Winston's Spy

by Robert Webber

  The armourer in Manchester had told Alex always to leave the chamber of the weapon unloaded in normal circumstances, only to load a round if he planned on using the pistol shortly and, most importantly, when a round was chambered, always, always, always engage the safety catch until he was ready to fire. Alex followed these instructions precisely as he chambered a round before replacing the weapon in the small of his back.

  Alex’s task for that day was writing up an interview with the harbourmaster at Lymington, in which the harbourmaster had talked about how important it was to protect the Solent from enemy incursion. His mind was not on the task, and the quality of his work was poor, and he still was not satisfied despite trying several rewrites. Giving up, Alex went to ask Sergeant Morton, who was on duty in the hallway of the main house, if Captain Bell was available, but the sergeant told him that the captain was at a meeting in Southampton all day. Alex asked about Charles, and the sergeant said that Lieutenant Phipps was in London and not expected back imminently. Alex asked about the duty officer, and he saw that his enquiries were beginning to annoy the sergeant, so when Sergeant Morton told him that the duty officer was somebody whom Alex did not know, he left it and returned to his hut.

  Nobody was there, so, with his heart in his mouth, Alex did as had been done unto him, and he checked the belongings of both Philippe and Stefan. He found nothing incriminating, merely a collection of love letters written by a girl in Paris to Philippe nearly a year ago, and a selection of books in Hungarian and English belonging to Stefan. Did he know what he was looking for? No! What had he hoped to find? A membership card of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or some other incriminating evidence? Alex realised the pointlessness of his search, but he still wanted certainty and hoped to find something incriminating to confirm his suspicions.

  He missed lunch; he couldn’t face the prospect of it, and fear kept his hunger at bay, so Alex spent the afternoon formulating his plan of action, which was little more than to watch Stefan more closely in the hope that he would let something slip. Alex was lying on his bed reading when the others returned at about 4.30pm. The three went for dinner together, and as the offering that day was fish and chips it meant that it was Friday; it was the most enjoyable meal of the week. Even though Alex tried to join in the small talk, his mind was elsewhere. After dinner, when they returned to the hut, and while Philippe and Stefan engaged themselves playing chess, Alex read. He did not absorb much of what he was reading; his mind was in too much turmoil.

  Just before 9.00pm, having been beaten at chess by the Frenchman, Stefan rose and announced that he was going to go for a walk before the 10.00pm curfew. After a minute or so, Alex stood, stretched himself and told Philippe that he was going over to the library in the main house. Philippe yawned and said he was going to bed.

  Once outside, Alex turned up the collar of his dark coat, pulled down the brim of his trilby, and followed the labyrinth of pathways to where he had witnessed the encounter the previous night. He was not disappointed, and he heard Stefan talking, presumably to his nocturnal visitor, as he approached the fence. The talking stopped, and so did Alex; he was standing still on the pathway when Stefan appeared in front of him.

  ‘Oh, hello Stefan. What on earth are you doing down here? I thought I was the only one who knew this pathway to the shoreline. I like to come down here and watch the boats, occasionally.’ He kept his tone jocular and convivial.

  ‘So, it was not a fox last night,’ Stefan concluded.

  Alex looked guilty.

  Stefan reached a decision. ‘Alex, I am so sorry, my friend; I really did genuinely like you, but I cannot have you reporting my little secret.’

  Realisation dawned on Alex eventually, as he heard a metallic click that he fully recognised as the hammer being drawn back on a pistol.

  ‘Come with me,’ continued Stefan calmly, ‘We should go for a walk.’

  Alex knew that if he went with Stefan, this was likely to be his last ever walk, but Stefan jabbed Alex in the ribs with the barrel of the handgun and encouraged him to walk further into the woods.

  After about six paces or so, Alex’s foot became entwined by brambles, and he stumbled, falling forwards. Stefan fired but missed the falling Alex, who took the FN pistol from his waistband, rolled onto his back, pointed it at where Stefan stood and pulled the trigger twice. There was no thought, it was an automatic reaction – it was do or die. The first shot entered Stefan’s stomach; the second, as he doubled up and fell, drilled a neat hole through his head, just above his right eye.

