Dominion

Chapter Thirty-Two

AT KENTON STATION DAVID found himself reluctant to go in; he knew the Resistance people would have a far better chance of rescuing Sarah, but he felt that leaving now would be his final betrayal of her, as well as a final departure from his old life.

He had never been to Soho during the day before. It seemed greyer, more ordinary – narrow streets, now filled with markets selling fruit and vegetables. The coffee bar beside the alley was closed; the alley itself looked even dingier in daylight. The door with the two bells beside it had, he saw, once been green but most of the paint had flaked away long ago, revealing strong old planks. He pressed Natalia’s bell.

There was no answer. He waited and rang again but still no footsteps sounded on the stairs. He tried the door but it was locked. An old man in a threadbare overcoat, bent with age, shuffled down the alley and gave David a look of dislike as he passed; he must have thought him a client for the prostitute. David felt panic rising again, wondering whether something had happened here, too. He wished he didn’t look so conspicuous in his overcoat, pinstripe trousers and bowler hat.

Eventually footsteps clattered down the stairs inside. The door half opened and the prostitute peered round the frame at him. She wore an expensive-looking silk dressing gown, her red hair curling around her face. ‘You’ve woken me, ringing the bell like that.’ She spoke crossly, then she recognized him and her face became suddenly alert.

‘Dilys, I need to speak to Natalia—’

‘She’s just gone to the shops. Is something the matter?’

‘I need to see her urgently.’

The girl thought a moment, then said, ‘Come up.’

David followed her up the creaking stairs, into a poky little bedroom dominated by a large, unmade double bed and a dressing table covered with pots and powders. The room was separated from the rest of the flat by a flimsy-looking door. It stank of cheap scent and cigarette smoke and was stiflingly hot, a gas fire hissing away in the corner. The girl sat on a hard chair at the dressing table and waved David to the bed. ‘Sit down.’ She turned to the partition, and to David’s surprise, shouted ‘Helen!’ A middle-aged woman in an apron came through the inner door. Dilys said, ‘We’re out of tea, love. Go and get some, will you? Get some groceries as well, take your time.’

The woman gave David a stony look. ‘Be all right, will you?’

‘’Course I will. This one’s a shy boy, aren’t you?’

With a doubtful look at David, the old woman left. Dilys smiled archly. ‘First time you’ve been in a place like this?’

‘Yes – yes, it is.’

She nodded at the door. ‘Helen, she’s my maid. We girls always have an older woman working with us, to help us, keep us safe. Helen doesn’t know about next door.’ Dilys took a deep breath. ‘Something’s up, isn’t it? I can see by your face.’

‘I’m afraid so.’

‘Am I going to have to go?’

‘I don’t know. I’m afraid they’re on to me.’

Dilys looked sad. ‘Luck always runs out in the end, doesn’t it?’ She spoke quietly. ‘Just give me fair warning when I have to go, will you ask them that? I’m okay for money, but I’ll have to look after Helen till we find somewhere else. I don’t want her in the clutches of the bloody Blackshirts.’

‘I’ll tell them.’

‘Thanks. Don’t say any more,’ Dilys added quickly. ‘It’s best I know as little as possible.’

‘Yes,’ he agreed. It was just what Carol had said to him over the telephone.

‘You can only tell what you know. Would you like a cup of tea?’ Her tone was suddenly cheerful again. Poor girl, David thought, she must have to put on a cheery face all the time.

‘No – no, thank you.’

She glanced at him wistfully. ‘Nice-looking chap like you, bet you can get it whenever you want, eh? Don’t need the likes of me.’ David felt himself blush. ‘I see you’ve a wedding ring. Bet you’re the faithful sort.’ Her manner was bantering now, trying to keep her spirits up. ‘You got any Maltese blood in you?’ she asked suddenly.

‘Not that I know of.’

‘You remind me a bit of my Guido. The bastards deported him two years ago. England for the English, as they say. And for the Germans and Italians, of course,’ she added bitterly. ‘That’s when I joined up with you people. They put me here, to keep an eye out for you.’

‘Thank you,’ David said.

