He heard a sound from the other side of the hedge, like an animal scrabbling in the dirt for something to eat. A familiar face appeared through the greenery a moment later. ‘Jack?’ it whispered.
‘What the hell are you doing here?’ Jack asked, embarrassed by the shock in his voice. His old school friend, Henry, was supposed to have gone to England. Jack hadn’t really ever expected to see the man again, especially not while the Germans were still occupying Guernsey. He had no idea what on earth a British soldier was doing on the island, but he knew immediately that it was dangerous. He caught hold of Henry’s arm and hauled him inside the house, not caring whether he hurt him. The mere fact he was here could cause untold trouble for Jack and his family, and he hoped that no one had seen the other man in his garden. He repeated himself, for emphasis, ‘What the hell are you doing here?’
He looked almost as Jack remembered him, a tall, thin man, with a mess of curly brown hair. But he had grown trim, presumably from his training, and the army had cut his hair shorter. There was still a slight grin on his lips that had always been there when they were children, and at times was so constant it almost irritated Jack. It was a grin he felt he had seen recently. He had never before been able to be annoyed with one of his oldest friends, one of the few children who hadn’t mocked him for being born off the island.
‘Shhh. Be quiet! You’ll wake the dead carrying on like that.’
Jack paced the hallway, trying to compose his thoughts. His grandmother shuffled into view, through the narrowly opened door to their room. ‘Jacky?’ she called, her voice shrill, but still warm. ‘Jack? Is that you?’
A moment later his grandfather called out something, followed by a violent, racking cough that seemed to linger in the air.
‘Yes, dear. I’ll ask him,’ she responded then looked towards the kitchen. Jack’s heart thumped in his chest, even though he trusted his grandmother without question. Things were no longer that simple. ‘Jacky, your grandfather wants a cup of tea,’ she continued, looking past Jack to where Henry stood. ‘Oh, hello young Mr Le Page. My how you’ve grown!’
He nodded in reply, before Jack took her by the arm and led her gently back to her room. ‘I’ll bring you both tea in a few minutes, Nan. Let me take care of it.’
‘Thank you, dear.’
She shuffled back into her room, a smile on her face. Jack didn’t want to neglect her, but he needed to speak to Henry privately. Thankfully his mother was upstairs, otherwise he would have to try to explain what was going on. She would be far more suspicious.
‘It feels strange being back,’ Henry said when Jack reappeared.
‘I thought I’d never see you again, least of all here,’ Jack replied, his voice taking an edge as he turned on Henry. ‘I have my family to think about.’
‘Look, old pal,’ Henry replied, raising his hands. ‘I can explain, if you just give me a minute.’
A thought occurred to Jack, a fleeting image from a few days ago. ‘Wait a second,’ he said, pacing again. ‘I thought I saw you the other day. I thought I was hallucinating at the time, but it was you hiding in the bushes behind a wall.’
Henry flashed that smile of his again, but it only served to make Jack angrier. ‘You still haven’t explained why you’re here,’ he said.
‘Right, okay. One thing at a time, eh? I’ll start at the beginning.’
Jack nodded, then sat down at the kitchen table. The shock still hadn’t worn off.
‘Well, as you know myself and the others went to sign up for the British army. We’d all been split up and sent wherever it was we were needed. Then we heard that the War Office were looking for soldiers who had lived here, or at least knew the island.
‘I volunteered right away when they said there was a chance I could come back here and help in the war effort. Anyone would have jumped at it. That’s why we came.’
‘“We”? Why do you keep saying “we”?’ Jack asked. ‘They wanted you to scout out the island?’
‘In a manner of speaking. We? Well.’ Henry leant closer to Jack and lowered his voice. They sent me here as a spy, although I don’t think anyone actually used that word. They hadn’t given me any training. But as far as the War Office was concerned I knew the island and that was enough. The rest I’ve had to learn “on the job” as it were.’
‘What’s the point of them sending you here?’ Jack asked. ‘It’s not like you can get rid of the Germans.’
‘Too true, old pal.’ He put his elbow on one crossed arm and stroked his chin. ‘Not yet at least. No, the idea is to find out what the Germans are doing and report back. That’s why I’ve come to you. As a policeman, I hoped you’d be able to tell me.’
Jack was struggling not to feel annoyed. He still couldn’t believe the British had walked out on them, only to return and act like nothing had changed. Now it seemed as if they were playing games with their lives. ‘Why? The War Office doesn’t care about the islands.’
‘That’s not fair, see. I know it hurt when we all left, but what were we supposed to do? The army didn’t have the numbers to defend the island. The fact we’re back shows that we care.’
‘Isn’t it too late for that?’ Jack knew his voice had risen, but he no longer cared. ‘The Germans are here now.’
Henry leant against the wall behind the door, as if he had already developed an instinct for hiding. ‘I know how it sounds, but we have to play the long game here. You’ve heard the stories about the first war. If we can slow them down, annoy and harry them, then their supplies will run out. Eventually they’ll have to retreat. This is all part of that plan – why I’m here, to feed back info for the raids.’
