Anonymous Farm

Near RAF Cheddington, Buckinghamshire

Standing at attention made every muscle and joint in William's tired body scream loud objections. His clothing was even more beat up, the fabric rent and ragged, covered in mud, and blood, and stinking. Brackenreid had not left any time to clean up and be presentable, let alone don a proper uniform, when MP's met him at the RAF Cheddington airstrip, saying his immediate presence was required.

It had not been an invitation. William was roughly separated from Julia and whisked away to this nondescript outbuilding which still smelled of sheep, and shoved inside where Col. Brackenreid and his secretary, Cpl. Higgins, waited, guarded by two armed sergeants outside.

Col. Brackenreid was obviously unhappy, his ginger mustache fairly bristling. "So glad you could join us!" His face was red and his Yorkshire vowels were broader than usual with sarcasm. "You and that parade of escorts. Wasn't it enough to cause a ruckus over the Channel, buzz London and generally scare the horses?" Brackenreid was just warming up. "This was a secret mission, captain. What part of secret did you not understand?! You turned it into a bloody Victoria Day air show!"

William was not in the mood for it. "Sir. My orders were to get the information and come back ASAP. I was fortunate to have found the form of transportation that I did find, given that everything else was one giant SNAFU. Sir," he shot back. He knew his tone was borderline insubordinate, but after weeks of little to no sleep, cheating death on more than one occasion, eating only stale bread and cheese as well as eschewing his typical hygiene habits, he was out of patience.

Exhaling sharply, Brackenreid took in William's appearance and rubbed his face. Finding an old crate to sit on, the colonel sat, muttering something about being "too fucking old for this shit."

"Report, Captain Murdoch!" Brackenreid demanded, albeit in a much calmer voice..

William stayed focused on what was important. "My mission was successful sir. I have the intel about German rearmament. But…"

Brackenreid growled. "But? There is a but?"

"You need to arrest Corporal Walter Riley, sir. Your communications and mail clerk, the one everyone calls 'Clicker. He is your leak within the command."

"What? Corporal Riley? That little twit with the glasses? What is he, eighteen, nineteen? He's never even been to London!" Brackenreid sounded incredulous.

"Actually sir, he is closer to twenty nine even though he has tried to portray himself as someone who is young and naive: a bespeckled, friendly, helpful, innocent English farm-boy with a pet mouse named Daisy. Who could possibly believe he'd be a traitor?"

William didn't like being fooled and he imagined Col. Brackenreid was even less inclined. "Think about it, sir. It was right in front of us the whole time. Clicker has access to all non-secure communications. Puts through calls at the switchboard. Opens all mail for the censors. He is perfectly positioned to know everything without knowing any specific secrets. He may not know what is happening, but he will always know something is happening. He is perfectly placed for low-level information for his masters to analyze."

As William spoke, he saw the red on his superior's face become alarming again. For a moment William wondered if the man would have a stroke. But he pressed on. "Did Cpl. Riley request to take an early dinner break today sir? And request to use a staff car today?" William locked eyes with Brackenreid. "He did that because of a message I sent through. If I may, sir. I suggest you arrest Cpl. Riley as soon as possible. I am sure by now he is aware that you left camp, and that a plane has landed…."

"Aw...Christ!" Brackenreid jumped up and got to the door, banging it open. "Sergeant McKay! Find out where Cpl. Walter Riley is, immediately. Then detain him. For treason. But quietly. And find out where that intelligence officer is to debrief Captain Murdoch. Go! Now!"

When Brackenreid came back, William licked his dry lips. "Sir. About Lt. St. Taw's murder."

"Have you solved it then?"

"Also Corporal Riley, sir. He knew about St. Taw being in hospital because he handled lists of wounded in his job as communications corporal, knew about ambulance movements, as well as being a telegraph operator." William made direct eye contact with Brackenreid. "He knew Lt. St. Taw was in England before you did, sir..."

"No!" Brackenreid stalked back and forth in the space, his bootheels scraping the floor, shaking his head back and forth. "Why an assassin, Murdoch? It makes no sense."

"To silence him. Riley, either directly or indirectly, black-mailed Lt. St. Taw into being a double agent, because St. Taw was homosexual. Riley amassed a great deal of information on every soldier because of his position as communications corporal. That was how he screened the troops for a vulnerability to exploit. Somehow he found out about St. Taw's predilection."

