by Hall, Ian
Alice wasn’t quite as pretty as Lilith, but she sure came close. Large brown curls were held back from her forehead by a simple band of white ribbon, reminiscent of Lewis Carrol’s character herself. I felt out of my depth, but was glad the warmness in my cheeks was diminishing. “Hello,” I offered my hand, which she shook loosely.
I wondered if Alice were a code name, but then considered I’d been introduced as James, rejected the idea.
“Alice is from Selkirk,”
“Oh, nice,” once again, the master of conversation. Having never been to the border town, I had no idea of how ‘nice’ it was.
Lilith worked behind us, and I heard the chink of thick empty glasses. Sure enough, they appeared over my shoulder, and as Lilith rounded the table I saw she carried a bottle.
“Alice’s father was a German prisoner from the Great War. He settled in Selkirk rather than go home.”
Now that was interesting, and I said so, almost eloquently. One day, I felt sure, I would manage to make a good impression.
“As a result, Alice speaks fluent German. We want her to be part of The Scotsman’s setup. In fact we want you to be her boss.” As Lilith poured the clear yellowish liquid into small glasses, I wondered what her end-game was. As an avid chess player, I knew the art of the long game, and found myself musing into the glass in front of me. “Cat got your tongue?” she quipped.
“No,” I replied slowly. “It’s just…” I didn’t wait for Lilith’s permission; I lifted the glass to my lips and took half of it down. I felt a burning yes, a hint of apples, yet it proved smooth on the throat; my first taste of the conqueror’s brew. “I’d like to know the reason behind it all.” I looked across the table at Lilith, caught her gaze. “I don’t want to be played. I want to be a player.”
Lilith’s eyebrows lifted, a smile crossing her face. “Getting ahead of yourself, James?”
“No, just fed up with beating myself for not doing anything.”
“You were instrumental in Derwall’s end.”
“Derwall was just a kid.” I downed the rest, slammed my glass on the table, and slid it across for more.
“On the contrary, James, my friend, Leutnant Friedrich Derwall was a true Nazi.” Lilith filled the glass again, passed it back over the table, then lifted her own, motioning Alice to do the same. “Derwall has been replaced by a middle-aged father from Hanover. We diluted the herd. That’s a victory, James.” Following Lilith’s lead, we chinked glasses above the table.
“What’s the toast?” I asked, my glass poised in front of me, the liquid inside glinting in the low light.
“To our newest cell.” Lilith said.
I repeated the words, but they made no sense. As I downed the liquid, I sensed that both Alice and Lilith shared the joke, holding it from me. “Cell?”
Lilith produced an envelope, from which she took a stapled letter. “This is new, so let me tell you both at the same time.” She passed me the bottle and motioned for me to fill the glasses. “A new directive from upstairs… A cell is a small group working subversively inside some existing group of individuals - e.g. factory, party, union, group of workers. Does that answer your question?”
I frowned openly. “You’re going to set up a ‘cell’ in Edinburgh?”
“No,” Lilith shook her head. “In The Scotsman newspaper.”
“Why?”
She read more. “For many types of subversive activity - e.g. propaganda, passive resistance… with all large organizations, it is necessary to organize on a basis of cells; this strengthens security.”
I wondered what she was reading from, and how far it went. “So the cell will be inside the newspaper?”
Lilith nodded. “Listen, because I can only read this to you… you can’t see it or read it yourself.”
“Why not?”
“Because you can only reveal under torture what you know.”
Torture. She’d said torture. I looked at Alice who had been silent throughout the little soiree. “Have you seen this?”
“No, it’s all new to me.” her voice held a quiet country lilt. I immediately liked it.
“It’s new to us too; we only got this directive last week.” Lilith’s gaze was intent on the writing. “One of the most important functions of a cell is to recruit other cells. Best method is for one member of each cell to have the duty of recruiting a man outside who will organize another cell. Similarly, another man in the new cell will recruit a further cell, and so on.”
