Danuta hadn’t really needed to leave so early this morning, but she wanted to get through her rounds as quickly as possible so she had time to cycle up to the Cliffe estate to see what was happening with Stanislaw. She hadn’t seen him for almost a week and he hadn’t telephoned either, so she was worried about him. He’d clearly been overdoing things, and she could only hope he hadn’t made himself ill.

She read through the list of calls she would have to make that day and then took her time to polish her bag and pack it with clean instruments and all the paraphernalia she would need, her thoughts turning to Sarah and Jane. She would miss both girls, but especially Jane, who she’d come to know very well during her time at Bletchley Park.

Jane had worked in the decoding room alongside Alan Turing, and for a time had been Danuta’s only contact with England, deciphering the messages she’d sent and passing on information and the new coded passwords that had been so vital to her survival behind enemy lines.

Of course they hadn’t been able to acknowledge one another as they would have liked – they’d both signed the Secrets Act which forbade them ever to mention the roles they’d played during the war – but they’d managed to get together in private for a few minutes at a time to reminisce about the men and women they’d worked alongside. They’d both agreed that if it hadn’t been for the genius of Turing who’d broken the Germans’ Enigma code, the world would have suffered many more years of warfare.

Jane had been introduced to that covert world through Doris’s son Anthony, who’d spotted her keen ability to solve complex mathematical problems, whereas Danuta had become involved through Ron’s contacts in the SOE. They’d both been mentored by the glamorous Dolly Cardew who’d gladly come out of retirement to pass on her expertise gained during her undercover work in the First War. Dolly had been a stalwart supporter throughout, and it had come as a shock to Danuta to discover she was Pauline Reilly’s mother, for no two women could have been more different.

Danuta finished packing her bag and carried it out to the bike shed. She grimaced as she felt the first few drops of rain splash on her face, and knew she was in for a miserable day. Perhaps she should think about asking Jack if he could get hold of a little second-hand car. With winter just around the corner, it would make life so much easier – and it wasn’t as if she couldn’t afford it. Dolly had given her fifty pounds before she’d left for America, with a note ordering her to spend it on something nice for herself.

Dumping her bag in the bicycle basket, she shrugged on her raincoat, tied a scarf over her bright red beret and set off for her first call of the day, the thought of owning a car giving her added energy as she tackled the steep hill up to Mafeking Terrace.