‘Prudence is terribly good,’ Hendrie told Prince. ‘By far the best we have at this type of thing. Have some lunch, but stay around here. She’ll probably want to double-check some dates with you or iron out any discrepancies. Then the report goes to Gilbey, and once he’s read it, all three of us can have a chat.’

‘When will I be able to get away? I’m terribly keen to see my boy. It would be wonderful if I could be driven up overnight and be there when he wakes up.’

Hendrie had moved over to the shuttered window and seemed preoccupied with it. ‘That’s probably pushing it – best not to get ahead of ourselves, eh?’

‘Could I at least telephone my sister-in-law?’

‘One step at a time, Richard, one step at a time.’

He couldn’t recall Hendrie calling him Richard before.

Now it was late afternoon, and Prince sensed something was up.

He couldn’t put his finger on what that something was, but when he entered the room where Tom Gilbey was waiting, he felt like a spendthrift customer about to ask his bank manager for another loan. It was that kind of atmosphere.

‘Welcome back, Richard.’

That was it for a while. Gilbey had been standing behind a desk. He hesitated before coming to shake Prince’s hand and then sitting down. He lit a cigarette, moved a sheaf of documents from one side of the desk to the other and tapped his fountain pen on the desktop.

‘May I sit down, sir?’

‘Of course, sorry. I’m told you’re on the mend, eh?’

Prince assured him he was, though he tired quite easily.

‘You’re going to need a decent rest, old chap.’

‘Thank you, sir. I hope that when I get home—’

‘Don’t underestimate how much these missions can affect you. Life when you return home can be almost as tricky as when you were on the mission. I’m told the difference feels rather… abrupt.’

Gilbey walked over to where Prince was sitting, pulling up another chair so he could sit opposite him. He leaned over and patted him on the knee.

‘Well done, though. I would say that all things considered, that was a successful mission.’

‘All things considered? That sounds rather grudging, if you don’t mind me saying, sir.’

‘Pluses and minuses, Prince, as my old maths master used to say. We’ve lost Horatio and his contacts in Berlin, and it’s an awful pity about Agent Osric. However, the intelligence you gathered from your trips into Germany was excellent, and you were able to get into Peenemünde, which was more than we could have hoped for.