Page 20 of The Shadow Code (Heroes of War #3)

T he door to George Lockwood’s office clicked shut with a soft finality. Jack remained standing, hands behind his back, as the sweet smoke from the boss’s pipe curled through the heavy air.

Lockwood looked up from his papers, steel-rimmed glasses perched halfway down his nose. ‘Orders have come down,’ he said without preamble. ‘From high up. Very high.’

Jack frowned. ‘Concerning what?’

Lockwood slid a folder across the desk.

‘Temporary consultant. Eleanor Harcourt.’

He stared at the file for a moment before opening it.

Oxford graduate . Mathematics . Cipher systems . Clean background check . No political entanglements . Commendations from Scotland Yard .

He closed the folder and set it aside on the desk. ‘Why her?’ he asked quietly.

Lockwood shrugged. ‘It wasn’t my idea.’

The quiet pause that followed was sharp, filled only by the tick of the mantel clock and the faint clatter of typewriters down the hall.

Lockwood leaned back, tapping his pen against the blotter.

‘Word is her father’s involved in classified projects.

Physics work. Very sensitive. And Templeton and Lambert were both connected to that same project. ’

Jack’s mind raced. There was a pattern forming. Names circling the same classified project, and somewhere in the middle, a codename he’d seen once in a redacted file. Kingfisher .

Lockwood continued, more gently now. ‘There’s a whisper in intelligence – nothing confirmed, but enough to raise eyebrows.

Her father may have been approached. If that’s true …

’ He trailed off, letting the implication hang.

‘This is bigger than you were led to believe,’ Lockwood said, almost kindly.

‘And you want to put Ellie in the middle of it?’ The words came out sharper than he’d intended. ‘She’s already drawn attention, had someone following her and she received a threat recently, some cryptic telephone caller. Now you want to make her an official target?’

Lockwood studied him for a long moment. ‘Oxford, top of her class,’ he mused aloud. ‘Mathematician. Puzzle solver. And yet she chose the Yard. Joined the Women’s Auxiliary Police Corps.’ He shook his head. ‘War sends everyone sideways.’

‘She’s already uncovered a connection between Lambert, Templeton and the cipher.’

Lockwood’s bushy eyebrows shot up. ‘Really? Good Lord.’ He set down the pen and drew thoughtfully on his pipe. ‘If she stirs up more trouble than she solves,’ he said grimly, ‘you’ll be the one explaining it.’

‘I’ll take responsibility,’ Jack said.

‘She’s also the girl who nearly exposed Sinclair.’

Jack’s jaw tightened. ‘She was right to be suspicious.’

‘She’s impulsive.’

‘She’s precise.’

Lockwood studied him a moment longer, then reached for a fresh sheet of paper. He scribbled a quick note, sealed it in a manila envelope, and slid it across the desk.

‘Provisional clearance,’ he said. ‘Restricted need-to-know basis. One misstep and she’s out.’

Jack nodded. ‘Understood.’

He turned to leave, but Lockwood’s voice halted him. ‘Stratton.’

He paused.

‘One more thing. Keep an eye on her, and, more importantly, keep her safe.’

Clenching his fists at his side, Jack kept his expression neutral. ‘Yes, sir,’ he muttered.

As he stepped back into the corridor, he had the distinct sense that they had all just leapt onto a chess board and someone far above them was already moving the pieces.

And as for Ellie Harcourt … They didn’t see her as a person, just another pawn to be sacrificed when the board demanded it.

And Jack was beginning to wonder if he was one, too.