‘I’m sorry, I’m just trying to help.’

‘Help do what? Get us both killed? But seriously, you have some French, yes?’

‘Schoolboy French. My German is a great deal better.’

‘You do realise you’re to be a foreign worker from Nantes, employed by me?’

‘I heard it was Toulouse.’

‘Good. At least you are paying attention. And you can drive, I take it?’

‘Yes, I can drive.’

‘That is important because you are to be my chauffeur.’

Wilde was surprised. He had been told in his brief training sessions that fuel was so tightly rationed in Germany that few civilians were allowed to drive. The only reason Vanderberg had been able to use a car was his diplomatic status. Wilde made the point now to Sunny Somerfeld.

‘I have a special dispensation,’ she said. ‘As the widow of a highly decorated officer of the Luftwaffe such things are permissible.’

‘God, I’m sorry – I didn’t know.’

‘That I had a husband and he is dead? Would you like to see the letter of condolence from Adolf? There is much you and I don’t know about each other, Monsieur Sable, and perhaps it is better kept that way. But I tell you this – I am no traitor to my country. I will never work against Germany. I will do everything in my power to harm Hitler and the Nazis, for they are greater enemies of this country than even Winston Churchill, but nothing would ever induce me to work against my homeland. Hitler and Himmler, Heydrich and Goebbels – they are the traitors.’

‘Your husband . . .’

She shrugged. ‘His plane blew up in mid-air three months ago, while flying from Berlin to Paris. It wasn’t even the English that shot him down. Officially, it was engine failure – but everyone knows there was a bomb on board. My husband had more enemies in Germany than abroad. He was a fine man, my husband, the youngest general in the Luftwaffe – Spanish Cross in Gold with Swords and Diamonds, Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. Yes, Generalmajor Werner Somerfeld was a true hero with seventeen confirmed kills to his name.’ She shrugged. ‘But I think I would rather have my husband.’

‘Of course.’

‘Ah, I am crazy telling you these things. But I have always spoken my mind – why should I shut my mouth just because the criminals are in charge? It has always been my way. Of course they do not like women to have voices. We are here to breed children, wear dirndls and milk cows. That is our purpose in life.’

‘Perhaps you spent too much time in America. You’ve grown used to free speech.’

‘That must be it.’

‘And your husband? This is none of my business, but you said he had enemies . . .’

‘He felt the same way about the Nazis as I do. So did many among his comrades in the Luftwaffe, and many in the army. You look around you and you see cruelty and brutality, but we are better than this. Now, though, with these victories in the west and the great advances in the east, the true heroes are silenced.’