End of Spies by Alex Gerlis (best free ereader txt) 📗

Hanne looked up, shocked, unsure whether this was a joke.

‘I think there is undoubtedly something to this – a possible link between Bourne and Sons and the Kestrel Line has now become a probable one. Nonetheless, we need more evidence. Prince, you had a decent relationship with Hugh Harper at MI5 when you worked with him on that last mission, didn’t you?’

‘Yes, Mr Gilbey, sir.’

‘I’ve asked him to help; this end of things is really their game. They’ve already got someone looking at the Bourne and Sons bank account to see if we can spot any interesting transactions. I suggest you and Hanne try to see what you can find out too.’

‘There is something else.’ Pearson hauled himself into a more upright position in his chair. ‘This may be nothing, but nonetheless I made a note of it, and I see I put an asterisk alongside it. After the woman talked about the funds, she said… where are we… ah, here… “There are also people in this country we wish to send on the same route.” Then she mentioned having already sent out one courier…’

‘Which was presumably Charles Falmer.’

‘If you say so… and she added they hoped to send another out soon. Then Bourne made a joke along the lines of killing two birds with one stone. She looked furious with him when he said that.’

‘Whatever does all that mean?’

‘I have no idea, Tom.’

‘What more can you tell us about this woman?’

‘Very assertive, I would say, Prince. I got the impression that she was calling the shots somehow.’

‘What did she look like?’

‘Very attractive, if I might say. Pretty face and good legs; had a refined air about her.’

‘Age?’

‘Difficult to say, but if you pushed me, I’d say early to mid-fifties.’

‘And he didn’t use a name?’

‘No.’

‘Any accent?’

‘Nothing discernible.’

‘You look as if you think you’re on to something, Prince?’

‘As you know, sir, in my last case I infiltrated a group of British Nazi sympathisers in an attempt to break the German spy ring we were investigating. There was a woman – an Englishwoman – I came across in Gerrards Cross who was part of that group. I next encountered her when she identified me at a pub in east London. As far as I’m aware, she’s never been traced.’

‘And your point?’

Prince shrugged. ‘Hard to say, sir, but the description Sir Roland gave sounds like her. And remember too, the main purpose of that case was to identify the Nazi spy known as Agent Milton. We established that he was Major Edward Palmer, but…’

‘…he disappeared too.’

‘Exactly. So when this woman said there are people in England that they want to help escape – you never know, she could have been talking about Palmer.’

The atmosphere altered as the room descended into silence, everyone in it absorbed in their thoughts. It was as if the temperature had dropped by a few degrees.

‘Good Lord,’ said Bentley, not normally a man given to such expressions. ‘I do think you may well be on to something here.’

Chapter 17

Berlin, November 1945

After years of blaming other people for his lowly status and what he saw as a run of constant bad luck, Kenneth Bemrose had come to realise it was up to him to pull himself together and do something about it.

Learning Russian was a case in point: he enthusiastically volunteered for Russian lessons and applied himself as hard as possible. He studied in his free time and sailed through the beginner’s course with such ease that one of the MI6 officers running the course asked him whether he’d be interested in the intermediate course, and would he also like to be considered for what he called ‘special duties’?

Bemrose said of course, and only two days ago he’d been asked to go to the fifth floor of the building where he worked, where one of the guards actually saluted him. He was then taken into a windowless room where a man who never actually gave his name said they were very impressed with his progress, and if he was prepared to sign up to staying in Berlin for another five years and continue to the advanced-level Russian course, he would be promoted to officer status and become a MI6 member of staff. It was only when the man stood up to indicate that the meeting was over that he mentioned – more as an aside than anything else – that Bemrose might be interested to know that he’d also passed through another level of security clearance.

No longer would he be a mere clerk, or even a chauffeur as he had been when that couple had come over from London in September. At last he would have some standing: it would mean he would qualify for better accommodation, perhaps even in one of those very pleasant blocks in Charlottenburg. And Peggy – the pretty WRAF girl at RAF Gatow who walked with a bit of a limp – might even be interested in him now, despite the fact that he was quite a few years older than her.

His boss had said he could use the Humber Snipe over the weekend, so on the Sunday morning he drove over the Havel to Grunewald. He’d telephoned Peggy on Friday and Saturday and left messages for her: would she be interested in accompanying him? He could collect her and drive her back. In fact, to his slight embarrassment – he hadn’t wanted to come across as desperate – he’d actually rung four times on the Friday and twice more on the Saturday, but he imagined someone had failed to pass on the message – or that Peggy was busy.

Once he’d been walking in the forest for an hour, though, he was grateful she hadn’t joined him. He doubted she’d have managed the rough terrain with her limp, and it would have been an awfully long time to keep up a conversation. He was enjoying the tranquillity of the place, the strange silence afforded by so many trees so close together.

He was