Suddenly it became clear. I worked in The Scotsman, but I also attended Edinburgh University, and had contact with many professors and academics in neighboring towns and colleges. It came as no surprise when Lilith continued.
“As the recruiter in the first cell is the only man to have contact with the organizer of the second cell, security is maintained to the highest degree. The value of this is that in the event of one agent coming under suspicion, police will take a long time to trace others, and even if part of the organization is discovered it does not necessarily reveal the whole.”
“So if security is paramount, then why the meeting? Aren’t you compromising the cell security already?”
“We thought you’d catch onto this quickly.” Lilith grinned, reading more. “An alternative method is by radiation, whereby the members of a cell recruit the organizers of more than one new cell. Quicker expansion and more direct communication, but security reduced.”
“So you’re risking security for speed?”
“In this case, yes.” We drank another. “You see, for us to build the cell properly in the newspaper, we need Alice under you to do all the liaising with underlings in the newspaper; you can’t know who those people are. We needed you to point out the best possible people for her to connect with, yes, but the cell is her job. Most important of all, we need you to learn German, and fast.”
“I can see the benefit.” I nodded, then felt a little dizzy; this schnapps was strong.
“Not sure if you do, James old chap. We don’t want you to let on to Jerry that you speak the lingo.”
I nodded. “So we meet for tea, and I learn it by osmosis?”
“No, you meet Alice, take her home, marry her, and learn in bed!”
“What!”
I actually got showered in schnapps, Lilith bursting out laughing in mid-swallow, sending it everywhere. When we had calmed down, she explained. “There is a serious side. There’s a reason why we’re recruiting The Scotsman cell differently than the others. Listen, and remember, this comes straight from the top… Plans for Emergency…” Lilith gave both of us a hard stare before continuing, very slowly. “Plans must be laid in advance for the possibility of a break in a chain of cells which would leave some cells isolated. General directives on the policy to be pursued in that eventuality are… the linking of the last cell in the chain with the organizer of the whole chain, thus making it circular… or an emergency address - e.g. to appear in an advertisement in an agreed paper.”
And the penny dropped. We, at The Scotsman would be responsible for the communication to all cells in Edinburgh, maybe even the whole of Scotland. There was no need to confirm my new theory. Alice would be in charge, if I knew anything about it, I could endanger the cell by my knowledge.
Lilith was grinning. “So now do you see why you need an assistant?”
I nodded, looking at Alice. Perhaps it was the schnapps, but the stranger was definitely growing on me.
“But again,” Lilith continued. “There’s danger here.” She swallowed. “If any of you know you are under direct surveillance by the Germans, it’s your job to notify your direct contact, then get the hell out. And the member of the next cell that knows you…”
“Warn him?” Alice asked.
Lilith cut her with a sharp glance. “Kill him. He knows you. If you don’t, the Nazi’s will topple the whole system like dominoes. There’s a whole section on what to do… As has been shown, the organizer must prepare plans for an emergency as far as possible in advance. If an em
ergency arises e.g. an agent finds that he is under surveillance, or is arrested - the organizer must… decide what contacts, plans and places are affected… warn the contacts to take their pre-arranged measures… postpone or drop any activities that are affected… clean up any places that are affected (destroy or conceal material and documents, cease to use R.V.'s)… possibly send a message to H.Q. in this country. If an agent has been arrested, find out the reason for his arrest and whether he has talked… help the arrested agent to escape if it can be done without prejudicing the security of the organization.”
Despite the buzz of the schnapps, I grasped the enormity of the situation. I was now the head of a cell, albeit just two of us to begin with.
“So Alice here is to be my new assistant.” I chinked her glass in congratulations, then turned to Lilith. “Just how exactly do I make that official?”
“Alice is your cousin from Galashiels.” Lilith said, obviously already having thought it through. “We’ll make sure your boss gets the message. No one in the newspaper must know she speaks German. Just you and her. Oh, and by the way, she’ll be living with you for a while, you know, until she gets her feet under the door.”
