Love is the death of me

by Dick Hardman

  After the haircut, Otto asked Pieter to put on the white shirt, tie and tweed jacket that he pulled from the suitcase. While he dressed in them, Otto hung a light grey backdrop cloth on the wall, holding it in place with sticky tape.

  “Pieter, please stand with your back to the background drape.

  “I will take your photo.

  “Before I leave, I will develop the film to make sure everything is perfect.

  “Then our people can get on with forging your papers.

  “Oh! About forgeries, I have £10,000 in £5 notes for you to take.

  “I must just mention, though I am sure you would be aware of it anyway. Pass them on for others to spend.

  “The quality of the notes makes them almost indistinguishable from real notes, but banks are checking for forgeries.

  “You do not want them showing up in your area.

  “It would be like painting targets on your backs.

  “Our agents in England have a good distribution network, so they will change them for genuine currency.

  “You will probably end up with £5000 worth after exchange.”

  “Ah! That is useful to know. Still, it is a huge amount of money so it should last for a while.” Pieter was aware his team were listening to the conversation and hoped no one would be tempted to help themselves to the money.

  Pieter indicated to Otto that he wanted to speak in private, out on the landing.

  “Before you leave Otto, I will write up a message for you to take back for me. It sets out my plan to enter England, and requests transport and integration into the community in London. I believe we will be ready to leave in two weeks from now.”

  “I can get all the clothes and identity papers done by then, but the team will still have short hair.

  “That concerns me, because apart from the forces, the public have long hair.

  “They save money by visiting the barber less.

  “The woman is particularly conspicuous.

  “When I return, I will have to do more work on the team’s hair.

  “So they blend in.

  “I also have your covers and need to meet the team, to get to know them, before releasing the documents.

  “Most of the information was available in their records.

  “It is important that their personality matches the cover.”

  ***

  Now the team would have to study hard, it was vital they knew their cover better than their own lives. The team would be working in the same factory at Gant’s Hill, London producing aircraft.

  Part of the tube railway line 90 feet underground had been converted into a massive assembly line, by flooring over the tracks at platform level, installing lights and ventilation systems, and painting the walls white.

  “Your identity, Pieter, will be your real one.

  “It will continue from your last mission in Britain.

  “Son of Lord and Lady Stone in Chelsea.

  “Best you do not tell the others, though.

  “In case they get caught and put many people at risk.”

  “That makes my life easier, Otto, it will be wonderful to see my parents again.” Otto smiled warmly, he could be kind, or ruthless, depending on the circumstances.

  Cover. Carina had been a receptionist with a dentist before the war, but now she would be on an assembly line. Working away from the public, her weak English would be less of a problem. Fortunately, her accent fitted her Swiss cover. Her story was that she and her husband-to-be had just arrived in London from Switzerland, and he had just been killed in an air raid. The real fiancé was missing, presumed blown to pieces, although Sundown, a British man working as a spy for Germany, had spirited the body away. So it was all official, up to a point. Now she had to earn a living, having lost everything.

  She would be called Anna Gohl (Ballerina would be her spy name).

  Cover. Horst was placed as a machinist, a skill he had learned before joining the army. His English was quite good, matching the Polish background to his cover. His story claimed he had trained to be a science teacher, but had to take up work as a mechanic in a garage. He had come from Poland as a refugee six months previous. Again, Sundown had worked his magic. No body was found in the crater, where the home of the man had once stood. Sundown passed the dead man’s papers on to Otto, and it was safe for Horst to assume his identity.

  Henryk Robak (Zebra would be his spy name).

  Cover. Andreas would be a cleaner at the factory, because of his poor grasp of English. He also had a Polish background to his cover. His story was that he had just arrived from Poland with temporary documents and his permanent papers were being finalised. Sundown had set things up in England as soon as Pieter had selected Andreas.

  He would be called Andrzej Trocki (Arrow would be his spy name).

  “Thank you Otto, these are such crucial points, I have lost touch with what’s happening over in England, we are all grateful for your expertise.”

  “MI5 is quite a problem for our agents, or us, I should say, Pieter.

  “Many have been turned.

  “We are wasting resources triple checking all the intelligence they send us.

  “It seems to be a case of turn or die, so obviously they turn.

  “The point is, you cannot trust any of our agents, especially Zigzag, whom we know has turned, but the British don’t know that we know.

  “Or perhaps they do!” Otto looked perplexed at the uncertainty of it all.

  ***

  Otto’s work on Pieter and Carina was now complete, so they could go up to the airport to collect the special cargo waiting for them. An Opel Blitz truck had arrived to transport them from the fort and was parked outside, quietly ticking over. They both climbed up alongside the driver with Carina between the two men. Pieter felt her warmth as she pressed against him in the cramped confines of the cab. It stirred something inside him, perhaps he was missing Helga, and Carina was the closest he would get to a woman tonight.

