‘I told you she’s safe. What happened to her may be my fault, but from what I gather, we probably saved her life. She’d got herself into a very dangerous situation.’

‘Is she here in Vienna?’

‘No, she’s still in Villach. Don’t worry; you’ll be taken there tomorrow.’

‘What do you mean, it may have been your fault?’

Gurevich undid his greatcoat and from an inside pocket produced a flask, which he put down on the table, indicating that Prince should drink first. ‘The war was very straightforward in many ways, wasn’t it? I’ll admit that our alliance with Nazi Germany was awkward, though of course Comrade Stalin was correct to try and buy time. Had the Nazis invaded in 1939, we would have struggled to resist. Once they did invade, in 1941, it was clear exactly who our enemy was: we could see them, we were fighting them every day. But since the war ended, matters have become complicated. We’re meant to be friends with the British and the Americans because we were on the same side, but everyone knows that it is hardly a friendship. Even within the Soviet Union the comradeship and unity that was there during the war has been replaced by a degree of mistrust.’

He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and lit a cigarette. ‘And then we have our other allies, in countries where the Soviet Union is trying to exert its influence. You yourself made reference to us acquiring an empire, which of course is unfair, but it is true that there are countries in eastern and central Europe that we are trying to bring into the embrace and protection of socialism, with the Soviet Union at the vanguard showing strong leadership. We believe this is absolutely in their interests and we have no doubt that in time they will understand this too.’

He stopped and looked hard at Prince, wanting him to understand that as urbane and amenable as he was, there could be no doubt as to where his loyalties lay.

‘There’s an old saying I remember my grandfather using: your enemies appear in the light, your friends in the dark. The enemy is easier to spot than a friend. A friend can become an enemy before you realise it. But with some of these countries – our friends – the relationship is, how shall I phrase it… complicated. They too have fought a long and hard war and they have a desire for independence that is not necessarily compatible with our interests. So we need to work hard to extend our influence. One way of achieving this is by doing favours for them; making them feel indebted towards us.

‘The country presenting us with most problems at the moment is Yugoslavia. Their partisans fought an outstanding war against the enemy, but now there are indications that they wish to follow their own path. So we need to increase our influence with them.

‘After you left Berlin, I discovered that in the summer of 1944, Friedrich Steiner was transferred from Amsterdam to Maribor in Slovenia. He operated from the Gestapo bureau there under a different name, and he did not use his nickname of the Ferret. His brutality in Maribor was particularly appalling, and the Yugoslavs too are hunting for him. So I went to see them at their mission in Berlin on Cornelius Strasse. I told them about the Kestrel Line and Steiner and about Villach and you and Hanne and… hang on, hang on, hear me out… and in return I can expect favours from them: it will help make them well disposed towards us. They will understand we’re on the same side.