‘The what?’ Jack stood up, now almost shouting. But Henry waved him back down.
‘That’s where the “we” come in.’ Jack was too shocked to respond, so Henry continued. ‘The British have arranged some kind of raid. I’m not sure what they’re going to do; they wouldn’t tell me in case I was captured. I could really do with some help.’
‘What do you want from me? I can’t hide you. Not here.’
‘Information. That’s all I need. What can you tell me about the Jerries? What forces do they have on the island? What are they up to?’
Jack hesitated for a moment, and then made a decision. What difference did it make if he told Henry everything that the Germans had done? If they found out he had been helping a spy he was done for anyway. At least this way he may do some good. Perhaps they could change the course of the occupation before Johanna or anyone else he loved got hurt.
He told Henry about the kommandant, how they had taken over the hotels, commandeered all the cars, how the police were the Germans’ tools, and how powerless they all were to do anything about it.
Henry sat and listened intently to every detail as if he was memorising it. Jack wouldn’t have been surprised if he pulled out a notepad and pencil, but then writing anything down was dangerous. He just listened until Jack mentioned Henry’s parents’ house. It was his turn to look shocked.
‘I see,’ he said, at length. ‘That was what you were doing with that German the other day. I’m sure you had good reason.’
Jack couldn’t tell whether Henry was annoyed with him. They had been friends since they were children and Henry had always looked after him like an older brother, even though they were almost the same age. But there had been times when he had been short with Jack, or had criticised him unnecessarily. As a child, Jack had been put off by it, and it had only been as an adult that he had realised Henry had been trying to look after him, in his own way.
‘I was alerted by a neighbour to a German officer trying to take over a house along the road.’
‘The bastard!’ Amazingly Henry managed to shout without raising his voice.
‘He was trying to commandeer the house for his troops. They hadn’t any billets, and apparently the kommandant hadn’t arranged anything either, so it they had decided to put a roof over their heads by turning others out.’
‘So what did you do?’ Henry sat down on another chair and laid his head on his hands as he had often done when they were children. When Jack had finished telling the story Henry was silent for a moment. Eventually he gave a long sigh. ‘I’m not sure my dad is going to like that. He was born in that house. The idea of the Germans shacking up there will make him mad. It makes me pretty angry too.’ He put up a hand to silence Jack. ‘I understand your reasoning. But the house doesn’t belong to them. What right do they have to take it?’
‘Everything belongs to them now.’
Henry sighed again, closing his eyes. ‘Churchill won’t let them do this for much longer – you just wait. We’ll make them pay somehow.’
After a long moment he wrenched his eyes open again, looking straight at Jack. ‘Look, I’ve been here long enough. Thank you. I just wanted to see you, warn you that we were here, but I shouldn’t stay in one place too long. I was going to go and see my parents.’ He paused for a moment, scratching his chin again. ‘The thing is, I don’t want to get them involved. You live nearer to the landing point; I knew I could get here without being seen. Thank you for giving me that information.’
Jack shrugged, not sure if what he had told Henry was really any help at all. ‘The island’s theirs now,’ he said. ‘There isn’t much we can do. The war’s over for the islands.’
‘Is it? Is it really? Do you really believe that, Jack? I thought better of you. They can come here with their guns and take over the place, but can’t you see? This is exactly why we must fight them. It starts with taking our homes. What does it end with?’
Jack didn’t have a good answer for him; he had thought the same, but what was he supposed to do? It was all right for Henry who had escaped the island and was now swanning back in here to tell them all what they should be doing, but he hadn’t experienced the occupation. He didn’t really know what it was like. He had some romantic view of right and wrong and had picked a side with ease. Jack struggled to keep himself from telling Henry exactly what he thought of his spying, but he held his tongue, took a deep breath and let the anger go.
‘We can’t do much. They’re always watching us, and who knows what they’ll do to us if they catch us. Especially those of us in the police. We’re supposed to enforce their laws.’
Henry walked back over to Jack and patted his shoulder. ‘That’s why I’m here. Why we’re doing what we can.’
‘And what is that, exactly?’
Henry was quiet for a moment, looking deep into Jack’s eyes as if trying to come to a decision. ‘The raid is next week.’ Back to the conspiratorial voice he had begun the conversation with. ‘That’s all I know. Don’t tell anyone, understand? I’ll be heading back to England by then, but it’s not safe for the rest of you to know.’
Jack wanted to scream at him, tell him that this was no game, that lives were at stake, but he just nodded. They were in this together now, whether Jack liked it or not, co-conspirators. History told him that that never ended well.
‘Look, it’s about time you went,’ he said, standing and moving to the door so that Henry would follow. ‘I’m supposed to be starting my night shift soon.’
The other man nodded, still completely calm. How could he stay so still when they were in such danger? ‘Please, for our sake, don’t be here when I come back. If the Germans find you—’
‘It’s all right,’ Henry said. ‘I’m going. I won’t push you any further. I appreciate how difficult it must be and I’d do the same if I were you. We have different paths, you and I, and neither of us have been given much in the way of choice.’ He paused to sigh heavily, before standing up and offering a hand. ‘Thanks for not running straight to the Germans when you saw me. Not many others would have done that.’
