Resilience, p.1
Resilience, page 1
Resilience
The Man from MI5
Book 5
Jana Petken
©2024 by Jana Petken. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieved system, or
transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
“Resilience”: The Man from MI5, book 5, is a work of fiction, set against the factual backdrop of WW2. Apart from historical figures, the fictional characters created by Jana Petken bear no resemblance to any person living or dead, however, some characters’ names and events have been changed to give them a way into the story.
Thank you for purchasing this book. Buying through authorised channels allows Jana to continue writing and publishing novels.
My thanks always to Caro Powney for her support and work on this book.
My thanks also to Angela Hammond and Jane Cobb
Cover design by Daniella,
stunningbookcovers@gmail.com
http://www.stunningbookcovers.com/
This book is written in UK English, and all spellings, punctuations, and grammar adhere to UK English, World English, and the Oxford English Dictionary.
More titles from Jana Petken:
Multi Award Winning #1 Bestseller, The Guardian of Secrets
Screenplay, The Guardian of Secrets
From the Ashes of Amiens
Dawn of Ages
The Mercy Carver Series:
Award-Winning #1 Bestseller Dark Shadows
Award-Winning #1 Bestseller Blood Moon
The Flock Trilogy
Multi-Award-Winning #1 Bestseller, The Errant Flock
Award-Winning #1 Bestseller, The Scattered Flock
Award Winning #1 Bestseller, Flock, The Gathering of The Damned
Allegiance Series
Multi-Award-Winning # 1Bestseller, Swearing Allegiance
#1 Bestseller, Oath of Allegiance
The German Half-Bloods Trilogy
Multi Award Winning #1 Bestseller, The German Half-Bloods
#1Bestseller The Vogels: On All Fronts
Award Winning #1 Bestseller, Before the Brightest Dawn
The Man from Section Five Series
The Man from Section Five
The Dying Peace
For King and Country
Under the Blanket of War
Audio Books with Cherry Hill Publishing:
The Guardian of Secrets,
From the Ashes of Amiens
Dawn of Ages
Brinley Knight Spy thriller Series
The Man from Section Five
The Dying Peace
For King and Country
Under the Blanket of War
Allegiance Series
Multi Award-Winning, #1 Bestseller, Swearing Allegiance,
#1 Bestseller, Oath of Allegiance
The Mercy Carver Series:
Award-Winning, #1Bestseller, Dark Shadows
Award-Winning, #1Bestseller, Blood Moon
The Flock Trilogy.
Multi-Award Winning, #1 Bestseller, The Errant Flock
Award Winning, The Scattered Flock.
Award Winning, Flock, The Gathering of The Damned
The German Half-Bloods Trilogy:
Award-Winning, #1Bestseller, The German Half Bloods
#1Bestseller, The Vogels: On all Fronts
Multi-Award-Winning, #1Bestseller, Before the Brightest Dawn
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Chapter Sixty
Chapter Sixty-One
Chapter Sixty-Two
Chapter Sixty-Three
Chapter Sixty-Four
Chapter One
Brinley Knight
The Whitehall Bunker, London
16 December 1940
Brin read an old Daily Mail newspaper while waiting for the prime minister to send for him. He’d been in the bunker for three hours but not a single meeting with the country’s leader had ever started on time, and on rare occasions it got cancelled altogether. But the ‘get togethers’ with Churchill were no hardships. On nighttime visits, Brin stayed in the senior officers’ billets underground, where without the sounds and tremors of the bombs and war above ground, he enjoyed blissful uninterrupted sleep.
At 0200 hrs, after the call came in that the PM would see him, Brin found Churchill in his restroom, smoking a cigar, a glass of brandy in his hand and his feet up on his narrow bed.
Brin sat in Churchill’s armchair next to a side table piled high with classified documents and a half-written speech the PM would be giving to parliament the next day. Newspapers piled against the wall had quadrupled in number since he had last been in the bunker in October. He had not spoken to the prime minister since, and the telephone call asking for this meeting earlier that day had surprised him.
“Pour yourself a brandy, Brin. Would you like a cigar?”
“No, thank you. I’ll stick to cigarettes.”
“All right. But take off your jacket and loosen your tie. There’s no point meeting here if we can’t relax for five minutes.”
“I see you’re still keeping tabs on me, sir,” Brin responded in a droll tone.
Brin sat again, and with a brandy in his hand, told the PM, “I returned from Portsmouth three days ago, but I guess you had that information. I brought you a copy of my operations report, which I think might interest you.”
“Ah, yes, the case of Archibald Dungworth and his sister.”