Dilys opened a drawer of the dressing table and pulled out a bottle of gin and two smeared glasses. ‘Want one?’

‘I’d better keep a clear head.’ David realized he hadn’t eaten since breakfast. ‘You haven’t any food, have you?’

‘I’ll see what there is.’

She went through the inner door, returning with some cold ham and bread and butter. David took it eagerly. Dilys sat at the dressing table, watching him eat while she swigged back her gin, the hand holding the glass trembling slightly. When he had finished she said, ‘Should I get ready to open up today?’ He looked at her blankly and she laughed. ‘For business. I usually open up at five, and it’s nearly four now.’

‘I think – maybe better not. There may be more of us coming.’

She took a deep breath. ‘I’ll put a note on the door, say I’m ill. I’ve a couple of Friday regulars, they’ll be disappointed but it can’t be helped. Oh well, it’ll save me the trouble of getting ready, won’t it?’

David looked at her curiously. ‘How did you get into – into this?’

She frowned. ‘Shock you, does it?’

‘No. It’s just – I never—’

She smiled again. ‘You’re quite an innocent thing, aren’t you? My dad died at Dunkirk, he wasn’t one of the ones that got away. My mum went to pieces, turned to drink. We hadn’t any money. A friend got me into this game.’

He looked around the room. ‘Isn’t it – well – dangerous?’

She laughed suddenly. ‘You’re asking, is what I do dangerous? That’s the pot calling the kettle black if ever I heard it.’

It was fifteen minutes before footsteps sounded again on the stairs. Dilys sat up, looking relieved. ‘That’s Natalia.’ She went out and David heard the two women talking quietly. They came back into the flat together. Natalia wore an old grey coat and hat and carried a shopping bag; she looked dowdy and ordinary beside Dilys’ colourful femininity. David thought it was probably a look she cultivated deliberately, so as not to be noticed. It was sad she had to. His heart had leapt at the sight of her but then sank again as he thought of Sarah, out there somewhere, in grave danger.

Natalia looked at him, then said quietly, ‘Come through. Dilys, I’ll tell you what’s happening as soon as I know.’

They went back to Natalia’s flat. It smelt of paint as usual, but she had taken most of the pictures down, stacking them against the walls. Only the striking battle scene remained, the dead soldiers lying in the snow with the high white mountains in the distance. The room was cold. Natalia followed David’s gaze. ‘Yes,’ she said in a low voice. ‘I’m packing up, I’ll have to leave too. This is very serious.’

He turned to her. ‘I’m sorry.’

She smiled wanly. ‘It happens. We always have a fallback place ready.’

They stood looking at each other for a long moment. Then Natalia said, ‘Sit down.’ David took a seat and watched as she switched on the gas fire, bending to slot pennies into the meter. She said, over her shoulder, ‘I am sorry I was out. One of our people came to tell me you’d had to run, and I had to make some telephone calls. Mr Jackson will be coming soon, Geoff Drax too.’

‘Geoff? Oh no.’

She stood up and spoke sadly, almost apologetically. ‘If they’re making enquiries about you they will soon find out you and he are friends. I had to phone Mr Jackson at work. We don’t usually do that, we don’t know which Civil Service phones are tapped, but it was an emergency.’

‘What about the other man in the cell? Boardman, from the India Office.’

‘He’ll be warned. But there’s nothing to lead them to him that we know of.’ She sat down opposite him, a fixed expression in those clear, almond-shaped eyes. ‘Please, tell me everything that happened today.’

She sat still and quiet as David explained, nodding occasionally. When he had finished she asked, ‘The woman Carol, you’re sure she knows nothing of what you have been doing?’

‘Yes. But – they’ll question her again. She was the one who warned me. They’ll make her talk.’

‘With luck she will only lose her job. If she knows nothing.’

David took a deep breath. ‘The man I spoke to on the telephone said they’d send someone to fetch Sarah. That was always part of the deal: if anything happened you’d help her.’

‘We will.’

‘If only she’d been at home—’

‘You shouldn’t have gone back there, you know,’ Natalia said, her tone quietly reproving.