“What?”
“It’s okay, you’ll find a way to bring ‘mum’ round.”
Unfortunately I was envisaging much more than mum’s displeasure, the expense of another mouth to feed, the meetings bringing new cells aboard, the travel involved; it all took money, and mine was limited. However, there was a war on, and we must make sacrifices. Spending time with a cutie like Alice would be one of the benefits.
Oops, I had just thought of her as a ‘cutie’.
“Tell us more of this cell organization.” Alice asked.
Lilith scanned the pages. “Security rules?”
“That’s a good place to start.” The drink had loosened my tongue.
“Right… every member must receive training in self-protection and the security rules of the organization…”
“Every person?”
Lilith nodded. “It makes sense, James, every cell member must have the ability to decide if the cell’s been rumbled.”
Alice nodded. “And what to do.”
Lilith seemed pleased with our understanding. “This one’s funny… each member should have a special function and should be prohibited from undertaking any other. Danger of over enthusiastic trying to do too much work, or work to which he is not suited.”
It was Alice that took up this one. “No, it makes sense. We had a farmhand who did this, ended up toppling a tractor because he hadn’t been trained on it.”
“Okay, try this one… no member must attempt to find out more about the organization than he is told.”
“Oh that’s a good one.” I said. “Loose lips…”
“Right… every member must know what names are to be used in the organization and stick to these. Christian names are safest and are adequate for a small organization.”
So now I knew why Lilith had introduced me as James. Only outside the cell would my Biggles code name be known or used. It made sense. The fewer people knew about Biggles, the better for my safety.
Lilith was still talking. “… no member may carry arms unless he is in a situation where he can have no cover story.”
“Oh.” Alice snorted then laughed out loud.
Lilith gave her a stern motherly look. “Are you carrying a gun, my lady?”
Looking at Alice, I would have never even considered it, and at that moment I realized the advantage women had over men in the spy game. Just by their looks they had a distinct advantage against us poor menfolk.
“It was Dadda’s. From the Great War.”
As she fished it from the bottom of her handbag, I wondered what they’d call this war. I mean, it wasn’t anywhere near over and already Hitler owned most of Europe.
I recognized the pistol as a German Luger; I had fired and cleaned one on my week course.
“What do I do with it?” Alice asked. “If I’m to keep to the rules, I have to ditch it or hide it.”
I certainly didn’t want her to bring it to mum’s apartment; that would put the whole family in danger.
“Leave it here.” Lilith said to my undying gratitude. “I’ll deal with it.” She returned to the papers. “… no member may contact a member of another organization without special permission. The dangers of contacting other organizations which may have been penetrated by the enemy have already been shown. If it is absolutely essential to contact another organization, it should be done in the most cautious way through a cut-out, and it may be wise to plant a man inside it to investigate its security.”
Alice frowned “A cut out?”
“A person between you and your contact…” Lilith looked for the right term.
“An intermediary,” I suggested.
Lilith nodded. “That’s it, a buffer. Okay, I’m getting near the end… every member must report any suspicious incident immediately, e.g. if he himself is followed or if a fellow member fails to appear.”
“Report to who?” Alice asked.
“Always up.” Lilith said. “Here’s a good way to think about it; you report upwards, you delegate downwards.”
“Okay.”
“…every member must know what to do in case of emergency. This involves… what warning signals will be used… what other members he must warn himself… here to go (hide-out, cover story, etc.)… what contacts and activities he must drop… and how to re-establish contact.”
Man, that last lot was a mouthful. “Who wrote all this stuff?” I asked.
Alice beat Lilith to it. “No member must attempt to find out more about the organization than he is told.”
Ouch. So Alice had a good memory.
Lilith poured another round of drinks then stuck the cork in the bottle. “Who do we contact at the paper to get Alice employed?”