  Stefan was dead before he hit the ground.

  XXII

  The sound of gunfire brought mayhem, and Alex was surrounded quickly by uniformed soldiers, all pointing their rifles at him. Alex was cold and was shivering from the realisation that he had just killed a man. In the milliseconds it took for Alex to pull the trigger twice, a man’s life had expired. But what scared him most was that it had been easy. He had shot Stefan without thought; he had killed, and it was easy. Was this the man that he had become? Alex started to cry, not for Stefan, but for himself.

  A sergeant stepped forwards and removed gently the automatic pistol that was shaking interminably in Alex’s hand; he also recovered Stefan’s gun from near where he had fallen. The guards dragged Alex roughly to his feet and, holding his arms behind his back, frogmarched him back to the Grange, where they placed him in a small room with a single bed, a small table and chair, and a bucket.

  Alex’s first thought was, Bugger! Not again! as he collapsed onto the bed.

  After a while, the door opened, and an older army captain entered the room and sat down at the table. ‘Sub-Lieutenant Carlton, my name is Lewis. Please tell me, in your own words, what happened.’

  Alex rose from the bed and sat on the edge before recounting his tale, starting with the tampering of his belongings, retelling the previous night’s observations, and what he had done earlier that night, emphasising the element of self-defence. The captain wrote it all down on a pad of foolscap paper. The captain asked Alex where he had got his pistol from, and Alex told him the simple truth, adding that, at the time of issue, he had been instructed by the armourer that he should keep it with him at all times, as he was responsible for it. When he had finished, the captain asked Alex to read and sign the statement. He got up and left Alex lying on the bed until he was disturbed about an hour later by Captain Bell, who had manifestly been summoned from sleep, as he was wearing flannels and an old cricket sweater.

  ‘Well,’ the captain said, ‘this is a pretty pickle! You certainly have set the cat among the pigeons! There will be the devil to pay for this!’

  Not just a double metaphor, Alex thought, he just had to go for the hat-trick! ‘What’s happening?’ Alex asked. He was getting a little tired of being treated like a criminal when he believed he had merely acted in self-defence and saved them all from a traitor.

  ‘They are sending somebody from London,’ the captain said, ‘In the meantime, I’m instructed to keep you here, away from the other trainees. Your goods and chattels have been collected together, and are here in the guardhouse, where we will try to make you as comfortable as possible. Try to get some sleep.’

  Captain Bell left Alex to himself, but he did not lock the door when he went. Alex tried to sleep, but the strong smell of disinfectant, the noise, his own fear coupled with self-doubt about his actions, plus the bright light from the guardroom, made it almost impossible.

  At 6.00am, the door opened, and a corporal brought in a tray laden with the heartiest breakfast that Alex had seen since he had stayed at Charles’s house.

  ‘I hope you weren’t too uncomfortable, sir, and sorry for being a bit rough last night. We didn’t know the circumstances at the time.’ He smiled apologetically at Alex. ‘But Captain Lewis seems to think you’re a bit of a hero, so that’s good enough for me. Your escort should be here presently, sir, so you
will soon be on your way.’

  The date was the first day of October, and Alex genuinely hoped that, as the calendar turned, the new month would bring better fortune.

  *

  Alex was allowed to wash and change his clothes before the arrival of his escort, and he was only mildly surprised to see that it was to be Commander Jeffers. Alex was pleased to see him, but Jeffers didn’t say much. He just signed for Alex, taking him into his custody; picked up Alex’s typewriter; and, with a flick of the head, indicated that Alex should follow him. The commander had driven himself there in a naval staff car, and they were on the road to Brockenhurst before Jeffers spoke.

  ‘That was a damn silly thing to do!’ the commander began, ‘I’ve read the report, and it truly was a bloody stupid thing to do! Why in God’s name did you not just report him, when you had suspicions of treachery?’

  ‘I tried,’ Alex argued, ‘but nobody seemed very interested, so I thought I would gather some more information and take it to Captain Bell the next day.’

