A woman was walking towards him. She was a great deal older than most of the others, grey-haired and tall, her shoulders unbowed. ‘Who are you?’ she demanded. ‘What do you want with us?’

‘A man came down here, just before me. I’m looking for him.’

‘Are you German?’

‘I am Dutch, but I am a British Army officer.’

‘I see. A Dutch Britisher who speaks German with a southern accent. What a strange cosmopolitan place we have become. As to your question, the answer is no. I have seen no man coming through. There are only women and children here.’

‘It might have been a woman in male clothing.’

‘Do you see a woman in man’s attire? There are none here. Nor would such a one be welcomed. Believe me, these women have had enough of men. Just your appearance has terrified them.’

Heck frowned at her. ‘I did nothing, I threatened no one.’

She glanced at his gun.

‘This is to protect myself.’

‘Of course it is. What else would a gun be for?’

Her sarcasm was not lost on him, nor her bitterness.

‘I’m not trying to scare you.’

‘You don’t. I have nothing left to lose. But these young people – they have plenty to fear, for themselves and for their children.’

‘Were they safe under the Nazis?’

‘Are you innocent or stupid? Do you have any idea what has befallen us since so-called liberation?’

‘I don’t have time for this. I am looking for someone.’

She swept her arm around the shadowy space. ‘Look at them. Every one of them has been defiled in the most disgusting fashion, time and time again, sometimes twenty times in a day. I am almost seventy years old, yet I lost count of the times I was raped. One of the Ivans, an officer, raped me with the barrel of his pistol, laughing all the while, then fell into a drunken stupor at my feet. Many of my friends here have Russian babies in their belly. We almost all have gonorrhoea. And then there are the lice and the unseen wounds. A week does not go by without some poor, despairing soul taking her own life. Go to the canal any day of the week and you will see a woman’s body floating by.’

‘Perhaps your men did the same to the wives, mothers and daughters of the Ivans.’

‘German soldiers are not animals.’

Heck might have argued the point, but he wanted this woman’s assistance. ‘Well, of course, I am sorry that these things have happened to you, lady, but things will improve now that the British have arrived. They are not vengeful, though they have reason enough. Nor are they out of control.’

‘Tell them we need food, penicillin and abortions. When those things arrive, I will believe you.’

‘Dear lady, is there another way out of this cellar? Another exit apart from the steps down which I came?’