Jack shook the other man’s hand. A part of him really wanted to do something to help, and it gnawed at his resolve.
‘We’ll meet again, Jack, before this is all out. You can be sure of that.’
*
That evening he met Johanna who was coming home from work while he was on his way to start his own night shift. Her hair was in a mess, and her brow was creased with a deep frown. They hadn’t arranged to meet, but Jack had made sure that he was near the hospital when she was due to finish. A few minutes out of his cycle patrol wouldn’t be a problem.
She smiled at him when he jumped off his bike nearby, but there was a weariness that hadn’t been there before. In the few weeks that she had been working as a nurse, he had noticed her change, her vibrancy and humour lessening with each day. Although he suspected that the work wasn’t the only reason.
‘You’re exhausted,’ he said, reaching out for her. She fell willingly into his arms.
‘I am, but it warms my heart to see you.’ Her head fell against his chest and his heart rate increased, as it always did when he was around her. ‘It’s been a long day.’
She pulled back, placing a hand either side of his head and pulling it down so that she could see into his eyes.
‘Do you remember when we first met?’ she asked. ‘It was an evening like this, warm and dry.’
‘Almost two years now,’ he said, fondly. She had just come to the island to work as a nanny for a wealthy family, putting her skills as a nurse to good use before the family had returned to England at the outbreak of war, leaving her here. ‘You caught my eye right away.’
She laughed. ‘Bah!’ she said. ‘If I remember correctly you bumped into me on your bicycle because you weren’t looking where you were going!’
‘Well, as soon as I saw you then.’ He looked into her eyes, remembering the day as if it were only yesterday.
‘It was a good thing I wasn’t hurt, otherwise I would never have come to love you.’ There was a wicked look in her eye. ‘Although offering to buy me tea as an apology certainly helped.’
She pulled away from him and walked to the side of the road, looking out over the sea. Jack followed.
‘I came here to get away from it all,’ she said, her voice now a low whisper. ‘To somehow build a new life, and I got so much more. Even if the states locked me up as an enemy. This is now my home; you are my home. If only my family could be here to see me now.’
She turned back to him. Jack wanted so much to ask her what had happened in Germany. He knew only whispers of how the Jews were oppressed, but never more. He didn’t know what to think. Her brown eyes looked into his and he was mesmerised.
‘Why do you never speak of your family?’ he asked. ‘I would love to hear about them.’
She stared at him, still, transfixing him with those deep eyes. ‘I can’t. It’s too horrible. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, not yet. One day, when the time is right I will tell you all about it, but it’s still too raw, too painful. I want to tell you, but the words will not come, the story is too heartbreaking. Just remember that the other Germans can’t be trusted, no matter what. They cannot know that I’m a Jew – it’s too dangerous.’
With that she broke their gaze and flicked her hair aside as if remembering herself.
‘Go, go now and do your work,’ she continued. ‘The island needs you as much as I do.’
Again she smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She kissed him on the cheek, then unlocked her own bicycle from the rail by the hospital gates. He whispered goodnight, but she left without another word.
Chapter 9
17 July 1940
Jack and the other policemen were ordered to assemble at the police station at five in the morning. The past week had been relatively uneventful, which was unusual given everything that had been going on. The old man stormed into the office as early morning light trickled in through the windows, aided by the orange glow of the kerosene lamps.
‘At ten a.m. on Monday morning,’ the chief started without so much as a welcome, ‘German so
ldiers in the south of the island found a barricade across the Jerbourg Road near the tavern. The road was blocked with large granite boulders, which must have taken considerable effort to place there. They also found a soldier’s haversack and some other supplies littered around the area.’
There was a stony silence from the assembled policemen. Jack’s heart sank into his stomach. He had to be careful not to give anything away. It was possible that Henry had visited other policemen on the island, but he thought it unlikely.
‘The German Military Authority consider this evidence that British soldiers are operating on the island. The kommandant demands to know who was responsible for building the barricade and leaving the supplies.’
Jack’s heart skipped a beat. They could put him in front of a firing squad, and then what would happen to Johanna and to his family? He would just have to keep quiet and go about his duty as normal.
The old man cleared his throat. ‘It falls on us to investigate and report back to the Germans.’
There were one or two grumblings of resentment, but the chief silenced them with a pointed look.
‘That’s why I’ve called you all here. I want you in teams with the special constables.’ He indicated the group hovering at the back of the room. Most of the policemen didn’t think of them as real policemen, but in times like this their help was indispensable. ‘PCs Godwin and Roussel, you’ll take three specials and comb the area between La Corbière and Le Crieux Mahié caves.’
The old man nodded, dismissing them to their duties. Jack hurried to follow David and the others as they left the police station. He knew where the soldiers had been, but he wasn’t about to tell the others. Things had got out of hand very quickly, and he would have to be calm and careful to make sure everything fell back into place. He picked up his bicycle from the station park, as the police car drove around the front of the building to collect the inspector. The whole force would be out doing the Germans’ work for them.
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