“Georgina, did Rob say anything about us?”
“You and me?”
“No, I mean about me and Rob?”
Georgina looked at her, puzzled. “No. What are you talking about?”
Mary shook her head and looked away. “I can’t believe he didn’t say anything.” She looked back at Georgina. “I left him on Monday.”
“What? Why?”
Mary hesitated for a moment, before deciding on her answer. “I was told he was having an affair…”
Georgina stared at her, open-mouthed for a moment. “Are you being serious?”
“I just don’t know, Georgina. Yes, I was told categorically. He was with a young woman. The Laverstocks saw them at a pub, kissing.”
“Janet Laverstock? That busybody… She must have been mistaken. What did he say?”
“He said it wasn’t what it looked like.”
“Well, there you go, then.”
Mary toyed with her wine glass and tried to recall precisely what Rob had said as she left, but the memory was clouded with rage.
“To be honest, I think it fitted my mood to believe it. He’s drifted off in the last few months, and I’ve been feeling cut out. So it made sense to me, I think, that he had someone else he was sharing his life with.”
“Yes, darling. It’s called the RAF. We have to share our men with the flying club. Now what exactly did he say about this supposed other woman? What was his explanation?”
Mary looked around the garden, noting the poor state of everything.
“I was so angry. I didn’t really let him get that far. Her name’s Susie, and she’s helping him. That’s all I can remember. Of course I dismissed it all. But now… I’m not so sure. Something’s going on, Georgina, and I think Rob’s rather desperate about it all, trying to fix whatever went wrong for Millie. Maybe he’s trying to fix it for you and Charlie?”
“That’s exactly what he said to us. Mar, you need to talk to Rob.”
“But there’s so much bloody secrecy all the time. No-one talks to anyone.”
Mary took a long drink of the wine.
“What did you say to Red Brunson? And why’s he involved?”
“I told him about the box.” Georgina spoke quietly. “I wasn’t going to. Rob asked us to never mention it. But there was something about his manner. He was whispering on the phone. I got the feeling he’s looking out for Rob.”
Mary bit her bottom lip.
“I think I need to go home.”
“Good. Mary, darling. You have no idea what it would do to me to see you two fall apart.”
JR WAS APPARENTLY asleep in the shade of the wing.
Rob and Susie climbed the bank onto the plateau. With the aircraft still a hundred yards away, Rob stopped.
“I’m frightened. How do we do this? They’ll be waiting for me.”
“You’ll have to face that music, I’m afraid. But remember, it will help you if it involves the police. Even this strange branch of the RAF police Kilton seems to have occupying West Porton will have a degree of independence from TFU. They are the people you need to convince. You know everything you need to know. Just hedge your bets about the evidence. It’s our weak point. Tell them the evidence is out there somewhere.”
It sounded easy, coming from Susie. He would reveal Guiding Light was fatally flawed and that Kilton was ignoring the evidence.
“Will you help me?”
“My job is to get my lot to intervene at a much higher level. We report to the Ministry or even Number Ten and tell them we believe the project has been compromised by Kilton, and that will tip the balance for us. As soon as they ask questions, Kilton will be in trouble. As long as I can persuade them to ask questions.”
“Will they?” Rob could see from her expression that she was unsure.
“Mark Kilton has played a good game here, Rob. From the moment he set up TFU, the odds were stacked heavily in his favour.”
Rob closed his eyes.
“Look, you’ve done brilliantly. How far have we come in just a few days? All we can do is give this last push. You do your bit, I do mine.”
JR was up, carrying out the pre-flight walkaround.
“I can’t fly back with you,” she announced.
“What?”
“If I get arrested at West Porton, things will get messy very quickly and the boys back in Mayfair won’t be happy, not least because they don’t know I’m here. And right now, I need them on my side.”
They walked toward the aircraft.
Susie looked around the island. “There’s a ferry somewhere, Mrs Lazenby said.”
“We can drop you,” Rob said. “But I’d be reluctant to divert to another RAF station. How about Eastleigh at Southampton? It’s a civil aerodrome.”
“Really? That would be amazing.” She gave Rob’s arm a little rub.
They climbed on board. JR joined them, and took the diversion to Eastleigh in his stride.
Rob planned the route.
A few minutes later, with Susie in the front row of tatty seats, Rob as co-pilot, JR as captain, they fired up the Anson’s two engines. Once they warmed up, JR taxied beyond the official end of the runway to give them a little extra in the roll.
“I walked it while you were gone. It looks firm and dry enough for us to steal a little extra.”
JR stood on the brakes and brought the engines up to take-off power. As he released them, he worked to keep the Anson in the centre of the grass strip. The breeze was a little across, but also, helpfully, it was mainly over the wings, giving them some extra airspeed.
The needle crept up slowly; at one point, the right wing dipped as a wheel hit a rut, but JR kept her steady, and with the flattened area of grass just about to come to an end, he eased the yoke back and the silver aircraft swept over the craggy cliffs of Lundy and banked toward the mainland.
Once they were established on the first leg, Rob considered unstrapping and talking to Susie. But was there anything left to say? She had made clear what his role was. She had her own task.
It was the end of their time together. It felt as if he’d known her for months, not days.
As they got closer to Southampton, JR called ATC and explained they had no flight plan or booking, but could they carry out a practice diversion with full stop.
The tower agreed.
On the ground, they were marshalled into an area close to the new passenger terminal. Susie disembarked and Rob stood in the doorway, ready to pull the steps back in.
“You’ll be fine on your own,” said Susie. She paused for a moment and took his hand. “I have great faith in you, Robert May. Millie would have been proud of what you’ve achieved in the last forty-eight hours. You’ve picked up his torch, Rob.”
“God, it’s his funeral tomorrow,” Rob said.
“A lot’s going to happen between now and then. Good luck, Flight Lieutenant May.”
“Thank you. I’ll be listening for the sound of the cavalry charge from MI5.”
She smiled at him. “I told you, it’s passé to use that name.”
Susie stepped off the aircraft. Rob watched her walk toward the terminal. Would he ever see this enigmatic and beautiful woman again?
He withdrew back into the aircraft, feeling vulnerable and alone.
Minutes later, they had the wide, long Eastleigh runway in front of them. Rob asked JR if he could fly, believing it might be the distraction he needed.
He advanced the throttles, and at seventy-five knots, he eased the old aircraft into the air.
West Porton was mere minutes away and soon after they reached five thousand feet, JR called them up.
“Shorthand one-three, you are cleared to land. Please taxi immediately to TFU apron.”
JR acknowledged and gave Rob a sympathetic look.
“JR, tell them you know nothing. I asked for the flights, telling you it was official TFU business, and you simply flew us where I requested.”