he motioned him to stand at ease and crossed the room to the desk. He took his seat and opened a folder.
“Sturmbannführer Renner, you’re aware that a determination has been made in the investigation of the events that took place in Stockholm on the tenth of November?” he asked, glancing up from the paper in front of him.
Herr Renner didn’t look away from his superior’s face. “Yes, Herr Obersturmbannführer Voss.”
“And you’re aware that you have been found guilty of negligence of duty in allowing an enemy of the Reich to evade capture?”
“Yes, Herr Obersturmbannführer.”
Hans Voss sat back in his chair and studied the other man for a long moment.
“What have you to say for yourself?” he finally asked.
“There’s nothing to say, Herr Obersturmbannführer. I allowed the English agent to slip through my fingers.”
There was another long silence, then Hans Voss stood up and went around the desk to lean against it, facing him.
“You knew how important it was that we detain her?”
“Yes, Herr Obersturmbannführer. I am sorry.”
“So am I, Sturmbannführer Renner.” He was quiet for a moment. “That was our only chance. We won’t get another.”
“With respect, Herr Obersturmbannführer, I disagree,” Renner objected. “The other woman, the Norwegian, she will surface eventually. She can be made to talk. She will lead us to the English agent.”
“No doubt she would,” Hans agreed, “but you misunderstand me. We won’t get another chance because the whole case has been removed from our jurisdiction.”
Herr Renner stared at him. “Excuse me?”
“The SD no longer has any involvement in the affairs of the English agent known as Maggie Richardson. The Abwehr will be taking complete control of the case.”
Renner’s mouth dropped open. “The Abwehr!” he exclaimed. “Why?”
“Because, Herr Sturmbannführer, by your own admission you allowed a girl to slip through your fingers!” Hans’ voice sharpened. “If I thought for one moment you would allow such a thing to happen, I would never have sent you to Oslo. I had all confidence that you could detain her, but I was mistaken. And this is the result. The Abwehr is turning it over to Eisenjager.”
Renner’s face drained of color and he stared at Hans in shock.
“Eisenjager?” he whispered. “The man’s a myth, a legend. He doesn’t exist, surely?”
“He exists, just as you and I do.”
“And he’s going to hunt down the English agent?”
“Yes. So you understand the position you’ve put me in. Himmler is furious.” Hans straightened up and turned to return to his seat behind the desk, the informal portion of the interview over. “You will return to your quarters and remain there for the rest of the day. Tomorrow, a car will arrive to take you to the station. You are bein
g reassigned to Warsaw.”
“Poland!” Renner exclaimed. He immediately stopped his protest when Hans lifted cold blue eyes to his. “Yes, Herr Obersturmbannführer.”
“Do you have any questions?” Hans asked, lowering his eyes again to the paper before him and picking up a pen.
“Just one, if you would indulge me, Herr Obersturmbannführer.”
“Yes?”
“What is so important about this particular English agent?”
The pen paused in its journey to sign the order and Hans looked up slowly.
“I wish I knew.”
Author’s Notes
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1. Oslo Report: Hans Ferdinand Mayer was a German mathematician and physicist who approached the British Naval Attaché, Captain Hector Boyes, in Oslo Station in late October 1939. He sent instructions which arrived by post, offering technical information on German military projects. He instructed for the BBC German broadcast to be altered to say “Hullo, hier ist London” and, if it was, then a package would be delivered. Boyes arranged it and on November 3, a packet was hand-delivered to the embassy. It contained 10 pages of technical information ranging from the development of experimental pilotless aircraft at Peenemunde to the introduction of radar along the German coasts, as well as advances made in the manufacture of bomb fuses, an example of which was included with the report. The package was sent to SIS Headquarters on Broadway in London, where it was received by Section IV on the basis that the air section was the only SIS section with any technical knowledge. However, they did not have the scientific knowledge to evaluate the report. They called in a scientist working for the Air Ministry’s Directorate of Scientific Research, Dr. R.V. Jones, who confirmed that all the information was genuine and that the Report was of the highest importance. Unfortunately, no one else agreed. At the time, all scientific research was so compartmentalized in England and other countries that SIS felt that no one scientist would ever have access to such a variety of information. What they didn’t realize was that Germany did not compartmentalize their research in the same way. Therefore, Mayer did indeed have access to the research he provided. But SIS concluded that the Oslo Report was a plant sent by the Germans to mislead them. Therefore, Mayer was never pursued as an asset. In time, the Oslo Report proved to be genuine as more and more things within it were confirmed and discovered, but SIS lost the opportunity to learn more by utilizing Mayer. (MI6 British Secret Intelligence Service Operations 1909-1945 by Nigel West, pg 111-112. Weidenfeld and Nicolson - London. 1983)
- Hans Ferdinand Mayer was born October 23, 1895 in Pforzheim, Germany; and died October 18, 1980 in Munich, West Germany. In 1936 Mayer became the Director of the Siemens Research Laboratory in Berlin. Unhappy with the Nazi regime, he arranged a business trip to Scandinavia in late Oct 1939. He arrived in Oslo, his first scheduled stop, on Oct 30 and checked into the Hotel Bristol. Borrowing a typewriter from the hotel, he typed the Oslo Report in the form of two letters over the course of two days, delivering it to the embassy himself. He returned to Germany and continued his scientific work until 1943, when he was arrested by the Gestapo for listening to British broadcasts on the radio and criticizing the Nazi party. He was imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps until the war ended. Because of the intervention of his mentor, a devout Nazi Socialist and Nobel prize winner, he wasn’t executed. The Germans never knew of the Oslo Report, or he would undoubtedly have been killed. As it was, he survived the war and went back to science. At his request, no one knew he was the author of the Oslo Report until after his death. (Wikipedia) (https://ethw.org/Hans_Ferdinand_Mayer)
- While Hans Mayer was in Oslo at the time indicated in this book, there was no scientific convention in Oslo at the time. For the sake of the story, I invented the convention as well as his associate and the meeting between him and Evelyn. Everything else relating to the Oslo Report, however, is historically accurate as portrayed.
