“Dot! This is a surprise,” the chief Wren exclaimed, rising from behind her desk. “I thought you’d be fast asleep by now.”
“No, ma’am. Um, I…”
It struck her suddenly that she shouldn’t be here. In her excitement at breaking the cipher, she’d forgotten the rules.
Whatever happened in the hut stayed in the hut.
Chief Wren Alder saw right through her. “What is it, Dot? What have you done?”
“I, uh, figured something out. And I thought you should see it before morning.”
“Are you talking about something you heard today? Because that should have been passed along through your supervisor. You know you’re not permitted to tell me about it.”
Dot couldn’t stop now. She reached into the neck of her blouse and retrieved the folded piece of paper.
“It’s… it’s a cipher. I did speak with Petty Officer Wren Douglas in the hut. I told her that there was a mechanically produced cipher and that I had decrypted it. She told me to use it as a frequency marker, and I did. But there was a second, nonmechanical message camouflaged behind the first. It was barely audible, but it overlapped and was very specific. I decrypted it as well, and… and I’m sorry I didn’t follow protocol, and I know I’m not supposed to be a codebreaker, but the message is important. From the way they tried to disguise it, I knew it would be, and it is.”
Chief Wren Alder held her gaze for a full thirty seconds, then nodded. “Show me.”
Dot set out the paper and began to explain how she had decoded the messages, and the chief Wren watched closely, following every stroke of her pencil. The carefully crafted code within a code spelled out very clearly that the Germans were planning an aggressive blockade to target a convoy of the Canadian Merchant Navy on the St. Lawrence River. It was planned for one week from that day.
Dot was not privy to how many ships would have been in that convoy, but based on history she had overheard, it could be a dozen or so. The food, supplies, equipment, and personnel they would be carrying was worth its weight in gold to the Allied forces waiting across the ocean. The urgency had come from Dot recognizing that a German “blockade” suggested a German “attack,” which meant torpedoes. The SSCaribouby Port aux Basques had also been part of a convoy, and Dot had never forgotten that tragedy. If this blockade was allowed to occur, it could claim hundreds of lives.
After a pause, the Chief Wren picked up the paper. “May I?”
“Of course.”
She folded the page neatly back into its original shape. “Do you understand why you were not supposed to bring this work outside of the hut?”
Beads of sweat popped up on Dot’s brow, reminding her that shehadn’t put on her hat before she’d sped to the chief Wren’s office. Working on codes outside of the office, sharing work secrets, running around out of uniform… she had a sinking feeling she’d really done it this time. And yet it was impossible to feel guilty about the message she had brought. By breaking the rules, she might have stopped an attack.
When had Dot become the kind of woman who saw the justification behind breaking rules?
She exhaled. “Yes, Chief Wren. All of this is top secret, and by taking it from my desk, I could have exposed it to others. The truth is, no one could have seen it. The code was in my head. I can still see it plain as day. I’ve always been able to do that. And the page you’re holding, well, I…” She blushed. “I carried it in my brassiere. No one would ever think to check there.”
Chief Wren Alder’s shoe tapped on the floor as she regarded Dot. “Do you enjoy this work, Petty Officer Wren Wilson?”
“Oh, yes, ma’am! I can’t imagine anything I’d be better suited for. Listening, playing with ciphers when I have an opportunity, oh, I could never tire of it.” She twisted her mouth to the side, concerned. “I hope I haven’t just messed everything up. Have I?”
Her superior’s expression relaxed. “You have not. You broke a number of rules, but it appears you had a very good reason for doing it. You went above and beyond your job description, and this vital act will not go unnoticed, I guarantee you. I will bring this to those in charge tonight, just as you did.” She reached out and cupped Dot’s elbow. “Dot, you should know that with this message, you may have saved many, many lives.”
Dot was not prepared for the wave of emotion that washed over her in that moment. For so long, she had tried not to think too hard about the individual people who could be harmed or killed because of the messages she heard transmitted every day. The Freds and Guses she would never see.
Now she stood tall and recalled the conversation she’d had with her father on the day she’d decided to sign up. How his expression had lit up, remembering that he had done some good. Dot had just experienced thepride he’d felt, up there in the sky, signaling the enemy’s whereabouts. She loved that she could share that emotion with him.
If only she could tell him about it.
Not everything about working at HMCS Coverdale was ideal. Even Dot could admit that. It was difficult, being stuck for hours in a cold room with no input from the outside world. The work—though she loved it—was draining, the hours demanding. On the bright side, the food was all right, the accommodations better than they’d had at Saint-Hyacinthe, and the more confident she became with all her successes, the more friends she made.
But it came at a very steep price. With all her heart, she wanted to share these special moments with her family. With Dash. With Gus. Because as rewarding as this experience was on her own, their approval and encouragement would have made everything so much more meaningful.
The next day at lunch, Alice joined Dot in the mess hall. “So? Are you going to tell me about last night’s secret?”
“Can’t,” Dot said, swallowing a spoonful of soup.
Alice narrowed her eyes, but Dot didn’t mind. Everyone understood the secrecy surrounding their jobs. Alice wouldn’t force her to say anything.
Just then, Joyce, one of Alice’s friends, entered with a bag slung over her arm. “Mail’s here!”
