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As always, Larry was waiting for the family to come in the front door, and was all over them the second they walked in. Of course, he had a pecking order, it was Jinnie first, then the twins, then Izzy, and finally Paolo. He liked Paolo, but he didn’t feed him his Felix very often, so that put him at the bottom of the list. Although Izzy fed him more often than the twins, they were above her as they talked to him, and he could talk to them. But Jinnie was his favourite, and had been ever since they first met at Number 10 all those years ago when Nigel was PM.
Paolo lugged in the suitcases and left them in the hall, Izzy got the kettle on, Jinnie sorted the post, and the twins and Larry made for the TV room where they quickly had cartoons on the TV. Jinnie sorted the mail into piles for herself, Paolo, Izzy, and ‘junk’. It never ceased to amaze her how much junk arrived through the letter box. It mainly seemed to consist of flyers for double glazing, gardeners, driveway pavers, window cleaners, Indian takeaways, and roofers. Jinnie wondered if the people delivering the junk ever looked at the house they were delivering to, and dumped the large heap of junk in the recycling bin.
Izzy made a pot of tea for the adults and drinking chocolate for the twins in their ‘special’ mugs. The twins were reluctant to leave the cartoons, but arrived quickly when Izzy told them Granny Walsh had been in while they were away and there were chocolate Hobnobs in the biscuit tin. After the drinks, Izzy went to take her case to her flat, saying to Jinnie, “I hope that George hasn’t made too much of a mess while I’ve been away. I expect there is a huge pile of washing to be done. I’m going to sort out my dirty washing and get the machine on, I’ll be back in time to help with lunch.”
Jinnie decided to open the cases where they were and, like Izzy, get a load of washing on. There wasn’t too much, as she had made use of the washer dryer in the holiday home, but there was, however, a lot of ironing, and she hated ironing. As she loaded the built-in washer dryer with what was mainly the twins’ stuff, she wondered if she could leave the ironing to Izzy. With the machine set in motion, Jinnie decided that if she were going to be back working for SIS, she had better give Alberto a heads-up and tell him she had been called up by the reserves and would probably be missing for a few weeks. She also needed to talk to him about Caroline.
Jinnie phoned Alberto on his mobile, knowing that, as it was late Sunday morning, it was likely he would be at home. Alberto answered quickly, saying, “Welcome home, Jinnie. I guess this is important, or you would have waited until you got into the office tomorrow.” “Yes and no,” replied Jinnie. “I rang to tell you I’ve been called back to the Services for a few weeks, I don’t yet know how long exactly, but I have to go to a meeting in London tomorrow. So, I might find out then, but it’s quite likely I’ll be in uniform on Tuesday and overseas on Wednesday. I’ll try and ring you, but I might not be able to, so I guess I’ll see you when I see you.”
“Damn,” replied Alberto, “there are a couple of things we need to discuss. In particular, we need to discuss the winery project.” “Are there problems?” asked Jinnie. “Not really,” replied Alberto, “it is actually going far better than I expected. The county council planning department has recommended that planning be granted, but have attached a proviso. We must build a mini roundabout at the point where our access road meets the road through the valley.” “So,” said Jinnie, “what’s wrong with that?” “The cost,” replied Alberto, “estimating reckon it will add around £750,000 to the project. I wonder if we should fight it.” “I don’t think so,” said Jinnie, “it would likely cost us more. So, we have two choices, pull the project and look for another site, or bite the bullet and swallow the costs. Has Brian had a look at what it does to the financial viability of the overall project?”
“I spoke to Brian, and he just shrugged his shoulders,” said Alberto, “he said off the top of his head it might make it a few weeks longer for the whole project to be profitable.” “Well, in that case, let’s just agree to the condition and get the project moving,” said Jinnie. “OK,” said Alberto, “I think we just go with it.”
“Now what is this I hear from HR that we have a new head of publicity,” continued Alberto. “That was what I wanted to talk to you about,” replied Jinnie. “On holiday I met Caroline Harman. Her husband is the Captain of the aircraft carrier HMS Prince George, and it was visiting Barbados for a few days. She was on holiday with her twin girls, and they were all dining in the Continental when we took the family in. Anyway, we were invited to a formal dinner on the carrier and I really got chatting to her there. She had given up her job at a national supermarket to look after the twins when her nanny left. She had worked in their publicity department and edited their in-house magazine.”
