Family of Spies, page 19
Ford gently laid his hand on the doorknob and slowly turned it. He stood still and listened. His heartbeat raced as he listened for sound in the hallway. Nothing. He opened the door a crack and peered out. The hall was dimly lit by the glow of the under-counter lights in the kitchen at the far end of the apartment. Holding his breath, Ford tiptoed next door to Ellie’s room. Her door was slightly ajar, so Ford silently slipped inside her pitch-black bedroom. He stood for a moment to let his eyes adjust to the darkness. Gavin and Ellie sat on her bed, cross-legged across from each other. A tendril of déjà vu wafted over him as he neared them.
What was going on?
“Hey,” Ford whispered. “So what’s our last great hope?”
Ellie looked down at a piece of yellowed paper that lay on the bed between her and Gavin. Deep lines creased it. Ellie smoothed it out over and over, but it kept pulling up at the corners. Like lightning bolts, déjà vu coursed from it to Ford.
“This is it. Our last great hope. It’s Great-Granddad’s notes from the mission. I’m hoping it will hold one more of his visions. The moment I saw it in the wooden box, I thought it might be important. Luckily, I had already taken it when those stupid spies arrived. I shoved it into my pocket when they barged in.”
“Well done, Ellie. I can feel something for sure. Loud and clear. It is definitely a keeper.” Ford stared at the paper, not wanting to touch it. Yet. “What does it say?”
“You should read it yourself,” Ellie said, holding it steady while Ford quietly read out loud:
Date: January 4, 1944
Mission Northern Lights
Lead Agent: Owl
Agent: Scout
Agent: Radley
Handler: Silver Fox
Last known location: Hotel du France, Rue.—Secondary Interrogation Location for the Gestapo; confirmed use of torture
Confirmation of Owl’s death—February 9th, 1944 by Wilhelm Müller
Confirmation of Scout’s death—Nil
Errors: Failure of handler to remove agents; Mole in network—S.O.E. agent; Radley
Notes:
It is with great regret that I have failed in my mission to keep two agents in my network safe. Due to the sabotage of our mission by agent Radley, operatives Owl and Scout were arrested by German intelligence forces and handed over to the Gestapo for interrogation at the Hotel du France on Boulevard de Montmorency in Paris. After that, their trail went cold—they disappeared without a trace. They are gone. The loss of their young lives will forever be my cross to bear, throughout this lifetime and well into the next.
Silver Fox
Ford finished reading and looked at Ellie and Gavin. “Wow.”
“Yeah and that’s not all,” Gavin said. “I searched up the double XX that was carved into the box lid and it is code for double agent.”
Great-Granddad, a traitor. Ford couldn’t believe it. “Double agent? Great-Granddad was a double agent?”
“Not exactly. At least we don’t think so,” Ellie said.
“We know he was the handler for Owl and Scout, but we think he may have been a handler for other networks as well, which is why he had that notebook. Although again, we don’t really have proof to support that theory. What we are pretty certain about is that no one would have all the information on the double agents. The way things were typically set up was one handler, or spymaster, would have the code names, another would know the agents’ real names, and someone else would have had record of their missions, and so on. That way if one person was compromised it wasn’t a catastrophic loss of security,” Gavin explained.
Ford nodded. “So Great-Granddad’s box was just one piece that MI6 or the CIA would need to find to figure it all out.”
“Exactly, and Gavin found out that some of the missions during the war actually began years earlier and—” Ellie began.
“And they didn’t necessarily stop when the war ended,” Gavin interrupted, his words coming out in a flurry of excitement. He pushed his glasses up his nose. “In fact, there is strong evidence that indicates some of these missions are still underway today!”
Ford nudged Gavin over and sat on the bed. “What? Why?”
“After the war, the threat to the west shifted from Germany and its allies to Russia. There were some strong alliances with double agents that continued. They simply shifted the bulk of their attention from one enemy to a new potential threat—the U.S.S.R.”
