‘Things are escalating now.’ He spoke in a tired voice as he rubbed his hand over his face.

‘You don’t seem too surprised by this.’ Cat pointed to her bruised eye. ‘What’s going on, Reginald? What have you gotten me into? Did you expect me to be attacked? Who was it? Why did she –’

Reginald didn’t answer. He just waited while the questions spewed from her like a veritable fountain, and watched her with that immovable patience, as though he were deciding just how much to tell her. Cat let her final unfinished question hover between them. She tasted the acrid tang of her own fear. She felt like running, but something held her pinned to the bench.

‘Did your father ever mention MI5 to you?’

Everything stopped. It seemed as though the very blood that flowed through Cat’s veins stilled as the magnitude of Reginald’s words sunk in. Oh, dear God. What have I gotten myself into? Cat took a deep breath. She turned to face Reginald, so she could gauge his reaction to her words.

‘My father never uttered one word about MI5. My mother told me that he worked for them. Very hush-hush, she said. She painted him as a hero, told stories of my father singlehandedly fighting the Hun. She romanticised it.’

The corners of Reginald’s mouth turned up in a slight smile for a brief second before he became serious. ‘I need you to listen to me now. I need you to not react until I’ve finished. You’ll have questions. I’ll tell you as much as I can. Agreed?’

Cat swallowed. She willed herself to form words, but they wouldn’t come. She nodded, cold all of a sudden despite the sunshine.

‘The Germans are building up their military. Hitler is an incendiary idiot, reckless – war is brewing. Hitler’s building an army. He has an air force that’s every bit as strong as England’s and makes no secret of it. The bombing in Guernica in April is a sample of what the next war will look like. Bombs falling from the sky, cities and towns levelled. Terror among civilians. Mark my words, the next war will be fought in the air. It will be horrific, like nothing we’ve ever seen. Hitler won’t stop at the Sudetenland. He will turn to France, and then his eyes will light on England.

‘Your husband’s company has a contract with the Air Ministry for several inventions that revolutionise early detection of planes and ships. This technology is crucial. The Germans are developing their own system as well. It’s a bit of a race, with potentially catastrophic results for the loser. England is making great progress. Unfortunately, the Germans are now aware of it. We’ve received intelligence that some of the original concepts have fallen into the wrong hands. We’ve been investigating Benton’s company for months and have recently discovered that someone in your household has been taking documents from your husband’s safe and sharing them with a team of local German agents.’

‘What? How do you know all this?’

Reginald shook his head. ‘I can’t tell you. You’re going to have to trust me.’

‘Are you with MI5?’

‘Was, not so much any more. On my way out, actually. I’m ready to spend my days in the country, painting and reading. I’ve got shelves of unread books and an old shabby chair to sit in. I’m tired, Cat. MI5 is peripherally involved in this operation, along with a group of industrialists who are preparing for the inevitable.’

Cat wanted to trust this man. Not only had he been close to her father, he had also thrown her a lifeline at a time when she was drowning. She needed to trust him. ‘Surely you don’t think Benton would betray his country, do you? My husband has many flaws, but I assure you he is loyal to King and country. If I’m to trust you, you need to trust me. Tell me who you work for.’

‘I cannot do that,’ Reginald said. ‘I will tell you we’ve exonerated your husband. He works on the design schematics at his office, but refuses to leave them unattended. Given his talent and dedication, he’s been allowed to take documents home after he has a session with them and lock them in his safe. The documents are then transferred by a ministry driver under secure conditions to the man who works on them next. This scenario has worked fine until the past six months or so.’

‘Blackie,’ Cat whispered the words.

‘Michael Blackwell? He’s the logical candidate. All this started happening at about the time he arrived on the Carlisle doorstep. His story about escaping surely rings true, and it checks out. We’ve double-checked and discovered that a Michael Blackwell fled Nazi Germany after his wife and his brother-in-law were arrested for possession of anti-Nazi propaganda. He’s not lying about that.’

‘This all sounds so cloak-and-dagger. Surely things aren’t as bad as that. And war? I’ve been hearing talk about war a lot lately. It seems to be a common topic among Benton and his colleagues. But why isn’t anyone else speaking about it? Why isn’t anyone writing about war with Germany in the newspapers?’

‘That, my dear, is a long conversation for another day,’ Reginald said.

