‘So you want to recruit them?’

‘In a word, yes.’

‘And how many people are we talking about?’

‘Hundreds rather than thousands.’

‘Hundreds! You want to release hundreds of Nazis from prison and give them some kind of amnesty just because it helps the United States?’

‘It would be the low hundreds, Tom, but yes – and I’m surprised that you’re so surprised. In fact I’d imagine you guys are doing the same. It makes sense, don’t you agree? Sure, we can let some well-placed former general rot in prison for a few years, or sentence a brilliant rocket scientist to hard labour, but wouldn’t that be cutting off our nose to spite our face when we can harness their expertise to help us?’

‘I’m not sure I—’

‘Look, Roly, hundreds of years ago, one country would conquer another and they’d sack their cities and help themselves to whatever they could find – including the women. This is a modern-day version of that.’

‘From what I understand, the Soviets are doing just that, and transporting whatever they can lay their hands on in Germany back to Russia. Even whole factories, I’m told, right down to the light switches, would you believe!’

‘Exactly,’ said Jenkins. ‘So the Soviets are helping themselves to factories and we’re helping ourselves to spies and scientists. I think we’ll benefit more in the long run. Meanwhile, you guys are thumbing through the rule book to check if this is cricket!’

‘Well do keep us in touch with how it goes, Joe. Presumably at some stage we’ll have sight of a list of who you’ve recruited?’

‘That’s why I asked to see you today, Tom.’

‘You’ve brought a list, have you?’

The American shook his head and looked from Gilbey to Pearson and the back again, deciding which man to address his remarks to.

‘There’s a Counter Intelligence Corps section in Munich run by a Major Tom Barrow. A few days ago, Tom had a walk-in and…’

Sir Roland Pearson sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

‘I know what you’re thinking, Roly – you don’t trust walk-ins. You don’t need to worry, we’re quite aware that they can be set-ups. We’re as sceptical about them as you are, but some of our best intelligence has come from walk-ins; they just need to be checked out even more thoroughly.’

‘So do tell us about the chap who walked into your office in Munich.’

Jenkins put on a pair of thick-lensed spectacles and looked at his notebook. ‘According to Barrow, an American officer was approached by a German man outside the US Army officers’ club on Neuhauser Strasse. He handed him an envelope that he said contained information our intelligence people would want to see and said he’d turn up the next day at our headquarters.

‘The officer handed the envelope to our intelligence people first thing the next morning. It contained four rolls of film, which they had developed straight away. What they saw was so interesting the photographs were handed to Major Barrow, and when the man arrived in the morning, he was brought to see him. He was able to show he’d been a senior official at the Nazi Party headquarters, and had been photographing important files since sometime in 1941. We’ve checked him out and he is who he says he is.’