The Code Girls

by Daisy Styles

  Muttering out loud, Ruby did as she was told. ‘ “Oh to be in England now that April’s there.” ’

  ‘So now you have your cypher,’ Bella said, as she pointed at the letters on the page. ‘You, the sender, and your receiver on the other end now know that O is A, H is B, space is C, T is D, then another O, so that’s A again, and another space, which is C again … so the next letter in the poem, B, has to be E, and so on.’

  Ruby put her hands to her head and groaned. ‘Stop! You’re giving me a headache,’ she cried.

  ‘That’s amazing!’ Maudie enthused. ‘So clever, yet so simple, too!’

  Ava burst out laughing. ‘We’re turning into code girls, after all!’

  ‘Poem codes are a very basic way of working,’ the Brig said. ‘Once our trainees are qualified, they’ll be working in code-breaking centres with sophisticated machines that have in-built cyphers which are much, much faster.’

  ‘Why don’t you have one of those machines?’ Maudie asked.

  ‘We’re only a training centre, we’re not operational,’ the Brig explained. ‘I don’t think the War Office would run to providing us with such an expensive machine while we’re working at this level.’

  Looking anxious, Bella fretfully drummed her fingers on the table. ‘Shouldn’t you report this to Military Intelligence?’

  The Brig shrugged then answered her question. ‘The same applies to them as the police – we need more information. Right now, all we’ve got to go on is an insubstantial link with two strangers who might have infiltrated the airbase. If we do establish that Edward is transmitting, we’ll be able to pass on documented evidence to Military Intelligence.’

  ‘God!’ Ruby exclaimed, lighting another Woodbine. ‘Now I understand what important work our code girls do, and why you two were so disappointed not to be training with them,’ she added, with a glance at Ava and Maudie.

  ‘I don’t know what the country would do without them,’ the Brig said. ‘There are thousands of women working in secret locations all over Britain, breaking codes and tapping into enemy information. Nice feeling to think we’ve trained some of them,’ he said, with a proud smile.

  Later, as Bella was collecting her notebook and pencil from the bedroom she shared with Maudie, her friend slipped in for a quiet word. ‘This must be awful for you, Bella,’ she said earnestly.

  Bella cocked her head as she considered the question. ‘It’s sweet of you to say so but, to, be brutally honest, it’s not so awful.’ She sighed heavily and continued. ‘I’ve been dislocated from my family for so long, I feel like a stranger when I’m with them. I’m the outsider and I always have been.’

  ‘But he’s still your brother!’ Maudie insisted. ‘He might get arrested, imprisoned ‒ even hanged!’

  ‘Brother or not – if he is a spy, the sooner he’s locked away the better!’ Bella replied bitterly.

  Bella was worried about using the Brig’s transmitter in the south wing.

  ‘It’ll arouse suspicion if I’m constantly wandering in and out of your room,’ she pointed out. ‘Wouldn’t it be better to move it below stairs? We could hide it in the sewing room, which is next to the kitchen, then we could all keep an eye on it.’

  So the Brig’s transmitter was hidden in the sewing room, beneath a pile of sheets in a big blanket box, and Bella and the Brig manned it around the clock. It wasn’t long until they picked up Edward’s signals on their transceiver ‒ evidence that he was transmitting.

  ‘Right!’ Bella announced, with a blaze of determination in her blue eyes. ‘Now it’s our job to decrypt the code and find out what he’s transmitting to who and where.’

  But after two days they were none the wiser. On the third morning, as Bella continued her work, the Brig walked in. ‘Any luck?’ he asked.

  ‘A message came through about seven. I’ve given myself a headache trying to work out the cypher – I haven’t even got a crib to get started,’ she moaned. ‘I’ve been working on frequency analysis, trying to find the most common German words to fit the pattern, but this is a much more sophisticated code.’

  The Brig sat beside her and looked at her calculations. ‘It was never going to be easy, darling,’ he told her.

  ‘The whole process takes so much time!’ she cried in frustration. ‘As we sit here banging our heads against a brick wall, my vile brother’s as free as a bird. Honestly, Brig, I’m terrified of what he’ll do next.’

  ‘I know,’ he said, and kissed her pale, tired face. ‘Now, off you go, sweetheart, you’re worn out. Have a kip ‒ I’ll take over.’

  For the next week they wracked their brains, working on alternative encryption methods, but drew nothing but blanks.

