NIKI HAD TO CATCH an early train the morning after Fraser left, and as she traveled back to WRENS headquarters, she tried to make some sense out of the last few days. The unbelievable connection of their lives, the almost instant camaraderie they had, the ease with which she had been able to talk to him, even to tell him so much about herself, amazed her. Could you get to know someone well enough that quickly to imagine yourself in love? People were always talking about love at first sight. Did that really happen? Or was it just wartime? They said it happened because everyone was desperate to grab whatever happiness they could while they could. But Niki hadn’t felt that way. She just wanted the war to be over, for France to be free again, so she could go back, pick up her search to find her real parents.
Fraser had made her realize how lucky she was to have been brought up in such a loving family. She had never actually compared her good fortune with the fate of the other babies who had been brought to the orphanage at the same time she had. What had become of them? Where were they now?
Niki shivered and shifted her cramped position in the crowded compartment of the train. She looked around her at the other men and women in uniform. What would happen to them, to us all? she wondered. And to her and Fraser, who out of the strangest of coincidences in this crazy, mixed-up world had found each other?
Elly was lying on her bunk reading when Niki came into their quarters. She looked up from her book and stared at Niki curiously. “What’s happened to you?”
“What do you mean? I just spent nearly four uncomfortable hours on a train and then a bus, that’s what happened to me,” Niki replied wearily, dropping her duffel bag and sinking down on the bunk opposite.
“No, not that…. There’s something different about you.” Elly looked puzzled.
Niki almost said, “I’m in love.” But she didn’t have a chance, because Elly yawned and said, “You’re to report to Officer Brimley, first thing.”
“Now?”
“Now.” Elly returned to her book.
Niki grabbed a quick cup of strong tea, laced heavily with sugar to give her some much needed energy, before reporting to her superior.
As she entered the office, Officer Brimley glanced up briefly from whatever she was writing. Frowning, she acknowledged Niki’s salute, then continued filling out what looked to Niki like a long requisition sheet. Finally she raised her head and gave Niki a measuring look.
“We have received a communiqué stating you may qualify for a special assignment,” Officer Brimley said briskly. “You are granted a two-day pass to go to London for an interview with Colonel Thornton. You are to leave as soon as you can arrange transportation.”
Niki blinked. “That’s all, ma’am?”
“That’s all.” Officer Brimley’s lips closed in a firm line, and she handed Niki a slip of paper.
Niki had been in the service long enough to know that one was given only necessary information, no more. “Yours is just to do or die.” Still, she was full of curiosity. What did this mean? What kind of special assignment?
She still felt stiff, sandy-eyed, from her trip. Now she was supposed to turn around and go back to London.
Niki arrived in London an hour earlier than her appointment and had time for a quick cup of tea and a few biscuits at the station tearoom before reporting to the address she was given. It was a plain office building with no indication of what it housed. She gave her name at the receptionist’s desk in the front hall and was taken upstairs and into an office. Behind a large desk were two army officers, who rose to their feet at her entrance. Niki was so astonished that she forgot to salute as she had been taught in basic training.
What followed was even more strange. One of the officers, a man with rugged features, an outdoorsy complexion, and a gray mustache, introduced himself. “I’m Colonel Thornton. This is Captain Strawn.” He indicated the officer standing to his right. “We appreciate your coming. You are probably asking yourself just why you have been singled out.” He paused. “We understand you speak and comprehend French fluently. We are looking for bilinguals, because of the present situation in France.”
An hour later Niki left the office, went down the stairs and back into the hallway. Just as she was about to push through the outside doors, something caused her to halt, look back over her shoulder. It was then that something stopped her cold. Coming out one of the doors behind her was a man who seemed familiar. Niki didn’t recognize the blue gray uniform he was wearing; however, he was deep in conversation with a British officer. As they walked together down the hall toward her, she saw that the officer was Captain Strawn, who had excused himself and left during her interview.
Niki stood there, her hand on the door handle, ready to walk outside. The closer they approached, the surer she became. His name formed itself on her lips and she was about to call it out, when he lifted his head and their gaze met. It lasted only a split second, for he whirled around abruptly and started walking back down the hall. The officer with him looked startled, then glanced over at Niki and followed the other man more slowly until he caught up with him at the end of the corridor. They both disappeared into the door of an office.
Niki was bewildered. Her brain signaled that she had not been mistaken. The man with Captain Strawn was Paul Duval. She was sure it was he. What was he doing in London? Why had he not contacted her? But then, she hadn’t heard a word from him since that last night at Birchfields, the night they had danced on the terrace and he had kissed her…. The romantic aura of that evening seemed in stark contrast to the reality of this austere building, London at war. Had he seen her? If so, why had he turned around and gone in the other direction as if … as if what? Was he avoiding her? Avoiding being seen and recognized? But why? She gave her head a little shake as if to clear it. She went out and walked a few blocks. It was Paul. She knew it was Paul.
Niki stopped short. She was walking in the wrong direction. She should be going toward Victoria station to catch her train. She reversed herself, still lost in thought. What was Paul doing in that building? She had taken an oath of silence about the purpose of her interview, because the attempt to enlist bilingual people to set up radio contacts in occupied France was top secret. Did Paul have something to do with that? Was Paul part of the French Resistance, here in London on some secret mission?
Suddenly Niki felt a hundred years old. This was not the exciting adventure she had at first imagined. Stories were surfacing every day of Nazi occupation, of atrocities, of torture and betrayals. With certainty she knew Paul was involved in this underground movement against the oppressors.
She thought of the studied politeness of her interview. After questioning her at some length, Colonel Thornton had said, “Well, we are grateful for your coming, for your candor in replying to all our inquiries into your personal life. You are, however, quite young, and this is a great responsibility, requiring much thought and intensive training of a very different sort from what you’ve undergone in the WRENS. I have given you a cursory overview of what would be demanded of someone in this unit. I advise you to think it over very carefully. We will certainly keep your name on file.”
He had been courteous but dismissive, and Niki left, subdued and uncertain. Had she bitten off more than she could chew? Would she be up to it if—and that was a big if—they called her back, accepted her for this secret mission? Then Niki remembered what had happened to her at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, her new commitment to seek God’s guidance, her new conviction that he would give it if she asked.