He turned off the track and dived into the woods, following a trail he had blazed as a boy. These were the happy hunting grounds of his childhood, where long school holidays passed in a flash as he and his mates became SOE operatives dropped by Lysanders into the French forests to blow up Nazi trains. At the edge of the woods he paused to take in the view, the field falling away to their Georgian pile, shaded by century-old lime trees, against the backdrop of the Precambrian hills, 680 million years old. Most of their land was leased to a local farmer now, since he had shown no interest in farming. Was this what was waiting for him? Was he staring at his future? What the hell was he going to do next?

When he turned on his phone there were four missed calls, three from a withheld number, no messages. He hadn’t the energy to be curious right now.

The fourth was his father. Tom dialled and waited.

‘Hello, old boy! Welcome home and all that.’

Breezy and positive was Hugh Buckingham’s default mode. Tom guessed his mother had been on to him, full of worry, but Hugh would know better than to ask questions or offer sympathy. ‘Soaking up some of your mother’s TLC, I trust.’

‘Yeah!’

‘Well, when you’ve had enough of that, come up to town and have lunch. I need your perspective.’

‘On what?’

‘On what the hell’s going on.’ Hugh knew he wouldn’t survive more than a few days down there without getting cabin fever.

‘Yeah, okay.’

His father tried not to overplay his joy. ‘Come to the club and we’ll take it from there. And . . .’ He paused, sounding uncharacteristically hesitant. ‘Did that chap Rolt get hold of you?’

Rolt? Tom couldn’t place the name.

‘You know, the Invicta chap – patron saint of ex-soldiers. You were at school with him.’

They’d been in the same house – hardly best buds. ‘What does he want?’

‘Just asked you to call. He’s quite a big deal now.’

Tom had no inclination to talk to anyone, and especially not if they were connected with the forces. ‘Okay, Dad. Will do. See you.’

Chapter 19

19

Westford Airfield, Oxfordshire