“Plus, spies have always existed. So it only makes sense for governments to want to use networks and contacts they already had in place,” Ellie added.
“Geez. We really did uncover a landmine.” Ford looked at the mission notes. “We need to tap into Great-Granddad’s memories in there and find out more about his involvement.”
Ellie reached over to her bedside table and grabbed her phone. “Exactly what we were thinking. No time like the present.”
Ellie and Gavin climbed off the bed to give Ford more room. Ford tried his best to hide a yawn, but it was impossible. “Sorry. Tired.”
“I wish we could all get some sleep, but our flight to London is tomorrow afternoon. We don’t have any time to waste,” Ellie said.
Chapter 41
Ford closed his eyes, his head lolled forward.
“Hey, don’t fall asleep on us,” Ellie said, shaking him gently.
“I don’t think it would be possible to sleep through a vision,” Ford replied, keeping his eyes closed.
“Are you ready, Little Brother?” Gavin asked.
Ford opened his eyes and nodded.
“Here you go,” Ellie said and placed the note in his hand.
Ellie’s darkened bedroom dissolved before Ford and Great-Granddad materialized. Ford had a strange sense that he had always been there, just out of sight, lost in time. Ford smiled. He sounded like Gavin.
Great-Granddad sat hunched over a wooden desk in a dingy apartment. Torn wallpaper hung in strips along one wall. He gripped a pen tightly in his hand.
Waves of emotion flooded from him to Ford. Ford’s smile disappeared. “Great-Granddad is full of regret, fear, sadness, guilt,” he murmured.
“My fault. My fault. I failed them,” Great-Granddad dropped the pen and leaned forward, resting his forehead in his hands. “How did I not see this coming? How could I have been so blind to Radley’s deception? Owl is dead, but Scout?” He stood and paced the room.
Ford gasped. “Great-Granddad is a disaster. He looks like he hasn’t showered in a very long time, his face is covered in stubble, his hair is a greasy mess, and his shirt sleeves are stained and rolled to his elbows.”
Great-Granddad ran his hand through his hair, leaving clumps standing on end.
“Who can I risk losing to save her? Who can I trust? If I ever get my hands on Radley…”
His angry words died out and he stopped pacing. He slowly shook his head. “There is no one,” his words whisper quiet. “Am I just to leave her to rot in that hotel?”
He slumped on the bed. Tears streamed down his cheeks. “Scout, forgive me.”
Ford sat up, jolted into the present. Great-Granddad and the broken-down room were gone. Ford blinked into the darkness. “We need to go there.”
“Go where?” Ellie asked.
“To the hotel—the one the Gestapo used for interrogation. Le Hotel du France is the missing puzzle piece.”
“Okay…but how? We are grounded, remember? How are we going to convince our parents that we need to stop by some random hotel tomorrow before we jump on a plane for England?” Gavin asked.
Ford yawned. “I am too tired to think straight. All I know is we need to visit the last place Scout was seen alive. My gut tells me that’s where we’ll find our answers.”
Ellie jumped off the bed and grabbed her backpack from her closet. “Don’t fall asleep yet.” She rummaged around and pulled out a brown, squashed banana and a nearly flattened granola bar and tossed them one after the other onto her bed. “You need sustenance.”
Ford pushed the smelly banana aside and ripped the wrapper off the bar. “Thanks,” he mumbled, as he chomped.
“We need to call Marie-Claire,” Ellie said. “She’s our only option.”
Ellie pulled her wallet out of her backpack and slipped out the business card that Marie-Claire had given them.
“Marie-Claire? Why?” Gavin asked.
“She likely has a car,” Ellie replied.
“How is that going to help us? We can’t just tell our parents that we are going for a ride with the friendly neighbourhood librarian. They won’t buy it. Plus, as I keep saying, we’re grounded. Possibly for life.”
“We aren’t going to tell them,” said Ellie.
