The Duke dropped his voice slightly. “One room or two for your friends?”
“Two if that’s possible, although one for the lot of us would be enough.”
“No problem. Your own room will be ready of course. You always have a home here. Now, let me introduce you to my guest, the Right Honorable Winston Churchill, M.P. and rightful Prime Minister. I need your help in getting him out to Canada. There’s a government-in-exile forming out there you know.”
“God’s fish, Osborne. You do know how to drop a basket of live eels into a girl’s lap, don’t you ducks?” Eleanor shook her head and then remembered her manners. “My apologies, Mister Churchill. It is a privilege and an honor to meet you.”
“And I you, Eleanor; although I entirely understand the alarm with which you received the news of my presence here.” Churchill paused for a second; he was familiar with the portraits of Nell Gwynne he had seen. “May I say you share more than just a name with your charming and beautiful ancestor?”
“Thank you, Sir.” Ever receptive to compliments, Eleanor dimpled at Churchill’s gallantry. “Have you and Osborne thought about how to achieve our ends?”
“Would you not rather wait until you have rested from your journey? An arduous trip over the Atlantic and then a harrowing ride on the London and North Eastern Railway requires some recuperation at least.”
“Osborne, a clipper flight to Southampton is hardly arduous. Although the railway ride could fairly be described as harrowing.” Churchill’s tones rolled around the room. “And my stay here puts you in danger, a risk that increases daily. I think our charming Nell is right. The least time we waste, the better it will be for our enterprise.”
“Perhaps you are right. Frankly, Eleanor, I’m at my wits end on this one. The ports are being watched, with special attention on the ones feeding the Atlantic liners and the ferries to Ireland. The airports too, and the flying boat terminal at Southampton. France has been cut off by its surrender. Then there is getting around inside England. The train stations are being watched; that much is obvious. Oh, the small country stations are all right, but there are passenger checks at all the main ones. Petrol is rationed and the number of cars around is much reduced. There aren’t many roadblocks, not yet at any rate, but getting between the road blocks will be just as hard as getting through them. And Winston is, well….”
“Osborne means to say I am easily recognized and well known. Frankly, Nell, I do not see how we can pull this off. Even the day of the coup it was hard enough, and now the steps taken by That Man make it much harder. The hand of the government is heavy enough already and I fear it will continue to get worse.”
“Who mans these checkpoints and carries out the inspections?”
Achillea was absorbing all the information that was flowing. “Surely the police don’t have the manpower to do it? Or the firepower, come to that.”
“That Man has formed a police auxiliary. He doesn’t trust the armed services, so he’s recruiting his own police force. We don’t see them much up here; they’re mostly in the ports and cities. You’d see more of them in the Home Counties than in the North.”
“Police auxiliaries.” Gusoyn was intrigued. “What are their uniforms? Nothing complex, I hope.”
“Black shirts and Army khaki trousers. And a Sam Browne pistol belt.” The Duke was indignant.
“Black and Tans.” Achillea was reflective. “And nobody sees them much up in this part of the world… ”
“They do bear the shame of the Black and Tans, yes. Now people already call them the Blackshirts.”
“There was nothing to be ashamed about with the Black and Tans.”
Achillea was still absent, rolling over information in her mind. “They had a rough job to do and didn’t do that badly at it.”
“They killed, burned and looted.” The Duke spoke heatedly. “In the name of reprisal, of course. No way for Englishmen to behave.”
“You know something?” Gusoyn was grinning. “I think Lord Halifax has just solved our mobility problem for us.”
The Duke had just been about to follow up on his disapproval of Achillea’s ready acceptance of the Black and Tan’s history. Gusoyn’s comment stopped him dead. Churchill beat him to the punch. “How could anything That Man does be of any help to us?”
“Well, when the police control all movement, only the police can move freely, is that not right? And up here, nobody knows who is in the Blackshirts or what they are supposed to be doing. In fact, I would surmise that they do a lot of the dirty work that needs doing and so nobody inquires too closely into their movements. So, I think it is about time we formed our own Blackshirt unit. Get ourselves established and nobody will dare ask who we are or what we are doing. We need some vehicles for transport though.”
“Army trucks.” Achillea was interested in the idea. “Units like that always have Army trucks. Can we get some?”
“Osborne’s nephew Charles is in the Army. Where is he Osborne? And does he know?”
“He knows. He’s in the Sherwood Foresters. Major in their headquarters. Come to think of it, they’re not far from here.”
“There is your answer then.” Gusoyn was happy. “He takes us to their motor pool; we pick up a pair of good, reliable trucks.”
“Lorries, Gusoyn. Be careful to use the right words or you’ll give yourselves away.”
“Thank you, your Lordship. We pick up a pair of good, reliable lorries and a Humber staff car and there is the transport we need. With those and our Blackshirt uniforms, we can go where we please.”
“That still doesn’t solve the problem of Winston. How do we hide him? He can’t pretend to be a Blackshirt?” Osborne was entranced by the sheer audacity of the plan that was forming in front of him.
“We don’t hide him.” Achillea had the ball now and was running with it. “We put him in the back of the lorry, handcuffed of course, and show him off to everybody who shows any interest. We tell them, in great confidence, that we’re taking him up north to be ‘disposed of’ and imply that anybody who knows about it will also be ‘disposed of’. Of course, we’ll be too dumb to realize that the list of people to be ‘disposed of’ will include us. The people on the checkpoints will guess that and keep their mouths shut. They’ll do anything rather than admit they’ve seen that lorry and thus qualify themselves for a trip on the next one.”
Churchill gave a great laugh that finally drove his black dog of depression away. “My word, Osborne. When you said you were calling for help from your cousin in America, I had my reservations. But now I tip my hat to her branch of the de Vere Beauclerk line. We’ve been worrying over this matter for days without getting anywhere, but she and her friends turn up and have a workable plan ready in less than thirty minutes. Nell, I salute you and your accomplices.”
The Duke’s mind was running overtime as well. “Eleanor, you and your friends have solved more problems than you realize. Sir Henry Tizard is putting together a group of key personnel and some scientific information that he believes should be given to the United States as it will aid in our eventual liberation. For the converse reason, it should also be kept out of German hands. Your convoy of lorries will give us what we need to move the men and material away.”
“Please, your Lordship, do not get ahead of ourselves.” Gusoyn was running his mind through the scheme. “We have solved how to move around but we have yet to work out how to get out of the country. Did you have any thoughts on that matter?”
The Duke sighed. “Our best idea was to go to one of the small fishing ports and hire a fishing boat to take us to the Irish Republic and then make our way to Shannon and out on a Clipper. But, it was a faint hope at best.”