take me. I left. I had to come. There are more ghosts to appease than you would know. So, I have to do your work with you. I have many reasons for that, and you were just one of them.’
‘Just one? I don’t know if I should be flattered or offended,’ he added with a smile.
‘I crave the end of the war, though. But that part of it worries me, Marcus – that we won’t get out of this alive. The day we got on that fishing boat, I had a premonition that would be my last time on British soil. As I watched the shoreline disappearing, I just knew I would never see it again. I can’t think too much about it. We have too much to preoccupy us, and I try not to consider it, because I must make my family proud. I know this is the place where I can be the greatest help to the war effort, even if no one knows what I am doing. But the whole situation is so sad. My only joy is that I have you by my side.’
‘I feel the same way,’ he whispered into her hair. ‘My biggest fear,’ he added, ‘is that I will have to choose between your life and the work, and honestly, I’m not positive I could sacrifice you, my darling. I’ve already sacrificed a lot for this work, and it’s already cost me so much. It would not be worth anything without you. I know it is wrong, and I imagine it goes against everything we’ve been trained for. But, that’s how I feel. I am strong because of you. You have encouraged me to become this person.’
Vivi shook her head. ‘I don’t want to hear you say this. We have a job to do, Marcus, and if for any reason you had that choice, you would need to make the right one. Winning the war is more important than my life. So many people’s future depends upon us.’
35
A couple of months had passed and Vivi and Marcus’s work was proceeding effectively, their biggest concern being Rommel’s Major Weissman, who often asked for further updates. Apart from that, they had a system well established. The intelligence would come in and be handed over to the decoders, Vivi would pick up their findings and bring them to the office, Marcus would then change the intelligence marginally, and then Vivi would produce fake records about what was transpiring. They were scrupulous not to change too much, just a few miles off a suspected raid or a parachute drop, sufficient enough to keep the German army from suspecting anything.
One morning there was a knock at Marcus’s door and a staff member announced that Major Weissman was demanding to see Marcus straight away.
Marcus frowned. Vivi was at his desk taking notes in shorthand and glanced at him. ‘Was he expected here today?’
Marcus shook his head.
The major strode into the office.
‘Major Weissman.’
‘Major Vonstein, Vivienne.’ He spoke dismissively, peering at her and giving the impression he wished her to leave.
She left for her office, leaving her door slightly ajar. It needn’t have mattered, as Weissman was loud.
‘It has come to my attention, Major Vonstein, that more than a few mistakes are coming through this office. Rommel has placed me in charge of collating all the intelligence, and out of all the offices, yours has a high rate of getting facts wrong. Now, how do you justify that?’
Vivi heard Marcus stand and stride towards his adversary. ‘I am glad to see you, Major Weissman. I am aware of these issues, and I have been looking into it myself. It appears some of the staff were using older decoding books, and I am about to put that right. I appreciate your thoroughness with this matter, and with both of us working on this, I’m positive we’ll get to the bottom of it.’
She heard Weissman exhale. He was evidently frustrated, but also had planned to lay the blame with Marcus, but then had been met with a less-than-hostile reception.
‘Field Marshal Rommel has instructed me to put these areas right. We cannot have any department make needless mistakes. There are a lot of resources that are wasted when we get the wrong report.’
‘Of course, Major, I agree. We’ll get to the bottom of it between the two of us,’ Marcus stated.
‘I would like to increase my monthly visits to weekly and insist on being at the meeting here tomorrow so I can evaluate all