‘Can’t or won’t?’ He shook his head. ‘Don’t do it again. I have been assigned as your superior officer in this enterprise and you will obey me, or I will have you returned to your regiment. Is that understood?’

‘I didn’t think you would need me today.’

‘That’s not the point.’ Wilde glanced at his watch. He considered leaving Heck here at the OSS base to stew, but then he softened. ‘Come on, we’re being treated to supper with Mr Helms at his villa. I can brief you on everything that happened then. But perhaps you’d like to dust yourself down and brush your hair first. You look as though you’ve been crawling through a dust bowl. We’re to meet Richard down here in half an hour.’

‘No, I’m going to my room because I have a journal to write. Please, give my compliments to Mr Helms.’

‘But you must eat. Look, Heck, we need to talk.’

‘We can talk at breakfast.’

‘Very well, we’ll meet at 7.30 a.m. Be there. It’s your last chance.’

Heck brushed some of the dust from his shoulders, then grinned. ‘Take your gun tonight, Professor. I was followed today and this place is almost certainly being watched. Someone really doesn’t like us.’

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Helms’s generous hospitality stretched into the early hours and Wilde was aware that he had imbibed too much red wine and whisky. ‘I must take my leave,’ he said at last.

‘I’ll get a car brought around.’

‘Oh it’s no distance, quarter of a mile tops. The walk will do me good.’

‘No, it’s not safe.’

‘If you insist.’

‘I do.’

Fifteen minutes later, he was in bed, crashed out. But he woke within a couple of hours and lay still, captured by a fitful waking dream in which his subconscious was telling him he was in the wrong place, that he should be in the mountains and lakes of southern Bavaria. His waking brain, however, told him there were still things to be learnt in this city. Berlin was where the Hitler story came to an abrupt end. So this was where it had to be picked up again.

In the morning, feeling worse for wear, he took a bracing shower, shaved and went down for breakfast. He was relieved to see that Heck was already there. After two coffees, they got down to business. Wilde told him about the offer he had of an interview with Hans Fritzsche. ‘Have you heard of the man, Lieutenant Heck?’

‘No.’