believed one of the operatives in France, a man called Henri Déricourt, had acted as a double agent; the other rumour was that the British government sacrificed their agents to protect the Normandy landings. Lucky to have escaped alive, Vivienne Hamilton had evidently been there, working under her code name, Sparrow, when many operatives had been captured and eighty killed.
Sophie sucked in a breath. Thinking again about the picture Vivienne had painted for her uncle Tom.
The man at the front pulled up some photographs. ‘It appears that Vivienne had escaped from France and SOE at the very time that the cell was being uncovered by someone working for the Germans who was betraying those in the Physician Network. Many of the agents undercover, like Vivienne, took the blame for what was happening, wondering if somehow it was their own incompetence, a wireless discovered, or their coding being inadequate that had caused the fall of the cell, when all the time it was someone else who was sabotaging the network.’
Sophie wondered if her aunt had felt responsible for her cell being discovered.
When he was finished, he sat down and one of the archivists got up. ‘The reason we have requested this gathering is that we have found material that may corroborate Miss Hamilton’s story that we would like to present. It appears that there was a spy working for the British government, known as Hawk. His real name is in the file as the initials MV. He rose to high up in the Nazi command and joined our spy network in 1943. But his only handler, the Rook, was killed, and then Hawk went missing, presumed to be dead. However, it appears even though he was radio silent with London because of his concerns about leaks, he’d continued his work, right up until the D-Day landings. Though records seem to suggest that he then disappeared, and never came back to Britain to claim the honours he was due.
‘But with Sophie Hamilton’s help, we were able to confirm Vivienne visited SOE and it was documented she had asked to see ‘the Rook’. This links these two stories and suggests the MV on the record is the same Marcus Vonstein who was shot down in Cornwall and made an escape with Vivienne. The fact that Vivienne didn’t tell SOE Marcus was still alive suggests she was already working with Marcus and that he had probably instructed her not to talk to anyone but the Rook. It was most unfortunate that the handler was killed, so it appears that Marcus had to take matters into his own hands. Vivienne Hamilton gave him the means of escape. With her formal training with SOE, it seems she was able to assist him to get back to Paris to finish the task he’d started. The only unknown is how Vivienne actually died. Though Miss Hamilton spoke to an eyewitness who believes she was executed, Miss Hamilton has offered a further suggestion, that unfortunately we cannot confirm, that somehow her aunt took her own life, maybe even by allowing Major Vonstein to kill her.’
Sophie felt the sting of that theory again. Maybe Marcus had no choice and somehow Vivienne had persuaded him for the good of the work they were doing. But still it felt so cowardly and cruel. And she once again wondered if he had ever really loved her.
Suddenly, a voice called from the back of the room and she recognised it instantly. Alex strode to the front.
Sophie’s heart started to pound as he came forward, and she realised even though they had been apart none of the feeling she had for him had diminished.
His eyes flicked towards Sophie as he smiled. ‘I wonder if I can speak to that and offer a possible alternative ending to this story. I am Alex Vonstein, a relation of Marcus’s. I have been thinking about the coded message and ‘The Call of the Swallows’ ever since Sophie told me about it because I really believe Marcus and Vivienne were in love. And I could never imagine taking the life of the woman I loved no matter what someone had commanded me to do.’
His eyes met Sophie’s again and the sincerity in them made her blush as he continued.
‘After Sophie contacted me, I went over and over all the information we had gathered and something struck me as I reread the death report about my uncle. I’d read other similar reports and unless the death had been documented as self-inflicted,