The waiter finished and made sure they were settled and didn’t need anything before departing once again. Evelyn picked up her knife and fork and glanced at Kristian.
“You think they’re amassing ships in their ports?” she asked. “Tell me what makes you think that.”
“There has been a massive increase of signals going between the naval call signs,” he said, cutting into his pork medallions. “Rostock, Stettin and Swinemünde, in particular, have seen huge amounts of traffic. The only reason I can think of for that amount of sudden traffic is an increase of ships in, or leaving, the ports. There are others, as well. Kiel has increased the traffic substantially.”
“If that’s true, then Hitler’s definitely up to something,” Anna said with a frown. “What if he is going to attack us?”
Kristian looked at her and they were all silent for a moment. Then he sighed.
“I suppose we face that if it happens,” he said. “There’s nothing else we can do. Our army will defend us, but they are no match for the German forces.”
“I think perhaps it’s a very good thing that we came down here today,” Anna said. “If they are going to attack Norway, I’d rather know what’s coming, to be honest. At least now we know that something is definitely in the wind.”
Evelyn chewed her fish, not tasting it. If Kristian was correct and there was a build-up of ships in German ports, that could only mean that they were going to attack Norway or Sweden, unless Hitler was going to move to France next and wanted his Kriegsmarine to lend support. Of the two options, she was leaning heavily on the former. There were too many indications to support an invasion of Scandinavia to ignore them.
“There is someone in Oslo that you might want to talk to,” Kristian said after a few minutes of silence.
Evelyn looked up from her dinner questioningly. “Oh?”
“His name is Peder Strand. His family has a shop on Uranienborgveien, I believe. He also has a wireless set.” He glanced at her. “I have no idea if he would be willing to assist you, but I can vouch for his skill with a radio. I trained him.”
Anna looked up, surprised. “This isn’t the Peder that Erik got into a fight with last year, is it?”
Kristian laughed. “I’d forgotten about that! Yes, it’s the same Peder. What was that about again? I don’t remember.”
“Too much whiskey,” she replied with a laugh. “They were both perfectly happy the following morning. I don’t remember what sparked the argument, either. I don’t know if I ever really knew. One minute they were drinking and the next they were swinging fists outside.”
“Well, as I said, I don’t know how he feels about the current state of affairs in Europe, but if Hitler is going to make any moves towards us, it won’t hurt to have another radio at your disposal.”
“No, indeed,” Evelyn said with a nod. “Thank you!”
Kristian shrugged. “No need to thank me. It is purely selfish on my part. If the German army comes, I would rather have people I trust working alongside me. At least then I know I’ll die in good company.”
British Embassy, Oslo
Daniel Carew strode into his office, stripping off his gloves as he went.
“Where is it?” he demanded of the assistant who followed him.
“On your desk, sir,” the young man replied. He wasn’t upset by the sharp words from his boss. He was getting used to that particular tone of voice. Mr. Carew was notoriously bad tempered when he was called back to the embassy late at night. “It came an hour ago. I notified you as soon as we received it.”
“This is getting bloody ridiculous,” Daniel complained, tossing his gloves onto the desk and rounding the corner to pick up the sealed message sitting in the center of his blotter. “Every other day we’re getting some warning from somewhere. They all contradict each other, and no one can even agree on a location.”
He tore open the message and scanned it quickly.
“Is it the same as the others?” the assistant asked after a moment.
“Just about.” Daniel dropped into his chair and reread the message before tossing it onto the desk. “A respected member of a legation in Berlin advises that an attack on Norway and Denmark is imminent.”
“How imminent?”
“Well, this one says the ninth,” Daniel said, glancing back at the message. “The other day it was the eighth, and last week it was Holland, and it was the tenth. As I said, this is getting ridiculous.”
“At least we know the Germans are planning something,” the assistant pointed out.
“Oh, they’re planning something right enough,” Daniel muttered. “The question is what and where. And when! All these reports all have different dates and different locations. The only consistent theme in any of them is that Hitler is moving. But moving where?”
“What do the Norwegians say?”
Daniel made a disgusted sound and looked across the room at his assistant. “They don’t believe any of it. They’re ignoring the warnings. They think the sources are unreliable, the information faulty, and they refuse to consider the possibility that their precious neutrality might be breached.”
The assistant stared at him blankly. “But...that many reports can’t all be false,” he protested. “Where there’s smoke and all that. How can they simply ignore it?”
“Which one would you have them act on?” Daniel rubbed his eyes tiredly. “I think it’s a mistake to dismiss all of them, but I can see their point. With this many warnings, it’s damn near impossible to pin down which ones might be true.”
“And London?