“Well, it all fell into place, I have been talking about an in-house magazine/newsletter for ages,” said Jinnie. “And we need a publicity department, we always struggle with press releases. We used to have Miranda, now she runs the events division, we haven’t got a publicity department. Here was the perfect candidate to run a new department and launch an in-house magazine/newsletter, but there was still a problem, she couldn’t take a job without a nanny. Then I realised that I had the perfect solution, Cathy was only a temp and was leaving now that Izzy was back from her honeymoon. So, I recommended her to Caroline and they got on like a house on fire. I offered Caroline the job and she said yes.”
“I talked to Harriet, and she sorted out all the details. Caroline lives at Brookmans Park, so an office in Maple House is ideal. We have space on the non-executive floor to set up a new department. It only needs to be a small department, a PA and a couple of people to start with. I assume Harriet spoke to you about the departmental budget and authorising a car for Caroline.” “Exactly,” answered Alberto. “I listened to Harriet and have signed off on the budget and the car, in fact I added a bit because I realised that there could be a lot of travel involved.”
“One other thing,” said Jinnie, “have you thought about having someone step up as temporary CEO while I’m missing. You realise I can’t be in touch every day as I have been from Barbados.” “I’m not sure who could take your place,” replied Alberto, “who would you suggest.” “There are a few who are more than capable,” answered Jinnie. “I would suggest you, Belinda, Brooke, Brian or Sir Nigel, they could all do it. Brian stepped up at DKL once before and did an excellent job.” “Well not me,” muttered Alberto. “I’m too far old, and all but Sir Nigel has really big jobs in which we would have the additional problems of replacing them for the time you are missing. What if we say Sir Nigel, he is officially Acquisitions Director, and we are quiet on that front now.” “I’m happy with that,” said Jinnie. “If he can run a country he should be able to run a company for a few weeks. Besides, it’s mostly run by the divisional directors on a day-to-day basis. We only get involved on strategic decisions. I’ll pop round and see him shortly so he can start off tomorrow.”
***
Jinnie called, “Twins, where is the Giant Toblerone you got for Uncle Nigel? Who wants to pop round and give it to him.” “It’s in my backpack,” Willie shouted back. “I’ll get it.” Paolo called, “I’ll get the bottle of Hennessy and the cigars we got him, it’s with the other duty free booze.” Willie arrived with the Toblerone, closely followed by Millie and Larry. Last to arrive was Paolo with a ‘Barbados Duty Free Shop’ plastic bag containing the bottle of brandy and a box of 50 Romeo y Julieta cigars. Jinnie said, “Come on gang,” and they all trudged off down the garden, through the gate in the wall and across the garden towards Sir Nigel’s kitchen door.
About halfway across the back garden, Larry shot off and went into Sir Nigel’s kitchen via his special cat flap. Seconds later, the back door opened and a smiling ‘Uncle Nigel’ stood in the doorway. The twins ran up to him and hugged him, and he pretended not to recognise them as they had been away so long. Willie presented him with the Toblerone, and their godfather said he loved it and would put it in the fridge and have some when he was watching the TV that evening.
Jinnie and Paolo stood in the doorway watching and smiling before Sir Nigel looked up and said, “Come in, come in, I was just making tea when Larry came in so guessed you were on your way over. Now, who wants tea and biscuits. Oh, I forgot you two rarely drink tea, so it’s coffee. Now what have I got suitable for twins. I have water, I have cocoa, but that is much stronger than drinking chocolate, or I milk.” Willie and Millie looked at each other and chorused, “Milk please.”
Everyone sat around the kitchen table while the twins told Sir Nigel about their holiday, where they had been, what they had done and their new friends Annabel and Alexandra. Jinnie looked at Sir Nigel’s puzzled face, so she told the story of meeting Caroline and her twins, and how Cathy was now Caroline’s nanny and Caroline was the new head of Publicity at SuperBurger. “I heard something about us getting a publicity department and I think it’s an excellent idea, it’s something we need. When does she start, has the family got to look for a house.” “That’s the handy thing,” said Jinnie, “they live in Brookmans Park so Caroline can easily get to Maple House.”
