crashing sound, which he suspected was papers being thrown across a desk. Then the receiver slammed down in his ear.
‘I take it the Air Vice Marshal isn’t happy,’ McAfferty smiled, as she sat on the corner of Henderson’s desk and looked out of the window.
Henderson roared with laughter. ‘He sent you his best regards.’
‘Did he indeed?’ McAfferty said. ‘You really shouldn’t have teased him.’
‘Perhaps,’ Henderson admitted with a sigh. ‘But Walker’s an unimaginative snob. He’s never going to like our kind no matter how polite we are.’
‘True,’ McAfferty smiled, as she pointed out of the window at the half-frozen statues standing in the courtyard. ‘What are we going to do with them?’
‘Let them in, I guess,’ Henderson said, as he looked at his watch. ‘They’ve been out there for four and a half hours and we don’t want them getting hypothermia.’
‘Aye,’ McAfferty nodded. ‘I’ll tell Pippa to make some hot drinks and then go fetch them inside, but what do we do about the situation with Luc?’
‘He’s a nasty little shit,’ Henderson admitted.
‘So you think we should kick him out?’
Henderson shook his head. ‘He’s also a superb trainee. Luc’s no genius, but he can read a map or spin a lie to cover his tracks if he’s put in a tight spot. Physically he’s the best of the bunch. Very strong, he can run five miles with a pack, catch his breath and be ready to do it all again ten minutes later.’
‘But he’s just horrible,’ McAfferty said. ‘Paul’s such a sweet boy. Fancy bullying him like that.’
‘Yes,’ Henderson sighed. ‘But suppose you’ve got a mission where you need to parachute into a secure area, plant a bomb and escape to a rendezvous twenty-five miles away. Out of those six trainees, which one would you send?’
‘Luc,’ McAfferty admitted. ‘No doubt about it. But he’s like poison. The other kids hate him.’
‘They’ll keep Luc in check if they stick together as a group,’ Henderson said. ‘Frankly, Luc’s humiliation in the showers will probably do more to set him straight than any punishment you or I can dish out.’
McAfferty looked away from Henderson and smiled uncertainly. ‘I think we’ve become parents to a dozen children without really meaning to,’ she said. ‘I look at them standing out there. Little individuals, with their own personalities and their own pasts. But they’re wee kids.’
‘And you wonder if we should really be doing this,’ Henderson said. ‘So do I sometimes, but we’re fighting pure evil. We have to do everything we can to end this war.’
‘I know,’ McAfferty nodded. ‘But I’m in charge of this unit and I can’t help looking out at that line of kids and wondering how many we might send to their deaths.’
Part Two
February 1941
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The overnight sleeper train brought Instructor Takada and the six Group-A trainees north to Edinburgh. After a bad breakfast in a station canteen filled with soot-blackened engine drivers and drunks who’d missed the last train home, a little steam engine pulling three coaches took them deep into the Highlands.
There were fewer than a dozen passengers, so the youngsters messed around in one compartment while Takada sat in another reading about German advances in North Africa and mines sinking merchant ships near Falmouth.
The rush of steam, squeaking overhead luggage racks and snow-capped hills on this clear Sunday morning made the war seem remote. But even out here the station signs had been painted over and at each stop the guard would step on to the platform and bawl out the station name.
The announcement of Braco Lodge came as a shock and the kids grabbed their bags and cases. Rosie was first on to the platform and yelled at the guard to hold the train. As the boys piled out behind she ran back to the train and thumped on the window next to Takada’s head.
‘It’s our stop!’ she shouted urgently, as the guard blew his whistle.
Fortunately the little steam locomotive was slow to pull away and Takada plus luggage made a running leap, landing on the sloping planks at the end of the platform with a minimal loss of dignity.
‘You supposed to tell me!’ Takada said angrily. ‘Must keep track of stations.’
PT cleared his throat. ‘Actually, as the adult we sort of expected you to tell us.’
‘He’s getting in practice for jumping off aeroplanes,’ Marc sniggered. ‘He starts off with trains and works his way up.’
Nobody had ever seen evidence of Takada having a sense of humour and his scowl almost melted the Scottish boulders.
‘I’d love to