He was older than she had thought him to be, but he had looked young and vulnerable lying unconscious in the bottom of the fishing boat. Yet, even then, Gordon had said the insignia on his jacket was quite a high rank. What was it he had said? Squadron Leader?

She smiled weakly at him. At least now, clean and dry, he looked more like a member of – what was it the disgruntled soldier had called the RAF? Oh yes, that was it – the glamour boys.

Kate felt her eyelids close, but she opened them again as he spoke. His voice was deep, yet a little croaky from his recent ordeal.

‘I want to . . .’ he began, but Kate said, ‘Don’t, please don’t. I just want to know what’s happened to Danny . . .’ Her voice broke and she turned her head away towards the wall so that he should not see her tears. She knew he was going to start thanking her, maybe telling her how brave she had been. She didn’t want that, because she didn’t feel she had been particularly courageous. She had only come to be with Danny. How could she explain to the airman that for some reason she had not even felt afraid, at least, not for her own safety. The only fear she felt was to think that all this carnage could happen in England; that had made her angry.

Now, however, her terror was very real. She was desperately frightened for Danny.

Hearing the airman move, she looked back at him again. He was struggling to rise from the bed. ‘I’ll go – and see – what I can find out.’

She put out her hand to stop him. ‘No, no, you mustn’t. You’ll . . .’

‘And just what do you think you’re up to, young feller?’ Gordon’s cheerful face appeared round the door. Carefully he stepped between the soldiers on the floor and came towards them. He was soaking wet, his hair plastered down, and rivulets of water were running down his face. The airman sank back on to the bed as Gordon grinned broadly at Kate and said, ‘He’s okay – we’ve got him. He’s taken in a lot of water. They’re pumping him out now. But he’ll be all right.’

‘Oh, thank God!’ she whispered. ‘It was you, Gordon, wasn’t it?’

‘Me – what do you mean? What have I done?’ He drew the back of his hand across his eyes and blinked.

‘It was you found him, wasn’t it? Did you pull me out too?’

The grin widened as he turned away to go and dry off. ‘Well, you know what they say? One good turn deserves another . . .’

With that, he was gone.