“Yes, sir. I’ve sent them to Camp 020 … one other thing … Dungworth cooperated.”
“A lot?”
“Yes, sir. With his help, we captured three enemy agents we believe were part of the Abwehr’s Operation Lena…” Brin hesitated, then added, “I must also tell you, he shot Sergeant Pullovski from Special Branch, but even so, I would like to recruit him. He’s not a lost cause.”
“I trust your judgement, my boy. And the sister? Where is she?”
“She’s a different story altogether. On remand in Holloway, and it’s my recommendation that she doesn’t get bail.”
“And the Germans you captured?”
“I sent them on to Camp 020 for interrogation. I believe one might be suitable for our double-cross programme. My reasons are in my report.”
Brin had asked himself several times in the past two years: Am I a mole? The answer was, yes, though he only ever shared MI5’s classified operations with the PM, and only those operations and intelligence packages that Churchill would read in MI5 reports when they went up the chain of command a few days or weeks later. He was, therefore, the PM’s spy, but not a traitor to Section Five. At least this was what he told himself.
Churchill pointed to the side table and said, “Leave the report there. I’ll get to it before morning.” Out of the blue, he then asked, “How are your mother and father, Brinley?”
“They’re happy and invested in the war effort. I haven’t seen them since October, but I’ve been able to keep in touch with them through the telephone operator at the manor house. I don’t think they’ve ever been happier, thanks to you, sir.”
Brin took a sip of brandy, and continued, “They’re worried sick about Tommy, but their jobs keep them busy.”
“Good. We can’t have your mother brooding all day long.” Churchill puffed on his cigar, his grave face concealed for just a second behind rising smoke. “I may live a bunker most days, but I understand how it must feel to not know whether a son or husband, or a father lives or is in German captivity. Believe me, Brinley, I think about our brave lost soldiers every day.”
“I tell them he’s not lost and that he’ll come home to us, but I fe el like a fraud because no one, not even you can know if our prisoners of war will survive a long German captivity.” I tell them repeatedly that he’ll come home to us, but I can’t say it without feeling like a fraud because no one, not even you can know if our prisoners of war will survive a long German captivity.”
Churchill sipped his brandy, leaving Brin with a couple of minutes to enjoy the silence. Then, shattering the peace, Churchill said, “You will not like what I’m about to tell you, Brinley, but I wanted you to hear it straight from me. I’ve thought hard about this matter, and I’ve concluded enough is enough. I don’t enjoy locking people up for their beliefs, and I hate suspending habeas corpus when it is the fundamental right in our constitution that protects against unlawful and indefinite imprisonment. No … I’ve had enough. It is vitally important to our democracy that we follow the rules. You’re a clever chap … you’ll understand, won’t you?”
“Understand what, Prime Minister?” asked Brin, trying to unravel the cryptic statement.
“That I must undo some of our internment laws.”
“Sir, these laws were and are still a necessary step to keep this country safe. It’s only been a few months since the government put them in place so we could take down the BU. The threat is not over.”
“Is it not? I agree that at the time the public danger justified an action at variance with all the fundamental principles of British liberty, but the danger is now receding, and we must make changes. We have produced a ridiculous situation. We can buy Mein Kampf in any bookstore, but people cannot buy ten lines written by Mosley in his flimsy newsletters! This whole affair has become too silly for words.”
Brin, deflated, and afraid to open his mouth lest furious words poured out of it, stared at the pile of newspapers on the floor. In amongst them were headlines about Mosley’s internment, Admiral Domville and Captain Ramsay’s messy arrests, and photographs of the police taking men and women into custody after attending BU meetings. He turned back to Churchill and asked, “The fascist leaders as well, sir?”
“No, not them. They will stay where they are, but I will free many–”
“How many, sir?”
“Sixty-five percent of the fascists or BU members, and the same number in the British communist camp. We will no longer imprison people under 18b unless they are outright traitors.”
“But–”
“If we do not do this, we will have no help at home or abroad to fight this bloody war!”
Brin, though unhappy at the announcement that had diminished his last two years of hard work to an almost complete waste of time, felt somewhat satisfied that the Mosleys and their closest allies would remain behind bars. But he couldn’t help but wonder for how long?
“Brinley … Brinley…?”
“Sorry, sir, I was miles away. Must be the brandy.”
“It’s just as well you’re off duty, then, eh?” Churchill said with a smile. He pointed to the pile of documents and files on the side table and instructed, “Be a good chap and pick up the top three sheets of paper. You’ll find Parliament Speech written at the top of each page. I want to go over tomorrow’s announcement in the house with you.” He laughed and added, “It’s a begging letter.”