  ‘He’s sending out a daily message,’ Bella said, studying her notes. ‘I’ve got copies of everything he’s sent – the only trouble is we can’t bloody well decode them!’ But, though tired and irritable, Bella refused to give up.

  ‘You’re like a dog with a bone!’ the Brig teased, as he brought her a cup of cocoa late one night.

  ‘I’ll crack this if it kills me,’ she said through gritted teeth.

  The Brig looked thoughtful. ‘I might have a word with Lionel, one of my chums in Military Intelligence. He’ll be up to date on codes which have been recently cracked. He might have a few tips for us.’

  ‘Darling! That would be wonderful,’ Bella exclaimed. ‘Do it right away, please.’

  The Brig gave a weary smile. ‘Sweetheart, it’s gone midnight. It’ll have to wait till morning.’

  He kept his word, and phoned his chum who worked for Military Intelligence first thing the next morning.

  ‘We’re getting nowhere fast,’ he went straight to the point.

  After a long pause Lionel said, ‘We cracked a bloody nightmare of a code a few months ago by using major street names in Berlin. You could give that a try. Worth a go, eh?’

  Grateful for Lionel’s advice, Bella spent many long, frustrating hours working on permutations of street names in Berlin and, finally, her determination paid off.

  ‘I’ve cracked it!’ she announced, hugging the Brig. ‘The cypher’s Friedrichstrasse, a street in Berlin. Look!’ she exclaimed, triumphantly waving a scrap of paper under his nose. ‘Just read who it’s from.’

  ‘Abwehr!’ gasped the astonished Brig.

  ‘Nothing less than German Military Intelligence in Berlin,’ Bella cried, and read her decryption out loud: ‘It’s essential that we have the precise status of the Lancasters at Holkham airbase.’

  The Brig snatched the paper from her outstretched hand. ‘God Almighty, this is serious! He’s providing the enemy with top-secret information about Holkham.’

  Alarmed, they held each other’s gaze for several seconds.

  ‘He’s spying, Brig,’ Bella whispered. Flushing with shame, she felt tears sting the backs of her eyes.

  The Brig pulled her to him. ‘Darling, you don’t have to go through with this,’ he said softly.

  Bella squared her shoulders. ‘Oh, but I do!’ she said forcefully.

  ‘Brave little fighter,’ he said proudly, then, giving her a quick kiss, he hurried towards the door. ‘Kit needs to know right away.’

  ‘Don’t use the house phone,’ Bella cried in alarm. ‘It might be tapped.’

  ‘I know,’ he called over his shoulder, as he dashed away. ‘I’ll use the phone in my office.’

  Hearing the commotion in the sewing room, bleary-eyed Maudie, wearing her nightdress, joined Bella, who was ablaze with both excitement and outrage.

  ‘I cracked Edward’s code!’ she cried, squeezing Maudie’s hands.

  Maudie looked impressed. ‘You clever girl!’ she exclaimed.

  ‘It’s not good news, Maudie ‒ Edward’s a spy for German Military Intelligence,’ Bella added in a low whisper.

  Maudie held a hand to her mouth. ‘God! I never thought he would sink that low.’

  ‘Hopefully, we’ll put a stop to his treacherous ways now we’ve cracked
his code,’ Bella said grimly.

  But when Edward’s next message came through the following morning, Bella couldn’t decrypt it.

  ‘Damn! Damn! Bloody damn!’ she shouted in frustration, and threw the useless crib sheet into the fire. ‘I used the same cypher as yesterday,’ she told the Brig, ‘but this morning the cypher’s changed and nothing matches up. I’m back to square one,’ she groaned.

  ‘Say that again,’ the Brig said sharply.

  Bella repeated her words: ‘I used the same cypher as yesterday, but this morning the cypher’s changed and nothing matches up.’

  ‘Was it first thing this morning?’ he queried.

  Beginning to doubt herself, Bella replied hesitantly, ‘Or maybe I got it wrong in the first place?’

  The Brig shook his head impatiently. ‘It’s nothing to do with you, sweetheart. Don’t you see? Edward’s changing the bloody cypher every day.’

  Bella clicked her fingers with a loud snap. ‘Of course! That’s why it’s been so damned impossible to crack ‒ we can’t keep up with him.’

  Silence fell as they both considered the problem.

  ‘If he’s changing it every day, he’s got to be using a cypher book,’ the Brig said knowingly.

