Page 5 of The Secret Librarian
Chapter Three
Avery
Avery had been awake since well before daybreak, and before that she felt as if she’d tossed and turned all night.
But now, after the longest morning in history, she was finally walking up the steps of the Gramercy Park Hotel, double-checking the number on the building before walking through the doors.
She was surprised to be meeting at a hotel, but then she guessed that it was a logical place for someone out of town to hold meetings.
‘May I help you?’ the concierge asked, clearly seeing how confused she looked.
‘I’m, ah ...’ Avery cleared her throat and glanced at the now deeply lined piece of paper in her hand. She’d folded and unfolded it so many times since being given it the day before that it was almost falling apart. ‘I’m here to meet a Mr Frederick Kilgour.’
‘Come this way,’ the concierge said.
She followed him to the elevator, where he pressed a button and ushered her inside when the doors opened.
‘When you reach your floor, turn right, and room 401 will be on your left.’
Avery nodded, gulping as the doors closed. She was grateful to have the elevator to herself, and she took a few slow, deep breaths until the doors finally opened again when they reached the correct floor.
‘Here goes nothing,’ she muttered under her breath, before stepping out and walking silently down the hallway, checking the number on each door as she passed, her heels sinking into the thick carpet.
When she finally reached room 401, she stopped, not giving herself time to overthink what she was doing, and swiftly lifted her hand to rap her knuckles against the door.
She stood back, her chest rising and falling with each breath, almost ready to think that there was no one waiting for her on the other side, when it finally opened. A man in a suit, his hair greying at the sides, addressed her with a serious expression.
‘Miss Avery Johnson?’
She nodded. ‘Yes, that’s me.’
‘Please come in.’
Avery did as he asked, standing a few steps inside as he shut the door behind her. He held out his hand.
‘I’m Frederick Kilgour,’ he said. ‘Thank you for agreeing to this meeting on such short notice, I’m only in town for two days.’
Avery followed him across the room, surprised to see that it was a large suite and that a desk had been set up in the middle with a chair on either side. She supposed Mr Kilgour was conducting more than one interview for the room to be so well prepared for him.
‘Avery, before we get started, I have to ask you to sign these papers,’ he said, gesturing to a document on the table, a pen waiting beside it. ‘What we’re going to discuss today is confidential, and we need assurances that you will be bound by a confidentiality agreement.’
Avery stepped forward and quickly skim-read the papers, before signing. She could see no reason not to.
‘Thank you. Please, take a seat.’
She sat down opposite him and nervously fiddled with the strap of her purse, suddenly feeling most out of depth being in a room with an unfamiliar man.
‘Avery, your file tells me that you’re an Ivy League graduate who speaks three languages, two fluently, and that you’ve been working for the New York Public Library for a little over six months now.’
‘Yes sir, that’s correct,’ Avery replied.
‘You’re unmarried,’ he said, holding up a manila folder that clearly had a dossier of information on her, ‘your family live in New York, and most importantly, you’ve been working in microphotography since graduation.’
Avery nodded. ‘All correct, although I have to say I haven’t practised my languages in quite some time.’
Kilgour leaned forward, his elbows on the table. ‘Avery, have you heard of the OSS?’
She shook her head. ‘No sir, I haven’t.’
‘It stands for Office of Strategic Services. We’ve essentially been formed by the government solely for the purpose of obtaining information and sabotaging the military efforts of our enemy nations.’
Avery went very still as he explained what the organisation was, but she forced herself to speak when he finished.
‘What I don’t understand, is why someone from the OSS would want to meet me,’ she said. ‘I have no experience in espionage or—’
‘You have experience in microfilming and cataloguing publications, Avery, and that’s what I’m interested in,’ he said, crossing his arms. ‘I’m not looking for experienced spies, we have enough of those already, but what I do need are experts in microphotography with top-notch degrees, and the ability to converse in a language other than English for international postings. ’
Avery’s heart began to race.
‘To put it bluntly, we need you, Avery. Specifically, we need you as part of the IDC.’
‘The IDC—’
‘Sorry, short for the Interdepartmental Committee for the Acquisition of Foreign Publications,’ he said, a chuckle breaking his otherwise serious demeanour. ‘I’m always rather proud of myself for remembering that mouthful.’
