‘Do we?’ I asked.
She opened her other eye.
‘Miriam likes you,’ she said. ‘We could use that to our advantage.’
‘I’m not that charming.’
‘I’ve seen the way she looks at you. If she thought there was a chance to steal you away from me she’d jump on it.’
‘Speaking figuratively,’ I said.
‘Or literally.’
‘Are we talking about me and Miriam? Or you and Vaughn?’
‘I’ve got no interest in Vaughn. Quite the opposite.’
‘I couldn’t do it,’ I said.
‘Why not? I’m not the first woman you’ve been intimate with,’ she said, ‘and I won’t be the last.’
‘You might be.’
‘The Germans might not invade, you know,’ she said. ‘You might still have a few years left in you.’
‘Even so,’ I said.
She leant forwards and took my hand.
‘John, there’s a lot you don’t know about me.’
We sat quietly.
‘You’d seduce Vaughn if it gave us a tactical advantage?’ I asked.
It made my skin crawl to imagine Margaret with Vaughn, no matter how useful it might be.
‘Is what Bunny asked you to do important?’
‘Vital,’ I said.
‘Make or break? Do or die?’
I nodded. Margaret’s logic was always impeccable, even if I didn’t like the direction it took us.
‘So. Whatever it takes,’ she said.
The same words as Bunny. The same cold logic. The two of them cut from the same cloth.
Whatever it takes.
56
‘What’s the plan? Ring his doorbell and say we’ve come to sign up for goose-stepping and Heil Hitler?’ Margaret had to shout over the buffeting wind as we sped along the road on top of the Forest. There was a thick mist, and the air smelt earthy. I kept my eyes on the disappearing road in front of us. Margaret was driving faster than we could see.
‘That’s about it,’ I shouted.
I’d told Margaret the minimum. We needed to get closer to Vaughn and Miriam. Get inside his organisation. I’d kept the whole ‘secret radio station’ story to myself. Even thinking about it in the cold light of day felt crazy, as if it were the product of a dream.