  ‘Then we’ve got to find it,’ Bella said, with steely determination.

  After news had come through of the brutal crushing of the rebellion by the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, discussions below stairs grew more and more heated.

  ‘We’ll have to search Edward’s room again,’ the Brig informed the tense group gathered around the kitchen table.

  Ruby squared her slender shoulders. ‘I’ll go. A dopey servant won’t arouse his suspicions.’

  ‘But you don’t know what you’re looking for, lovie,’ Ava said anxiously.

  Ruby nodded towards Bella and the Brig. ‘They’ll have to brief me.’

  ‘Thank you, Ruby,’ the Brig said. ‘Sorry to up the pressure but, really, the sooner the better.’

  ‘So come on, tell me – describe this cypher thing,’ Ruby urged.

  ‘It’ll be a booklet, probably quite small, containing cypher text,’ the Brig answered.

  ‘And I know what a cypher is after my poetry-code lesson from Bella!’ Ruby said, with a bit of a swagger.

  ‘But this will be a bit different. It’ll be a combination of groups of letters ‒ rows and rows of them ‒ in a notebook,’ Bella explained.

  Ruby stuck out her chin. ‘I’ll do my best to find it!’ she promised.

  Before he went to bed, the Brig phoned Kit to inform him of their decision to search Edward’s room. ‘The sooner we find the cypher book, the sooner we can nail the bastard,’ he said in a low voice.

  ‘I’ve got the base on high alert,’ Kit told him. ‘Nobody goes in or out without being questioned. No sign of the infiltrators so far, though.’

  ‘Keep me informed, old chap.’

  ‘Will do,’ Kit replied. ‘Good luck.’

  ‘You, too,’ the Brig replied with a heavy yawn. ‘Goodnight.’

  The following morning, straight after Raf had informed her that Edward had left the hall, Ruby dashed up the back stairs, clutching her mop and bucket.

  ‘I keep eyes out, Rubee,’ Raf anxiously called after her.

  Ruby shot the bolt on the bedroom door, then scanned the room. The polished mahogany roll-top desk in front of the huge bay window drew her like a magnet. The roll-top was securely locked, but the drawers running down either side of the desk were open. After a thorough search, though, she was disappointed to find nothing. Thinking the booklet might be hidden somewhere in the bed, Ruby stripped off the bedding, checked inside the pillowcases, then crawled under the bed to see if there was anything stuffed under the metal bed springs. Next she searched all of Edward’s coats and jackets that hung in the mahogany wardrobe. Her heartbeat quickened when she felt rustling paper in his green corduroy jacket, but when she reached inside Ruby found only an old train timetable.

  ‘Bugger!’ she murmured.

  As she was working her way through Edward’s sock drawer, she heard footsteps coming down the corridor that led to the bedroom. Ruby looked wildly about – why hadn’t Raf warned her, as he had before? With her heart hammering in her ribcage, she crossed the room, slid the bolt on the door and threw herself down in front of the fireplace, where she busied herself raking out dead cinders. When Edward walked in, Ruby said in her cheery servant’s voice ‘Morning, Your Lordship.’

  Completely ignoring her, Edward stepped over her feet in order to get to the desk. As he did so, Ruby’s eye was drawn to a scrap of paper lying in the coal bucket. From where she crouched before the fireplace, it looked exactly like what Bella had described: rows and rows of letter combinations. Glancing up, she saw Edward take a key from his pocket, which he used to unlock the roll-top desk, and as he did so Ruby quickly sprinkled a handful of cinders over the precious scrap of paper. After relocking the desk, Edward turned to find Ruby laying newspaper and kindling in the black cast-iron grate. Ignoring her still, he walked out, slamming the door behind him. Weak with relief, Ruby slumped forwards.

  ‘Jesus!’ she sighed.

  She reached into the coal bucket and removed the scrap of paper, which she stuffed into the pocket of her lace pinafore. Before she got to her feet, she peered closely into the grate where she found the charred remains of sheets of cypher text; Edward had obviously thrown them into the fire to destroy them but, fortunately, a small piece had landed in the coal bucket. Checking the room was as it should be, Ruby picked up her mop and bucket and hurried down the back stairs, where she bumped into a frantic Raf.

  ‘Rubee!’ he yelled, as he flung his arms around her.

  ‘You didn’t warn me!’ she cried.

  ‘He leave, I see him go, he must come in round back,’ Raf spluttered.

