The Suicide Exhibition: The Never War (Never War 1) by Justin Richards

Author:Justin Richards
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781448177042
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published: 2013-11-06T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 26

ALTHOUGH SARAH WAS not one to worry about anything for long, the encounter with Whitman unsettled her. Usually by the time she got home, made herself some dinner and perhaps read for an hour, Sarah was exhausted. Her social life, such as it was, had dwindled to the occasional drink at the end of the day with Guy Pentecross or Leo Davenport when he was around. Occasionally Miss Manners joined them, but she said little and drank less.

After her run-in with Whitman, Sarah went back to Station Z, hoping Guy would ask her to the pub. But he was deep in conversation with Davenport, waiting for Brinkman to be free so they could talk about the burial mound in Suffolk. She hung around for a few more minutes, then left.

Sleep came slowly. In her mind she went over the short conversation with Whitman again and again. ‘Is that a fact?’ he said inside her head, in that annoying drawl she had once found faintly attractive. Would he really tell Brinkman – or worse, Guy – that she was a spy?

It was a blunt word. But it was true. She’d passed on sensitive information that she had been entrusted with despite her background, despite being only half British. Were the other non-British nationals caught up in this war as ambivalent as she was?

That was all nonsense, she thought as she finally drifted off to sleep. She’d acted out of the best of motives – hoping the more they knew, the more likely the Americans were to come to the Allies’ help. Though the petrol coupons he’d given her were useful. She hadn’t exactly objected to being paid for the information, had she…

She woke early, still exhausted but with an idea of what best to do. She thought she would be in the office before anyone else, but she could hear the clacking of Miss Manners’ typewriter before she reached the top of the first flight of stairs.

‘You’re in early,’ Sarah said, trying to sound bright. Her head was pounding, like she had a hangover though she’d not had a drink for days.

Miss Manners paused to give her a sympathetic look. Perhaps she was always in by seven in the morning.

‘What time will the colonel be in?’ Sarah asked quickly, before the typing resumed.

‘He’s in already.’ There was the hint of a smile at Sarah’s expression. ‘There’s a budget review coming up in a few days. Colonel Brinkman wants to be sure we can make the best possible case for… Well, for continued funding.’

‘You mean, we might not?’

‘It’s possible. MI5 and SOE would both like to see us closed down.’

That was a worrying thought. ‘But surely, what we do…’

‘As far as they’re concerned we don’t do anything. Except take resources they’d rather deploy elsewhere. We have precious little to show for our efforts after all.’

‘But…’ Sarah struggled to disagree with this. Most of what they were investigating was based on supposition and extrapolation. ‘Shingle Bay – they know that happened.’

‘Just a raid – so they would say.

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