‘And Hanne too.’

‘Of course! It’s a bloody strain, but we all react differently. Charles has taken it very badly, and I think losing Stephens like that was the final straw. On top of it all, his son was killed at El Alamein in late ’42 – he was in the Eighth Army – and Charles had what I suppose was a bit of a breakdown: not one of those where you shout at neighbours and then end up in one of those awful hospitals, but still, he’s not coping awfully well. So he’s asked me to help, and just as the SOE owes a debt of honour to its dead agents, so Charles and I have a responsibility to each other.’

‘Couldn’t someone else at the SOE take over the case?’

‘They could, but for better or worse, Charles thinks they’d see that as a sign of weakness and it would count against him. He wants to stay in the forces for a few more years and doesn’t want to blot his copybook. So we’ve come up with a perfectly plausible tale that I too have an interest in the Ferret and have asked to take the lead on it, and the SOE seem happy enough with that. Charles meanwhile has gone off to Scotland to have a good rest. This file here is everything we know on the Ferret – description, dates, places, the deaths of the agents. You need to get over to Munich as soon as you can. I think with you two on the case, we ought to have this wrapped up in a week or two.’

Gilbey stood and walked over to the window, his hands thrust deep in his pockets. ‘Europe’s changing by the day; it’s increasingly hard to know what to make of it, to be frank with you. The Soviets seem to know what they’re doing, and the Americans too, but I’m really not sure we do. There’s certainly a role for MI6 over there: we need to know who’s who, who’s on whose side, where the power is – the usual meat and drink of intelligence – but I fear we’ve not adapted to that new world as yet. We’ve been a bit slow off the mark. You two going out there could be useful for me – help me to establish contacts and start some kind of network. And the place is still teeming with Nazis: we’ve rounded up a number of the more prominent ones, but there are still thousands of nasty types we need to get our hands on. I believe this could be our way in, so to speak.’

‘I’m confused, sir. Do you want us to find this chap whose name we don’t know, or set up a network for you?’

‘Your mission would be to find the Ferret, Prince. But what I’m saying is that that ought to give you an entrée into the world of escaping Nazi war criminals, which would be useful for me to plug into. Everyone here at the Service is talking about what job they’ll be doing now the war’s over: this could be a role for me. The younger chaps are learning Russian; I fear I’m too old for that.’