As the prospect of such an assassination attempt took on reality for him he put down his glass and rose to his feet, excitement building in him. ‘It will mean a lot of very rapid coordinated planning. The plans have always been that within two hours of Hitler’s death, army troops occupy and secure the national broadcasting headquarters and Berlin’s radio stations. Their doing so is absolutely vital.’

‘And will that be possible at such short notice?’ Lotti asked, totally ignorant of just who, in the Army High Command, Nicholas and his friends could rely on.

Nicholas nodded. ‘Yes. We’ve been in a state of readiness for months now, waiting only for the right opportunity. We have the support of General Olbricht, the deputy commander of the Home Army. He’s in a position to rally the garrisons in Berlin and other large cities.’

He turned away from her, beginning to pace the room. ‘And we have the support of Count von Helldorf, the chief of police in Berlin. With Olbricht and von Helldorf’s help the radio stations and telegraph and telephone centrals will be immediately occupied. Once that is done, the commanders of the Home Army in other cities and the generals commanding the troops at the front and in the occupied zones can be immediately informed that Hitler is dead and that they are no longer bound by their oath of allegiance to him. In that way we’ll get the support from all the generals who know the war is lost and want it to end, but who have been too cowardly to take action to bring that end about. Hitler’s death will stop all vacillating.’

Lotti, who had not thought beyond the simple necessity of Hitler’s death and had not taken on board the magnitude of the events that would have to follow it, rose to her feet and walked across to the cocktail cabinet. She needed a stiff Martini and Ilse seemed to have forgotten she was still without one.

‘And I will need to accompany Freddie to Rastenburg,’ Nicholas said, coming to a halt in front of Ilse, who was still kneeling by the side of his chair. ‘There has to be someone able to inform other key plotters—especially Olbricht and von Helldorf—that the attempt has succeeded and that they must swing into immediate action. Unless a successful coup takes place in Berlin, Himmler will have the chance to seize the reins—and the result of that won’t be a peace agreement with the Allies. It will be chaos and civil war.’

He picked up his glass and drained it. Then he said tautly, ‘I know you’ve done a special birthday celebration meal for me tonight, Ilse, but I can’t stay to enjoy it. I have only twenty-four hours in Berlin and I must speak personally to everyone who is going to be involved in this. First and foremost I must get in contact with Freddie.’

Ilse rose to her feet, her face wax-white. Her mention of Otto Schott’s experience was putting in place a train of events that would almost certainly result in Freddie Schulenburg’s death and could well result in Nicholas’s death as well.