Sir Nigel looked at his watch before saying, “I have a table booked at the Duke of York for lunch. I usually go about now so I can have a pint first and I have a taxi booked. Why don’t I phone Paul and add you all to the booking, I’m sure it will be OK, he caters for walk-ups.” Jinnie replied, “We were only going to have a snack for lunch and get a roast chicken from DKL for this evening. But I suppose we could have the snack for tea.” “Oh,” said Willie, “we like roast chicken.” “That’s alright then,” said Sir Nigel, “they have roast chicken on the menu every Sunday.”
As they finished their desserts, Jinnie finally said to Sir Nigel, “I have something to ask you. I have been called up for two or three weeks’ service and I will be out of touch all that time. I have spoken to Alberto, and we have agreed that we want you to step up to temporary CEO while I’m missing. It should be straightforward, the divisions run themselves. But you need to be around in case of problems and there is a board meeting scheduled while I’m away. And of course, Caroline starts tomorrow and I can’t be there to greet her and show her the ropes.”
“Of course, I’d be happy to step in,” said Sir Nigel, “but surely there are better candidates on the board.” “I can’t think of one,” replied Jinnie, “as I said to Alberto, ‘if he can run the country, then he can run a company’.” “Well, I’ll give it my best,” said Sir Nigel. “I have every confidence in you,” said Jinnie, “but if you need any help, just talk to Alberto, he is a wise head, or Brian is an excellent FD.”
***
As requested, Jinnie rang ‘C’ early on Monday morning. Both were very careful what they said over an open line, but Alan made it clear that he needed to talk to her in person, so she agreed to catch a train into London as soon as possible, saying she expected to be in the office before lunch. Alan said that was good for him and that she should be ready to travel tomorrow.
Jinnie asked Izzy to drive her to Potters Bar Station. She could get a fast train from there, and although it was only ten minutes faster than the slow train from Hadley Wood, she wanted to get to the ‘Cross’ as soon as she could. As usual, she changed onto the Victoria line at Finsbury Park and was walking into the Vauxhall Cross office about sixty minutes after leaving home. As she walked into reception, Jinnie noted several burly men hanging around and realised security had been upgraded. There were new barriers directing everyone to the reception desk where everyone’s passes were being checked. Jinnie showed her pass and waited while it was scanned. The receptionist said, “Good morning, Dame Jinnie. ‘C’ has warned us you would be coming in. If you would like to pass through the turnstiles line and take the right-hand express lift, it will take you directly to the executive floor. ‘C’s PA will meet you and escort you to his office.”
Jinnie used her pass to get through the turnstile line, which was now full height, and had small compartments to stop tailgating. Once again, her pass was required on a scanner to open the express lift’s doors. Unlike previous visits, there were no buttons for intermediate floors. Only two were marked: Reception and Executive. Jinnie pressed the ‘Executive’ button, and as the doors slid shut and the lift took off, she looked around and saw not one but two visible CCTV cameras. With two such obvious cameras, Jinnie wondered how many covert ones there were. She didn’t have time to look before the doors slid open and a woman stood waiting for her.
The woman said, “Hello, Dame Jinnie, I’m ‘C’s PA Clara. If you would like to follow me, I’ll take you to ‘C’s office.” As they walked down the corridor, Jinnie said, “You are new, aren’t you, Clara.” “Yes,” replied Clara, “I’ve only been with Alan about two months. I’m only a stand-in, his normal girl is on maternity leave.” “That would make sense,” said Jinnie, “it’s some time since I was last in the office.” Clara used her pass to open the door to the outer office and led Jinnie across to ‘C’s office, where she tapped on the wooden door in the glass partition.
