Page 71 of Never Tear Us Apart

She had regarded me from across her desk for a long thoughtful moment. When she picked up the phone, and asked to be put through to HQ, I thought for a moment that it was me that was in trouble. But she spoke to the general and told him everything I had discovered.

‘Very well, Maia,’ she said, her expression very serious. ‘The story is yours to write, after the count has been arrested. Agreed?’

‘Agreed,’ I nodded.

‘And good work,’ she said. ‘Very good work indeed.’

It hardly felt real until this moment. Now the trap has been set, and this young girl will be the first casualty.

‘That’s what I always say,’ I reply, using the phrase the count gave me. ‘Follow me, please.’

‘Maia?’ Danny calls after me, as we make our way through the densely dancing crowd.

I glance back, showing him my five fingers to signal I’ll be five minutes, but as he looks round the room, he is noticing what my contact has not: several sets of eyes following our every move.

Danny knows something is off, and he’s not about to let me go quite so easily.

‘Maia.’ He catches my wrist, glancing at the girl, who flutters her lashes at him, and smiles sweetly. ‘Where you two going?’

‘Just to powder our noses,’ I say with a fixed smile.

‘Do you two know each other?’ Danny notices the four or five men who are also leaving the room. ‘Maia, what’s going on?’ he asks, catching my hand.

‘Danny!’ I laugh. ‘Let me go – I’ll be back in a minute.’

‘Sure, but it’s just that—’

Out of options, I grab him by the lapels of his uniform jacket and kiss him hard.

When I pull away, he looks a little stunned, but he doesn’t move to stop me when I grab the girl’s hand and pull her towards the doors out of the dance hall. Once we’re in the hallway, I lead her to the back of the building, where I know there is a small empty kitchen.

Glancing up the stairs as we go, I see pairs of feet waiting in the dark at the top of the stairs. A door to our left is slightly open, and a shadow moves under it. Danny hasn’t followed, thank God. I’m starting to wonder if I should have explained all this to him to start with.

Once we are in the kitchen, I pull the door to. ‘I didn’t expect to see you,’ I say, playing for time. ‘You work at HQ, don’t you?’

‘Yes, for now,’ she says airily. ‘Been an army baby all my life, dragged out here a few years back by my dad, and somehow got stuck here through all of this. I’d rather be anywhere but here.

And I’m never going where my dad tells me to ever again.

So I’m saving up, going to get myself a nice place when all this is over and stay there for as long as I want with whomever I want.

’ She crosses her arms like a petulant teenager, and I think she might actually be one.

‘Who’s your father?’ I ask her, my heart sinking. ‘Are you sure you want to go through with this?’

‘What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Look, can we get this over with? I spent ages getting ready, and I want to dance with my boyfriend.’

She doesn’t hear the footsteps on the stairs or the movement in the hallway. She has no idea that in the next few minutes, the future is about to be ripped from under her feet.

‘Look, don’t tell me anything,’ I say. ‘You don’t have to.’

Her perfect, red-painted mouth falls open.

‘I want my money! Anyway, it’s not like what I’m going to tell you is going to change anything, not really.

I never tell him anything really important.

All I do is sell a little bit of information here and there, just things I pick up and overhear.

This time, he just wants to know some details about the relief convoy, and I happen to know what he’s after – that’s all.

The Germans and Italians will know within a few hours anyway, so what difference does it make really? ’

‘Quite a lot, actually.’ It’s a military police officer who speaks, opening the door. ‘I’m afraid you have made a terrible mistake, Miss Grayson, and I am going to have to take you for questioning.’

The small room is suddenly crammed full of military police crowding around the slight, foolish girl.

‘What? What’s going on?’ The girl stares at me with wild eyes, trying to shove past the officers and into the hall. ‘No, this is a mistake. I must go back. My Steven is waiting for me – I have to go back. I’ll have you know that my father is your superior officer!’

‘Not for very long, I shouldn’t think,’ one of the officers says. ‘Thank you, Miss Borg, for alerting us to this situation.’

‘This is just a game,’ the girl says, catching at my hand. ‘It’s just a foolish game.’

‘Listen to me, tell them everything you know. Everything, all right?’ I look at the military police sergeant. ‘She’s just a child.’

‘She’s nineteen,’ he tells me. ‘There are men younger than her flying against the Nazis every day, miss. And if the other side knows exactly when to attack, they’ll be fighting for their lives for longer and harder; more people will die.

A few hours make a big difference in war.

A few hours can be the difference between life and death.

We’ll need to debrief you, too, Miss Borg. Tomorrow.’

I nod. ‘Of course.’

‘But I didn’t mean anything by it . . .’ the girl cries.

Stepping aside, I turn my face away as the police bundle the girl out of the room and towards the back exit.

After a few seconds, Danny is standing next to me. ‘What the hell was that?’ he asks, and for the first time since we met, I can see only mistrust and uncertainty on his face.

‘A long story?’ I suggest tentatively. ‘Maybe we could . . .’

‘You a secret agent or something?’ he asks.

I laugh, but when I see the look on his face, I realise that was the wrong call. ‘No. I’m a journalist, that’s all. I was investigating Count Nicco and . . .’

‘Investigating?’ He raises his eyes, his tone insinuating.

‘Danny . . .’ I step away from him.

‘Am I an investigation, too? You seeing what secrets I’ll spill?’

‘What?’ I stare at him. ‘What’s happening here?’

‘What’s happening is that I’ve been thinking about seeing you again every second of every day, and you .

. . this whole time, you have been planning some kind of undercover operation I knew nothing about.

I thought I knew you. I thought we knew each other.

I have put all my cards on the table, Maia, but you’ve been keeping secrets from me.

What else are you hiding? How can I trust you? ’

There’s a beat while I look at him, shaking my head.

‘Danny, there are things I need to tell you – big things, actually. But this – this was my work. Because of it, Nicco is being taken into custody right now, and if the Axis find out details of the convoy, it won’t be because of him.

I stopped him. To protect you, to protect all the people I love, in the best way I know how.

This is all because . . .’ I stop, unable to articulate what I have to say.

‘Because I needed to leave my mark here. Because one day, I will need someone to know that I was here.’

Danny turns away from me for a moment, covering his face with his hands. He takes a deep breath, and I see his shoulders relax.

‘Maia,’ he says, turning back to me, ‘you are clever and brave and brilliant and . . . extremely surprising. And this . . . this came out of the blue, and I guess I thought you would be mooning around over dancing with me, the way I have been about you, and because I underestimated you, and I guess I’m a dumb chump who just wants to kiss you, if you can still stand to be kissed by this idiot. ’

‘Danny, the only thing you need to know,’ I tell him, ‘is that I have crossed universes to kiss you. And I always will.’