" A pansy! Jack St. Taw was one of the bravest men I ever knew. Not possible.." Brackenried swore colourfully and at length.

William grimaced again, getting an evil look from his superior for doing so. He made himself more rigid. "I'm afraid so, sir. Maybe not a committed one, but John Llewellyn St. Taw had a male lover in France, a member of the resistance, whom I met when I was over there. To his credit, I believe St. Taw was not going to go along with the blackmail and was, in fact, going to remain loyal to our side and expose Riley, even knowing it was going to cost him his job and his freedom. Jack St. Taw deserves every honour sir, regardless."

Col. Brackenreid paced while William remained bolted to the floor where he stood, his head pounding. "There is more sir."

The man stopped moving. "More? Oh Bloody Hell, Murdoch. This is my fourth war. What new twist are you putting on it for me now?"

Can't delay this any longer. William took in a deep breath, wishing there was some way he was wrong, but knowing the facts only brought one, painful, conclusion.. "Sir. I believe I may know the identity of the assassin. You were right sir. I...I had a blind spot when it came to my investigation. I am not certain, but I believe it is that newspaper reporter…"

"George Crabtree? How is that possible? Unless the conspiracy had fingers right into the high command!"

"No sir, er, not that reporter. I mean the one for the Stars and Stripes, Ruby Houlihan. It turns out…"

Before William could finish, the doors burst open. A man William had never met before, dressed in a formal civilian morning suit and bowler hat, strode in accompanied by the very woman he'd just accused of espionage and murder. Worse, Julia was right along with them. His gaze flicked nervously in her direction. Is she going to love me after this?

Sergeant McKay trailed them, sputtering. "I'm sorry sir. This man has the proper clearance papers…"

Col. Brackenreid waved him back. "Get out!"

William thought his superior was considering throwing them all back out. He remained at attention, watching the drama unfold. When the door shut again Col. Brackenreid stepped towards the newcomer, surveying the room angrily.

"Colonel Terrence Meyers-Flagg. They sent you, did they?"

Julia and Ruby had been wedged between two MP's and warned to be quiet, which was excruciating because Julia had so very many questions. They had waited outside the barn for quite awhile until Col. Meyers-Flagg grew impatient and pushed their way in over the objections of Sergeant McKay, who had tried to hold them off.

Walking into the barn, Julia noticed immediately how battered and exhausted William looked, including a cut over his eyebrow that was going to require stitches. He claimed to be fine considering they had both just walked away from a plane crash - Julia would be willing to bet that there would be bruises for both of them too. He stood at attention, his posture somewhat slumped, and given the stunned expression on Col. Brackenreid's face, William seemed to be beyond caring.

Catching his worried expression, she did her best to reassure him by giving him a wink. He looked down, his frown increasing. She was trying to catch his eye again when Colonel Myers-Flagg assumed control of the meeting.

"Colonel Brackenreid. Always a pleasure." Col. Meyers-Flagg did not look pleased.

Neither did Col. Brackenreid who snorted and frowned. "The pleasure is all yours Meyers-Flagg."

Col. Meyers-Flagg never blinked. "Ladies. Gentlemen. You understand I was never here and this meeting never happened. You are each hereby sworn to secrecy under penalty of death and the Official Secrets Act. Have I made myself clear?"

"Of course. Treason." Col. Brackenreid was obviously fuming.

"This must be Captain Murdoch. You know Major Ogden-Garland and this is Ruby Houlihan."

"Actually it's just Ogden now," Julia corrected to anyone who cared.

Col. Brackenreid continued to face off with Meyers-Flagg. "You can have Captain Murdoch in a minute. In the meantime, Colonel, we are about to do your job and arrest a spy...or two." Brackenreid actually smiled, pointing at Ruby Houlihan.

Jula gasped. "What…?"

Ruby spoke up, a bright gleam in her eye. "Actually it is Mrs. Houlihan…not that it matters… Julia, you flew a plane from France? And some of my B-17's boys shooed away a German fighter…?"

Julia shook her head. "Ruby, not right now," she warned.

Col. Meyers-Flagg started to make a speech. "As I was saying before I was interrupted, I…"

"We are not playing silly buggars around here!" Brackenreid's shout brought instant silence; he stared at everyone for a moment to make sure they were going to remain so. "I lost a…" He eyed William, nodding. "A good, brave man to an assassination and I damn near lost another by putting him in harm's way, not to mention risking queering the whole bloody invasion. We have a spy and an assassin in our midst. Now, Captain Murdoch, you were about to explain the results of your investigation."