“What?” Ford asked, yawning, his eyes fluttering to a close. He was just seconds away from falling asleep sitting up. “I don’t understand.”
“We need to sneak out before they wake up. We need to get to the hotel and back to the apartment fast and to do that, we need a getaway car, hence we need Marie-Claire.”
“So you think she is just going to drop everything and help us?” Gavin asked.
“Yes, I do.” Ellie unplugged her phone from the charger. She entered the number Marie-Claire had given them at the library.
“Hi Marie-Claire,” Ellie said as she typed. “We need your help. ASAP.”
Ford gave into exhaustion and lay down, curling into a ball, his head on her pillow and his eyes closed.
“Marie-Claire,” he murmured. “She’s nice.” And the world slipped away as he slid into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Chapter 42
“Ford, Ford,” Ellie said, her whispered words invading his sleepy mind. “Time to get up.”
Ford blinked his eyes open.
“You need to wake up. Marie-Claire is waiting for us downstairs. We have to go.”
“Right.” He sat up. “What time is it?”
“Four am,” Gavin whispered. “You’ve been asleep for a few hours.”
Ellie tossed Ford’s hoodie onto the bed. “We think we have about an hour and a half. If we’re back by 5:30, we’ll be safe.” She slung her backpack over her shoulder. “I’ve got everything packed. We snuck into the kitchen and restocked our Ford supplies.”
Ford smiled. They made a perfect team. He swung his legs out of bed. “I’m ready.”
Ellie eased the bedroom door open and Ford held his breath from the moment they stepped out of her room until they closed the apartment door. All three tiptoed down the hall until they reached the staircase, then broke into a run and raced down the stairs. Ford’s sleep-fogged brain cleared more and more with every flight he descended and his mind now filled with a growing sense of urgency.
They burst out of the apartment block into the cool night air to find Marie-Claire dressed all in black, her hair tied back in a tight pony. She leaned against the side of a baby blue Fiat, looking like she had stepped off the pages of a How to be an International Secret Agent for Dummies book.
“Bonjour, mes amis,” she said.
Ford’s cheeks burned fire-hot as she kissed first one cheek, then the other. “Hi Marie-Claire. Thanks for helping us.”
“Ah, oui.” She embraced Gavin and finally Ellie. “It is my pleasure. I was very worried for you. You should have texted me sooner.”
“Sorry,” said Gavin. “We were just so…”
“Engrossed?” she offered.
“Yes, exactly.”
“And now time is of the essence, yes? To solve the mystery of your Great-Grandpère?”
Gavin nodded. “Ellie texted you where we’re going?”
“Oui, I have it in my GPS.” She clapped her hands, like an elementary school teacher. “Vite, vite. In you get. Let us go. It is not a long journey by car.”
She opened the door and Ellie and Gavin piled into the tiny backseat. Ford sat in the front with Great-Granddad’s mission letter burning a hole in his pocket. At least that’s what Ford imagined it was doing. Ford leaned back on the headrest and closed his eyes as Marie-Claire raced expertly down the dark and quiet streets.
Never before had any of Great-Granddad’s items retained any lingering memories. They had all been a one-time-only ticket into the past, but this note—it was different. It was like a phone that kept buzzing reminders of a missed call. This message from Great-Granddad kept sending him clairvoyant reminders of an important event, something Ford could not ignore. Ford knew in his heart there was more to this vision—more for him to see.
Marie-Claire whizzed around a roundabout. Dark buildings flew past. She raced through a second roundabout, slowing only slightly. “We are making very good time. Traffic and the lights, they are on our side today.”
“Thanks again for coming out so early in the morning,” Gavin said.
“You are welcome. I would have come earlier, but I did not see your text right away. I am very…curieuse… curious by Ford and how he can see into the past.”
They drove in silence for a few minutes down a wider street, before passing through yet one more roundabout. Once through, Marie-Claire took a sharp right and slowed the car to a stop.
“We’re here?” Ellie asked.
