He sipped his coffee, alternating with drawing on his cigarette. As he did so, he removed a sheet of paper from his briefcase. ‘The message is from the Randers group. It was transmitted at five o’clock this morning our time, somewhat later than I’d have expected, but I think you’ll see why. Once it had been decoded, I came straight here. We’ve changed the times to UK time. It reads: “Bird appeared over nest at approximately eleven twelve last night. Descended to usual height for normal period of time. Ground-to-air visibility poor. Area teeming with German troops – possibly in excess of two hundred – including at least one SS detachment. Roadblocks throughout the area and house-to-house searches carried out in Vorning and surrounding area. Gestapo officers from Copenhagen believed to be involved. Regret unable to transmit before now for reasons of safety and security. Free Denmark!”’

Gilbey held out his hand and Webster passed the sheet to him. ‘Could anyone else in your section have known about this, Webster?’

‘Not that I’m aware of, sir. Hendrie will know better…’

‘I didn’t discuss it with anyone else, and the Venice file stayed in the office I share with Tindall. Seems a bit harsh to judge him on circumstantial evidence, though, doesn’t it?’

‘It’s more than circumstantial, Hendrie: it’s conclusive,’ said Gilbey. ‘The only person other than the three of us who knew about the fictitious agent being dropped in the Randers area last night was Llewellyn Tindall. In any case, we’ve been keeping an eye on him: I’ve had a team of watchers on him since Monday.’

‘First I’ve heard of that, Tom. Dig anything up?’