The Admiral stood up and walked towards the door, making it clear to his visitors that their time was up. ‘Myrtle will stand on the quayside and wave them off. Then I want her back here.’

Chapter 26

Trieste, Austria, and Berlin, December 1945

‘Gilbey wants you back as soon as possible.’

Two pairs of eyes scowled at Bartholomew. Hanne sat red-faced, her nails drumming on the table, while Prince was very still with his back to the open window: behind him the early-morning mist had lifted and the blinking lights of a ship on the Gulf of Trieste was just visible over the rooftops, the muffled sound of its horn breaking the silence.

‘You heard what I said? You’re to return to London. Please don’t look at me like that; I’m simply the humble messenger here.’

Prince said yes, he understood, and he was sorry for his reaction but this did feel rather personal actually, and after chasing all over Europe and putting one’s life at risk, well… it was rather a kick in the stomach for the hunt to be called off at the last minute.

Bartholomew said he understood too. It was always a disappointment when something like this happened, but he was well used to operations being called off just as they reached their conclusion.

‘You’ll fly back from Klagenfurt. The RAF has daily transport flights from there into Munich, and there are plenty of flights home from Neubiberg.’

‘When do we leave?’ Hanne sounded less conciliatory than her husband.

‘Straight away: London isn’t keen on you hanging around in Trieste.’

‘They obviously don’t trust us,’ said Prince. ‘And what about you, Bartholomew: staying behind to check we don’t sneak back in?’

Bartholomew said he’d follow them in due course. Evans would look after them on their journey to Klagenfurt.

‘And you’ve no idea why they’ve called the whole thing off just when we have them in our sights?’

‘I’ve told you, Prince: it’s not my decision. I daresay Gilbey will enlighten you when you’re back in London, but…’ Bartholomew hesitated and adjusted his tie. He was a man who chose his few words carefully.

‘But what, Bartholomew?’

‘It doesn’t matter, Prince. This is Gilbey’s show.’

‘I think we have some role in it, don’t you agree, Mr Bartholomew?’ Hanne sounded less obviously angry than she had been. She even smiled at Bartholomew.

‘Look… this may just be gossip, and I’m only sharing it because I admire you both enormously and because…’

‘…because we are on the same side?’

‘Exactly. You didn’t hear this from me, understand?’

They both nodded and moved closer.

‘There’s talk that the Americans have signed up Wolfgang Steiner.’

‘What do you mean, “signed up”?’

‘Recruited him.’

‘To work for them?’

Bartholomew was still playing with his tie. ‘They’re up to it all over Europe, seeking out Nazis they think can help them: senior military types, rocket and aircraft scientists… From what I’ve been told, even before the Germans surrendered, the United States were clear that their enemy was now the Soviet Union and started recruiting Nazis to work for them on the basis that their enemy’s enemy is their friend.’