‘I didn’t know what else to do. If that man had answered the phone the first time—’

‘Yes. If he had to go out he should have got someone to cover him. That was a mistake.’

‘I didn’t know what to think when I didn’t get an answer.’ He smiled at her ruefully. ‘Somehow I’d thought you were all infallible.’

‘Nobody is infallible. Not us, and not them, either. They should have realized this woman Carol might go and warn you. Just occasionally, you see, they overestimate the power of fear.’ She gave him one of her long, steady looks. ‘This woman must be very fond of you.’

‘And now I’ve landed her in it. I’ve landed everyone in it, haven’t I? All because I misfiled that bloody document.’

‘As I said, nobody is infallible. But the question is, what led them to you in the first place?’

‘It all points to Frank Muncaster, doesn’t it? They’ve got him to talk.’

‘That seems possible, I’m afraid.’

‘Then it’s all been for nothing.’ David put his head in his hands. ‘Poor bloody Frank.’

Natalia didn’t get up, but said, gently, ‘I’m sorry. It’s hard when you have personal loyalties.’

He glanced up at her. ‘Don’t you have any?’

She lit a cigarette from the pack on the table. ‘Not any more.’ She looked him in the eye. ‘Everyone I cared about is gone. That’s another thing the enemy don’t consider, that they might leave people with nothing else in their lives but to fight them. That’s what they’re doing in Russia.’

David pointed at the painting of the battle scene. ‘You’ve left that one on the wall.’

She said, ‘When my brother came back from Russia he told me about the last battle he was in. His leg was badly injured, that’s why he was sent home. He didn’t talk about it much, he couldn’t bear to, but one night he was in a bad state and he did.’ Her voice had become monotonous, holding in God knew what feelings. ‘It was in 1942, the Caucasus offensive, the Russians were defending a strong position and Peter saw a lot of his friends killed. Those are the Caucasus mountains in the distance. All in German hands now.’

‘I didn’t know that your brother came back. I thought he’d been killed.’

‘No. His leg was shattered, he didn’t get good treatment at the field hospital and he was never able to walk properly again. But it was his mind that really suffered. Some people can survive a war with their minds intact but not Peter.’

David shook his head. ‘Yes, it always stays with you. It was because of what I saw in Norway that I felt the peace with Germany was right. Like all the other fools, I needed peace.’

‘Although you are half-Jewish.’

‘I told you,’ he replied bitterly, ‘we kept that well hidden. I pretty much hid it from myself for long enough.’ He paused. ‘Since we spoke I’ve wondered whether I might have family – second and third cousins, perhaps – who were on trains like the one you described. It makes me ashamed.’

‘Why? Because you have been able to escape the trains and these new British camps? You shouldn’t be.’ She spoke emphatically. ‘It’s not your fault you happen to be different in a way that gets you singled out. And you are fighting them, fighting the Fascists.’

David smiled bleakly. ‘Making restitution, eh? When the anti-Semitic laws got really serious, that’s when I first began to feel ashamed. I suppose that was why I decided to join the Resistance. Everyone probably thinks I’m just another old-fashioned Englishman outraged by what’s being done. But I’m not, for me it’s personal.’

‘It is personal for all of us, one way or another,’ Natalia said quietly.

‘You mean your brother?’ They were talking intimately now, leaning forward slightly. The gas fire hissed gently in the background.

‘Partly. When he came back I nursed him at home. My father helped but he died later that year. Then it was just me and Peter. He wouldn’t go out, the only place he felt safe was in the house and even then he feared someone would come – Russians or Germans – and kill him. Not for any particular reason, but just because killing had become what people did. The strange thing was, Peter was so afraid of dying but in the end he killed himself, he jumped out of the window of our flat. We were on the third floor. He did what your friend Frank tried to do.’

‘I’m sorry.’ They were silent for a moment, then David asked, ‘What’s happened to Frank?’

‘Mr Jackson may know more.’

He looked at her, then said, ‘You hate the Fascists, yet you had a German fiancé.’

