Twenty-three

1941

On hearing Sean’s heartbreaking tale, Lily believed that their relationship was sealed. Although wracked with guilt, this was a good man. His commitment to the cause he now espoused had directly led to the dreadful abuse and death of his son and the break-up of his marriage. But it had made his resolve as strong as iron. He would be a good man to work with.

From the moment of their first intimacy it had no longer been a struggle to act as man and wife when in public. In fact, whenever they met Andrew or any of his aides, the struggle was to not act in such a way as to make it obvious to them just how intimate they had become.

At the end of a wild fortnight of passion, Sean and Lily found themselves with Andrew in his office in Onslow Gardens again. Andrew could see from their invisible body language that they had made a couple. He was confident that they would be able to carry off the disguise of man and wife behind enemy lines. To be sure he did not know exactly how well they could carry it off; Only Sean and Lily knew that. It was now time to brief them on their mission. Only if they agreed to it would the project be taken forward.

            “Before I go into details I need to ask you both whether you think you will be able to be convincing as man and wife if you undertake this mission.”

Despite himself Sean felt a blush beginning to spread upon his face. Lily distracted Andrew by speaking up first.

            “Sean must answer for himself, but as for me, I am certain we can do it.”

            “No problem at all, Andrew,” Sean said and then coughed several times.

            “Dear chap,” said Andrew. “Here, have some water.”

Sean gratefully gulped a glass of water and then sat back to listen to what Andrew had to say.

He opened a file and then began speaking in a business like fashion, “Ironically, for this mission, the fact that you are both Catholics is important to us.” He paused.

Lily and Sean looked at each other. ‘Where is this leading?’ was the expression on their faces. 

            “The powers that be don’t want this to appear sectarian in nature should anything go wrong.”

Sean shifted in his seat. “Look Andrew, you don’t need to prepare the ground any further. We’ve had two weeks to think about this. We are both here because we want to play our part in bringing down Nazism. We want to be involved. We doubt there is anything you can ask us that is so morally repugnant that we will want to back out. If there is we might have to ask why we want to work for you at all. But now is the time to tell us.”

Andrew looked up from his file. He closed it and looked from Lily to Sean and back again. Then he said, “We want you to assassinate the Pope!”

Sean and Lily could not have known how long the Security Services would take to prepare the mission. Andrew placed them both in the Middlesex Hospital where they worked flat out dealing with victims of the Blitz and returning casualties from the various theatres of war. There were times when they believed the war would be over before Andrew gave them the call to action.