Выбрать главу

“My death, if what you say is true.” Thatcher shook his head. “Seems I’d be a damned fool to go through with this.”

Hewitt waved his hands. “Ah, Thatcher. One man’s fool is another man’s hero. It’s all rather subjective at the end of the day. What matters is the mission gets done. Certainly no one here is going to think ill of you for accepting the assignment.”

“And if I say no?”

Hewitt shook his head. “Then that eager young captain at the jail is going to be plenty happy tonight; we’ll ship you back and have you shot at sunset.”

Thatcher looked at Hewitt. But Hewitt busied himself with getting the papers and photographs into a neat pile before he stowed them back in the cabinet. Without looking at Thatcher, Hewitt chuckled. “I suppose it wouldn’t be too difficult to find another sorry loser who’s about to end up on the wrong end of a headstone. Might even take less time to talk them into than it’s taking you.”

“It’s not that I’m not-“

Hewitt’s head snapped up. “What? That you’re not grateful? Well, that’s precisely what you are Thatcher. You’re an ungrateful bastard with a lousy lot in life. You’ve mucked about for years with little to show for it. What good have you done while you’ve been using up air during your time alive? Have you ever done anything for the greater good?”

Thatcher chewed his lip. “Probably not.”

Hewitt considered him. “At least you’re honest. That puts you in a slightly different category.”

“You asked me earlier if I wanted to live.”

“Yes.”

“I told you I did.”

Hewitt jabbed a finger at him. “If that’s true then this is your chance.”

“By running off on a suicide mission? Sounds a bit contradictory to me.”

Hewitt sat again. “If you’ve got such a lust for life, then carry out your assignment and let that zeal for living bring you through this. Despite the odds, despite the incredible danger, if you want to live badly enough, then perhaps God will smile upon your hapless soul and grant you that which you so dearly wish for.”

“He might just as well turn the other cheek.”

“Indeed he might. He certainly seems to be with Jerry running amok. But then again, perhaps he’s just waiting for an opportune moment to step in. He might even be waiting for you, Thatcher. Imagine that.”

Thatcher grinned. “You really believe the crap you espouse?”

Hewitt kicked his feet up on the desk. “It’s not me who’s got to believe it, Thatcher. It’s you who has to decide if you believe in yourself enough to get done what needs getting done. Me? I’m perfectly content sitting here in my office, dodging German bombing raids, and waiting for a better day to turn up.”

“I don’t have that luxury.”

Hewitt’s eyes lit up. “Ah! So there’s some sense getting through to you. That’s encouraging.”

“Are you this sarcastic with your other operatives?”

Hewitt’s feet came down with a thud. “You’re my only operative right now, Thatcher. And that’s all you need to be concerned with. So mind your manners.”

“Touchy.”

Hewitt stood and walked around the desk. When he stopped, he leaned in until his face was a mere inch from Thatcher’s. “Now you listen to me and listen good: you do as I say. I am your handler. It’s my job to steer you into your operational environment. It’s my job to lay out the specifics of this job and see you get cracking on it. It’s even my job to try to get you out safe and sound. What is not my job is taking any degree of insubordination from you. I will brook no attitudes. I will tolerate no idle chatter. Nor will I allow you to question my motives or how I might interact with others who have come before you. Is that understood?”

Thatcher looked into Hewitt’s eyes. Something had changed in them. And for the first time, Thatcher saw that Hewitt was serious. Apparently about a lot of things.

“Understood.”

Hewitt’s frown broke into a smile and the tension evaporated from the room. “Well, good then. Let’s have another drink.”

Thatcher drank the brandy Hewitt offered him. “You mind me asking what happened?”

Hewitt sucked down his brandy and then refilled it quickly. “What happened was I trained a crack operative. Trained them until I couldn’t train them anymore. Until they were as ready as they could ever be to do what they were supposed to do.”

He rose and set his glass down on the cabinet, peering at the map of the world again. “And as soon as they hit the ground they were snapped up by the Gestapo. Someone had sold us out. They knew we were coming. And they were ready.”

Thatcher swallowed. Hewitt looked at him.

“Yeah, that’s right. They’re dead. But not before the Gestapo had a field day with them.”

“Sorry, mate.”

“You know what the Gestapo does to women, Thatcher? They rape them and beat them and sodomize them mercilessly. They keep them alive naked and freezing while their doctors conduct all sorts of horrible experiments. We know this based on reports we’ve gotten from the very lucky few who have escaped.”

“Your operative was a woman?”

“Why so surprised, Thatcher? You’ve never known a woman who was a criminal? Or a woman who could do the job of a man, only better?”

“Sure, but-“

“She was gold, my boy. Top drawer stuff. But by the time they got done with her, by the time they finally shot her dead, she was no more than a shell. And there wasn’t one bloody thing I could do to save her.”

Wonderful footsteps to be following in, thought Thatcher. “I don’t suppose they returned the body to you for proper burial here?”

Hewitt shook his head. “Not a chance. Espionage agents aren’t granted the same treatment or consideration soldiers are. That is, if the Gestapo even played by the Geneva rulebook, which they don’t appear to. Lucy was,” Hewitt cleared his throat, “she was my most apt pupil.”

Thatcher let silence claim the room for a minute until he judged enough respect had been shown for the dead. “I don’t fancy ending up the same way, Mr. Hewitt.”

Hewitt watched him for a moment before nodding. “Then you’d sure as hell better be all that I hope you are. And a whole lot more.”

“You’re going to train me, then, too?”

Hewitt’s smile wasn’t full of joy. “No time my young friend. You’re going in as you are right now. In fact,” he checked his watch, “you leave in a matter of hours.”

Thatcher looked outside. The sun was making up for its extended absence. Thatcher could hear birds singing somewhere off in the park. Voices from the sidewalks below drifted up to him.

Would he ever see this again? Would he ever appreciate it as he did right then?

He looked at Hewitt. “Then I suppose you’re going to want to start briefing me properly.”

“Let’s get started,” said Hewitt.

CHAPTER 4

“You’ll be traveling aboard a regularly scheduled transport ship, the SS Archimedes,” said Hewitt. “It departs out of Poole around five this evening.”

Thatcher frowned. “That’s not much time. How are you getting me down to Poole?”

“We’ve got a small plane waiting to fly you down,” said Hewitt. “A Defiant, I believe. Ever ridden in one before?”

“Uh… I don’t even know what that is.”

Hewitt grinned. “I think you’ll enjoy it at least. Not a bad way to travel.”

“Fantastic,” said Thatcher. “Tell me about the commerce raider. What’d you call her, Raider X?”

Hewitt nodded. “We give them all letters to keep them straight, but with Raider X, we don’t know much. Our agents have managed to secure a bit of useful information, however. Specifically, the name of her captain. Klaus Schwarzwalder.”