“You don’t. But we’re holding all the cards here. Quite frankly, Gunther, I think your only chance is to come clean with us and hope for the best.” He paused. “The way I see it, you’ve got nothing to lose. You’re burned. Finished. Useless to the Stasi now. We might easily let you go on the basis that you probably won’t last five minutes when they find out you’ve told us everything. Of course, you might survive. Stranger things have happened.”

“Yes, that might work, I suppose.” I nodded thoughtfully. “There is a name I can give you. Two names, actually. For a while they were the two most important Soviet agents in MI6. The question is, which of us is prepared to share them with you now? To some extent I’ll only be confirming what you know since one of them is already in the public domain. But the other should prove I’m telling the truth, all right. Although once I’ve given you these names, I’ll have effectively told you what this operation was really about. That this whole operation was set up by the HVA not only to blacken the name of Roger Hollis but more importantly, to salvage the reputation of someone else. Someone even more important, perhaps. Someone who might yet still make a comeback as the KGB’s top man in MI6. Someone who was always a better spy than Roger Hollis.”

“I’ve already explained what this is about,” insisted Anne. “What are you talking about, Gunther? This is complete fantasy.”

“Herr Gunther, we both know you don’t really have a choice here,” insisted the monk. “I’m sure you know the difficulty you are in. The difficulty we are both in. There is no legal process available to you, or for that matter to us. Then again, we can hardly let you go, can we? Unless and until we’re convinced that you’ve told us everything, I’m afraid I can’t answer for the consequences. Some of my more muscular colleagues favor taking you out to sea and dropping you over the side with a weight around your ankles. Ever since the defections of Messrs. Burgess and Maclean, morale has been low in our service. I’m afraid that killing you and Herr Hennig would help to restore a sense that the balance has been redressed. I sincerely hope it doesn’t come to that. For your own sake I urge you to cooperate fully.”

“All right,” I said. “But I have to say there’s something I don’t understand.”

“What’s that?” asked the monk.

“Why hasn’t she told you this? I don’t understand you, Anne. Why are you trying to protect him? It’s all over for me and you and Hennig. The best we can hope for is to try and cut some deal before they throw us all in jail.”