  He examined her reflection in the windscreen; her face was sufficiently illuminated by the dashboard instruments. Carina could also see him watching her in the glass and turned her face to his and smiled. She held her gaze and looked deeply into his eyes; he looked back with a warm, knowing smile. The urges in his loins were suddenly overwhelming and had they been alone, he would have stopped the truck in the dark lane, and made passionate love to her, across the worn seats. Instead, his arm reached out across her shoulders, and he pulled her close. Taking the cue, she leaned her pretty head against his neck, and gazed invitingly up at him with her dark, ‘you-can take-me anytime, anyhow’, eyes.

  She believed she had skilfully manipulated him and could largely control him. How she was going to use her new asset was not yet clear. Pieter kissed her gently on her inviting wet lips, she sensually and wantonly pressed them to him.

  The driver tried to ignore the two of them, but with the vibration from driving over the irregular cobbles, he still ended up feeling aroused. He stopped the truck at the airport, near the aircraft and jumped out into the darkness, to adjust his trousers. Having done so, he went off to locate the cargo.

  With Carina’s help, Pieter checked the manifest to ensure the items he had ordered were complete and undamaged, while the driver loaded them onto the truck bed.

  Shortly after 7.00pm, when they had finished checking the plane cargo, and loading the truck, Pieter decided to succumb to temptation.

  “Carina, it is such a beautiful night. So many bright stars in that black velvet sky, and even a full moon. Do you fancy a little walk?”

  “I would love it, the air is so fresh, almost mild for December, and I have nothing to rush back for.” Arm in arm, they headed for the darkness of the clifftop, facing France.

  As they deliberately approached the dim glow of light escaping a bunker, the guard challenged them and Pieter showed both their IDs. He explained they were going for a clifftop walk and would be back soon. The guard glanced at the woman and grunted his
understanding.

  They soon reached the cliff edge and stood for a moment, listening to the sea breaking on the rocks below. Carina was in a romantic mood, and it served to heighten her urge to make love. Pieter hadn’t come for the view, and the warmth of her soft body as she pressed into him, was driving him crazy with impatience; he had to have her, right now. Peering around in the moonlight, they found a small hollow, and snuggled down.

  Cuddling up to Carina and gently nuzzling her neck, Pieter whispered “are you warm enough?” He placed his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close.

  “Warm enough for what?” she replied and giggled.

  “Another little kiss perhaps!” He whispered it softly in her ear while easing her back into the heather. He looked down at her. The moon was bright enough that he could see her smile; it told him she was ready.

  All she wanted was for this to go on forever.

  Raven interruptus.

  There was a distant thump; the ground within their little hollow seemed to reverberate. Pieter could hear the sound of a slightly built person running towards them, but not from the direction of the bunker, their breathing slow and heavy. The figure quietly jogged across the open ground, getting closer. As Pieter looked up, he saw the dark, cloaked amorphous shape run past several metres away.

  The person was using the natural depression in the ground to head back inland, keeping well clear of the bunker, or guards. No one would be out here in the dark with good intent, he thought. Had the incident been less serious, Pieter would have laughed at the duplicity of that conclusion.

  There was a spy on the island.

  “Carina,” whispered Pieter, placing his hand over her mouth in case she uttered, loud enough for the wraith to hear.

  “Carina, we are not alone, there is a spy on the island. They just ran past, but didn’t know we were here, I’m quite sure.”

  She instantly snapped out of her world, back into reality.

  “I think we should get back to the truck, and report the sighting to the Oberst, security here is his problem.”

  Carine wearily pulled herself together and managed to find the cast off shoe. She was totally exhausted and drained of sexual tension; all she craved was a warm bed and sleep.

  Pieter dragged Carina to her feet and urged her back the route they had come. At the airfield, they climbed aboard the truck, to the relief of the patient driver. The drive back was tense and silent.

  ***

  Calmer now, Pieter reviewed the recent events. He had let Carina seduce him to satisfy his desires. In wartime, opportunities had to be snatched when offered, they might be dead tomorrow. He knew from her type that it was to control him, manipulation was her way, and to satisfy her own sexual cravings. He hoped he had given her release, but she would be facing disappointment about having control over him.

  Pieter showed the driver the training room, leaving him to unload the truck and store the items in there. By that time, Otto had finished with Horst, who had stayed to keep an eye on the driver.

  “Otto, while I was out on the cliffs, I saw a mysterious shadowy figure running back towards town. I gave chase, but lost him in the dark.

  “We have a spy on the island.”

  Otto suspected Pieter had not been alone on the cliffs, and guessed he was with a woman. It was the smell of certain pheromones that gave Pieter away, the sort that star gazers never had.

  “Better tell the Oberst, Pieter. I will inform Berlin.

  “We have too much at stake to take any chances.”

  “I plan to phone him now, Otto, but we will keep it between the three of us so this spy does not know we are aware of him, or her, for that matter. Tomorrow night, I will lay in wait up on the cliff and catch him.”

  “Sounds like a good plan to me. Who knows, we might even turn him.” Otto gave a little laugh.

  “By the way, here is that list I promised you Otto; it sets out my plan and the things I will need to make it work. If you have any difficulty getting it implemented, let the Führer know, he wanted this mission.”

  Otto nodded, and Pieter walked away.

  Andreas and Carina.

