Letting A Spy In MISSION END

Posted on Wed Aug 12th, 2026 @ 2:20pm by Bartholomew Addington & Lola ‘Myth’ McDowell & Victoria Bell

1,912 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: The Light House
Location: On route to Thistledrift
Timeline: 19th December 2012

Lola sighed happily to be out of the lighthouse and the smell of the death that clung after all the sailors were killed there. She hated buildings like that and had seen far too many. She looked at the other woman who was walking along and slowed down to walk beside her.

"How are you doing?" She wondered, offering a small tub with homemade oat cookies to the woman. She could remember what it was like being the new person in the group. She had stumbled into Thistledrift thanks to a broken-down car after she escaped university and came to her place of work, where she had been volunteering, to find it empty.

Victoria glanced at Lola walking next to her. She gave the younger woman a tired smile. It was extraordinarily good luck to have come across Lola this early in her mission. "I suppose I am doing as well as could be expected." She looked over her shoulder at the lighthouse receding in the distance, and her expression grew sad. "Those men gave their lives to save me from the monsters chasing me."

"Not all military men are bad," Lola said quietly with her own sad smile. "And those sailors were amazing men." She had known a few of them over the last year or so of getting to know the people on the Europa.

Victoria snorted derisively at Lola's statement. Victoria may not have worked the brothels in York that catered to the soldiers and officers, but she had not escaped the attention of officers who thought female soldiers had to now cater to the advances of a superior officer. She had spent more than one night in her company commander's quarters. "You're young. The world has changed. Most military men take what they want, the same way they did hundreds of years ago. Spoils of war."

"You say that, but I was a military brat. I have met many men in the military, and until I met the ones that are in our community I thought they were all like that too." Lola put the tub away after pocketing her own cookie. She loved how oat gave her energy, as she hated how long winter was now and how little energy she had.

Victoria couldn't help but show curiosity. "Your home has a military?" She glanced at Bartholomew. "I thought he was a police constable." She nodded towards Bartholomew.

"How do you think we knew to come to the lighthouse when there was trouble?" Lola wondered. "We weren't just doing something nice for a vessel." Bartholomew grinned at the nod towards him as he kept the back secure.

"I am. You look disappointed that I am not military." Bartholomew teased.

Victoria just smiled. "Not disappointed. Just surprised is all. You must be a constable then?"

"I was a Sergeant," Bartholomew said with a small laugh as Lola rolled her eyes. Bartholomew turned around and looked behind the group with binoculars to check things out behind them properly. They had secured the lighthouse but you just never knew; something did not feel right about it all. "Surprised at what exactly?"

Victoria shrugged. "Nothing in particular. I am just not used to kindness from strangers, is all. I have not seen much of that since leaving Nottingham, is all." She looked ahead towards the three persons walking a bit ahead. "So what's the story with Frenchie? He is obviously not from around here."

“What makes you think that? Country has loads of foreigners, and I am not exactly from Yorkshire.” Lola said protectively of the man. She thought of Juliet, Samuel and the other people from other countries that they had in their community.

Victoria gave Lola an apologetic look and gestured in a placating manner. "I was just curious. I wasn't trying to be insulting of your boyfriend. His accent reminds me of the family I spent a semester with in Paris, is all."

“Not my boyfriend. My housemate and he is brilliant.” The young woman commented. “Everyone has a story though.” Lola shrugged. It was not her story to tell so she would leave that to him to tell.

Victoria moved closer to Bartholomew. She nodded towards Rene walking further ahead with Cassandra and Albert. She spoke in a low tone so only he would hear her. "Does the Frenchman know they're not boyfriend and girlfriend or does the girl really not see how he feels about her?"

“The girl… Lola does not see it.” Bartholomew said amused that another person had picked it up. The man had only been in the village a month but he was smitten. “Let’s leave her in her innocence.” He suggested.

Victoria shrugged and gave a slight chuckle. "Not my monkeys, not my circus. She does defend him like she's his girlfriend though." She glanced at Bartholomew with curiosity. "What about you? Is there a Mrs. Constable at home?"

"Never had a roommate or buddy?" He asked back. He knew he would have defended his friends or colleagues the same. "What about me? Delving straight into the personal, aren't you?" He grinned and shook his head. "And no, there is no Mrs Sergeant at home."

Victoria studied Bartholomew for a moment. "Well, if it makes you feel better than you may ask me a personal question." Her expression turned curious.

“I heard you lost your husband? I am sorry about that.” He said softly having only heard half thee conversation between Cassandra and the woman the night before. He did not know any details.

