Silence for a moment, then a forbearing voice. ‘I’m safe. Scratched, bruised, and probably green from head to foot, but I’m safe.’
A slim silhouette swooped past, flipped, and landed lightly just above. Light laughter told Aubrey it was Caroline rather than some woodland sprite, although he was sure he could be forgiven if he confused them.
He clenched his teeth and edged up his rope until he joined his friends on the limb Caroline had chosen.
Caroline was sitting, bright-eyed, hands in her lap, aviator helmet just slightly askew. ‘Well, here we all are. What’s next?’
Fifteen
After burying the rope and finding the bundle of earlier dropped equipment, it was a matter of waiting for dawn and the train and munching chocolate bars for breakfast.
They found an elevated area in the woods, a knoll where a large boulder had pushed its way up through the grass, to monitor the city and the railway. As the night passed, cool and moist, the shapes of the town began to emerge from the blackness. Towers and spires of churches, remnants of the medieval city, the old bridges over the rivers and, as the light grew, buildings made from limestone, common in the area.
Aubrey could make out two significant parts of the city. To the north-east was the fortress, looking outward toward the Holmland border. On the west side of the city, closer to their current position, was the sprawl of the university, a conglomeration of buildings that showed every sign of having grown over the centuries, stretching along the bank of the Mosa River, and penetrating the surrounding streets toward the centre of the town. Even at this early hour, electric lights showed in the university buildings, signs of those either working very late or beginning before anyone else.
The plan was to wait for the morning’s first Lutetia– Divodorum passenger train, then to mingle with the people arriving. As Divodorum was an important centre in the north-east region of Gallia, the influx of newcomers to the town was unlikely to cause comment. The suitcases they’d recovered from the equipment drop gave the semblance of ordinariness that Aubrey wanted. They were foreign students, registered and expected, perfectly normal thank you very much.
Aubrey took it as a good sign that the train arrived on time, and their mingling went smoothly. As the passengers alighted and left the station, Aubrey, Caroline and George emerged from the woods nearby, chatting about their non-existent journey and blending in for all they were worth.
Divodorum was an oddity. Only twenty miles from the border with Holmland, it was relatively secure. The wooded and hilly region between the city and the border had long been deemed an unlikely route for the enemy to take. The build-up in fortifications had been routine, according to their briefing papers, and became almost perfunctory once the Holmland alliance had struck east at Muscovia and simultaneously pushed through the Low Countries. A third front? Through Divodorum? Ridiculous.
As such, life went on in the university town much as it always had – apart from a healthy dose of suspicion that Holmland agents were everywhere.
George was the appointed navigator for this phase and he confidently pointed the way. ‘Left at that big lumpy building.’
‘The theatre?’ Aubrey said.
‘That’s the one.’
Caroline was walking by his side. She’d abandoned her aviator’s helmet – to Aubrey’s disappointment as he thought it rather chic – and was wearing a bright red, close-fitting toque hat that matched her bright red suitcase and shoes. He wondered how much of her wide-eyed gazing about was real and how much was assuming the guise of a new student. She leaned close. ‘Can you spot the Holmland agents?’
He jerked his head about and, to his astonishment, his hand went to his revolver. ‘Holmlanders?’
‘A little louder, old man,’ George muttered. ‘I think a few people back in Albion didn’t hear. We turn right at the fountain.’
Aubrey hunched, feeling enemy agents all around, and vowed that he’d keep well away from grabbing at his firearm as a first response. He glanced at Caroline, but she was still pointing at the sights. ‘Did you see someone?’ he asked in what he hoped was a low voice.
‘No, but I’m alert.’
‘There it is,’ George said. ‘On the corner.’
The boarding house was tired-looking limestone, three storeys, many windowed. Wide stairs and an elaborate canopy over the door suggested that, perhaps, it had known better days.
The landlady was expecting them. After inspecting Aubrey’s letter of introduction she showed them to their rooms. Her suspicions were of a baser kind than suspecting them of being Holmland agents, Aubrey guessed, and it explained why Caroline was given a sunny room on the ground floor, while George and he were put far away – at the other end of the building on the third floor.
From his window, Aubrey could see the university. The clock tower chimed nine o’clock and he was on a mission. For a moment, he revelled in the feeling. He’d had adventures – hair-raising adventures – but they were always happenstance and doing one’s best in harumscarum circumstances. This time, however, he’d been charged with a specific responsibility to undertake. His worth had been measured and found satisfactory. For someone who had spent most of his life striving to prove himself, it was most pleasing.
A knock came at the door. Before he could respond, it opened and George slipped inside with his suitcase. ‘Found a place to stow your stuff, old man?’
Aubrey’s suitcase was still on his bed, unopened. ‘Top of the wardrobe too obvious?’
‘’Fraid so. Any other suggestions? Apart from under the bed.’
Encoding devices, some basic wireless telegraphy equipment, and a selection of useful tools and weapons weren’t the usual accompaniments for students, and their instructions had been to conceal them as soon as possible. Details on exactly how to do this had been left to them. Quite a few other details had been left up to them, covered up with much talk of having to show initiative. It either showed faith in their initiative or a lack of understanding about the actual situation in Divodorum.
Or perhaps it’s the way wars unfolded.
‘It looks as if under the bed will have to do for now.’
‘Good Lord,’ George blurted from the window, where he’d wandered. ‘I think we have trouble.’
At that moment, Caroline arrived at the door and she joined Aubrey in hurrying to the window. Together, they watched the dirigible that was approaching Divodorum from the south. ‘What’s Captain Bailey up to?’ Caroline said. ‘I thought he would have been well clear of the area by now.’
‘That’s not the A 205.’ Aubrey peered over the rooftops. ‘That’s a Gallian military airship.’
‘Can you make out any identification?’ Caroline asked.
The great craft rumbled closer to the city, but the way it veered toward the eastern edge of Divodorum tended to confirm their speculation. ‘Definitely Gallian,’ Aubrey said. ‘But first things first: we need to find somewhere to set up our post.’
The primary objective for their mission was to find a building to act as a facility for the second phase team, a building that would be secure enough and private enough for remote sensers to work from.
‘So we need to reconnoitre?’ George said. ‘Splendid.’
Aubrey plucked a map of the city from his suitcase. It didn’t need to be hidden – it was the sort of thing that any newcomer to Divodorum would have. He unfolded it and frowned. ‘We could go separate ways,’ he began, but Caroline had other ideas.