Alan called, “Come in,” and by the time Jinnie had entered he was on his feet offering her his hand. As Jinnie shook it, he said, “Hello Jinnie, it’s nice to see you. My, you have a nice tan, your holiday must have been good.” Turning to Clara, he said, “Two mugs of the best coffee please, Clara. Dame Jinnie takes hers like mine, a splash of milk and no sugar. The PM is joining us shortly, so you better be ready with his coffee, he likes his milky with two sugars. Have the sandwiches arrived yet? If not, please chase them up and bring them in as soon as you can.”
Jinnie and Alan sat waiting for the PM, sipping coffee and chatting about Barbados. Alan had stayed there the previous year and had eaten at the Continental, which he said had been a wonderful experience. Jinnie told him if he ever went again to let her know and she would organise one of the best tables for him and a discount at the Ennios St James Bay. The PM arrived, took a seat next to Jinnie and accepted his coffee. Jinnie watched as Alan turned the glass walls of the office to opaque, turned on the white noise generator and a new item which he said was a signal jammer. Jinnie said, “I see you have upgraded security, any reason.” ‘C’ glanced at the PM, who nodded almost imperceptibly, before saying, “We are moving all government departments on to a more secure footing. We are about to embark on an operation that could provoke the Germans into retaliation. We don’t believe they have agents in the UK, but we can’t be absolutely certain, so we have started to operate at a higher security level. This has been in planning ever since the attack on your children’s school, but at a very high level of secrecy. As you have obviously noted, a number of changes have been made here and I’m pleased to tell you that we employed Wright Refurbishment to organise the work in secret, and if Belinda has kept the secret from you, I don’t think German agents have the slightest chance of finding out.”
The PM smiled at Jinnie and said, “I’m pleased to tell you that Wright Refurbishment is on our list of preferred contractors. Officially, there is no such list and bidding for government contracts is supposed to be open to all contractors, but we have to vet all contractors, and it is much simpler to award contracts to someone already vetted and whom we know can do the work. So, as long as we are happy with them, they will continue to get government contracts like the one Belinda is bidding for at Portsmouth Dockyard.” “I didn’t know she was bidding for work there,” said Jinnie. “Nor did she until the MoD delivered the ‘Invitation to Tender’ package to her office this morning,” replied the PM.
A large platter of mixed sandwiches was brought in by Clara and placed on a side table together with soft drinks, bottled water, cakes and fruit. Before withdrawing, Clara asked if anyone wanted more coffee, but no one did. Jinnie found egg and tomato and tuna and cucumber sandwiches and a bottle of Pepsi Max before the meeting got under way proper. ‘C’ started by saying, “You won’t be aware, but we infiltrated your sister into Berlin nearly three weeks ago. She is working with Hanna’s group, and we have already been able to carry out target surveillance and a bit of local planning. The basic operation remains the same, to topple the Berlin TV Tower, but we are also looking at several diversionary attacks. Hanna thinks she has the manpower, the explosives and the armaments.”
“We have been building up Hanna’s team’s resources for quite a while now, while deliberately not carrying out operations in Berlin,” continued ‘C’. “We have been active in several other German cities but have left Berlin alone ever since our operations there were infiltrated, and Big Willie was one of the few who got away. But you know all about that, you were there. We have carefully built Hanna’s operation back to full strength and this time round we are as certain as we have done that while not being infiltrated. In fact, it is the reverse. It is the Berlin Gestapo and Police who have been infiltrated. We have several people inside the organisations and they all report that the Germans think our Berlin operations were dismantled years ago and never rebuilt.”
‘C’ went on, “The original idea was to drive a truckload of explosives up to the base of the tower and detonate it, but that has been abandoned for two reasons. In the past couple of months, anti-vehicle barriers have been installed in the area and secondly, our experts have concluded that a truck bomb would probably not inflict enough damage to bring the tower down. It would probably damage it badly but not beyond repair.” “So, if we can’t bring the tower down, why are my sister and I being deployed to Berlin?” asked Jinnie.
