‘I think the truth is we cannot be certain about what happened to Martin Bormann: I think we should regard him as unaccounted for rather than being at liberty.’

‘Nonetheless—’

‘My personal view is that had he been killed, we would have known about it by now. Commissar Gurevich, with whom we’ve been dealing, does not seem to think Bormann is dead. Through him I met Willi Kühn, who told me how Wolfgang Steiner had recently been to see him. I – we – think that the people running the Kestrel Line believe Bormann is still alive and are therefore anxious to help him escape. Who knows – it is possible Steiner found Bormann after he met Kühn: we just don’t know.’

‘You agree, Prince?’

‘Of course I do, sir. Until we have proof that Bormann is dead or captured, we must assume he’s alive and pursue this. I think we must keep up the hunt for Friedrich Steiner: find him and we’ll find Bormann.’

‘And how would you propose we go about that?’

‘If I may say, I think we are messing around.’ Hanne sounded annoyed. ‘Since I have been in this country, I notice how many meetings you have – meetings to decide everything. Meetings take up too much time and get in the way of an investigation. We know from Willi Kühn that Villach in Austria is a key place on the Kestrel Line. We ought to be there now rather than wasting our time talking about whether we think Bormann is alive or not.’

‘Hanne…’ Prince had placed his hand on his wife’s arm.

Tom Gilbey looked angry and started to speak, but Roland Bentley stopped him. ‘I don’t know what you were about to say, Tom, but I happen to very much agree with Hanne. We should be showing a far greater sense of urgency in pursuing Bormann. It would be an enormous feather in this country’s cap if we’re the ones to capture him. We wouldn’t want the Russians to have that honour, would we?’

‘Or the Americans.’

‘Absolutely, Roly.’

‘Or the French.’

‘I’d have thought that’s highly unlikely, Tom.’ There was a ripple of laughter around the table. ‘You two need to get to Villach as soon as possible. I find it hard to believe two agents as experienced as you won’t pick up the trail. Do we know whose zone Villach is in?’

‘Ours, sir.’

‘Jolly good – there ought to be a FSS in the town. Tom, have a word in the right ears to make sure they cooperate – remember it’s them working for us, not the other way round.’

‘Can I ask what FSS stands for?’ Hanne asked.

‘Of course – Field Security Section. They’re part of our military intelligence: we put them into areas we’re running. Tom, we’d better get a move on with getting these two out there, hadn’t we?’

‘May I ask about the London end of things – this art gallery: is that still of interest?’ Hugh Harper gave the impression he was hoping he’d be told the services of MI5 would no longer be required.