‘And what exactly would I be doing, if you were to recruit me for the IDC?’ she asked, trying to hide her excitement. ‘If I were to be posted overseas.’
‘After a short period of training, you’d be sent overseas to a neutral country, specifically to seek out newspapers, books and other texts to help us gather information on the enemy,’ he explained.
‘You would essentially be operating under the guise of working for the Library of Congress – an innocent librarian collecting all newspapers and other information for the purposes of preservation.’
She smiled. ‘Which would essentially only be half a lie.’
‘Precisely,’ he said. ‘Your mission would in fact be to photograph and send back copies of enemy publications, on microfilm of course; however no one other than you would know that. To put it bluntly, our agency strongly believes that accessing enemy publications could provide vital information that might help us win the war. It’s important we read Axis newspapers and recently published books as quickly as we can, and we need those publications here, for our intelligence bureau to access in Washington. ’
Avery took a deep breath. ‘Would I be in danger, if I agreed to such a role?’
‘Yes,’ he replied bluntly. ‘There’s little doubt that you would be in some danger as a foreign national, but I’m confident that if you go about your business, focusing only on doing the job assigned to you, then you would be unlikely to draw attention.’
Avery blew out a breath this time, hardly able to believe what he was telling her.
‘If I agreed to this opportunity,’ she began, thinking through her choice of words carefully before continuing, ‘would I be able to tell my family where I was going? How exactly would I explain this to my parents? Would it be a secret?’ She half laughed.
‘What I’m trying to say is, I’ll need a way to explain this to my father. ’
‘Well, the answer is yes and no. They will know your cover story, which means they’re aware of your location, but they won’t know the full extent of your work.
All you’ll tell them is precisely what you’d tell anyone who asked wherever you’re posted – you’re there to obtain all newspapers and texts from all countries, as a record of history, for your work as a librarian.
They don’t need to know that we’re in fact searching enemy publications for clues, but they can be told how badly your government needs you. ’
‘For the Library of Congress,’ she said.
‘Precisely.’
Avery suddenly felt hot all over, and she dabbed at her upper lip with the back of her finger. She also moved her arms from her sides slightly, hoping she didn’t have sweat marks on her blouse.
‘Do you have any further questions for me?’ Kilgour asked.
She interlinked her fingers, frantically trying to think of intelligent questions she could ask and failing to come up with any.
Kilgour cleared his throat and glanced at his watch, as if he had somewhere else to be or perhaps someone else to meet.
‘The crux of the matter is that we need men and women with special skills to join the IDC. Being overseas isn’t for the faint of heart, but my understanding is that you’ve fought your way to succeed in a man’s world already, Avery.’
She met his steady gaze, understanding that he was probably a man few people ever said no to.
‘So can we count on you, Avery?’ he asked.
She felt her hands begin to tremble and she balled them into fists, taking a deep breath and meeting Kilgour’s steady gaze.
‘I’m flattered that you think I’d be suitable for the role, truly I am, and I’m immensely interested in helping my country,’ Avery said, feeling an unfamiliar flutter inside of her as she forced her words out. ‘But I need to think about it.’
His lips formed a tight line as he stared back at her, before finally speaking again.
‘I’m only in town for one more day,’ he said. ‘I’ll give you my card, but I have to tell you that you won’t be offered this kind of opportunity again if you turn this one down.’
Avery rose, smoothing down her skirt before reaching for the card he extended. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘And I understand the time constraints, I just need time to consider your proposal.’
He blinked wordlessly at her, then rose and walked a few steps behind her to the door, quietly, as if waiting for her to fill the silence with words. She couldn’t tell if he was disappointed or whether he’d expected her not to give him an answer on the spot anyway.
Her heels sank into the carpet as she walked, and her heart sank at the same time, feeling as if she’d already made a mistake in not giving him a straight answer.
I need to be braver. I came here hoping to be offered an opportunity. I walked through this door hoping to be given the chance of a lifetime. This is everything I’ve ever wanted. What’s stopping me from giving the man an answer here and now?
Avery reached for the door handle, but then just as quickly dropped her hand and slowly turned around. She knew if she didn’t make a decision now, if she wasn’t brave enough to just say yes, she would regret it for the rest of her life.