Natalia’s mouth set firmly. ‘He wasn’t a Nazi. And I wasn’t just his fiancé, I married him. I am actually a German citizen by law. I’m not sure I meet the race criteria, but we managed to fudge that – that’s the word, isn’t it? Fudge.’ She pointed at her eyes. ‘The Mongols reached the edges of my country, and it was part of the Turkish empire for centuries. I have some Asian blood from long ago.’ She smiled. ‘I have seen you notice.’ Her expression changed, became hard. ‘The most precious things in life can just be snatched away from you in a moment. But your wife, we will save her if we can. And she – well, she is your precious thing. Or you would not care so much about leaving her.’

He looked down. ‘I . . .’ Slowly, he stretched out a hand. He needed the contact, he needed it.

They both jumped as the doorbell rang violently. Natalia’s face worked for a moment, then she nodded quickly at David, got up and went out.

David heard two more pairs of footsteps returning with her: Jackson and Geoff. Jackson seemed angry; there were red spots on his plump cheeks. He was carrying a briefcase which he put on the table. He looked at David and said heavily, ‘Your chickens have come home to roost, I’m afraid, Fitzgerald.’ He walked over to the fire and stood with his back to it.

‘It’s not David’s fault,’ Geoff protested but Jackson gave him an annoyed glance, took a deep breath, then turned to David. ‘Full story, please.’

David told him, leaving nothing out.

‘The woman, Carol, she was sure one of the policemen was a German?’ Jackson asked.

‘I don’t think she would make a mistake.’

Jackson put his hands behind his back, rocked on his heels, thinking. ‘It’s the Gestapo, working from the embassy with Mosley’s people at Special Branch. It has to be.’ He stared out of the window; it was dark now. He said, in a gentler tone, ‘We’ve sent someone to your house, to pick your wife up. You’re quite sure she knows nothing?’

‘I’ve never given her even the vaguest hint.’

Jackson looked at Natalia. ‘Well, it’s the end of this cell,’ he said heavily. ‘We close everything up here tonight.’

‘What about Dilys?’ Natalia asked.

‘She has to go, too. Tomorrow if she can. I suppose someone in her profession is at an advantage in a way, she can soon find somewhere else, continue working. I almost envy her.’ Jackson looked at David and Geoff. ‘I’m afraid you two are finished as agents. Done. Exposed. On the run. It’s better you both realize that now.’

David turned to Geoff. ‘You, too?’

‘I left this afternoon, when they rang. Besides, I think they were beginning to have doubts about me. Lack of enthusiasm for the settlement programme in Africa; I’ve never been a brilliant actor. Of course, I didn’t have to act at first, I really did come back because of a broken heart –’ Geoff gave his little bark of laughter – ‘but that was a few years ago. Anyway, they’ll make the connection between you and me soon enough, it’s no secret we’ve been friends for years.’ He looked at Jackson. ‘I can stick it, sir, but what about my parents? Is there any chance you could get them away somewhere?’

Jackson shook his head. ‘That’s not the best idea. If they disappear they’ll be hunted, and at their age – well, life with us isn’t easy. They know nothing?’

‘They wouldn’t approve if they did. My dad’s a Rotarian, they’re both members of the Coalition Conservative Party, even now.’

‘All that will protect them,’ Jackson said. ‘Fortunately the Germans are constrained – still – by the fact we’re not an occupied country. They can’t just spirit people away if they haven’t done anything. The British authorities like the notion that they’re still in charge. That’s why Muncaster is still at the asylum.’

‘Is the whole Civil Service spy network under threat?’ David asked quietly.

‘I don’t bloody know!’ Jackson burst out. He began pacing the room. He frowned, turned to David. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘We’re all under stress.’

Natalia said, ‘David and I think the Germans must have been investigating him because of some lead from Muncaster.’

Jackson shook his head. ‘I don’t think so. We’ve been in touch with our man at the asylum this afternoon. Muncaster’s still not speaking, and nobody’s tried to interrogate him. Our man thinks Dr Wilson may be trying to protect him. Muncaster’s become a sort of pet patient.’

Geoff asked, ‘Your man? You mean Ben, that Scottish attendant we met?’

