WAAFs collected the unfurled parachutes as the trainees flung them out the back of the truck.
Finally came the trainees themselves, tired and cold. Rosie was limping a bit, but that wasn’t uncommon after a parachute landing and everyone else seemed fine. The five kids all rushed to their hut and gathered around the electric heater warming their hands.
‘Lovely,’ Rosie smiled, as she jiggled her fingers by the orange glow of an electric bar.
Marc sat on his bed, unlacing his boots. His feet and the bottom of his trousers were sodden after wading two kilometres from the landing zone to the truck in deep snow. Paul was standing by the dining table and the temptation to lob a sodden balled-up sock at him was irresistible.
‘Missed,’ Paul said glibly, as it spattered against the hut’s planked wall.
Takada had diverted via the canteen, and came in holding a tray stacked with mugs and a pot of tea.
‘So how did it go, anyway?’ Paul asked.
‘Fingers crossed,’ Joel said, ‘but I think it went OK. How long ago did the Wellington land?’
‘Twenty-five minutes, maybe half an hour,’ Paul said. ‘Why?’
‘We’re waiting on the examiners, dummy,’ Luc said, as he barged through to the table and grabbed the first mug of tea.
‘Twenty-four marks or bust,’ Marc reminded them. ‘I lost at least two when I forgot to hook up on the first jump.’
‘At least you noticed before you jumped out without your chute opening,’ Joel said cheekily.
‘I hope we’ll know within an hour,’ Takada said, looking uncharacteristically anxious.
As an Asian man there was no way Takada could be dropped into areas occupied by Nazis. He’d done the parachute course so that he could help future recruits prepare for it, but he wanted to pass and earn his parachute wings as much as anyone else.
Paul had considered telling Takada about Air Vice Marshal Walker’s plan to fix the final exercise, but Takada was a stickler for rules and would probably tell them that there was nothing they could do.
Paul didn’t want to tell everyone because they’d probably just argue and end up doing nothing. But he needed help and PT was perfect: a natural-born con merchant, whose father had brought him up to lie and steal. Paul gave PT a few minutes to drink his tea and put on dry clothes before approaching his bed.
‘I need a quiet word,’ Paul said.
PT smiled. ‘Don’t tell me: you got one of the hot nurses into trouble at the hospital?’
Paul laughed, but quickly turned serious. ‘I’ve been watching Walker and his two assistants. You’re going to be pulled out of bed at about half past one and given a briefing. Then you’ll be taken up in a Wellington and dropped over some unknown location.’
‘To do what?’
‘That’s the million-dollar question,’ Paul said, with a shrug. ‘The thing is, it looks like Walker plans to make life difficult for you lot.’
‘Like we didn’t know that already,’ PT said. ‘The real question is how difficult.’
‘I think they’re dropping you further from the targets than the other three teams,’ Paul explained. ‘I don’t think there’s much we can do about that. But Walker’s driver was pulling all these equipment bags out of a trailer – one for each trainee – and Walker told him to make sure that we get the right ones.’
‘The ones he’s messed with, I suppose,’ PT said, before tutting.
‘I know where they are though,’ Paul said. ‘They’re in classroom P, with the chutes and everything. It’s all laid out and ready for the briefing. I even saw which ones are meant for our team. There’s a fairly basic lock on the door of the hut, but I haven’t got a file or anything to pick it with.’
PT nodded. ‘And if we force the door, they’ll get suspicious. Walker will fail us because we cheated.’
‘We could say we’re using our initiative,’ Paul said. ‘I mean, isn’t this exactly the sort of sneaky operation we’ve been training for?’
‘It is,’ PT agreed. ‘But there’s a fine line between cheating and showing initiative and Walker hates us, so I know which side he’ll land on.’
‘We’ve got to find a way to get the key then.’
‘Who had it last?’ PT asked. ‘Did you see where he put it?’
Paul shook his head. ‘I was looking through the window at the side of the hut. I only saw the inside of the door as they locked up.’
Rosie was coming over to PT’s bed, bare-legged and wearing a man’s shirt down to her knees. ‘What are you two