The 9 by Madalyn Morgan (tools of titans ebook .txt) 📕

but I was not. I can’t go into what my sister and brother are doing in the war, except to say that my brother is on the front line and my sister’s work, also overseas, is highly classified. I should not have told you that, but I think I can trust you.’ Ena thought she saw a twinkle of a smile in the commander’s eyes. She didn’t react. ‘I just want you to know that I am proud of them both, and I hope that one day they will be proud of me.’

The commander looked at his watch, again.

‘I’ll get to the point. Please don’t stop the work Silcott Engineering does for the MoD and for Bletchley Park. If you don’t trust me, I won’t do any more sensitive work. I’ll go back to the factory floor.’ Ena felt tears stinging the back of her eyes. ‘And if that isn’t good enough for you, I’ll hand in my notice, I’ll leave. I’m sure, in time, Mr Silcott will find someone else to do my job. Please,’ Ena begged, ‘don’t make everyone at Silcott’s suffer because of me.’

Commander Dalton pushed back his chair and stood up. His lips twitched. Ena thought he was going to speak. When he didn’t, something inside her snapped. ‘All those women, mothers, will be out of work.’ Her eyes widened with anger. ‘If that happens, I hope you’ll be able to live with yourself, Commander Dalton. I know I shan’t!’

Turning away, Ena marched to the door, opened it, and left without looking back.

CHAPTER TWELVE

‘Ena?’

A man was calling her name. Pretending she couldn’t hear him, Ena picked up her step and walked on.

‘Ena?’

She shot a look over her shoulder. The man was waving. Recognising him, she stopped. Henry Green was running towards her. Having ignored her in the hut, Ena wondered what he wanted with her now.

‘Hello?’ Henry beamed her a smile. ‘I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw you with Horace Dalton.’

‘Oh? I didn’t think you recognised me.’

Henry laughed. ‘Of course I did. But I thought if you were in some sort of trouble, I’d be better placed to help you if no one knew we were friends. I had no idea you worked at Bletchley.’

‘I don’t really.’

‘But the X-board?’

‘Well yes, but…’ Ena wondered if Commander Dalton had asked Henry to come after her and trap her in some way. Thinking about it, there hadn’t been much time for such a conversation. Even so, not knowing who she could trust and not wanting to get into more trouble, she decided to tell him what he already knew. ‘I did some work for Bletchley that was sabotaged. Now my credibility is in question, which I’m sure you are aware of.’ She stopped and checked herself. ‘I work at Silcott Engineering in Lowarth, and what I do there ends up here.’ Her vision blurred as her eyes filled with tears. ‘Oh, Henry,’ she cried, ‘I’ve got myself into terrible trouble.’

Before she could tell Henry more, a mountain of a security guard came lumbering towards her from the mansion’s main door. ‘Oh no!’ Ena wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

The guard arrived red faced with beads of perspiration on his forehead. ‘Excuse me, sir,’ he wheezed, ‘I have been looking for this... Miss Dudley...’

‘Why?’ Henry asked.

‘I have orders to escort her off the premises. If you’d like to come with me, miss, I’ll take you to the railway station.’ The security man clamped a hand the size of a plate, with sausage-like fingers, around the top of Ena’s arm. ‘There’s a car waiting to take you.’

‘Hold on a minute, old chap,’ Henry said, seizing the man’s hand and removing it from Ena’s arm. ‘Who ordered you to take Miss Dudley to the station?’

‘Commander Dalton, sir.’

‘Then go and tell the commander that Miss Dudley is an old friend of mine, Henry Green,’ The security guard nodded as if to say he knew who Henry was, ‘and that I shall take her to the station.’

The security guard looked from Ena to Henry. ‘But my orders are to put Miss Dudley on the next train to Rugby.’

‘Damn your orders, my friend. I shall put Miss Dudley on a train to Rugby. So be a good chap and go and tell Horace.’

‘If you’re sure, sir?’

‘I am.’

As the security guard walked back to the mansion, Henry winked at Ena.

‘You won’t get into trouble, will you?’

‘No. Horace is a bit of a stickler for protocol, but he’s a good sort. I poked my head round his door and said goodbye. So he knows my shift has just finished. And he knows the station is on the way to my digs, so he’ll be fine about me escorting you. I’m afraid I don’t have a car, so we’ll have to walk.’

Ena laughed. ‘I’d rather walk five miles with you, than sit in a security car for five minutes with that gorilla.’

Arriving at the station, Henry checked the times of the trains. ‘There’s a train to Rugby in two minutes, or,’ he raised an eyebrow, ‘we could have a cup of tea in the buffet. But if we do that, you’ll have to get the 4:25 and you’ll be late getting back. What do you think?’

‘Tea please. I’m parched.’

There was a vacant table by the window and one against the back wall. Ena didn’t want to risk being seen by the security man, if he had followed her, and made her way to the table at the back of the room. The thought of a hot drink, in the company of someone who wasn’t there to accuse her of anything, made Ena feel better.

Henry joined her after ordering them both tea. When the waitress brought the cups over, she also had a thin slice of