‘That’s the name you know him by. We’ve always made contact via shortwave radio. He too is more at risk now.’ Jackson looked at the anxious faces around him, then gave his sudden disarming smile. ‘I must stop this habit of pacing around, mustn’t I? Bad for everyone’s nerves. Come on, Drax, let’s sit down. I have to tell you all what’s been decided, what’s going to happen next. And we don’t have much time.’

Jackson took the armchair by the gas fire. He took a deep breath. ‘I’ve spent today having conversations with people at the highest level. The very highest level.’ David wondered if he meant Churchill. ‘And it’s been decided Muncaster is to be taken from the hospital. We’re going to turn this into an opportunity. You three will go, Natalia will lead you again.’

‘How do we do it?’ she asked.

‘At eleven on Sunday night the attendant, Ben Hall, will fetch Muncaster and bring him to the gates. We’d have liked to go sooner but Hall couldn’t swap a night shift till the day after tomorrow. The hospital give the patients a sedative to get them to sleep and there’s only the night staff on the wards. Ben has swapped with the nurse on Muncaster’s ward. He has enough authority within the place to take Muncaster out of his room. Then he brings him out of the building and down to the gate. The problem will be getting Muncaster past the porter’s lodge, where the keys are. There’s usually only one person on duty there at night, and Ben will have to put him out of action temporarily.’

David said, ‘If Ben’s acting alone, how will he cope with Frank? He could be in a state.’

‘He will give him extra sedation that evening to make sure he’s quiet. Muncaster should just about be able to stagger along if Hall gets the dose right. Let’s hope he does, a great deal rides on that.’

‘Poor bloody Frank,’ David said again.

‘Poor bloody Frank will be a lot more bloody if the Germans get him.’ A touch of asperity had returned to Jackson’s voice. ‘Hall will bring him out and a car with you three in it will be waiting by the gates.’

‘It makes sense,’ Geoff said. ‘We’re on the run anyway. We’ve nothing to lose.’ He took his pipe from his pocket, began filling it with tobacco.

‘Exactly,’ Jackson agreed. ‘Afterwards you’ll all go to another safe house some way from the asylum. Hall, too; when the authorities find out what happened they’ll be after him as well.’ He looked hard at David and Geoff. ‘As Drax says, you’re the ideal people to do this, you’ve been there before and you’ve got to disappear anyway. But also, it’s easy to foresee possible problems with Muncaster when the drugs wear off. God knows how he’ll react when he finds himself out of the asylum, in a strange place, guarded by people with guns.’ Jackson looked at David. ‘That’s why it’s important you’re there. If anyone can convince him we’re acting in his best interests, you can.’

‘And if we get Frank out, what happens then?’ David asked.

‘In a few days an American submarine will enter the English Channel. Muncaster, and you and Drax and Hall, will be picked up. The plan is to get Mrs Fitzgerald there too. Next stop – if all goes well – New York.’

‘My God,’ David said.

‘We always do our best to get our people out.’ Jackson pointed to his briefcase. ‘I’ve got your false identity cards in there.’

‘Do I stay in England?’ Natalia asked.

‘Yes, if all goes well,’ Jackson answered. ‘Your identity isn’t compromised, and we have other work planned for you.’ He gave her a searching look. ‘Unless, of course, you’d rather leave, too.’

Natalia glanced at David, then said, ‘No. No, I should stay here.’

‘Good.’ Jackson turned to David and Geoff. ‘Any questions? Comments?’

‘I’ll do it,’ David said. He had done all he could for Sarah now, and Jackson was right, they must try to get Frank out.

Geoff spoke next. ‘Okay. I suppose my parents will never know what’s happened to me,’ he added slowly.

‘I know it’s hard,’ Jackson said. ‘But we all knew that one day we might have to go on the run, never see our loved ones again. It’s the same for all of us. Me, too.’ He smiled sadly, seeming momentarily as vulnerable as the rest of them.

David thought of Irene, Sarah’s parents. Sarah would probably never see her family again either. Would they be all right? Steve’s Blackshirt connections will help, he thought.

