“Lovely of you to come and see me,” Jamie said.
“I wasn’t allowed to come before this,” replied Yvonne, “but it’s good to see you are recovering well.”
“Yes,” said Jamie, “if I keep this up they could send me out on sick leave in a few days. My shoulder has been set and the bones will take a few weeks to mend. I have to keep it strapped up. The main concern is the concussion from the blow on the head. I still have headaches from it but I seem to have all of my faculties.” The relief on Yvonne’s face was very obvious and it was also obvious to Jamie how she felt about him. He decided that he had better pre-empt the question that she would have about him still being in the RAF. “Yvonne, I’m sure you are wondering about me being in a RAF hospital. Clearly, I’m still in the RAF and you wonder why I was working in The Hound and Pheasant. All I can say is that I was working there under orders and officially I am on a month’s leave. The Official Secrets Act prevents me from saying anything more at present. Let me say something else. I don’t think I’ve met another woman like you and if you feel deceived I hope that you will forgive me because I don’t want to lose you.” Jamie stopped at that point, suddenly realising what he had said. Yvonne could hardly believe her ears and she suddenly felt great relief and tears came to her eyes. He felt about her the way that she felt about him.
“Well, Jamie Rogerson, you’ve answered my question about you being in this hospital. I guess I’ll have to wait to know more about what you do. Did you hear that Bill Enderby was arrested in Grimsby last night?” Jamie shook his head. Smiling, Yvonne went on to say, “I’m also very happy to know the way you feel about me. You know the feeling is mutual, don’t you.”
He nodded and a big smile crossed his face. “Let’s make sure it’s going to last,” he said, his Scots caution coming to the fore. Yvonne nodded, her face breaking out into a radiant smile.
***
A sergeant of the RAF police was in the control tower at RAF West Sanby and noticed a vessel anchored out at sea. He picked up a set of binoculars and focussed on the vessel. It was a trawler but what was interesting was all the antennae it had. The vessel was rigged up as a listening post and not for the normal needs of a fishing trawler. The sergeant noted that it must have arrived during the night because it wasn’t there yesterday. He picked up the telephone to report it to the officer in charge of the RAF police on the base. The sergeant then logged the incident. It was the twentieth of October. The officer picked up the telephone and reported it to Wing Commander Saxelby. Then he telephoned the JSTU and the squadron commanding officer, Squadron Leader Dawson, on receiving the news, telephoned Group Captain Clarkson and passed the information on. “Thank you for that information, Dawson, that is very helpful. Okay, I’ll be in touch.” Clarkson then telephoned Air Vice-Marshall Denby with the news. Denby hung up the ‘phone with a smile on his face. Only six persons knew the date, including himself. “They’ve taken the bait,” he said to himself. Then he rang Hamilton at MI5.
The publican at Parfleet St Peter also had a smile on his face. Two of the guest rooms had been booked for a week with possible extensions. One of the rooms had been booked by a research organisation doing coastal studies. The man claimed to be a marine scientist and had arrived on the Tuesday. The first day he had spent going along the sea wall with camera and survey equipment. He had a Landrover and obviously expected to do off-road work. The other guest had arrived just yesterday by car and claimed to be an ornithologist. This morning he had headed out to the hide to the north of the village, equipped with binoculars, camera and a tape recorder. The publican thought it most unusual for two rooms to be booked at the same time this time of the year. His guest rooms were usually booked for weekends and only in the warmer weather. Still, he wasn’t going to complain. Then he started thinking about the dance organised for the coming Saturday evening. Bob had agreed to lend Jamie Rogerson to work on the bar but then had to find someone else to replace Jamie. Walmar had offered to do it despite his lack of experience and it had been agreed to use him. With the loss of his fishing boat it would be a help to Walmar financially. Yvonne was supposed to do much of the organising but her focus seemed to be elsewhere. Still, the other members of the committee had stepped in to take up the slack. Some of them remembered Yvonne losing her husband and felt for her in the present situation. The boats wouldn’t be going out the night of the dance so there should be good support from the fishermen and their families. The dance would be held in the village hall. The permits were all in place. It was just a matter of getting everything set up during the day on Saturday. That was only two days away.
North of the village, along the sea wall, a ‘birdwatcher’ was getting his bearings. He had found the ‘hide’ that birdwatchers used and had walked towards Humberston so that he could look for vantage points to study the activities at RAF West Sanby. From the information already received, the JSTU was being set up on the northern part of
