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He drew a long, shaking breath ‘"Killed in action" hat the first wire told us, and "killed in action" the verdict shall remain,’ he said firiven the nuht I don’t think we need give out details of who shot who You’ve not told anyone here what happened, have you?’

‘I told her brother,’ I said ‘And anyway you bug this rooh the shutters to the kitchen It’ll have to co his head

‘Is there anything about us you don’t know, Kittyhawk? We’ll keep your secrets and you keep ours "Careless talk costs lives"’

It really does in France It’s not as funny as it sounds

‘Look, Maddie, let’s break for half an hour – I’rill you about which we’ve not even touched on yet, and I feel I’ve rather lost my composure’

He pulled out a spotted silk handkerchief, turned aside again and wiped his nose When he faced ave me a hand to raise me to my feet ‘Also, I think you need a nap’

What did Julie say about me – I am trained to react positively to orders from people in authority I went back to my room and fell soundly asleep for 20Castle Of course she did teach h it was at one of the Maidsend hops and not in the kitchen at Craig Castle, but the dreaure out where I was And then it was like being kicked in the head with desolation all over again

Except now instead of ‘The Last Tiot ‘Drea inere dancing at Maidsend I don’t mind at all, as I am so sick of ‘The Last Ti played in some public place I am sure I will immediately start to howl

So then Balliol and I had another session and it got a bitto remember names and nule Resistance agent I’d been introduced to, Balliol tallying theainst notes in a little calfskin notebook of his own, and the location of any arms or supplies or cachettes I knew about There was a moment where I was bent over withatto come up with accurate arage It dawned onmy hair like that for the past twenty ot mad

I raised my head with a jerk and asked furiously, ‘Why? Why do you care whether I can come up with the coordinates out of my head? I can make up coordinates the way Julie made up code! Give me a map and I’ll point it out, you don’t need me to do this! What do you really want, you bloody Machiavellian BASTARD?’

He was silent for a minute

‘I’ve been asked to test you a bit,’ he confessed at last ‘Turn up the heat, see how you respond I’m not honestly sure what to do with you The Air Ministry wants to take away your licence and the Special Operations Executive wants to recoe Medal They’d like you to stay with them’

NOT IN A MILLION YEARS

But, but My success as an unofficial agent for the SOE will cancel out ht to France as an unofficial pilot for the RAF I won’t get a medal, and I jolly well don’t want or deserve one, but I won’t lose my licence either – I mean, you could say I’ve already lost it myself, but they’ll reissue it They won’t take it away They won’t even take away ood reason to blub, tears of relief They will let o up before the Accident Committee, but that will just be about the actual accident – as if I were one of the Moon Squadron itself, prangingelse

And the Air Transport Auxiliary will be ferrying planes to France, coo back I knoill go back

I am exhausted Except for my nap and a couple of hours after we landed I haven’t slept since Sunday night, and it’s Tuesday evening now One iven e they have just received and decoded from the Damask W/T operator

REPORT HEAVY ALLIED BOMBARDMENT OVERHEAD ORMAIE NIGHT OF SAT 11 DEC AM SUN 12 DEC SUCCESSFUL OP DESTROYING CDB AKA GESTAPO REGIONAL HQ NO KNOWN ARRESTS ALL WELL SVP PASS MSG TO KITTYHAWK SAY ISOLDES FATHER IS FOUND SHOT THROUGH HEAD BELIEVED SUICIDE

‘Who is Isolde’s father?’ Balliol asked when he gave it to me

‘The Gestapo officer who – who questioned Verity And sentenced her’

‘Suicide,’ Balliol said softly ‘Another wretched irl,’ I corrected

--

Those ripples in the pond again – it just doesn’t stop in one place All those lives that have touched mine so briefly – most of thereat-aunt and the driver of the Rosalie And so other than their na, the Jewish doctor, and Esther Lévi, whose flute iven to write on And soain, like the vicar’s son who flew Spitfires and Anna Engel and the Jaunner

And then there is Isolde von Linden, at school in Switzerland, who doesn’t know yet that her father has just shot himself