Felix Baer and one of the other Germans both spoke at the same time, and in a minute they were shouting at each other. Baer backed down first—he threw his hands up in frustration and waved the other man ahead.

“Eberhard Moritz,” the airman introduced himself, laying one hand on his heart. He stepped forward and held the hand toward Jane. When she took it, he bowed his head and gave her hand a formal kiss. Then he stepped back and answered her.

I listened and listened, trying to understand anything. But I couldn’t—not one word. It made me wild with frustration, even when Jane relayed his message. I hated being so ignorant.

“This man, this Eberhard Moritz, says he and his companions want to defect.”

“Defect!” echoed Cromwell in amazement.

Jane nodded. “He said they want to renounce Germany. Their connection to British Intelligence has been discovered and the Gestapo secret police are hunting for them—this flight was a perilous chance, and they had no choice but to take it. They dropped their life rafts in the North Sea to make it look as though they’d crashed on their way here! Moritz is their gunner, but he also leads their resistance cell. He apologizes for his companion’s behavior—that’s Felix Baer, the pilot.” She nodded toward him. “Moritz says that Baer tried to shoot their navigator, Dietrich Althammer, just before they landed, and Moritz had to wrestle the gun away from him.”

Jane paused, frowning. “They haven’t stopped arguing about Althammer,” she added. “That’s what you heard before Moritz spoke to me. They disagree as to whether he can be trusted.”

“Go on,” Wing Commander Cromwell said quietly.

“Moritz asks for amnesty for all three of them. But Baer says that Althammer is a double agent and is here on some dubious mission of his own. They went back and forth, you heard—arguing. Moritz accused Baer of carelessness on an earlier mission, and Baer denied it.” Jane added smugly, “They used stronger language, of course!”

Cromwell growled, “Ask Althammer for his side of the story.”

Jane turned to the third German and murmured, “Dietrich Althammer?”

He bowed his head to her. When he saw how she tilted her left ear in his direction, he leaned closer so she could hear him. It reminded me of the way Jamie talked to her, patient and interested, as if the German navigator were used to speaking to old women. I suppose even Luftwaffe airmen must sometimes have grannies who are hard of hearing.

“Althammer says that Baer’s distrust is egotistic nonsense,” Jane said finally. “He thinks it is a war of protocol—Baer, the pilot, should naturally be the commanding officer of their aircrew. But in their resistance cell, Moritz, the lowly gunner, is the designated leader. So they argue over matters of authority.”

“Matters of authority!” Wing Commander Cromwell gave a grunt of disgust.