Chapter 1

(The Need to Know)

Honey was not the type of female that made a fuss over little details. She was level-headed and tended to keep her mouth shut when she didn't know the right answer. Unfortunately, her now deceased husband Donald was a bit of a blabbermouth and the knowledge of that weakness of character caused his early departure from earthly existence.

Honey's maiden name was Weston and she was a bit of a class-act if the truth be known. Her family had been well known in their rural locale for several generations and they had been both rich and poor depending on the vagaries of economic circumstance. Her already buried spouse Corporal Donald Peabody was more common than most and the amiable fellow was never known to have missed an opportunity to lift a pint. She worked at the War Office in the spring of 1941 and minded her own business in matters of classified importance and personal affairs. Unfortunately the Weston's had a little discussed German wing of the family and she was denied clearance beyond the Secret level already assigned to her by her title and position. It didn't help her case when her husband Donald was involved in some sort of dodgy scam involving counterfeit coupons for food supplies and petrol. His death was attributed to "suspicious" circumstances and nothing was ever begun to investigate the cause. Her inquiries at the local police station and even friends of her Brigadier Uncle were to no avail and they all advised her to keep a low profile until the whole thing died down.

Honey Weston was a bit of a looker, although she tried her best to hide her generous breasts and delectable taut buttocks under shockingly plain and concealing garments that were better suited to females in the "cow" category rather than a "hot number".

Her landlord, Mr. Diddlebum, blatantly disregarded the privacy of her recent bereavement and repeatedly attempted to chat her up in odd corners and to draw her into a private relationship of unspecified illicit description behind the closed door of her tiny apartment. Fortunately, his observant spouse put a quick halt to it even though she couldn't see what her Horace could possibly find attractive in the plainly dressed widow in black.

As fate would have it, Honey was one of those fortunate people with the ability to grasp fluent usage of more than one language. She was comfortable in both French and German in addition to her mother tongue English. Her French accent was actually imperfect to a native born French speaking person but the consensus of opinion was that she was a native German raised in that area of contention between the two countries in a place that caused no paucity of friction even in normal conversation. No hint of her English roots was evident in either language.

It was her collateral duty at the War Office to translate certain documents for the benefit of various unnamed agencies that used them for unspecified purposes. It was in that capacity that she came to the attention of Sir Harold Knightly and his little band of fellow travelers who stayed far away from any sort of notoriety or recognition by the Whitehall faithful.

The recent loss of a spouse and her difficulties in securing sufficiently high clearance for even middle management positions caused Sir Harold to approach her under the guise of "borrowing" her services for a project requiring both extensive French and German translations on short notice. They already had a team of both French and German native speakers but they were often prudently precluded from access to such classified material due to a distinct lack of trust.

Sir Harold called Honey into his private study at an office located strategically close to the War Office and questioned her at length about her attitudes and objectives in working for the government in these trying times.

"Mrs. Weston. May I call you Mrs. Weston? I see you have chosen to use your maiden name once again. My name is Knightly. Please don't use "Sir" or "Commander" it is far too formal for our close little group. Your supervisor, Captain Whitechapel has graciously loaned you to us for our study group. I do hope it is not an inconvenience to you. We will be traveling to Scotland often to visit our field group and you might be asked to stay overnight on our little excursions. Will that present any difficulties for you?"

The sly Sir Harold was reasonably certain it would not present any difficulties for the rudderless female without a male at home to demand her full attention and detract from her work performance.

"No, not in the least, Sir ... excuse me ... Mr. Knightly. I tend to not have a schedule these days and am available at odd hours when needed."

The Commander looked at the file on his desk and asked in a confidential tone of voice,

"That nasty business with your deceased spouse seems to have died down now. I expect you were vexed to the limit by all that contrived innuendo?"

A look of pain crossed Honey's eyes. She had never suspected for a minute her husband had turned to such disreputable devices. His notebook and journal informed her that most of his illegal activities were strictly to enrich a young woman called "Polly Peacock" who sold her services by the hour. The shame of having shared a life with a person who put personal illicit pleasure above proper behavior stung her pride but she was determined to put it all behind her and keep her options open for whatever opportunity arose in the future.

"In all honesty, Mr. Knightly, it saddens me to admit I am somewhat at fault for not being fully cognizant of my husband's dreadful schemes. I was surprised at his success in making money so quickly, but I just assumed it was his clever mind at work."

He surprised her by handing her a briefcase filled with various forms and credentials.

"This will be your packet. You are being promoted to special assistant to the Director. That's me. Your clearances are on the card in file Alpha. Only you and I and one other group member will have that level of clearance. His name is Dicky and he is in charge of the field group near Loch Ness. Please read the Official Secrets Act reminder and sign the yellow card for the file. I am afraid you have to go to the medical section now for a full check-up. I hope you have no problems in stripping off for the Medical Examiner. He is quite a nice chap. Must be eighty, if he's a day."

Honey was a little bit fearful but it did make sense of a sort because these were perilous times and things moved at an accelerated pace for this kind of business. She was not afraid of showing her naked body to a strange Doctor and she wondered if there would be any funny business with trick peep holes and the like just to see what she looked like underneath her formless clothing. For some strange reason, that actually made her feel good inside like she was going to a performance starring herself for an unknown audience for reasons not yet fully clear.