  ‘But, instead, you decided to take the law into your own hands.’

  ‘I didn’t have much choice; the game was up, and it was him or me. I didn’t much fancy it being me.’ He was becoming bored with trying to justify his actions.

  ‘How would your fiancée have coped if it had gone the wrong way? Did you stop and think of that?’

  ‘Not really,’ Alex admitted ruefully, ‘It all happened rather too quickly.’

  ‘There will have to be an inquiry, but we will try to get that expedited. I like the beard; it might be good if you changed your physical appearance a little and a well-groomed beard is an excellent way to start. Now listen…’ Jeffers became serious. ‘You are technically under arrest and suspended from duty, but if you give me your word that you will not do anything foolish, I will release you on your own recognisance while we sort this out. I’m taking you straight home. Get your story straight, and make sure it’s watertight, as I suspect you will be busy enough trying to keep your yardarm clean. Things like this have a habit of sticking, you know.’

  *

  Simon telephoned Teddy to warn her that Alex was coming home for a few days, but he did not give any details as to why, which is why she was shocked when Commander Jeffers pulled up outside the block, and Teddy, who had been watching and waiting for him, saw Alex get out of the car. He looked terrible. Dropping the cloth that she had been cleaning with, she ran out of the door and had made it to the ground floor by the time Alex had unloaded his cases and was struggling into the lobby with them. He had just fought his way through the door when Teddy launched herself at him, almost bowling him over as she held him and kissed him forcefully on the lips.

  ‘My God,’ he said eventually, ‘I’ve only been away for a few weeks; I wonder what the greeting will be like if I’m away longer? Pleased to see me?’ he asked.

  She nodded and kissed him again.

  They went to the flat, and Teddy fussed over Alex until, in the end, he told her to come and sit down as he had some news.

  ‘Me too, lots,’ she said.

  Alex let her go first, and she gabbled away, telling him all about the move to Gloucestershire that was going to take place shortly. Teddy told him all about life in London with the phoney air raids, how things were becoming much more difficult to buy in the shops, how several of her friends had joined the women’s this or the women’s that, and she wondered what she could do to help when they moved to the countryside. She told him that she had visited his mother on several occasions, and they were becoming firm friends. In among all of her news, she subtly dropped the bombshell, ‘Oh, and I think we are going to have a baby.’

  It took Alex’s brain a few seconds to absorb what his fiancée had said, and his head snapped round to look at Teddy, who, nervously, had stopped talking.

  ‘What did you say?’ he asked, perhaps a little more sharply than was intended.

  Teddy’s bottom lip trembled a little, and she repeated that she thought she was pregnant, looking intently at Alex for the slightest sign of disapproval. Alex sat and looked at her, and she could almost see the cogs of his brain whirring as he deciphered the information she had given him, and, suddenly, his face crumpled, and he burst into tears; following the events of the past few days, Teddy’s news was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and Alex broke down.

  This was not quite how Teddy had expected Alex to take the news, and she was concerned.

  However, as he regained his composure, he smiled. ‘How long have you known?’ he asked.

  ‘Not long,’ she replied, ‘I did ask Simon to tell you, but I don’t know whether he did, or not.’

  Alex shook his head. ‘Right.’ Alex had decided to take control. ‘The first thing that we must do is to get married, so we must find out how quickly we can deal with that. Do our parents know?’

  Teddy nodded.

  ‘How did everybody take it?’

  ‘Your mother has been a star, and your uncle has been treating me like I’m a delicate piece of porcelain; even Mummy is secretly pleased, I think, but she dares not say so in case Daddy gets suspicious.’

  ‘Well, bugger him!’ declared Alex, ‘If he doesn’t like it, we won’t invite him to the wedding!’

  Teddy was ecstatic. A tiny part of her had worried that Alex’s reaction to her pregnancy might have been different, but that cloud had passed; Alex was as happy as was she.

  ‘I may be wrong,’ she ventured, ‘It’s too early for the doctors to confirm that I positively am, but I feel it, I am sure; even so, perhaps we should wait?’

