Doctor Who_ Just War - Lance Parkin [43]
‘That last thing we got was rather cryptic: “hoogin end mooning”. It means nothing to any of us. It came from that Raven cell. It’s certainly not French or German. It must be a codephrase.’ He looked up, hopefully, but it meant nothing to Forrester either.
George’s brow was furrowed. ‘How is it spelt, sir?’
‘Well,’ he handed Reed a slip of paper, ‘that is what our operator made of it. Even allowing for the French accent, it makes no sense.’
Everyone around the table tried mouthing the words.
‘That middle word, it’s probably either “und” or “and”. It’s not “et” is it?’
‘So we’re dealing with two things. “Hoogin” and
“Mooning”.’
‘Are they names?’
‘If they are, we don’t have them on file. They are not place names, and they are not the names of people either.’
Reed, like most Englishmen, had little ability with foreign languages. ‘Sir, doesn’t hugel mean “hill” in German? Could mooning be the word for “mountain”?’ There was a murmur round the table.
‘Sorry, Lieutenant, the German for “mountain” is berg, as in iceberg,’ said one of the RAF chaps. Reed found it difficult to hide his disappointment. The murmuring died down.
‘Could it be a name. “Hugh Ghin” and er, “Moon Inn”. A hotel?’ offered Lynch.
Kendrick’s disbelieving expression was sufficient answer.
‘Perhaps it’s chinese, Lynch, but I very much doubt it.’
‘Just a suggestion, Admiral, but why don’t we ask a German linguist?’ Roz asked.
Kendrick shook his head. ‘The network has been compromised. These words are obviously vitally important.
They should not be breathed to anyone who isn’t around this table. Ray here is going to look through the files to see if the words have ever cropped up in reports before, but I’m pretty sure they haven’t.’ The civilian nodded thoughtfully.
‘Sir, I understand the need for security, but someone else might know straight away what these words mean.’
‘Forrester, we’ve lost our eyes and ears in a whole section of northern France. The Germans mustn’t find out that we know about this message, so we can’t risk telling anyone else. My hunch is that this has something to do with the superbomber that Lynch proposed. We were getting close, and the German’s knew it.’
‘Cwej,’ Roz said suddenly. The others looked at her.
‘Another mystery word. Is it Welsh?’ said the civilian.
‘It sounded more like Polish,’ offered the other RAF man, who had a touch of a Welsh accent himself.
‘Cwels my partner. He’s been sent into the middle of all this,’ Roz explained, indicating the map.
‘He’s trying to make contact with Hartung,’ said Kendrick.
‘At the moment, he’s the only operative we have in the Granville area, and he’s maintaining radio silence. So we have only two things left: Cwej, and the cryptic message.’
Roz spoke. ‘Sir, this message means nothing to us. We don’t have any advantage.’ A murmur of assent swept around the table. Kendrick caught the mood of the meeting.
‘Forrester, you don’t seem to understand the need for secrecy.’
Roz shifted. ‘Gentlemen, at the moment we have a clue, but none of us can shed any light on it. What use is it? From the Germans’ point of view, it doesn’t matter whether we’ve heard the words or not, it matters whether we understand them.’
Kendrick had been listening carefully, and now he nodded. ‘I think we can risk bringing in someone else. Those two words are not to be uttered outside these walls, but I want everyone in this room to focus their attention on them.’
Steinmann was a vegetarian, and he had brought his own personal chef up from Stuttgart, so the cuisine had been simply excellent. There was no shortage of fine wine here, either. Life in wartime was luxurious for some. Although the Doctor hadn’t been allowed to leave the townhouse, he had to admit that he had been well catered for.