“Arthur Brooks, or Charlie Chambers,” I replied. “Either of them would have the purse-strings to hire. And what name do I give them?”
“Alice Howes,” Alice said quickly. “Dad’s German name was Johan Höwedes, but he and mum agreed that a more Scottish name would be best.”
It seemed like a great plan. But of course, first I had to get Alice past mum.
Mothers are the Rock of Humanity
Mums are great.
I bring a strange girl home, and immediately she’s made welcome, I sleep in the sitting room on a small sofa, and the girl gets my bed. A small price to pay.
And not one question asked. Well, not until the next day.
“What are you up to?” Mum’s well-defined question over the breakfast table, covering all the possible angles.
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Yes you do, young man. I didn’t bring you up properly to have you go all sullen on me.”
Sullen? I thought I’d judged my mood as pensive; obviously I’d missed the mark by some margin. “It’s just as I said, mum, she’s going to be my new assistant at the paper, and she’s from out of town.”
“Yes, you said.” Her tone had gotten snappy, challenging. “But I don’t believe a word. And you’d better change your story, my lad, or everyone else will see through it too.”
I sipped my morning tea, and was surprised by her hug from behind. “I love you, son.”
I let her hold onto me for a moment. “I love you too, mum.”
As a family, we didn’t go for the ‘I love you’, jazz that some families overburdened on. With dad being gone for almost 18 months now, we’d slid into a habit of not being demonstrably over- emotional. Since the Nazi invasion we’d come closer as a family, but still the vital words were rarely said.
That made them more important now. “You’re not in any trouble, are you?” she asked, still holding on.
“What kind of trouble?”
She sat down at the table beside me, head low, eyes darting towards the door to the corridor, to Alice’s presence. “You know damn-well what kind of troub
le, my lad!” she hissed. “Tell me you’ve not got her in the family-way?”
I almost sprayed tea over the table. “Mum! I only met her last night!”
“You met her last night, and you bring her home here?” She looked puzzled, searching her host of possibilities for the next one down on her list. “Well? What am I supposed to think?”
I leaned my elbows on the table, against mother’s usual edicts, and grasped her hand. “Mum, I really did just meet her last night. She really is going to be my assistant at the paper, well as soon as we talk Mr. Brooks into taking her on.”
Wow. The words were out my mouth before I knew; how could I know about a place at the paper yet? I watched her expression, but I knew in her eyes that if she had heard my gaffe, she wasn’t going to question me about it.
“How long is she going to be here?”
“That I don’t know, hopefully just a couple of days.” I considered my words more carefully now. “Once she gets settled in to the office, they’ll find her a place.”
Mum nodded. She’d accepted.
It was a long slog through the weekend, but on a snowy Monday morning I left for the office, leaving Alice warm in my bed. It came as little surprise when Arthur Brooks stuck his head around the office door. “James, how’s your work schedule?”
I looked at my untidy desk. “Snowed under,” I nodded at the window, the large white flakes hitting it with regularity. “In more ways than one.”
“Yes, I was thinking. I never did replace old David Paton when he disappeared. Every other editorial office has two. I was thinking about assigning you some kind of help. Have you got any ideas? You know, promote from within, maybe? Maybe you’ve got your eye on someone?”
Again I marveled at the organization of the resistance group. I guessed this was my cue. “Well, boss, I’ve got a cousin up from Galashiels, she could do with a job.”
He looked relieved. “Excellent, it’s sorted then, bring her in tomorrow, we’ll try her out.”
And that’s how easy it was.
I soon found out why Lilith had chosen her; in the office Alice was a natural. She had a winning smile, always cheery, yet very hard-working; everything I needed in an assistant spy. She also had the same quality the young messenger had. Although she was pretty, she was girl-next-door pretty; she’d get a second glance, yes, but she blended in well, didn’t stick out. I wondered if that had been one of the criteria for me being chosen; young, intelligent, not too good-looking.