“Because we can still bring it down,” said Alan, “but we just need to adapt our methods.” The PM picked up the story, saying, “The Germans have rather played into our hands. They have recently been struggling in their fight with the Russians and have been pushed back in several places along the front line, leaving three pockets into their occupied territory. Our agents tell us that the Germans intend to try and close off these areas by attacking at the neck of the Russian breakthroughs. And in readiness for this, they have been secretly building up forces in six places to try to make this work. Of course, we and the Americans have been watching all this with interest, but we don’t think the Russians know what is happening. Our agents in Russia tell us they have so far not detected any movement on their side of the front line.”
“The Germans have rather drained their current military resources,” continued the PM, “meaning that the protection of most public buildings is the responsibility of the civil police, and they are also short of manpower. It seems that with the war consuming vast numbers of men at the front line and women in the armaments factories and on the farms, there is a general shortage of labour. In the past, this would have been filled with foreign labour drafted in from occupied nations. But so many have been liberated, that’s no longer a simple solution. The resistance in the countries they still occupy has taken the new war as an opportunity to kick off, and of course, we and the Americans have been doing as much as possible to help them. Poland is particularly interesting.”
“The reports I’m getting say that the supply routes to the east through the likes of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine and Belorussia are regularly being attacked,” added ‘C’, “and are pulling in a lot of resources that would otherwise be on the front. One thing that may interest you, as I know that you have a good Polish friend, is that Poland is virtually ungovernable by the Germans. They have withdrawn most of their troops, and the Free Polish Forces control nearly half the country, and it is growing daily.”
“That’s excellent news,” said Jinnie, “but why is it not in the media?” “It’s difficult for us,” replied the PM. “The Free Polish Army, Navy and Air Force are all trained in Britain and armed with British and American equipment. The Germans consider them part of the British Army, and if we were to make a lot of it, we might find ourselves being attacked by them. We would rather sit in the background and help. We are pouring in arms and ammunition in through Gdańsk and Gdynia, and the first two Squadrons of Free Polish Air Force Typhoons are due to land in what they are calling Free Poland next week. The Poles in the liberated zone are more than happy to sign up. There are three more Typhoon Squadrons in the UK just waiting for more airfields to be made available, and a lot more behind them. The Yanks have donated three Squadrons of F35As, and we have been training the pilots up in Lossiemouth, far from spying eyes.”
The PM continued, “If things continue the way they are going, Poland will be completely free by Christmas, and we will not have had to risk any Allied lives. Now, how does this all affect your mission? Well, the planners have been looking at things closely, and you’ll be pleased to know that your own mission planning department have come up with this variation. I won’t go into all the details, but the basic idea is that on the night of the attack on the tower we carry out perhaps half a dozen diversionary attacks in Berlin, pulling what few troops and police they have in the city all over the place, and hopefully leaving the tower very lightly protected. We then fill the base of the tower with many van loads of PE8.”
“So, where do Penny and I come in, neither of us are demolition experts?” asked Jinnie. “If you look at these photos, you will see there are low-rise blocks on two sides of the tower dominating the open area between the tower and the Alexanderplatz station and tram stops,” replied ‘C’. “We would like one of you on either roof covering the approaches. The SAS experts tell us that, with any luck, we can blow out the base of the tower nearest Alexanderplatz and topple it across the square and onto the railway station, which serves eight regional lines, four S-Bahn lines, three U-Bahn lines, several tram routes and numerous bus routes. Imagine the chaos if we do that. The Ministry of Propaganda won’t be able to keep that quiet or put much of a spin on that.”
“A couple of questions, sir,” said Jinnie. “Will we be alone on the low-rise roofs, and is there an exit plan?” “I haven’t seen the full plan yet,” admitted the PM, “but I think not. I seem to remember several spotters and guards, and yes, there is an exit plan. Again, I don’t know the details, mission planning will have all the details.” “One other thing, sir, can you authorise the release of some of the explosive ammunition we used in the last mission? I have a hunch we might need to take out some trucks or cars.” “That’s already been thought about,” replied ‘C’. “Hanna has quite a stock. She will also be employing it in some of the diversions. Now, I think Greta is waiting for you down in mission planning. She can fill you in on all the mission details, including the infiltration and the exfiltration. I’m afraid I will have to have Clara escort you.”
In Chapter 30 – Berlin again
© WorthingGooner 2025
