hmmmm… i reckon there’s a thriller in this…
apologies for the rushed hackish story…
Part One: The Station. April 26th 1939
“Bloody hell its cold! It’s nearly May for chrissakes! The bloody weather in this country is worse than back home!”
Brainfizz sighed and looked up from his newspaper at the shivering RAF man.
“Jesus Garius keep your voice down will you. We’re meant to be discreet.”
“HA! Discreet my fcking arse! Look at us Fizz! An RAF Captain in full uniform and a Diplomat who looks like he just walked out of a shop on Saville Row! We’d stand out in King’s bloody Cross so our chances of looking inconspicuous in Berlin are pretty fcking minimal.”
Brainfizz sighed again, but couldn’t help smiling. Garius was right of course, this was a joke but it was the way the British Secret Service played “the game”.
And therein, he thought, lay the problem. To the powers that be back in Britain it was exactly that – a game. It wasn’t “spying” – heaven forbid! Spying was underhand. Dirty. Something foreigners did not the British. No, instead we played “the game” which meant that even though you still did the underhand and dirty things you had to behave, at all times, like a gentleman.
Which is exactly why Britain’s two foremost agents currently in Germany were now standing in the middle of Berlin Central Station trying to save the life of an informant whilst standing out more than two clowns at a funeral.
Anyway. Back to business.
“So tell me again what went wrong” He said out loud.
“Long story” Garius replied. “You sure you want to know?”
“Indulge Me.”
The RAF Captain cleared his throat and looked round. When he was satisfied that no-one was within earshot he began to speak.
“Her official codename is Tir Tinuvel. Don’t know her real name. Unofficially she’s known as “Rainbow” - always changing her hair colour."
“How bizarre”
"I don’t know - makes her quite an interesting girl don’t you think? Anyway, f*ck knows what her job is, but she has access to some bloody heavy information. Maybe she’s Goebbel’s mistress or something. Last week she contacted Jr8 - her handler - in a panic. Said she had some serious information but that the Gestapo were on to her.”
“Jr8 say what?”
“No – because she wouldn’t tell him. Said he’d have to get her out. All she’d say was that it was top level – “Hitler’s eyes only” stuff and it was pretty f*cking major - something to do with the Italians and Russians. She said she’d be here, today, on the 26th and that she’d be on the 11:30 train to Bern. Jr8 told her that he’d make sure there was a British agent on the train to meet her, that the agent would be in coach D, and that she’d recognise him because he’d know their password.”
“So what’s the password?”
“Oh you’ll love it – it’s ‘Swordfish’!”
Brainfizz laughed. “Should have guessed” He said “It’s always bloody ‘Swordfish’!”
Garius laughed and nodded in agreement.
“Anyway” He continued “As it stands we have two problems. First, the 11:30 train doesn’t run today - they’ve changed the timetable. There are Bern trains at 11:00 and 12:00 so she could be on either. Secondly, if she was right and she had been compromised then chances are that the Gestapo will be on the train too.”
Brainfizz frowned and thought for a moment. It was certainly not an ideal situation.
“Okay here’s the plan then. You get the 11:00 just in case and I’ll hang around and wait for the 12:00. Chances are she’ll get the later one.”
“And if the Gestapo show up?”
“Then we deal with them.”
To be continued…
