by CW Browning
“There is one thing,” she said suddenly, her forehead creasing thoughtfully. “We heard some of the soldiers talking and they mentioned a name I’ve heard before, but I can’t remember where or how.”
He raised his eyebrow. “Oh?”
“Yes. Eisenjager.” She looked across the table at him. “It means—”
“Iron Hunter,” he said, a chill going through him despite the hot liquid in his cup. “Are you certain?”
“Yes.” She stared at him for a minute. “You know it as well. Who is it?”
“What did you overhear?” he asked, avoiding the question for the moment.
“Only that they thought it was Eisenjager who informed their superior that I would be passing that way. They were moving away from us at that point, and I couldn’t catch much else. Something about Himmler, and a bit about Eisenjager being a myth, but it didn’t make much sense.”
“And you’ve heard the name before?”
“Yes, but I don’t know where or how.” Evelyn rubbed her forehead tiredly. “I just know that it isn’t the first time I’ve come across it.”
Bill drank his tea, his mind spinning. If Eisenjager was involved, many more things were beginning to make sense. It explained why the Nazis had sent an SS unit so quickly to Steinkjer and how they knew she was coming. His lips tightened suddenly. If the notorious German assassin-turned-spy was involved, it was a bloody miracle Evelyn was sitting across from him now.
“What do you know of him?” Evelyn asked, her eyes on his. “Who is he?”
“He’s a German agent,” he said reluctantly, setting down his cup. “As far as we know, he began in the SS, trained before the war and hand-selected by Himmler himself. We think he was an assassin, a member of one of the death squads. However, recent information indicates that he has moved over to the Abwehr, Hitler’s intelligence division.”
“So now he’s a spy?”
“We believe so, yes, and a very dangerous one.” Bill shook his head. “If he was the one who informed the SS that you were in Norway, he must have been there as well.”
“And this is all because of a spy right here in London,” she muttered, pushing her empty cup away. “How did they know I was there? I thought you and Jasper had ensured that no one knew of my movements.”
“We’re working on it. To be honest, I don’t see how he could have known for sure. I’m of the opinion that he guessed.”
“Guessed? Well his guess was not only correct, but it cost the life of an innocent civilian who was doing everything he could to help me,” Evelyn said, her voice shaking with anger.
Bill nodded. She was right, and there was absolutely nothing he could say to defend it. Whoever this Henry was, he had caused an inordinate amount of damage already. It was only luck and fate that had brought Evelyn home, especially if Eisenjager had been put on her trail.
“We will find him.”
She sighed impatiently and stood up. “But in the meantime, I’m—”
She cut off abruptly as her face drained of color and she swayed on her feet. Bill jumped up, catching her just as she pitched sideways towards the counter. Her eyes had closed, her body a dead weight in his arms.
“Evie!” he exclaimed, patting her face. “Good God, Evie!”
She didn’t respond and he scooped her up into his arms, striding for the door. He carried her down the hallway to the front parlor where he knew from many previous visits that there was a long couch. A moment later, he laid her gently on the sheet-covered cushions. As he straightened up, she made a noise in her throat and came awake with a start.
“Oh!” she gasped, her eyes flaring wide.
Bill laid a firm hand on her shoulder when she would have tried to sit up.
“Oh no you don’t,” he said, shaking his head. “You stay right where you are.”
“What happened?”
“You fainted,” he told her bluntly. “You’re ill. I knew as soon as you opened the door.”
“Fainted?” she stared up at him, aghast. “Impossible! I’ve never fainted before in my life!”
“Well, you have now. Not surprising, really, after what you’ve been through.” He turned towards the door. “Is the telephone working?”
“Yes. Yes, I think so,” she said, frowning. “It was the last time I stayed here.”
“I’m calling for a doctor, and then I’m going to have one of the nurses from the agency come round. She can help you upstairs and into bed.”
