Sarah shook her head slightly. David asked, ‘What is it?’
‘Nothing. I was just thinking how many identities I’ve had the last few days, how many sets of clothes.’ She looked at Bert. ‘You people have a lot of resources, don’t you? More than I’d ever thought.’
‘None of it has been easy,’ Natalia said, coldly. ‘I can promise you that. Everyone involved has exposed themselves to danger.’ She hesitated, then added, ‘People have died.’
Sarah met her gaze, ‘I know. I’ve seen two people killed in front of me in less than a fortnight.’
Natalia nodded at Frank. ‘Getting this man away is very important indeed. That’s what matters tonight, the rest of us are just passengers. It’s as well to be clear about that.’
Sarah stared back. ‘I understand very well. I know what danger is, I’ve learned that very fast. I’m not a fool, so please don’t take me for one. Just tell me what to do.’
Natalia inclined her head, a new respect in her look.
Bert said quietly, ‘Natalia is the leader, you all do as she says. So far as we know, we’re safe. We’ve had people watching the cliffs, the village, the coastal path and out to sea. Nothing unusual has been happening. When it gets dark we’ll still have a few people on surveillance, from the cliffs. In case any unexpected boats appear.’
Ben said, ‘It’s important for everyone tae move quickly and quietly.’ He looked at Frank.
‘Yes,’ Bert agreed. ‘The place will be asleep, you mustn’t wake anyone up. It’s going to be a quiet, clear night, there’ll be a half-moon. The sea’s like a millpond. Our man who’ll take you to the cove has got a rowing boat and he’ll start to row you out to the sub at twelve thirty. We’ve got precise coordinates, a spot about a mile out. Because the water’s shallow inshore the sub will be on the surface. It’ll take you on board. After that they’ll go out to deeper water, dive, and take you to an American ship out in the Atlantic.’
‘And then it’ll all be over,’ Frank said. He shook his head in wonder and disbelief.
Bert looked at him, then Sarah. Frank thought, we two are the weak ones. The others know how to fight.
Bert continued, ‘We have to think about what happens if things go wrong. Natalia, you, Ben and David will have guns.’
‘They should only be used as a last resort,’ Natalia said. ‘Because of the noise.’
Ben nodded agreement. ‘Aye. If we’re attacked.’ He looked at Bert. ‘But whit if someone comes on us by accident, some wandering drunk or somethin’?’
‘You’d have to silence them,’ Bert said. ‘Usual rules.’
Sarah spoke up. ‘You mean kill them? Someone innocent?’
Natalia said, ‘Of course not. Who do you think we are? We knock them out and tie them up.’
‘I’m used tae doin’ that,’ Ben said cheerfully.
Bert looked at Sarah. He said, ‘There’s one last thing, Mrs Fitzgerald. It’s essential that if the worst comes to the worst none of you are taken alive. That’s why everyone’s been given cyanide pills.’
She took a deep breath and looked at David.
He said, ‘I’m sorry, but if they caught us—’
‘Dear God,’ she said quietly.
‘Geoff had one,’ David told her. ‘But he didn’t get the chance to use it. The fog caused a lot of confusion. That won’t be a problem tonight.’
Sarah looked round the group. ‘Do all of you have them?’
‘I don’t,’ Frank said.
‘You’d be taken care of,’ Ben promised. ‘You know that.’
‘But you couldn’t in the fog in London. No-one could see me. Like David said, it was all confused.’
Sarah looked at her husband again. Bert took a deep breath, reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny circular pill.
‘Let me,’ David said. He took it from Bert and held it out to Sarah. ‘We got this for you,’ he said. ‘It’s only to be used if they’re about to capture us.’ Suddenly his eyes filled with tears and Sarah had to make an effort not to cry too. She took a deep breath, then held out her hand. David laid the pill in her palm. He said, his voice choked, ‘You put it in your mouth and bite down. There’s a tiny glass phial inside. It’s instantaneous, you wouldn’t feel a thing.’
‘So the two of us would go together in the end,’ she said, quiet sadness in her voice.
‘Yes, we would.’
This is what it’s like for someone who’s never thought of ending their life, Frank thought. It’s hard. He glanced at Natalia. She was looking at David, her face expressionless.
They spent an hour going over the details until they had everything committed to memory. Eventually Bert picked up his map. Jane said, ‘We’ll have something to eat in a little while. Nobody should go out for the rest of the day, please.’ Bert rolled up the map, and he and Jane went out.
The five of them were left sitting there. Sarah got up and moved to the door. She walked wearily, like someone wading through water. David followed, put his hand on her arm, but she said quietly, ‘I still need some time on my own. We’ll talk later.’ She went to her room. After a moment David went out too. Frank heard his footsteps going downstairs.
‘Will they be all right?’ Ben asked.
‘They’ll have to be,’ Natalia said bluntly.
Frank looked at her. He thought how all his life he had been a watcher, an observer. Sometimes he had surprised himself how much he guessed about the lives, the thoughts of other people. And he had got to know these people well, this last week. He hadn’t met Sarah until just now but he could see – surely anyone could – how much she loved David, how desperately she had been hurt. But he saw that Natalia loved David, too. Then, looking at her, another thought came to Frank, a quite different idea.
He stepped forward, his legs surprisingly stiff. ‘Natalia,’ he said. ‘Can I talk to you about something? On your own?’
Ben said quietly, ‘It’s not our business.’
‘Please,’ Frank said.
Natalia looked surprised. Then she smiled and shrugged. ‘All right. Why not? We can go next door to my room.’
She walked to the door, Frank following, Ben watching them go.
Chapter Fifty-Five
GUNTHER WALKED STEADILY along the path that led from Brighton to Rottingdean, under the high chalk cliffs. His shoes, rubber-soled like those of Syme walking behind him and the SS man Kollwitz ahead, barely made a sound on the concrete path. They walked in silence as close as possible to the cliff itself, in case any Resistance people were watching the sea from the cliffs above. All wore heavy dark coats, thick black roll-neck sweaters, black gloves and balaclavas. They had blackened their faces, too, with charcoal. Kollwitz, one of the four SS men accompanying the operation and a veteran of covert actions in Russia, said it could make all the difference in an ambush. Three other SS men were approaching Rottingdean from the other side, where the under-cliff walk continued on eastwards: Kapp, who had assisted with Drax’s interrogation, Hauser from the basement, and Borsig, another veteran of Special Operations in Russia and like Kollwitz attached to SS Intelligence at the embassy. The two groups would meet at Rottingdean Gap, where there was a small pebbled beach connected to the village above by a path.
It was bitterly cold, a light but knife-like breeze blowing off the Channel. The tide was coming in, quietly and gently, for the sea was dead calm. In the moonlight Gunther could see the little white wavelets where the surf broke, not far below the path. A half-moon was high in a starry black sky, casting a long silver reflection on the sea. He remembered Michael talking about swimming in the Black Sea, how beautiful the shore looked with the mountains in the distance. He stumbled for a moment, catching his foot on a lump of chalk that had fallen from the cliff face. Syme reached out and grasped his arm in a firm grip, helping him right himself.