William unfroze, acutely uncomfortable with the attention. He cleared his throat, and cast a wary glance in Julia's direction.

"Go on, Captain," Col. Meyers-Flagg prompted, settling his hip against a barrel.

William cleared his throat again. Here goes.

"Sir. My investigation revealed that the command at Bletchley has a leak, not inside the top secret services, but just outside...A spy who is passing information on to the enemy. This spy has unique access to the information flow there. Using that information he gathered about our personnel, he was able to pressure, extort or blackmail his way into additional classified intelligence which he passed along to the Germans."

Col. Meyers-Flagg seemed unimpressed. "And Lt. St. Taw's murder?"

William continued. "The spy learned about Lt. Llewellyn St. Taw's return to England at the close of his mission, and arranged, or helped arrange, an assassin to silence him before St. Taw could pass his intelligence to the Allied Command. I was able to prove the spy's duplicity, by sending a fake message today through regular communication channels, which resulted in the spy making a move he could only have done if he had intercepted and acted on the message I sent."

Col. Meyers-Flagg smiled benignly, his thick black brows arching upwards. "You mean Corporal Walter Riley? The one they call 'Clicker'? S.I.S. has already picked Riley up. He's under lock and key as we speak." If it was possible for a very tall man in a business suit to look like a Cheshire cat, that was how Meyers-Flagg looked at the moment. "I suppose we do have you to thank for that, Captain Murdoch. We have, er.. followed your inquiries closely. You pointed us in the right direction..."

Col. Brackenreid looked shocked for a second, before his comeback. "Then you'll be glad to know we have identified Mrs. Houlihan here as his accomplice. She murdered Lt. St. Taw."

" Now see here, Colonel!…!" Julia went to her sister's side. "William! You can't be serious!"

Julia's angry blue eyes bored a hole into him, and he found he could not return her gaze. He tried to keep his voice neutral while reciting the facts. "Actually, Julia, it was you who reminded me of her presence at Linford and how easy it is for her to travel widely and so easily insinuate herself into a variety of situations."

Julia's face went white. William swallowed, then continued. "Corporal Riley, or his masters, sent for Ruby Houlihan who turned up, unannounced and uninvited, to Linford Hall in the early morning hours of April 14th -15th. She had been on another assignment in London which she abandoned and rushed to the hospital, ostensibly to visit her sister, Major Ogden, out of the blue."

"Coincidence is not much of a case, Captain." Col. Meyers-Flagg observed pointedly.

William nodded. "I always had to consider a pair of assassins working together to give each other false alibis, and I was always suspicious about the assassin being already on staff at the hospital. Briefly, I also had to consider Major Ogden and her sister working together. But there is no evidence for that. Instead I was able to have Mrs. Houlihan's movements back-traced, and found the communiqué which prompted her to travel to Linford Hall hospital. A phone call from Clicker Riley was followed by a cable to Ruby Houlihan. She was already tracking St. Taw's movements in France and his transportation to England. War correspondent is a rather perfect cover for an intelligence operator...or assassin, don't you think? Lots of access. Lots of travel. Lots of contacts."

Col. Meyers-Flagg scowled harder at William. "And at Linford Hall?"

To his shame, William knew the answer. "Ruby Houlihan arrived at the Linford gates at 0500 hours and Lt. St. Taw was dead by 0530. I believe she slipped into Lt. St. Taw's room between the staff's visits to monitor him, and killed him, then pretended to wait for Major Ogden to get off her shift to surprise her. Ruby Houlihan was the only unaccounted-for person at the premises during the window of opportunity to kill St. Taw. She used her relationship with her sister, Major Ogden, as her alibi at Linford Hall."

He had finally figured out the reason he kept coming up zeroes before while searching for suspects; it was because he'd completely left Julia's sister out of the equation. Once he considered her, the whole thing came together. "I should have seen that before..." he admitted hoarsely. "And she turned up here today - what a coincidence…"

His heart was in his throat when he was finished. The whole flight back he had nowhere to flee from the information which he received from the messenger on that cobbled-together runway in Normandy: confirmation of his suspicion of Julia's sister. It had nearly broken his nerve.

