It always followed the same pattern. Middle of the night. Panicked phone call. Incoherent story. She always ended up agreeing to go over. This is different. Door wide open. Probably just a neighbour didn't close it right. Out of habit she checks the mailbox. Empty. Up the stairs, lit by flickering halogen. Along the corridor. … Continue reading OPEN DOOR
Dead roses in winter, withered and defeated. The Grand Armée reduced to an icy hell. The villages they entered had nothing to offer. They had stripped them bare of what little they had on their way to Moscow. Starving, frost-bitten and dog-tired, he stumbled on. To drop now meant certain death. No comrade would burden … Continue reading DEAD ROSES
It was gibberish to him. Maybe they could make something out of it back at the Circus. That's what the codebreakers were there for after all. He made a mental note to forward on the complete transcript of the interrogation as soon as it was ready. Maybe he just didn't want to believe what he … Continue reading BERLIN
I tried not to vomit as I peeled the fetid sock away from my foot. It came off in tattered patches, stuck to the putrid flesh underneath. The pain was excruciating. I had to look. It wasn't my foot any longer. I didn't recognise it. It was just a lump of red-purple meat. There were … Continue reading SURVIVAL
I swore fidelity to the crown and to my husband. I knew as I uttered the words to both, solemnly and with reverence, that I would keep neither. The marriage was arranged and brokered between the families. A marriage of business and politics. It was polite and kind and never hurtful, but it was passionless … Continue reading I SWEAR
