“You’d contend the matters you deal with on a daily basis are as pressing as those of a wartime Prime Minister?” Churchill was more intrigued than offended by Brandis’ remarks: in the twenty years they’d known each other, he’d managed to learn almost nothing as to the true nature of the man’s business or intentions.
“I’ll grant you the fate of a nation doesn’t rest on the decisions I make, Prime Minister… not directly in any case,” Brandis conceded with a wry grin as the limousine cruised comfortably down Whitehall and onto St Margaret St, “but they’re nevertheless decisions that potentially affect many lives other than that of my own, and as such they’re no less important to me.” He almost chuckled, although the men in the rear of the car could neither see nor hear the reaction. “But I digress, sir… what is it you wanted to talk about?”
“It’s been brought to the attention of General Dill that some rather excessively large and quite worrying constructions are going on at the moment on the French coast south of Calais. It’s the general’s opinion — and I tend to agree with him — that the area is going to be used…”
“For a gun emplacement?” Brandis completed the sentence for him.
“There was a time when it might’ve astounded me that you already knew that,” Churchill remarked dryly, not surprised at all. “After knowing you so long as I have, I should think I’d have been more surprised to have caught you unawares.”
“Believe me, sir, there’s an awful lot I don’t know,” he smiled faintly, “but I help out where I can. Unless I’m greatly mistaken, the gun emplacement you’re talking about in the Pas de Calais near Sangatte is being constructed to deploy a pair of incredibly destructive railway guns. Do we have any useful recon as yet?”
“We haven’t any decent images of the area,” Churchill shook his head in faint dismay. “They’ve erected camouflage screens and netting to prevent us seeing what they’re up to from the ground, and nothing we have in the air is fast enough to get in and out again without being intercepted or shot down.” Brandis turned the Pullman off St Margaret and took the sedan into the clockwise stream of traffic edging its way slowly around Parliament Square.
“And the new fighters from North American Aviation…?” Brandis queried with a grin, knowing how his knowledge of that information would be received. “Could one of them not be adapted to a photo recon mission relatively quickly?”
“The first shipment of aircraft has been received, however they’re still finalising their assembly and initial testing. We would hope to have one or two cleared by the end of the week, and I’m sure the RAF could have one converted to a PR aircraft with relative ease.” Churchill worked hard to conceal a dry smile, and didn’t even bother asking how the man could possibly have known about such top secret transactions: after years of such revelations, he was no longer surprised.
“Then I’d recommend you get one of them in there as soon as you can to get a decent look at what they have there and what needs to be targeted. I wish I had information of my own as to how far the site is from completion, but this is one area I have to admit I’m deficient in at the moment. Either way, it needs to be dealt with as soon as possible: once it does become operational, the Germans will have very heavy guns that’ll be able to reach a substantial distance inland from Folkestone to Dover in support of any invasion.” Brandis did his best to hide the fear he inwardly felt at that moment. The situation was on a knife edge at that point regarding the installation at Sangatte, and a day’s delay here or there could well make the difference between outright victory or a crushing defeat with terrible loss of life for the British.
“You’d class this as a target of the highest priority then?” The concern on the Prime Minister’s face showed clearly, and Brandis suspected he knew the main source of the concern.
“If you have any assets in the area that have a chance of hitting this site, you should definitely risk them in my opinion, sir.”
“I shall advise General Dill to do exactly that,” Churchill nodded sagely, accepting the man’s advice without question. There’d been the rare occasion that Brandis had been wrong in his dealings with him, and there’d been the even rarer occasions when the Prime Minister had ignored advice that had proven to be correct… and had paid dearly for it. The odds were stacked well and truly in James Brandis’ favour, and Churchill knew better than to risk making foolhardy decisions.
“Was there anything else I can help you with this afternoon, Prime Minister?” Brandis asked as he turned the Humber onto Great George St and the last leg of Parliament Square, heading back toward Whitehall.
“That was the only pressing matter to hand, thank you, James.”
“Then I’ll drop you back at Number Ten if that’s agreeable, sir… there’s a matter I need to attend to that can’t wait until tomorrow morning. I’d like to catch up with you again after your War Cabinet meeting on the fifteenth though, sir, if that’s suitable. You’ll probably be meeting with the officers of the Hindsight group that evening also, but I desperately need you to fit me in before that, and I’d also like to listen in on the Hindsight meeting, if you’ll indulge me.”
“I don’t have any meetings scheduled with Hindsight,” Churchill replied with a quizzical expression, “and considering there are only a handful of men in the entire world that know about that unit, I should be inclined in this instance to demand how you know about them, save for the fact that I also know you never divulge your sources.”
“You know me too well, sir,” Brandis admitted with a smile, “and rest assured that you mightn’t have a meeting scheduled yet, but you will by the fifteenth. Please fit me in… I promise you it’ll be worthwhile for all of us, particularly Hindsight.” He took a plain manila folder from beside him on the front seat and passed it back through the opening in the glass without taking his eyes from the road for a moment. “At some stage during the night, sir, Max Thorne may ask your help in securing finances from the British Government in order to fund the development and manufacturing of armaments in Australia, the United States and Canada,” he continued as Churchill accepted the folder and opened it, his eyes widening slightly as he took in what was printed on the papers inside. “Even if he doesn’t ask, I’m prepared to make the financial assets listed there available to him without any reservation, qualification or expectation of repayment whatsoever. I’d suggest that you seriously discuss with Cabinet the possibility of adding to that figure whatever The Crown can spare. I’m not ready to concede defeat yet, but in the event that Britain does fall, funds of this magnitude will be vital to ensure Hindsight is able to provide the remaining allies with the tools to effectively stop Nazi Germany in its tracks.”
“Cabinet must vote on any proposal of this kind, James,” the Prime Minister swallowed nervously as he considered the contents of the folder, “but I’ll see what I can arrange — you’ll hear from me through the usual channels.”