  ‘Wait?’ Alex was astonished, ‘Why should we wait? I love you, and you love me.’

  She nodded.

  ‘Of course, not as much as I love you.’

  At that, she gave him a playful dig in the ribs.

  ‘So why wait? When I asked you to marry me, I meant it, and you were not expecting when I asked. I don’t love you any less because you are having our child; if anything, I love you more! So, no, I do not want to wait. I want you to be my wife now.’

  He became serious. ‘There is, however, a situation that I must resolve, and I hope it will not become a problem,’ Alex began. Teddy looked nervously at Alex as he continued, ‘I was involved in an incident while in training. To put no finer point on it, I killed a man.’

  Teddy’s shock was palpable, and it did not help that Alex was finding it difficult to maintain his composure; he was shaking like a leaf as he recounted his explanation to Teddy. ‘It was not accidental, but it was self-defence. I have been told that I cannot discuss the circumstances – even with you, my darling – but there must be a board of inquiry, and I am uncertain what will happen. Commander Jeffers believes it will be a formality, but I am to see Colonel Swann tomorrow, and I hope to have a better understanding after that meeting.

  ‘Whatever happens, nothing must harm our child,’ he stated with absolute certainty. ‘We must protect you and the baby from this.’

  Despite being told that Alex could not discuss his situation with her, Teddy pressed him for more details.

  He placed his forefinger over her lips and said, ‘Shhhh!’ before kissing away her concerns.

  *

  After a fitful night trying to sleep but being constantly plagued by the demons of his memory, Alex woke as the first rays of dawn strayed through the curtains; he lay in bed watching the sleeping Teddy. She looked so frail and so innocent; her skin shimmered like porcelain in the morning light. She seemed delicate, almost childlike, and Alex felt the tremendous urge to protect her from harm. He moved slightly, and she stirred, looking up at him and smiling.

  ‘Good morning, sweetheart,’ he said gently, and he kissed her softly on the tip of her nose. ‘I have to get ready.’

  She reached up, and pulled him down to her. ‘Good morning,’ she slurred in wakefulness, before kissing him
on the lips. ‘How long will you be?’

  ‘I do not know,’ was the simple answer.

  ‘I am not going anywhere – I am waiting right here for you – so hurry home, and, hopefully, we shall have something to celebrate.’

  XXIII

  Colonel Swann was uncharacteristically late in having Alex fetched to his office in Broadway Buildings. Commander Jeffers was also present when the duty officer showed Alex through.

  ‘Carlton, what’s all this nonsense down in Hampshire?’ the colonel began brusquely.

  Preliminary niceties were patently not the colonel’s strong point as he had not even offered Alex a seat. Alex started to recount the facts as he had recorded them in his interview with Captain Lewis.

  But Swann waved him to be quiet, saying, ‘I’ve read your official statement, and I don’t need you telling me what it said. What I want to know, what I need to know, is what on earth incited you to start shooting up Hampshire like it was Chicago in the 1920s!’

  ‘It was a choice of Stefan Horváth or me, and I believed him to be an enemy agent or a traitor, so when I tripped, I took the initiative to ensure that it was I who survived.’

  Commander Jeffers asked, ‘Are you certain that Horváth was talking to somebody on the other side of the fence in German? Could it have been, for instance, Dutch?’

  ‘No, sir, I don’t believe so. Lieutenant Potts will confirm that, while we were at Lassiter’s together, we had a mutual friend who was Dutch. He tried, and failed miserably, to teach us some basic Dutch, and so I think I would recognise if it had been Dutch. Besides, why would a Hungarian speak Dutch?’

  ‘For heaven’s sake, sit down will you?’ demanded the commander, indicating the remaining chair. ‘It would appear that a young Dutch girl was rescued from the river near the foreshore by the local police at about the time of your second encounter with Horváth; she said she had fallen into the water and twisted her ankle. Her story is that she had a liaison with her boyfriend. The police didn’t altogether believe her, but let her go anyway after checking the basics, and now she’s disappeared.’