‘It all sounds so farfetched. You’re telling me we are preparing for another war with Germany, even though we’ve barely recovered from the last one, and someone is stealing my husband’s work and feeding it to the Germans.’ She looked askance at Reginald. ‘This sounds like the makings of an espionage novel.’

‘This isn’t fiction, Catherine, as evidenced by your black eye.’

‘Who attacked me yesterday?’

Reginald hesitated. Cat stood.

‘I want to know what I’m getting myself into. Trust works both ways. If you can’t tell me who I’m up against –’

‘Very well.’ Reginald beckoned her to the empty spot on the bench. Cat sat.

He didn’t meet her eyes as he spoke. Instead he looked at two women who pushed prams past them, laughing and happy. ‘Before I tell you what I can, I need you to understand the utter discretion and secrecy involved here. Knowledge of what I’m to tell you has gotten people killed. You’re going to have questions, and I am not going to be able to answer them. You need to decide if you can trust me. You need to decide if you want to take this job you’ve been doing for me any further. If you do not, I understand. If you do, things will change for you. I’m giving you a choice, Catherine.’

Cat let Reginald’s words sink in. I should have known this wasn’t simple courier work. Everything was just too easy. How convenient to run into her father’s friend on a park bench in Kensington Gardens. How convenient that he offered her a job when she was searching for some sort of meaning in her life. Cat shivered. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up.

‘What is it?’ Reginald asked.

‘I feel like we’re being watched,’ Cat said. She looked around the park. As far as she could tell, they were alone.

Reginald reached into his pocket and handed Cat an envelope. When she recognised her father’s familiar scrawl, she reached for it.

‘He wrote it to me shortly before he died. Read it,’ Reginald said.

The envelope was worn thin, the paper soft and creased.

March, 1917

Reg,

I’m off for much-needed leave. I’ve not seen my wife and daughter for over a year and am desperate to lay eyes upon them. I expect my daughter, Catherine, will have blossomed into a young woman. Things are difficult here. We try to keep our spirits up, but the men are tired, war-weary. It seems that each mission becomes more dangerous, the conditions more treacherous. God only knows what they’re suffering in the trenches. Many of them should have been sent home months ago. I worry about the cost of this war, not in pounds spent but on the emotional toll it takes from our soldiers in the line of fire and from the nation itself. My only hope is that this brutal fight will be the last war we will see in our lifetime.

I think of my daughter, Catherine, remembering how I so wanted a son. But as I’ve watched her grow and develop, I realise that this young lady that Victoria and I brought into the world has the courage and fearlessness of any man. I love her so much it aches. I look around and know that everyone in this conflict – even the enemy – has families at home that they love. But I’ve been asking myself of late why men resolve their differences in battle, in killing. I have been questioning that. I’ve told myself that we kill each other so our offspring do not have to, a feeble consolation.

I have a request for you, old friend. If anything happens to me, please have a care for Victoria and Catherine. They will not want for anything, I’ve seen to their financial security. I’m asking you to look after them, from afar if that suits you. See that they are well …

The page was cut short. There was more, but it had been cut away.

‘Where’s the rest?’ Cat asked.

‘Classified.’ Reginald held out his hand. ‘And I need that back. I’m sorry. I can arrange for a copy for you, if you’d like.’

‘Thank you.’

‘The woman who attacked you is known to our agents as Marlena X. She’s English by birth, but spent her formative years in Germany, thus the loyalty to Hitler. She’s a skilled typist and has a knack for insinuating herself in with people who have something she needs. She managed to get clearance for a job in naval intelligence. You can imagine the damage she could have done, had we not found her out. We’ve had agents try to follow her, to find out where she is staying, but she manages to lose them. As you can imagine, we are very concerned that she is near your house, your husband, and the work that he is doing. Someone in your house passed a set of blueprints to her. Luckily, the designs were incomplete. I can’t help but be suspicious of Mr Blackwell.’

‘Blackie’s yet to recover from his escape,’ Cat said. ‘He drinks constantly. He jumps at his own shadow. I just don’t see him involved in this.’

‘Catherine, I am asking you to put yourself in danger. I’m giving you a chance to do something for your country, but I’ll not deceive you about the potential risks. You need to be aware of that.’