Victoria nodded solemnly. "I appreciate your concern. He was killed by a Hungry One when Nottingham Castle was overrun almost nine months ago. I was part of a group of nine that fled north. Three adults and six children ages seven to fourteen."

“All lost?” He demanded as he respectfully looked away using his binoculars again. There was nothing other than snow covered ground as they walked along the path towards Thistledrift.

Victoria sighed. "Not exactly. We had dodged a few roving bands of hooligans on the road north. We were about halfway between Leeds and York when a dozen soldiers on horseback found us. We were force marched to York and separated after that. I caught the eye of an officer. He said he would sponsor me as a house servant or I could end up in one of the brothels. I chose the former thinking I would be safer. I don’t know what happened to the others for sure, but I found out that most children are sent to a re-education facility."

“York?” Bartholomew repeated dvd glanced to Cassandra who was at the front t and led the way. “And how did you get away?” He wondered looking back to her. “You said you were in Nottingham?”

Victoria looked at Bartholomew. "I said I was originally from Nottingham and that Nottingham had been overrun almost a year ago. I was on the road with the small group of survivors for almost two months before the cavalry soldiers found us and took us to York." She sighed. "As for how I escaped. I faked an illness. I slipped out of hospital and was able steal a motorbike that got me about 30 kilometers outside the city before running out of petrol. I dumped the motorbike on a road heading north and struck out to the east."

Bartholomew made an oh face and nodded. “You should talk to Cassandra. She had an interesting time with them too,” The man said looking concerned and sickened by what he knew around the place.

Victoria nodded. She didn't like thinking about the how her commanding officer treated her and some of the other women in the unit as his personal harem of concubines, but it would perhaps garner more sympathy from the leaders Thistledrift. "I will do that...when I feel ready."

“Just know it’s not like that here.” He said indicating where the community was as they could finally see the towers and the ship in the distance as they turned in the coastal path. He would need to catch Cassandra to pre warn her as he had only seen her talk about York once but it was enough to make him relieved he had ended up there and not gone further.

Victoria stepped closer to Lola as Bartholomew moved to briefly speak to Cassandra. "Look, I am sorry for what I said about your housemate. I didn't mean to say something to upset you. It's obvious you both care for one another. I just assumed incorrectly you two were...involved."

“Well we are not.” The young woman said surprised that Bartholomew moved past her giving up the back to talk to Cassandra. She saw the woman paused for a moment before nodding once and carried on down the path. “There isn’t anyone.” Lola confirmed.

Victoria nodded. "Probably for the best. It's hard enough losing a friend in this world, even more so if it's someone you're in love with. I watched my husband get mobbed by a horde and was powerless to stop it."

Lola shrugged. She was not sure who or what she wanted right now her mind was spinning but it was a relief to see home coming into view. Bartholomew came back and took the lead at the back again.

“Less than an hour and we’ll be home.” Bartholomew said brightly.

Victoria looked where Bartholomew pointed to. A small town on the English Coast and a cruise ship resting next to a peer more suited to fishing vessels. "That’s where you're from?"

“Yep.” Bartholomew said popping the p with a grin. It was a happy sight as he could already see little black spots on the Europa indicating the sailors moving around.

Victoria shook her head in disbelief. "I thought you were talking about a warship, something like destroyer or battleship when you guys were trying to get the lighthouse working. That looks like a freighter or cruise ship. What is the story there? If I may ask?"

"You can ask, but that is not ours to tell," Barthelowmew commented. He would not take that story away from any of the sailors. They loved telling people how they got the vessel and commandeered it.

Victoria was trying to process everything she was seeing and a means of communicating the information back to the 4th Mechanized Brigade. The mission was important to Brigadier Felton. "It sounds like it will be an interesting story."

“It is. There are many point of views.” He chuckled. “Everyone has a story and if you ever get tired of yours just say that and people will stop asking.” He promised thinking he knew he was fed up of sharing his and he was only sharing the part he wanted to.

Victoria smiled at Bartholomew. He seemed like a genuinely likable person. He was also quite handsome as well.

“Be carefully as you go down these steps. They are slippery even in fresh snow and the sand I threw on them.” Bartholomew commented as he saw Lola slip a couple at the end and grab the rail tighter.

Victoria held onto the railing with one hand and gripped Bartholomew's arm with the other hand. She was impressed with the muscles of his bicep. She thought about her mission and decided she might have a little fun with it. Perhaps some under the covers fun while she operated undercover.

 

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