‘But isn’t this the point, though, what this Kurt chap said in his answers? Let me quote. Here we are. Agent Laertes – do you employ classics scholars to come up with these ridiculous code names, Gilbey? – Agent Laertes says Kurt told him: “The technology is complex and at every stage of the development programme we’re facing major problems. It could take years to get this right.” And then he went on to say… where am I… ah, yes, here: “One of our many problems has been sourcing components that can withstand very high temperatures. Say we did solve the problem – what would happen then? There would still be dozens of other problems with the programme.”

‘So we either believe Kurt or we don’t. If we choose not to believe him, then what he says about the V-1 and V-2 programmes can be dismissed anyway as either nonsense or disinformation. If we choose to believe him, then we have to give weight to what I have just quoted, namely that the programme is not working and they’re facing major problems – dozens of them, as he says. Very much as I predicted, in fact. I simply do not believe they can develop the right fuel systems to launch a one-ton warhead and keep it in the air.’

‘But these problems can be overcome. We can’t afford to ignore them.’

‘Come on, Gilbey: you can’t have your cake and eat it. When we last met, we wondered, did we not, about Kurt’s motivations. Well, we have them here in black and white, courtesy of the resourceful Agent Laertes. The Oberst is a loyal Luftwaffe officer and his motivation for passing the intelligence on to us is presumably for us to do our part in helping to stop the V-1 and V-2 programmes so the Luftwaffe benefits. Here’s what he says: “The best service I could do for the Luftwaffe and for the German people would be to help bring about the abandoning of the V-1 programme. It’s distracting the Luftwaffe from doing its real job.” Then he goes on to say what a disaster Stalingrad is, and continues: “Throughout Europe our planes are outperformed by the RAF. We’d stand a chance of reversing that if all of our efforts weren’t going into the V-1 programme.”’

Lord Swalcliffe closed his file and placed it neatly on top of the others in front of him. ‘In my opinion, Pearson, we’d be doing the country a disservice if we did anything about this. My opinion that both the V-1 and the V-2 are doomed to failure has been vindicated. Let the Germans carry on wasting their time and resources on the programmes. Surely the last thing we want is to be complicit in bringing about their cancellation, thereby aiding the Luftwaffe, eh, Hamilton?’