Julia was astonished. "Ruby? A spy? An assassin!" Then her eyes narrowed when Ruby made no protest. Julia anxiously grabbed her sister's arm. "Ruby…?" She swivelled her head back and forth from her sister to William, face full of astonishment.

"Precisely." William wished it were not so, feeling crushed by Julia's shock and distress at such a betrayal. A betrayal from him, he supposed, as well as her sister.

Col. Meyers-Flagg stepped forward into the tense silence, his face a smug mask. "Well, well, Captain Murdoch. I have read your record. Your skills at detection and problem solving have apparently not been overrated. You have indeed uncovered another spy."

No one spoke. Brackenreid looked satisfied, Ruby was nonplussed, Julia's jaw sagged open. William remained unmoving, staring at Col. Meyers-Flagg because he sensed something was terribly wrong.

Meyers- Flagg removed a cigar from his pocket and calmly aimed it at William. "Actually, Ruby Houlihan works for me. Her assignment was to infiltrate the spy network. She intercepted a communiqué about Lt. St. Taw and was ordered to protect him and collect his intelligence. He had already been poisoned when she got there and she was too late to save him." Meyers-Flagg made a big show of lighting the cigar and blowing a ring of smoke. "Unfortunately, you have exposed her, and for that I cannot forgive you."

William's jaw dropped. "So she is the one who gave him the antidote!"

"Indeed?" Julia felt a dizzying combination of wonderment and pride.

"And the real assassin?" Brackenreid grunted.

Col. Meyers- Flagg seemed to be calculating his response. "We know who he is. For now, we are leaving him in place so as to not tip our hand any further with the enemy. We might be able to use him."

Julia was enraged. "That is...well it's insane. Dangerous. A good man was assassinated. Who else? William...Captain Murdoch risked his life. Other lives are at risk. You just...well you just can't!"

William put a hand on her. "Julia...Julia," he said softly. "Let it go." He suspected the assassin was actually a double or triple agent, more important in place than any man's life, including Jack St. Taw. He also saw the awful, painful logic of this. He understood he was the only one in the room who really knew what Hut 8 was doing with Turing's number machine, the Enigma code-breaker, and how command allowed men and ships to go down before D-Day so as not to tip the Nazi's off their code had been broken. The whole thing horrified him. But it wouldn't do any good to burden anyone else with that knowledge.

Besides, there's nothing I can do about it anyway.

He took her hand in his and squeezed gently, before getting back to business. William turned to Col. Brackenreid. "Sir. I need to be debriefed...er, time-sensitive information."

"I imagine you also need to be examined. You were just in a plane crash not to mention you look like you've been to hell and back," Brackenreid commented. "Can you debrief him at the hospital?" Brackenreid asked.

Col. Meyers-Flagg knocked his cigar ash. "Yes, Captain. We must get you interviewed immediately and then I'll personally see you to the hospital. Colonel Brackenreid, ladies, everything you have heard is a matter of national security. World security at that. Repeating any of it subjects you to charges of treason. Do I make myself clear?"

William thought Col. Brackenreid was going to object, and was surprised when he did not. Instead, the Colonel rose, adjusted his jacket and put his cover on, pulling the hat brim down at an angle. "Fine, Colonel Meyers-Flagg. Murdoch, see that you report to my office at 1000 hours tomorrow. Be sure you get medically checked out. Higgins! Get my car." With that Col. Brackenreid left, leaning heavily on his walking stick behind his corporal.

Julia and her sister started talking over each other. Col. Meyers- Flagg interrupted them. "Ladies. I am sure you wish to catch up. I remind you, both of your missions are under the official secrets act. You have been cautioned, understood? And Ruby, we need to talk about your next assignment."

Ruby merely gave him a smirk. "Oh, of course Colonel. Now, my sister and I have some catching up to do. We are going to requisition a car to go to Linford Hall to get her checked out, and leave you to your little interviews." Ruby gathered her things and slid her arm in Julia's. "Come on, Jules. I don't know about you, but I need a drink."

William tried to get a sense of Julia's mood or attitude, yet all he was able to gather was that she was stunned by developments. She only offered another wink as she went out the door, giving him a small seed of hope, then the door closed with a clang.

That left William alone to face Col. Meyers-Flagg.

"Brackenreid's right, Murdoch. You look like hell. Let's get this over with quick, shall we," he asked.

William nodded and looking around to check for anyone else who might overhear, began his story.