‘I’m not sure, Peter. My contact would probably need longer than that to arrange the meeting with Kurt – I wouldn’t want to risk asking him before I see him in person.’

‘Of course not. Can you bring the trip forward?’

‘Probably not. The Monday flight is always fully booked. But we could take the ten o’clock flight on the Tuesday morning and come back on the Thursday evening. That gives us two nights and the best part of three days. Hopefully it will be enough time to get to see Kurt. And we need to think about you. You’ll need a visa and accreditation too, as well as tickets for the flights, and then there’s the hotel…’

Otto ran his hand through his hair; he was as close to being stressed as Prince had seen him. But he didn’t look so much worried as someone enjoying the challenge of seeking a solution to a problem.

‘Tomorrow’s what… Wednesday. First of all, let me see if I can change my flight and see what we can do about you. Here, let me have a look at your legitimationskort.’

They’d arranged to meet at lunchtime on Thursday at a café close to where Agent Horatio worked.

‘Will it be safe, a public place like that?’ Prince asked as he was leaving the apartment. He’d assumed he’d return there to discuss the travel plans.

‘It will be safe enough. It will be better than you coming here again; I don’t think we can risk that. One or two of my neighbours are of the nosy variety.’

At the café, Horatio had his excited look about him. He was very pleased with himself, he announced. The café was so noisy they had to lean very close to each other, their heads almost touching.

‘Congratulations, Peter! You’re now an employee of Mortensen Machinery Parts. Well done.’ He patted Prince enthusiastically on the shoulder as if he was congratulating him at the end of a gruelling selection process. ‘I’m very senior in the company,’ he continued. ‘I’ve worked for them for years and I’m by far their best salesman. I have a lot of influence and of course I know who’s sympathetic and won’t ask questions. Most Danes are opposed to the Nazis; it’s just a matter of being aware of the small number to steer clear of. I told my managing director I needed to take someone with me to Berlin next week and he said he was fine with that as long as it didn’t cause problems for the company.’

‘What kind of problems?’