  Carina left Pieter talking to Otto. She disappeared to clean up and go to bed, but was now fully revived by the cold water. She wondered whether her scheme to antagonise Horst, by sleeping with Andreas, would be fun. She was still far from satisfied; she’d never had two men in the same night before and felt quite turned on by the idea. Returning to her room, she listened at the adjoining wall; Andreas could be heard moving around in his room, so she re-dressed. The guards just outside were unconcerned about her visiting the boy; they were there to stop outsiders.

  She knocked, and Andreas opened the door wearing a towel around his waist. Beaming at her, he asked “What do you want?”

  “I wondered if you might be able to help with something that has been bothering me.” She smiled and gave him her ‘special’ look. Her gorgeous brown eyes made his heart race and he could feel the towel starting to strain.

  He quickly ushered her in, in case this dream was about to end before its time.

  As he closed the door, she flicked off the light and pushed him onto the bed. His towel gave way and she was on him…

  Totally spent, they fell silent and drifted into a deep sleep, locked in each other’s arms.

  Raven goes underground.

  “Good evening Herr Oberst. While I was out getting my cargo from the plane, I saw a shadowy mysterious figure making its way back from the cliff, towards town. Whoever it was, carefully avoided the guards and gave me the slip. I believe we have a spy here.”

  “What time was this?”

  “About 7.30pm.”

  “Everyone who should have been here at the Grand Hotel is still here, except Helga; she was feeling unwell, long before we sat down to eat, and went up to her room to rest.

  “Were your team where they should be?”

  “One was helping me with the loading, the other two were with the agent, Otto. I told him about the problem as well, so Berlin can look into it.

  “Only the three of us know about it, at the moment,” Pieter lied. He did not want his liaison with Carina to become common knowledge, least of all to Helga.

  “I thought we should do nothing to make this spy aware we are on to him, or her. I will go out at night and find out who it is.

  “Otto thought we might feed false information to the British and I agree. It will cast doubt on everything they have been told so far.”

  “I will check with signals tomorrow Pieter, to see if they are picking up anything about that time. It has to be a radio transmission, Britain is over 60 miles away and we have detected no boats or planes that shouldn’t be out there.”

  “Sorry to have spoiled your evening Herr Oberst, but at least we are aware of the leak and can do something about it.”

  “When I see you tomorrow, we will walk down to the harbour and discuss what information we want relayed. That way, no one will overhear us.”

  “Until tomorrow morning then. Good night Herr Oberst.”

  An audacious plan. 7th December 1943

  After breakfast, Pieter passed the team their cover details, to study while he was out with the Oberst.

  “While I am out for an hour, I want you all to read your cover story. Fit it to coincide with actual facts in your own life. For example, when you were twenty, you fell out of a tree and cut your leg. That is how you got the scar, it was not a military training injury. If you are caught and questioned, it is no good making up something then, it will be too late. Write it all down so you can remember it; later, we will try and catch one another out as though we are the interrogators.

  ”Even practicing interrogation on each other will increase your ability to lie convincingly.”

  As he walked away, they grumbled about it being a waste of time, but he would show them how wrong they were.

  The morning stroll to the harbour was deceptively sunny, with hardly a breeze, but the air was
icy. The weather could change within minutes, so both the Oberst and Pieter had hats, warm coats and gloves, just in case it worsened.

  “Pieter, I have arranged that all communications about your mission will be handled by one officer, personally. No one else will be involved. The material we want the British to hear about, concerning your mission, will pass through normal channels. Berlin will only act on my coded transmissions, so there will be no confusion. I expect our routine movements will be passed on; it will only be critical movements that are obfuscated, and they will be passed back by Berlin.”

  “That gives me great confidence, Dedrick, it should throw the British off our track for a while. I expect the team’s activities are being reported, but only our departure date from here and the landing point in England is critical, and details of the beacon, of course. I will give that information only to you, in advance. The team will be informed at the last minute.”

  “Do you know your departure date yet, Pieter?”

  “No, we have a lot of training to do before I can say when we are ready, but I am aiming for a couple of weeks.”

  “When this is all over, do you have any personal plans, or will you return to Germany and go back to being an engineer.”

  Pieter had not expected a question like that from the Oberst. It is much too personal and inappropriate, when the spy you are asking is about to go on a suicide mission.

  Dedrick was a very human character when you got to know him, but sentimentality was most unlikely in the current situation. More probably, he was fishing for any clue pointing to a relationship with Helga. Well, there wasn’t a lasting one! That thought saddened him. The damned girl kept filling his mind, at times when he needed complete focus. Actually, nothing would please him more than to spend the rest of his life with Helga. Anyway, Carina had been a temporary distraction although judging by the sounds from Andreas’s room last night, it was Andreas she was distracting.

  “The beautiful thing about engineering is that it is an absolute truth. Things work perfectly when they comply with the laws of physics, you can depend on them and they will never let you down. People on the other hand are wonderful biological machines, controlled by chemicals and emotions. It is the very thing that makes them what they are; it also makes them unreliable and untrustworthy. I want no part of them in my life. I was happy before the war, without them, and will be again.”