“Oui.”
Ford stepped out of the car and stared at the large decrepit hotel. Great cracks ran up the side of the old building, most of the windows were boarded over. The sign over the door read, ‘otel d Fran’.
Ellie joined him on the sidewalk. “What a dump.”
“Yes, it once was a lovely boutique hotel, but the war changed that. Once the Germans left, people didn’t want to stay in a hotel the Nazis used for torture. Cursed by its history, twice the building was nearly destroyed by fire,” Marie-Claire explained.
“Now it sits here boarded up and forgotten,” Gavin said, standing on the other side of Ford.
“Forgotten. Just like the lives lost here,” Ford murmured. He wandered to the side of the hotel, drawn to the narrow-gated alleyway that ran alongside. “This way.” He led them through the open gate and down the alley to the back of the building. Fog rolled across his path.
He gasped. Something more than déjà vu nearly bowled him over. Goosebumps sprang to life across his arms.
“They’re here. Owl and Scout. They’re waiting.”
Chapter 43
They looked around the overgrown garden. Grey mist oozed across the tall grass. Ford shivered in the cool air. A whiff of damp earth filled his lungs.
“How do you know they’re here? Can you see them?” Ellie asked.
“I can sense—” Ford’s words faded away as his gaze focused on a tall, bronzed monument partially hidden behind a cluster of trees in the centre of the garden. “What is that?”
Ford led the small party along a weed-covered cobblestone pathway that snaked around a maple tree and a clump of evergreens. With each step, the note in his pocket seemed to burn hotter and with more insistence. Ford’s breath caught at the sight of the bronze figures of a woman in civilian clothes next to a uniformed man with a Labrador Retriever dog alert at his side.
“Jacques,” Ford murmured. “It looks like Jacques.”
“Here lie civilians and military alike, who gave their lives in a secret effort to end the atrocities of World War 2,” Ellie read the inscription out loud, her voice breaking near the end of the sentence. She caught Gavin’s eye. “We’re in a cemetery?”
Gavin looked around. “I can’t see any tombstones. Maybe they’re hidden under the tall grass and bushes.”
“It might not be an ordinary graveyard. This may be a mass grave site. If the Gestapo tortured and murdered people here, they wouldn’t go to the trouble of giving them a proper burial,” Ellie said.
“Allied Resistance” was etched in large letters across the base of the monument and Ford ran his fingers down the cool stone, tracing the word “Resistance.” He pulled the note from his pocket and closed his eyes, letting his mind relax. He took a deep breath and slowly released it. His eyes fluttered open.
“This way.”
He rounded the monument and took a few steps down another path. In shades of grey, partially hidden in the haze, there sat on a bench a woman with long hair swept up off her face and hidden underneath a tam.
“It’s Scout. She’s here.”
Behind her stood a tall man in a long trench coat, a crooked grin on his face as he listened intently to her. Was this Owl? He fit the description. Scout tipped her head back and laughed—at least Ford assumed she was laughing. He couldn’t hear either one of them. It was like watching a muted television show.
“Scout? Owl?” Ford called.
Scout cocked her head and frowned. She looked back at Owl who shook his head and looked around the cemetery.
Ellie, Gavin, and Marie-Claire stood beside Ford. He pointed to Scout and Owl. “Can you guys see them?”
All three shook their heads. Marie-Claire’s eyes were as round as saucers. “You can see…people?” she asked.
Ford simply nodded.
“Afraid this is all up to you, but we’ll be here. Just in case,” Ellie said.
Ford’s gaze returned to the two spies, who were busy in conversation. Ford still couldn’t hear a word. A wave of déjà vu engulfed him and he gripped Great-Granddad’s letter tighter, readying himself to revisit its memory, but the graveyard scene before him didn’t vanish. It didn’t even grey out or ripple the tiniest bit. In fact, nothing at all changed.
“Tom? Morah?” Great-Granddad whispered behind him.