‘No, I want to help,’ Cat said. She thought of Blackie’s trembling hands and the fear in his eyes. ‘What do you want me to do?’

‘Your husband has a packet of documents that he is going to bring home this evening. You’re to switch them with falsified documents, which I will provide. After you do that, you’ll meet me or one of my operatives to hand off the documents that you’ve taken. That way, we can be sure the proper documents are safely out of harm’s way.’

‘But what about when Benton goes to retrieve them? Won’t he know that the documents have been falsified?’

‘He doesn’t look at them once he’s finished with his work. He works on them at his office, brings them home, and locks them away in a safe until they are handed on to a courier. We expect him to bring documents home tonight, but tomorrow he has a meeting that will last a good part of the day. The exchange with the courier has been delayed. Everything’s been arranged. All you have to do is make the switch. If you’re careful, no one will be the wiser, at least not for a week or two. Eventually the Germans will realise they’ve been given faulty information, but that may take a while. We will give them authentic drawings, but the schematics will be skewed. With any luck, they’ll think what we’re working on isn’t ready yet.’

Cat sat, silent, letting Reginald’s words sink in.

‘You see how important this could be.’

For the briefest second Cat realised that Reginald could be working for the Germans, convincing her to commit treason. But he wasn’t. Cat knew that with a conviction that surprised her. She prided herself on her intuition. She trusted it now. ‘How long until they discover that I’ve been switching documents?’

Reginald shook his head. ‘There’s no way of knowing that.’

Cat turned away from Reginald, so he couldn’t see the fear in her eyes. ‘What should I tell Benton if he catches me in his office? I need an explanation of some sort.’

‘You can’t get caught, Catherine. We can watch the house, but we would be hard pressed to offer assistance should you run into trouble.’ Reginald took a packet of seeds out and threw them to the birds that gathered around them. Across the green, a robin pulled a fat worm out of the grass and flew away with it. ‘We figure we can switch documents twice – if we’re lucky – before we’re discovered. I will prepare you and give you detailed instructions, give you a back-up plan, if you will. There are things you can do to protect yourself –’

Reginald told her to double-check everyone’s activities, with an eye towards going through the safe when Isobel and Marie were engaged in their meeting, which would take place across the house, far away from Benton’s study. Reginald suggested that Cat give Annie something to occupy herself as well. He told her to sit in her room and mentally plan what she was going to do, and figure out to the second how long it should take. He was frighteningly thorough and went through every scenario that could make things difficult, telling Cat that it was best to have a back-up plan for every eventuality.

‘The documents are tucked in here,’ Reginald said. He handed Cat a dog-eared copy of Britannia Magazine, The Special Coronation Number, its glossy blue cover graced with the crown, the orb and sceptre, its pages full of the pageantry of the coronation that took place in April.

‘The switch should take no more than five minutes, so if you’re smart and careful it will be easy. Be accountable for every second. If ten minutes go by and you still haven’t been able to switch the documents, abort the mission. Report back to me and we will reassess our approach. I suggest you pack a small carryall with essential items, in case you need to make a hasty getaway – not that you will. This is a simple switch.’ He handed her an envelope full of notes. ‘Here’s some money, just in case you do indeed need to run.’

‘If I need to leave, how will I get in touch with you?’

‘Call me at this number from a call-box. Mention the code word. Memorise the number, please.’ He handed her a small sheet of folded paper. Cat memorised the exchange and handed the paper back to Reginald. He put it back into his wallet.

‘What about Marlena X?’

‘We don’t know where she is, but I’ve got people looking for her. You should assume you’re being watched all the time. Be careful. Try not to find yourself in dark alleys alone. Just use your common sense. Your diligence could save your life.’

Cat took the money and tucked it in her handbag. ‘Is it normal for me to be exhilarated and frightened at the same time? I’m absolutely terrified.’

‘The brave soldier faces his fears and carries on. You’ve got fire in you, Cat, and you’re extremely intuitive. You’re being given an opportunity to serve your country. Just open the safe and switch the documents. When you’ve successfully completed the mission, open your bedroom curtains halfway. I’ll meet you here tomorrow afternoon at half past four.’

They said their goodbyes. As Cat watched Reginald lumber away, she realised how she had underestimated him. She wondered what other secrets he carried and hoped she hadn’t been reckless in placing her trust in this man who claimed to have been close to her father.