  Ruby gave him a quick kiss. ‘Don’t worry, I’m fine,’ she said with a wink. ‘Let’s go and get the Brig. It’s urgent!’

  When everyone had gathered, Ruby triumphantly laid the scrap of paper on the kitchen table.

  ‘Is this what you’re after?’

  Bella’s eyes grew big and bright with excitement. ‘Yessss!’ she exclaimed. ‘Where did you find it?’

  ‘In the fire bucket. Himself must have thought he’d burnt it ‒ lucky I spotted it before he did, eh?’

  Bella was furiously scanning the cypher. ‘It’s yesterday’s code!’ she announced, and gave Ruby a grateful hug. ‘Thank you, darling girl!’

  Though pleased with her discovery, Ruby was worried. ‘A scrap of paper’s not much good without the code book,’ she said bluntly.

  Bella’s happy smile faded. ‘I know ‒ I’m jumping the gun,’ she admitted glumly.

  ‘As far as I can tell, the only thing that’s locked in his room is the roll-top desk. Speaks for itself, wouldn’t you say?’ Ruby asked her friends.

  ‘And Edward’s got the key?’ Bella asked flatly.

  ‘Don’t send me back into the monster’s den again!’ Ruby pleaded. ‘It’ll give me a heart attack!’

  Raf’s blue eyes opened wide in shock. ‘No, Rubee, enough you do, no more, I beg.’

  The Brig nodded in agreement with him. ‘Quite right, Raf. Ruby’s stuck her neck out enough times. It’s down to us now,’ he said, and turned to Bella, who smiled slyly.

  ‘Nobody can tell me off for wandering about my own house,’ she said.

  Seeing the glint in her eyes, the Brig said, ‘What’re you planning, young lady?’

  ‘I’ll get the key,’ Bella announced, without the bat of an eyelid.

  Ruby hooted with laughter. ‘The key’s in Edward’s coat pocket, I saw him take it out from there.’

  ‘I’ll steal it, then put it back without him even knowing,’ Bella replied, cool as a cucumber.

  Ava shook her head and lit up a Woodbine. ‘What’ll you do, drug him or hit him on the head with a hammer?’ she joked.

  ‘Obviously, I’ll have to put some thought into it,�
� Bella answered slowly. ‘I’ll need help, too, because if Edward finds me snooping in his desk, he’ll kill me.’

  ‘Just let the bastard try!’ the Brig responded angrily.

  Bella gnawed thoughtfully on her lower lip. ‘I need to know Edward’s exact movements.’ Galvanized, she walked quickly to the door. ‘Time to have a cuppa with Mummy!’

  The Brig shook his head as his girlfriend blew him a kiss then skipped out of the kitchen.

  ‘She’s one in a million,’ Ava said fondly.

  The Brig’s lovely brown eyes softened as he answered, with a proud ring in his voice, ‘She’s wonderful!’

  27. The Key

  ‘Darling!’ her ladyship exclaimed, grimacing at the coconut-and-carrot buns Bella had brought along with her. ‘Do you call this cake?’

  ‘Don’t be silly, Mummy, it’s ration cake. It’s the best we can do, given there’s a war on and there’s hardly any sugar to be had,’ Bella snapped, then chided herself. The last thing she wanted to do was get her mother’s back up; she’d come to winkle out information, not have a row.

  ‘Oh, you’re always so damned worthy, Annabelle,’ her mother moaned, handling the lumpy bun as if it were a hand grenade about to go off.

  Bella dug her nails into her palms to force herself not to get into an argument. ‘How’s Edward?’

  Her mother shrugged and answered, ‘He’s been in Cambridge with that girl … what’s her name?’

  ‘Geraldine,’ Bella replied, remembering Edward’s sometime girlfriend. Keen to move the conversation forward, she pressed on with her questions.

  ‘I wonder why he isn’t back at work at the War Office?’ she said, as she poured them both tea.

  ‘He’s going back soon,’ her mother told her. ‘Apparently, he has urgent business to see to here.’

  ‘And I know exactly what that business is!’ Bella thought to herself.

  ‘What about you, dear?’ her mother asked, taking the delicate bone china teacup and saucer Bella handed her. ‘Have you finished that ghastly communications course?’

  Before Bella could answer her mother sighed and pushed aside her untouched cake. ‘I wish you’d joined the WAAFs ‒ so glamorous.’