‘He knows you work for me, Dummkopf!’ Bormann sighed audibly, or was he simply lighting another cigarette? ‘Well, I suppose I must at least commend you for your work in finding out the name of this American professor. Leave it with me – I’ll make contact with Jung. But you know what you must do now, don’t you, Otto?’

‘I believe so, sir.’

‘You need to kill Horst Spahn – and quickly.’

*

A rush of footsteps on metal and then the panel was ripped out without ceremony. The three of them had been huddled in the tiny space in the bilges for less than five minutes.

‘You have to get out now,’ Schmidt said. ‘We have gone about – turned south – and are being escorted back to Germany where you will assuredly be found, because they will tear this ship apart. That would mean death for every one of us.’ He reached in and took Klara in his arms. ‘Come on, child, there’s no time to lose.’

‘What are we going to do?’ Wilde asked.

‘You have to make your own way to land in the open boat. From the chart, I would say we are probably close to, or even in, Swedish territorial waters. We have seen land to the east, which we take to be the Danish island Bornholm, so you need to head north and west. Unfortunately, I can tell you no more. Our visibility is too poor.’

‘Well, if we’re in Swedish territorial waters, surely a German naval vessel can’t touch us.’

‘Indeed, and if you believe that, you must also have trolls in your garden. Come on, we have to get you into the boat and pray that you are not seen.’

*

Getting into the rowing boat was no easier than it had been disembarking. And now there was an added problem; this time they were on their own without an oarsman/navigator to help them.

‘The one thing you have on your side is that the rowing boat is presently on our starboard, as is the shoreline,’ Schmidt said. ‘The E-boat is to port, so we will eclipse you from their line of sight for a short while. When we untie you, don’t row, don’t speak, show no lights, just drift backwards with the wind and current. Within a few minutes, the Harald and the E-boat will be gone. Then you row – for your life. As soon as you see land, head for a flat stretch of coast and then when you are closer in, a sandy beach, not rocks. Good luck to you all. When the war is over we will meet in Stockholm, you can tell me your name and we will drink some beers.’

And with that he handed Wilde a small compass and put Klara in his arms, then urged him down the rope ladder.