“Oh for heaven’s sake!” Evelyn protested. “That’s hardly necessary! I probably just need some rest, that’s all.”
He paused at the door and looked back at her.
“You may be right, but right now you’re having a doctor look at you to make sure. You can debrief once you’re well again. You’re absolutely no good to me dead, you know.”
She pulled a face but made no attempt to get up again.
“Bill!” she called as he was halfway out the door. “Why me?”
He frowned and turned back, looking at her questioningly. “Pardon?”
She was looking at him soberly from the couch, her eyes troubled.
“Why did you choose me last year? What made you think I would be good at this?”
Bill exhaled and met her gaze steadily.
“There are a number of reasons,” he said slowly, “but the one that matters right now is that you were made for this.”
She stared at him. “What?”
He smiled faintly. “You may not feel like it now, but you are one of the few who can handle this life. I saw it in your face when we had lunch and you spoke of Hitler and how important it was that he be stopped. It takes a certain kind of person to weather the kind of storm we’re going into, and you’re that person.”
“I don’t feel like I’m strong enough to weather anything,” she whispered. “I don’t know how I made it to Namsos. I really don’t.”
“And that, my dear, is precisely why you are strong enough. Strength isn’t something you’re aware of. It’s something that shows itself when there is no other choice.” He looked at her for a moment, then walked over to stand beside the couch. “You’ve changed drastically in the past three weeks. I can see that. Yet here you are. That is what I saw in Paris last year.”
“I killed a man, Bill,” she blurted out, her eyes dark and haunted. “I shot him and watched him die. Then I shot...oh, I don’t know how many more! Peder died because he was shot in his leg and couldn’t continue. We just left him there! And then, when we were away, we heard the Nazis open fire on him. They used machine guns, Bill, on a wounded man.”
He swallowed, his chest tightening at the pain in her eyes and the grief in her voice. The sheltered, young socialite had become a soldier somewhere in the mountains of Norway, and there was nothing he could do to ease her growing pains. That was something she would have to deal with herself. But she didn’t have to do it alone. Crouching down next to the couch, he took one of her hands in his.
“You’ve seen the ugly side of war, I’m afraid, and there is no unseeing that,” he said gently. “You should never have been in Oslo when the Nazis invaded, but this would have happened eventually if the war continues for any length of time. This is what it means to be at war. You did what you had to do, what everyone who is called to fight must do, and because you did, Peder is the only one who lost his life. Make no mistake, Evie. They would have killed all of them to get to you, and that will never change. You will always be the target, and you will always have to protect those who are working alongside you. But don’t let it define who you are. Accept what happened in Norway, grieve for it, but leave it on that mountainside outside Steinkjer. It’s over, and it cannot be undone. You will continue, and you will be even stronger for it. I promise.”
Evelyn clung tightly to his hand for a long moment, tears shimmering in her eyes, then she slowly exhaled and nodded, releasing his hand.
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“Erik said much the same thing when I left them. This is what I get for wanting to fight like a man, I suppose,” she said after a moment, a hint of dryness in her tone. “I was never cut out to knit jumpers and make jam for the soldiers, but this seems to be quite the other end of the scale.”
Bill smiled faintly and stood up. “You’ll find your spot in the middle, Evie,” he said, looking down at her. “It’s a long road we have before us, but it won’t all be like Norway. Now, I’m going to ring the doctor and get a nurse over here.”
He turned to leave the room again, pressing lips together as soon as his back was to her. It was a long road ahead indeed, and Hitler was just getting started. But as Bill left the parlor and went towards the telephone on the small table in the hallway, he felt oddly optimistic. Herr Hitler might be just getting started, but so were they.
And Jian was about to become the thorn in Hitler’s side.
Epilogue
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22nd April, 1940
Dearest Miles,
How are you? I returned from Wales, but was sent immediately to London for a few days on an advanced course. It’s a pity we can’t have dinner together while I’m here, but I shan’t have the time. I’m due back at Northolt on the 25th. I do wish I could see you, though. I feel as if it’s been simply ages.