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2. English roundup of German spies: In Sept, 1939, MI5 knew of six agents working in England for the Hamburg Station (German Intelligence). Four of them were interned at once, it being unlikely that they would provide leads to other agents. One was a Swedish woman, suspected of working as a courier and local banker for German intelligence. She was left with her freedom and watched until December, 1939, when she was arrested for giving false details on an exit visa. The last was a Welsh engineer - codenamed Snow - who had been briefly employed by SIS in 1936 until it was discovered that he was in contact with the Germans. After that, he remained in contact with SIS and, on Sept 4, 1939, offered his services to them again as a double agent. (British Intelligence in the Second World War, Vol 4, pg. 41 by F H Hinsley and C A Simkins. Cambridge University Press 1990)
- That was the extent of the officially documented German spies in London at the start of the war. The spy present in London in the book is a fictional character. To my knowledge, there is no record of any spies in London leaking SIS agent identities during the war.
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3. Battle of Barking Creek: On Sept 6, 1939, three days after war was declared, a radar fault led to a false alarm that unidentified aircraft were approaching from the east at high altitude over West Mersea, on the Essex coast. Six Hurricane fighter planes were scrambled from North Weald Airfield in Essex. However, two additional Hurricanes were also sent up in reserve. The two reserves were identified as enemy aircraft and Spitfires from Hornchurch were ordered to attack them. Both Hurricanes were shot down. One pilot, Montague Hulton-Harrop was killed, while the other pilot, Frank Rose, survived. Hulton-Harrop was the first fighter pilot to die in the war, and the Hurricane shot down in the Battle of Barking Creek was the first plane ever shot down by a Spitfire. (Wikipedia) (https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/70/a5781170.shtml)
- The friendly-fire incident Miles writes about in his letter to Evelyn was loosely based on the real incident of the Battle of Barking Creek. However, I moved the incident to November and used bombers instead of fighters to fit the story better. As far as I’m aware, there was no such incident involving bombers in the fall and winter of 1939.
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4. Gamla Stan: Gamla Stan is also known as the Old City in Stockholm. It dates back to the 13th Century and consists of medieval alleys and cobbled streets. Many of the original buildings are still present, but many have also been destroyed over time. From the mid-19th century to the early-mid 20th century, Gamla stan was considered a slum. Many of its historical buildings were left in disrepair and, just after World War II, several blocks were demolished. Now, it has been restored and is a tourist attraction consisting of shops and restaurants.
- I was privileged to spend some time in Stockholm in 1995, when I fell in love with the old city. The restaurant Den gyldene freden (The Golden Peace) is a real restaurant located on Österlånggatan. It has been in business, continuously, since 1722 and, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is the longest operated restaurant with an unchanged environment and is one of the oldest restaurants in the world. (Wikipedia)
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5. The Venlo Incident: A covert German SD operation on November 9, 1939 that took place 5 meters from the German border in Venlo, Netherlands. Two British SIS agents, Capt. Payne Best and Maj. Richard Stevens, believed they were meeting with a German officer who was working with a resistance group in the German Army to overthrow Hitler. In reality, the ‘officer’ was an SD agent and the plan was orchestrated by Himmler and approved by Hitler himself. Upon arriving at the appointed meeting place in Venlo, the two SIS agents were captured and taken across the border to Germany, where they were interrogated. Goebbels used them as a propaganda stunt and pinned the November 8th assassination attempt on Hitler to them, broadcasting that they had been the brains and money behind the attempt. They were imprisoned in concentration camps for the entirety of the war, but survived. The
entire affair was a humiliating intelligence defeat that decimated Britain’s entire European intelligence network. (Wikipedia) (https://www.historynet.com/unveiling-venlo.htm)
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6. General Note: SIS, or the Secret Intelligence Service, was known throughout the war as MI6 for the sake of expediency and clarity. Before and after the war, it reverted back to its title of SIS. For the sake of continuity, and because of its more recognizable connotation, I refer to it as MI6 throughout the Shadows of War series. Though it had several different sections, the main headquarters was located on Broadway, across from St. James Park Underground Station.
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7. 66 Squadron: 66 Squadron was a real Spitfire squadron during the war. They were stationed in Duxford before moving to Horsham in May, and then on to Coltishall from May-Sept, 1940. In September, they went to Kenley, then on to Gravesend from Sept-Oct, 1940. As was common during the war, the squadrons were constantly moving around as they rotated through the busier sections. For example, a fighter squadron in the southern section known as 11 Group would have been in the heaviest fighting during the Battle of Britain. They would be rotated to the north of England where they could get a break from the constant stress of battle while another squadron took their place in the south. 66 Squadron was no different in that regard. Once the war began in earnest, they moved frequently throughout the war. While Miles and Rob’s squadron is named 66 Squadron, and is loosely based on the real squadron, all the scenarios and references specific to it in these books are fictional. While I have come across multiple references to a squadron that was referred to as the Corinthian Squadron due to the large number of wealthy pilots, there is no indication that it was the 66 Squadron. None of the pilots included in the books based in any way on any of the incredibly brave pilots that really were part of 66 squadron.
