Just the thought of having to kill someone – silently or not – had shown her the reality of her own and Marjie’s situation and had terrified Sibbie. But she’d got over this and had enjoyed, and really excelled at, the next method of killing they’d learned: how to ‘shoot from the hip’, a technique where they had to hold their gun close to their hips rather than taking aim; she had been surprised by how quickly she learned to hit the life-sized figure that was fixed to a winch and came at her with great speed.

In this she’d fared better than Marjie, and it had been Sibbie’s turn to help and encourage. They would practise together, with Sibbie hiding and jumping out in front of Marjie, who would have to get her pretend gun into position and shout, ‘Bang!’ just at the right moment. Always they ended up laughing and messing around as if they were youngsters again. These moments helped them both keep everything in perspective.

The demolition and explosives training was something they both enjoyed and were good at. Using dummy explosives, they practised real-life scenarios that got their adrenaline pumping, as the training for this was carried out on a stretch of train line, with a real train coming at them. Laying the charges in darkness, and timing yourself so that you could be in hiding before the train hit them, gave them a feeling for what sabotage meant and how dangerous it was. They both took this part of the training very seriously and soon became experts.

They had become stronger, not only physically, but mentally and emotionally. And Sibbie felt at last that she was ready – well, at least to take the next step: further training, which they had been informed would be in the New Forest. For Sibbie, it couldn’t come soon enough, as she felt eager now to get to the next stage, and knew that Marjie was, too.

Still there was no news from family in France, and this worried Sibbie, though she marvelled at how Marjie was coping – in the daytime, that was. Sometimes at night she heard sniffles, but she left Marjie her privacy and pretended to be asleep. She prayed fervently that they would hear from them soon and that it would be good news.

CHAPTER NINE

Eastern France

Ella and Flors

Flors sat with Cyrus on one side of her, and Ella holding a fretful Lonia on her knee on the other. They were all tired, cold and afraid. The stone floor they sat on, staring at the whitewashed, concrete walls, added to their discomfort. Part of the wall opposite jutted out, forming a cubicle, which housed a stinking lavatory, of the kind you had to stand over with one leg on each side.

‘Shush, Lonia. Don’t make any noise. We don’t want the men outside to know we are here.’