Thank you for all the letters that I had waiting for me. You can have no notion how much they cheered my spirits. The trip to Wales was very challenging and, in the end, took a lot more out of me than I expected. The hour I spent reading through your letters made me feel almost like myself again.
I was very glad to hear that you made it over Germany and back without incident. I know you’re all itching to shoot down some Jerries, but it will come soon enough. For now, I am just thankful that you and Robbie are safe.
It doesn’t look as if things are going very well in Norway. I read today that our forces are in danger of being surrounded by German troops. The Luftwaffe is bombing relentlessly, destroying our supplies and communications. I don’t see how we can last much longer. We may have won at Narvik, but the Nazis have the entire southern portion of the country overrun. I think it’s only a matter of time before we must retreat. Then what will happen to the Norwegian people?
I’m beginning to see everything that I was afraid would happen if Hitler was allowed to continue. We allowed him to become powerful, and now he can’t be stopped. His Blitzkrieg is the stuff of nightmares, rolling over everything in its path. He’ll turn his attention to France soon, and the Maginot line will not stop him. I’ve also heard people in Paris say that the Maginot will protect them. That seems to be a common theme among the French, and it’s rather infuriating, to be honest. They refuse to acknowledge that the Maginot was never finished! France didn’t want to violate Belgian borders, so it never went to the sea as had been intended. That leaves the entire border of Belgium open to attack, and Hitler is a fool if he doesn’t take advantage of it.
My family at least sees the danger. They will leave Paris at the first sign of any German offensive. My aunt and uncle will most likely come to stay with my mother, so you may get the chance to meet them. My cousins, however, are reluctant to leave France. I suppose I can’t blame them. I’d want to stay and help England if she were invaded. Tell Robbie that Nicolas and Gisele are at least considering coming to England with their parents, but I don’t hold out much hope. He wants to stay, and Zell will never leave him. I hope it doesn’t come to them having to make that choice, but I’m very afraid that it will.
Will I see you when I get back to Northolt? I do hope we can work something out. I miss you dreadfully, you know.
Sincerely yours,
Evelyn
Author’s Notes
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1. Replica Enigma Machine. In 1939, six days before Germany invaded Poland, a British Military mission (MM-4) arrived in Poland posing as civilians. Their aim was to get a team of Polish code-breakers out of the country, along with their replica Engima machine. The team made contact with Gwido Langer, Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Różycki and Henryk Zygalski and escaped with them when Poland was invaded. They went across the border into Romania, and from there onward to Western Europe, where they passed their decryption techniques on to the French and British. It was only because of the advanced work performed by these men, and the successful extraction by the British team, that Alan Turing was able to complete his extraordinary work and ultimately crack the Enigma code. One of the members of the British team was a woman named Vera Atkins. She went on to become the assistant to section head Col Maurice Buckmaster of the SOE (Special Operations Executive), and was responsible for the recruitment and deployment of female British agents into occupied France. (Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Atkins)
2. Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS). This was the organization responsible for intercepting, decoding, and distributing foreign cyphers and intelligence. During WW2, they were located at Bletchley Park, a country mansion north of London. Bletchley was purchased by Hugh Sinclair in 1938 to be used as the wartime base for SIS and GC&CS. However, SIS, now renamed MI6, ultimately moved back to London before the outbreak of war, leaving Bletchley to the codebreakers. The GC&CS was renamed to GCHQ after the war in 1946. They are, of course, most well-known for the work of Alan Turing and others in breaking both the German Engima and Lorenz codes, which some argue shortened the war by several years. There were several sections of the GC&CS during the war, including the Air Section, Naval Section and Army Section. For the purposes of this series, when referring the GC&CS, it is in relation to the codebreaking activities that occurred at Bletchley Park.
