Historical Fiction: Walking Away from Midnight – Sample Chapter 6

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Last Updated on June 3, 2024 by Tom Kane

Chapter Six

All Things Must Pass

Cairo, November 1929

Jessie’s Childhood could not have been more idyllic. From a precocious child not wanting to leave England, she became a precocious child not wanting to leave Egypt. But someone, somewhere, once decreed that all things in our lives must eventually pass us by and leave our lives forever. Her childhood was ending, her beloved uncle Nev had disappeared, and nobody wanted to talk about it. All she had come to know, come to love, seemed to pass before her and away from her life. All except Amir. The boy turned youth who was almost the same age as her, though nobody really knew his age, least of all Amir, was coming with them, back to England. Amir would gain an education and he would work for the Fordham household.

Jessie had grown up in many ways and she no longer questioned the army desire to move families about like pieces on a chessboard. She no longer questioned her mother’s unstinting loyalty to her father. But she wasn’t fully grown in all things, especially where her father was concerned. She still questioned him and his authority over her more often than Albert Fordham would have wanted.

“Why?”

Albert sighed. Not for the first and certainly not the last time in his lifetime where his eldest daughter was concerned. His twin sons, Kit and James and the recent addition, Molly, were sparkling examples of childhood conformity. Jessie was exactly the opposite.

Albert Fordham sat in his favourite chair in a small room he used as a study. “Because I say so. Or rather…”

“Because the army says so. Yes daddy, you’ve said that so many times before. But why can’t mummy look after us?”

“Your mother does look after you, but she needs a little help sometimes and Armel will be a great help to your mother.”

“She’s not British.”

“No, she’s French, and you should be used to French people. You like Madame and Maurice Noaire, don’t you?”

Jessie nodded. “But I don’t like Armel. She looks too much like mummy.”

Albert sighed heavily, again. “That’s not Armel’s fault.”

Jessie didn’t have an answer to that. “I’m going to my room,” she blurted out and turned and left her father’s study.

Albert gave another sigh and shook his head. “Jessie, Jessie, Jessie,” he muttered, before turning back to proof reading his report on Nev’s arrest and the plan he had of ensnaring Dio Deberge. His colonel wanted Deberge out of his hair and out of Egypt, and Albert’s plan was to be approved, based on the report he was about to file.

***

Leaving Egypt was expected, but Albert Fordham didn’t quite expect it to happen so soon. He wanted to implement his plan to close Dio Deberge’s operation in Cairo and get his brother off scot-free. It hadn’t happened in the way he had planned and he and his family were moved back to Catterick with only 24 hours’ notice. Their belongings were packed and shipped for them and the Fordham’s and their children were suddenly on an RAF flight to Britain, as opposed to the usual transport of a slow boat back to Britain.

Back in Catterick, Albert received news through unofficial channels, via Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service headquarters, that he had been spotted for the job of Military Attaché to the British Embassy in Paris and with it an unprecedented promotion to full colonel. The news came as a surprise to Albert and Ruth but was greeted by a shrug of all the children’s shoulders, all except Jessie. She was now not only precocious, but soon to be a teenager. A combination that was sure to leave both the adults in the Fordham household truly exasperated and stressed.

***

“I have no news, Lieutenant Fordham. Your brother, Captain Fordham, has been tried and found guilty. That is all I know. I know nothing of the sentence.”

“And the Egyptian? Dio Deberge?”

“He was shot and killed trying to escape.”

“Thank you, sir. I appreciate this information is classified.” Albert Fordham stood to attention and saluted. He turned and marched out of the adjutant’s office. Turning left down the wooden corridor of the regimental offices, he marched to the end. He opened the door, stepped out, and quietly shut the door. A look of anguish crossed his face, and Albert swore. “Hellfire and damnation!”

Lieutenant Albert Fordham walked away from the offices. It was quite cold in Catterick, not at all sultry and warm, as would have been in Egypt. He wondered where his brother was and what his conditions were like. Then he realised the British Army was trying to keep his brother’s fate a closed secret, in order for Albert’s career, at least, to flourish. Captain Nev Fordham had his chance in the army and blew it, big time. Nev Fordham may have been executed for treason, for all he knew. Albert’s plan had been approved by his colonel in Egypt and the plans for the spitfire, suitably doctored and useless, were approved for use as bait.

Now he knew that all involved in the trap had been moved on, himself included. And those at the very pointy end of the trap, his brother Nev and Dio Deberge, were left to their fate.

All Albert could do was carry on surreptitiously trying to find out what Nev’s fate was and hope he could try to put things right. His only genuine hope was that Nev was still alive and had not been left in the hands of the hangman.

Copyright © Tom Kane 2022

Download a sample or read for FREE on Kindle Unlimited.

Chapters 1-2: http://fictionbooks.online/walking-away-from-midnight-sample-chapters-1-2

Chapter 3: http://fictionbooks.online/historical-fiction-walking-away-from-midnight-sample-chapter-3

Chapter 4: http://fictionbooks.online/historical-fiction-walking-away-from-midnight-sample-chapter-4

Chapter 5: http://fictionbooks.online/historical-fiction-walking-away-from-midnight-sample-chapter-5

Chapter 6: http://fictionbooks.online/historical-fiction-walking-away-from-midnight-sample-chapter-6

Chapter 7: http://fictionbooks.online/historical-fiction-walking-away-from-midnight-sample-chapter-7

Chapter 8: http://fictionbooks.online/historical-fiction-walking-away-from-midnight-sample-chapter-8

Chapter 9: http://fictionbooks.online/historical-fiction-walking-away-from-midnight-sample-chapter-9

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