Jackson got up, crossed to the table and opened his briefcase. He pulled out two brown identity cards and handed one each to David and Geoff. David opened his; a couple of years ago he had gone to a photographer’s to have his picture taken in case he ever needed a fake identity, and here was the photo, impressed with what looked like the Home Office stamp, on a card which named him as Henry Bertram, of Bushey, Hertfordshire. Married. A civil servant in the Department of Transport.

Jackson said, ‘You’re both down as civil servants, close enough to what you actually do to let you talk convincingly about your work if need be. There are still a lot of police around in the cities, and some of the roads that lead to the new Jewish camps have roadblocks. It’s possible you might be asked to show your IDs, and a lie is always more convincing the closer it is to the truth.’ He put his hand on the briefcase again and pulled out a bulky white envelope. ‘There’s one more thing.’ He looked between them, his eyes hard now. ‘If you get caught by the Germans, it’ll be the full works, I’m afraid, from the Gestapo in the Senate House basement.’

David glanced at Geoff, who took a deep breath as Jackson opened the envelope and carefully tipped two small, circular rubber pellets into his hand. ‘These are cyanide capsules,’ he said. ‘Natalia knows what they are, she has one. Carry them in your trouser pockets, loose. For God’s sake don’t lose them. If you’re captured, if they’re coming for you and you know you can’t get away, put the pellet in your mouth. Don’t swallow it, crunch down. There’s a glass phial inside. It’s very quick.’ He held out his hand and David and Geoff each took a capsule. As he put the thing in his pocket, David thought, death weighs almost nothing.

‘We’ve all faced dying, I suppose,’ Jackson said. ‘I was in the trenches in the Great War, Fitzgerald was in the 1940 war and you, Drax, you must have faced some tricky situations in Africa. It’s a funny thing, I found that in action you always have to be prepared for death; you must keep it in a separate compartment, but you have to be ready to open that compartment at a moment’s notice, look death squarely in the face knowing it might be the last thing you see.’ He smiled with unexpected awkwardness. ‘I guess every human being knows they’re going to die one day; everyone has that compartment locked away somewhere. It’s easier if you’ve got religious faith, I suppose.’

David touched the pill in his pocket. He looked across at Natalia but she was staring into the middle distance, her face stony. She had probably had a capsule ready for a long time.

Jackson clapped his hands together, making David jump slightly. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘looking on the bright side, the mission has every chance of success; you could all be heroes. And if we get you to the States, we’ve an arrangement with our sympathizers there. They’ll get you to Canada, give you new papers as British immigrants.’

David thought, it won’t matter if I’m a half-Jew there. Or not much. I could maybe even get to New Zealand, be with Dad. He wondered if Sarah would come with him, or whether, as he feared inside, that was all over now. Then he realized something else, and looked up sharply at Jackson. ‘There isn’t a pill for Frank,’ he said.

Jackson shook his head. ‘There’s no guarantee he’d take it. Or he might take it the moment it was given him. If it comes to it, Natalia will be armed and we’d rely on her to stop Muncaster from being taken.’

David looked at her. She said, ‘David, I have to be the one with the gun. They don’t expect a woman to carry arms. I am experienced and it gives me that little extra element of surprise.’

‘Which can be useful if you have to act quickly,’ Jackson agreed. He closed his briefcase. ‘Natalia, I’m afraid I’ve got to ask you to prepare to leave within the half-hour. Just take what personal things you need, and make sure there’s nothing here that could be of use, or lead them to us. I’ve got an address for the three of you to stay the next couple of nights. Go through and see Dilys first. Tell her to make arrangements to move.’

‘I suppose I have to leave my paintings,’ Natalia said.

‘Yes, I’m afraid so.’ Jackson gave his apologetic smile again. David thought, he respects her, he trusts her. But Geoff and I are underlings and I’ve already failed once.

Natalia went out, shutting the door quietly behind her. Jackson raised his eyebrows. ‘Well,’ he said. ‘This is it.’

Geoff said, ‘It’ll be strange if Frank Muncaster turns out to know nothing important.’

‘Oh, no,’ Jackson said heavily. ‘We’re pretty sure he does.’