One Shot Kill - Robert Muchamore Page 0,71

with the case tucked under his arm.

When he got indoors he heard his mother coming down the hallway, and hastily tucked the case behind a coat stand.

‘Why are you out at this hour?’ she asked brusquely, hands on hips and still in her nightdress.

‘I couldn’t stop coughing,’ Justin said. ‘I didn’t want to wake the girls, so I went out for some air.’

‘Any sign of the Germans?’

‘No,’ Justin said, as his mother took a step closer. The case wasn’t completely out of sight so he took a step himself to stop her getting too close.

‘I worry about your chest and all that coal dust,’ Justin’s mum said, as she gave her son a kiss on the forehead. ‘I don’t want you riding that train any more.’

‘We’ll need the money once winter comes,’ Justin said. ‘Remember how expensive everything got last year?’

‘I’ll think of something. There’s plenty of places short of men. Maybe I can get a second job or something.’

*

There were more early risers at Joseph Blanc’s house. Rosie’s final radio sked was at 6:30 a.m. The Germans had expert teams dedicated to hunting down resistance radio signals, so before each transmission she’d always take the suitcase-sized radio two kilometres up into the woods, using a different location each time.

Rosie was used to lugging the transmitter, heavy battery and fifty metres of coiled aerial wire on her own, but for this final transmission she had Paul, Sam and Edith along to share the load.

After stretching the aerial across the ground and giving the set ten minutes for the valves to get warm, Rosie transmitted an encrypted Morse code message. She said that all was well, that the local security had apparently died back to normal levels and that the mission would go ahead.

The response came in groups of five random letters. Rosie would normally take these back to the house for decoding, but today she worked with Paul, using a printed silk decoding sheet, while Sam and Edith dug a hole.

‘It all looks good,’ Rosie said, when the message was done. ‘Clear weather is predicted. Fifty US bombers will attack Rennes tonight, with half diverting towards the bunker if they get the signal from our beacon. The Ghost network says that the documents were successfully placed on the train. Joyce and everyone else on campus wishes us luck.’

‘We’ll need it,’ Paul added, as he set a lighted match to the small square of silk with Rosie’s codes printed on it.

The thin fabric had a special coating that made it burn in a flash.

‘Edith’s got to leave for her train,’ Rosie told Sam. ‘Do you need a hand finishing the hole?

Sam shook his head, always keen to show that he didn’t need help from older agents.

‘Make sure that the radio case is closed so that no dirt gets in,’ Rosie said. ‘There’s a slim chance we’ll have to come and dig the radio back up if things go wrong. And cover the hole with branches after you fill it in.’

Sam tutted. ‘Rosie, I’m not an idiot. Go do your job.’

Edith and Sam hugged briefly. If things went to plan they wouldn’t see each other again until after the operation.

‘Good luck tonight,’ Edith told Sam. ‘Perhaps I’ll see you again in Paris.’

‘I hope so,’ Sam replied.

‘And when you get back to the house, tell Marc that I hope his bum’s feeling better,’ Edith said.

Sam laughed. ‘I’m sure he’ll be able to sit down by now.’

Rosie had spent many hours lugging the radio set back and forth, and many more tinkering to keep it working. She liked the idea of never seeing the blasted thing again as she set off towards Justin’s house with Paul and Edith in tow.

Paul teased Edith gently as they walked. ‘Am I detecting a little chemistry between Sam and yourself?’

‘He’s younger than you,’ Rosie noted, as Edith turned bright red.

‘Oh, wrap up,’ Edith said, before laughing uneasily. ‘He’s really nice, but he’s a kid.’

‘We’ve actually got the same thing in a slightly older model back in England,’ Rosie said. ‘His brother Joel looks just like him.’

‘How old?’ Edith asked keenly, realising that she stood less chance of further embarrassment if she played along with the joke.

‘Fourteen,’ Paul said.

Justin’s house and the railway station were half an hour’s walk. When the trio got within a hundred metres of the little street of cottages they were pleased to find no sign of Germans. But there was still a possibility that the soldiers were hiding out, so Rosie gave the pistol