Evelyn paused their conversation when Bryce led Sergeant Wilkins into the office, and asked, "Do you still have Colonel Berry's message block, Sergeant?"

"I do, sir." He held it out toward the Ambassador. "Was it sent in error?"

"Not sent high enough – nor fast enough. Use the Absolute Flash prefix and resend it over the Admiralty cable bypass. First, directly to Robertson, then again MI1c."

"Yes, sir. I shall bring you the receipts as soon as I have both."

As Wilkins rushed away, Evelyn nodded, the sharpness still in his eyes, though some of the immediate tension had eased. "Good. We may as well finish the sherry while the Empire recalculates itself."

Bryce returned to his chair, and David relaxed a bit, though still maintaining his upright posture. For a few moments, none of them spoke, and the plates of almonds, olives and chorizo remained more decorative than useful.

Then the Ambassador selected an olive and said, "Let us put this in its simplest form. If Falkenhayn's people have seen enough of our preparations to begin drawing transfer orders north-west, and if those orders are not yet fully executed, then Whitehall and the General Staff are now in a race with the German railways."

"Yes, sir," David said. "With what you've just told me, my observations now make much more sense."

"And if they do not move quickly enough?" After a brief pause, Evelyn answered his own question before either of the younger men could speak. "Then Haig's opening gambit becomes bloodier still than it was always going to be."

The room fell silent again.

At length, David looked up from another piece of chorizo and said, "Strange to think, sir. A year ago, I approached you with half-baked ideas for sabotage. Now, it's evolved through watches, wine and subversion to this."

Evelyn gave a dry laugh. "Most useful intelligence often begins as something apparently inconsequential. A scrap of paper, words over shared drinks, train conversations ... The trick is to know what is trivial only in appearance."

He paused, pursing his lips and nodding. "And that, David, is your particular gift. Your ability to turn ordinary situations into intelligence gathering, all with apparent innocence. And beyond that, seeing not merely where the pieces lie, but which of them are weighted and how."

David lowered his glass. "I see more now than I did, sir. Enough to know how much I still do not know."

"Excellent. That is the correct answer."

A knock sounded, and at Evelyn's call, the door opened, and Sergeant Wilkins stepped in, holding two strips of paper. "Receipts from Whitehall, sir. First at sixteen ten, second at sixteen twelve. Both clean. No repeats requested."

Evelyn held out his hand. "Thank you, Sergeant."

He scanned the slips, nodded and set them down. "There. Whatever is done next, your part in it has already begun."

David nodded and finally relaxed in his chair. The urgency that had driven him since Metz was no longer only his burden. It had passed into other hands – larger hands, hopefully wiser.

The Ambassador leaned back and finished the last of his sherry. "Tonight I shall draft a substantiation, and tomorrow, encrypt and have it sent – official, diplomatic, but strongly personal, giving them no option but to draw you all the way in and arrange your visit as soon as practicable."

Bryce looked up. "For debriefing, sir?"

"For that, certainly. But more than that." He turned to David. "You have outgrown the old compartments. Whitehall must hear you directly, not in compressed signals and second-hand summaries. They must see how the railway traffic, the rural women, the foundries, Wilhelm's grievances ... all your observations fit with what they know."

David nodded slowly. "If I am to go, there is much here that must be put in order."

"Naturally. This is not meant for you to vanish into the halls of power. Your value is here – and in what you do from here."

David nodded and relaxed further.

Evelyn rose, and the others followed suit. "Go home, David. See Maria. Let the shape of this settle in your mind. Tomorrow we begin looking at dates, routes and covers."

A short while later, David crossed the bridge to Elfenau, the river reflecting the late-afternoon sun, and the car's tyres humming softly over the smooth surface. The city felt strangely calm after the constriction of Germany – the guards, the barriers, the crowds of soldiers. People walked peacefully, and children played along the quieter streets.

He arrived in the residence courtyard, switched off the engine and sat for a moment with his hands still on the wheel, enjoying the calm quiet. Then with his bag slung from his shoulder, he walked back under the porte-cochère, across it to the door and rang the bell.

When Stanley opened the door, Maria stepped past him and spread her arms for a hug. As David enfolded her, he said, "You've been waiting for me."

"Only a few minutes. I asked Bryce to telephone me when you left." She tilted her head toward the stairs. "Come. Clean. Relax. Tell me."

As they ascended, she asked, "Success?"

"Far beyond my wildest hopes."

"With Wilhelm?"

"Yes, and well beyond."

In their suite with the door closed, he set his bag down, pulled her into his arms, and their mouths met in a gentle exploration.

She pulled back and lay her cheek on his shoulder. "Tell me."

"There's so much that I don't know where to begin."

"Start with the most important."

"We're together again."

Maria laughed. "Good. Shall we remind ourselves how together?"

"You've read my mind."

She pressed her belly onto him and giggled. "I've read this."

A long while later, as they lay entwined and basking in the afterglow, David gave her the broad shape first, then added details, moving toward the greater implications. "Evelyn said I have far too much awareness of the situation to be sent by wire, and he is sending me to London."

Maria stiffened. "Oh! That means leaving my research. My studies."

David stroked her back to calm her as he said, "No, I don't believe it's a posting. More likely a visit for a day or two to be debriefed and briefed."

She sighed and melted into him again. "Like the one at Christmastime with William?"

"In a way, yes, but this time with those above him – Whitehall, the Imperial General Staff. Evelyn said I need to be brought fully in so that I'm aware of all that lies beneath the surface. Allow me to more quickly interpret my observations and adjust my harvesting."

"When will you go?"

"I'm not sure. This is all new, and they have not yet been told that I will visit." He paused and thought about Evelyn's rattled nerves – and his own. "I'll suggest you accompany me. You offer me immeasurable peace. A haven from the horror and chaos."

Maria smiled and snuggled her face into the crook of his neck.

Outside, Bern lay quiet beneath the summer evening, while north and west the armies still moved, the railways still fed the Front, and men in Berlin, Metz and Whitehall bent over maps of the same war.

But here, with Maria beside him and London now drawing him in, David understood with sudden clarity that the first phase of subversion was over.

The next would begin on a larger stage.

The story continues in A Larger Stage,
the seventh volume of the Posted as Missing series.
The external link below takes you directly to it.