Winter in Madrid Read Online Free PDF Page A

bat.’ She shook her head sadly, the short curls bobbing. ‘Not against this enemy. It means killing, you know that already, and it means deception too, I’m afraid.’ She smiled apologetically.
    Harry felt opposing emotions churn inside him, panic beginning to stir. The thought of going back to Spain both excited and appalled him. He had heard things were very bad from the Spanish exiles at Cambridge. In the newsreels he had seen Franco addressing ecstatic crowds who responded with Fascist salutes, but behind that, they said, was a world of denunciations and midnight arrests. And Sandy Forsyth in the middle of it all? He looked at the photo again. ‘I’m not sure,’ he said slowly. ‘I mean, I’m not sure I could carry it off.’
    ‘We’d give you training,’ Jebb said. ‘Bit of a crash course because the powers that be want an answer to this one ASAP.’ He looked at Harry. ‘People at the highest level.’
    Part of Harry wanted to retreat now, go back to Surrey, forget it all. But he had spent the last three months fighting that panicky urge to hide.
    ‘What sort of training?’ he asked. ‘I’m not sure I’d be any good at deception.’
    ‘It’s easier than you think,’ Miss Maxse replied. ‘If you believe inthe cause you’re lying for. And you would be lying, deceiving, let’s not mince words. But we’d teach you all the black arts.’
    Harry bit his lip. There was silence in the room for a long moment.
    Miss Maxse said, ‘We wouldn’t expect you just to go in cold.’
    ‘All right,’ he said at length. ‘Perhaps I could bring Sandy round. I can’t believe he’s a Fascist.’
    ‘The hard part will be early on,’ Jebb said. ‘Working your way into his confidence. That’s when it’ll feel strange, difficult, and that’s when you’ll most need to pass it off.’
    ‘Yes. Sandy’s got the sort of mind that can see round corners.’
    ‘So we gather.’ Miss Maxse turned to Jebb. He hesitated a moment, then nodded.
    ‘Good,’ Miss Maxse said briskly.
    ‘We’ll need to move quickly,’ Jebb said. ‘Make some arrangements, put things in place for you. You’ll need to be vetted properly, of course. Are you staying up tonight?’
    ‘Yes, I’m going to my cousin’s.’
    He looked at Harry sharply again. ‘No ties here, apart from your family?’
    ‘No.’ He shook his head.
    Jebb took out a little notebook. ‘Number?’ Harry gave it to him.
    ‘Someone will ring you tomorrow. Don’t go out, please.’
    ‘Yes, sir.’
    They rose from their chairs. Miss Maxse shook Harry’s hand warmly. ‘Thank you, Harry,’ she said.
    Jebb gave Harry a tight little smile. ‘Be ready for the siren tonight. We’re expecting more raids.’ He threw the twisted paperclip into a wastepaper basket.
    ‘Dear me,’ Miss Maxse said. ‘That was government property. You are a squanderbug, Roger.’ She smiled at Harry again, a smile of dismissal. ‘We’re grateful, Harry. This could be very important.’
    Outside the lounge Harry paused a moment. A sad heavy feeling settled on his stomach. Black arts: what the hell did that mean? The term made him shudder. He realized that half consciously he was listening, as Sandy used to do at masters’ doors, his good ear turnedtowards the door to catch what Jebb and Miss Maxse might be saying. But he could hear nothing. He turned to find the receptionist had appeared, his steps unheard on the dusty carpet. Harry smiled nervously and allowed himself to be led outside. Was he falling already into the habits of a – what? Sneak, spy, betrayer?

Chapter Two
    T HE JOURNEY TO Will’s house normally lasted under an hour, but today it took half the afternoon, the tube continually stopping and starting. In the underground stations little knots of people sat on the platforms, huddled together, whey-faced. Harry had heard some of the bombed-out east-enders had taken up residence in the tubes.
    He thought of
spying
on Sandy Forsyth and a sick, incredulous feeling