After handing the pages to the PM, Brin relaxed in his chair and digested the news about the 18b law being tossed in the bin because of Churchill’s bout of conscience. Churchill, however, pulled Brin from his thoughts as he read his own words aloud from the sheets of paper.
“I suppose the House realises that Herr Hitler and his Nazis have enacted worse villainies than Imperial Germany committed in the late war. This brings me to a point I should like to put to the House. One of the most extraordinary things I have ever known in my experience is the way in which German illegalities, atrocities and brutalities are coming to be accepted as if they were part of the ordinary day-to-day conditions of war. It is strange to me that the press in neutral countries seem to pay greater attention and create more uproar when I address their obligations, rather than when I tell them hundreds of their ships have been lost and tens of thousands of their sailors murdered by U-boat torpedoes in the open sea.”
Churchill, keeping his eyes on the second sheet of paper, asked, “So far, so good?”
“Yes, sir, it’s sound.”
The PM nodded and continued,
“According to the present doctrine of neutral states, endorsed by the German government, Germany is to gain one set of advantages by breaking all the rules and committing foul outrages upon the seas and then go on and gain another set of advantages through insisting whenever it suits her, upon the strictest interpretation of the International Code she has torn to pieces!”
“An officer in any station serves his country best by asking for only what he needs for his task. It is not patriotic to ask for the moon – and you do not get it, anyway. The navy has borne and is bearing the main weight of the war up to the present when many vexations and dangerous forms of attack are being directed upon us; but if at any time in the future it becomes apparent that we have the upper hand in an even more marked and decisive form than at present, I shall be the first to review our resources and requirements, of which there are many…”
“What do you think so far?” Churchill asked again.
“It’s a humble request, yet addressed in a firm manner, and it’s well defined within the parameters of what you’re asking for.”
“Good, that’s good.” Churchill handed Brin the sheets of paper and told him, “Put them where you found them and let me tell you why I asked you here.”
After pouring himself and Churchill two small brandies, Brin, hoping this next part of the meeting wouldn’t take as long as the first part, returned to his chair. It must be important, he surmised, for Churchill was not a man to send for him and then have idle chit-chat.
“I’ve had something on my mind for a long time now, Brinley, and it is now about to come to fruition. I have hand-picked a group of men to supervise MI5’s double-cross programme. MI5 will do the work, but I will task this new committee with passing on and controlling the new double agents and giving instruction to the case officers involved. The duty of each committee member will be to supervise whatever the double agents have sent in the way of information they have volunteered, or their answers to the committee’s questionnaires. They will be involved in building up the double-cross agents for when they will each play a pivotal role in deceiving the enemy. And when that time comes, I’m confident they will turn the tide of this war.”
“Sir, the concept of having an informed committee to oversee the double-cross system, and to bring it the cohesiveness it lacks within the section, is a sterling idea, and I will back it one hundred percent.”
“I’m very pleased to hear it, because you will be one of the committee members.”
Brin’s heart pounded hard. “It will be an honour, Prime Minister.”
Churchill nodded. “I want double agents and their subagents with backstories and what must amount to a complete life to show to their German handlers or readers in Madrid and Berlin. Each agent must be credible in themselves … be given proper jobs … real social interactions. They must have a strategic use but also be in-sync with the section’s overall objectives and with the other double agents in the programme.”
Brin, liking the idea, nodded and asked, “Will this new committee have the ultimate power to control the transmissions and messages.”
“Yes. No message should ever go to the enemy that has not first been approved by the twenty competent members of this new ‘Twenty Committee.’ MI5 cannot perform this function alone. Imagine if its double agent gives the Germans the exact location of an aircraft factory or a munitions factory, and the Germans bomb it the following week. We would be shooting ourselves in the foot and ruining any future of having double agents to mislead the enemy.”
Churchill shook his head and continued, “No, that would not do at all. Everyone holding office in government would rightly believe that the ultimate responsibility for passing messages to the Nazis is a dangerous power, like a stick of dynamite at the end of a wire. Therefore, I will take that responsibility from MI5 and place it in the hands of twenty men who will approve of the content of every message to the enemy.”
Brin, excited by the news, mused, “If an agent is not working in uniformity with the section and other agents, we risk contradictions that could destroy the entire programme.” Brin asked, “Who else will make up this new committee, sir?”
“Good men who can command respect, whether through rank or experience.” Churchill puffed on his cigar, turning the air blue as he announced to Brin’s surprise, “I requested favours at Dartmouth College so that you could achieve the rank of captain when you left there. You are my protégé and I mean to challenge you mentally and physically.”