3. Mechelen Incident (aka Mechelen Affair). January 10th, 1940. A German aircraft with two officers on board crashed in Belgium, near the town of Mechelen-sur-Meuse. One of the officers, Major Helmut Reinberger, had the operational plans for the airborne attack on Belgium in his briefcase. When they realized they were in Belgium and not Germany, Major Reinberger revealed to his pilot that he had secret documents that must be destroyed. He went behind a thicket to burn the documents, but two Belgian border guards had arrived on bicycles and saw the smoke coming from the bushes. One of them rushed over to save the documents from being destroyed. The Germans were then taken to the border guardhouse, where they were interrogated. During the interrogation, Reinberger once again attempted to burn the documents by stuffing them into a burning stove. He yelled with pain while doing so, however, and the documents were once again saved from the fire. Much of the content was illegible after two attempts to burn the plans, but that which remained was enough to give the British a clear snapshot of what Hitler had planned for the low countries in the coming weeks. (The Second World War, Martin Gilbert, p 38) (HistoryNet: https://www.historynet.com/the-mechelen-affair.htm) (Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechelen_incident)
- When Hitler was told of the crash, he said, “It is things like this that can lose us the war!” Yet, he still intended to proceed with the invasion as planned on January 17th. Due to weather, the invasion was postponed for three days to Jan. 20th. By that time, it had become clear that the Belgian and Dutch forces had begun to mobilize, most likely because of the leak of information from the crash. Despite this, it appears that it was only the bad weather that finally caused Hitler to postpone the invasion of France until the spring. (The Second World War, Martin Gilbert, p 38)
4. Altmark Incident. On February 16th, 1940, sailors from the British destroyer Cossack boarded the German supply ship Altmark in Norwegian waters, rescuing 299 British soldiers and merchant seamen who had been taken prisoner by the Germans in the South Atlantic. Prior to engaging the Altmark, the British, believing the prisoners-of-war to be onboard, demanded that the vessel be searched by the Norwegians. Afraid to risk their neutral status with England and France, they reluctantly agreed. However, the prisoners were concealed below the hatches and they we
re missed in three separate searches. Not finding any prisoners-of-war, the Almark was released. However, British aircraft located the Altmark on February 15th and the Cossack was sent in pursuit. They found the German ship being escorted by Norwegian ships, who warned that they would open fire if the Cossack made any attempt to board the Altmark. Upon seeking instruction from the admiralty, First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, instructed them to board the ship if the Norwegians refused to escort it to Bergen in cooperation with the Royal Navy, where they could then inspect the ship themselves. It was at this point that the Altmark ended up being most helpful to the British. They tried to ram the Cossack, but only succeeded in running aground, whereupon the British promptly boarded her. In doing so, they violated Norwegian neutrality. After a short fight that left four German sailors dead, the British prisoners-of-war were located and released, and the Cossack made a dash to the Baltic sea before any retaliation could be made by either the Norwegians or the Germans.
-The entire affair was a much-needed moral victory for the British, but it ended up having very severe repercussions for Norway. Because of the incident, Hitler became convinced that Norway was not neutral and that the British would take over bases in Norway in an effort to prevent him from accessing the Atlantic and the much needed iron ore from Sweden. While the planning for the invasion of Norway, codenamed Operation Weserübung, was already underway in Berlin, the Altmark Incident convinced Hitler to make the invasion a priority.
- The Norwegians made a formal protest, stating that their neutrality had been violated against international law. The British Government responded by saying that Norway itself had violated international law by allowing the Germans to transport British prisoners-of-war through its waters and back to Germany. Germany, not to be ignored, demanded reparations from Norway as well, claiming that they had sided with the British and allowed the Altmark to be boarded, leading to the deaths of German sailors. (The Second World War, Martin Gilbert, p 42-43) (British Intelligence in the Second World War: Its influence on Strategy and Operations Vol 1, F.H. Hinsley, p 105-106) HistoryHit (https://www.historyhit.com/1940-altmark-incident/)