End of Spies, Alex Gerlis [important of reading books txt] 📗

book at you, though I’m not sure what book it was going to be.’ He laughed at his own joke, but was the only person to do so. He caught a glimpse of Sir Roland slowly shaking his head.

‘However, Prince, as usual, you’ve come up with the goods, eh? What is it they have in that game Monopoly – a “Get Out of Jail” card, isn’t it? Well, that intelligence you acquired about the farm in Bavaria – it was spot on, absolutely spot on. I can’t tell you how invaluable it is for us; it will keep us going for some time. We’ve already recruited some Germans to work for us on the basis of what we found. Apparently the Americans are absolutely furious about it: they were after that haul themselves, and Joe Jenkins has made such a nuisance of himself about it that they’re sending him back to the States. Are you going to tell me how you found out about it?’

‘Sources, sir,’ replied Prince.

‘The main thing, surely,’ said Hanne, ‘is that it proved to be correct. Is that not good enough?’

Sir Roland Pearson pulled his chair forward and said that of course it was good enough; indeed, from what he’d heard, it was more than good enough.

‘And the Soviets, sir?’

‘They turned up at the farm two days after us, didn’t they? It would appear they’re as furious as the Americans are. You look concerned, Prince…’

‘I’m concerned about Kommissar Iosif Gurevich, sir: he’s been very helpful to us. He could continue to be helpful to the Service. You said you’d enquire about him.’

Gilbey drummed his fingers on his blotting pad and slowly moved his fountain pen from one side of the desk to the other. ‘I got Bemrose to ask some questions. He managed to nail a NKVD officer at the Allied Kommandatura last night.’

‘And?’

‘And it would appear Gurevich has been transferred back to Moscow. That could be good news or it could be bad news, but…’

‘…it’s most likely to be bad news, sir.’

‘Perhaps if our chaps in Moscow put in a good word for him – resolute ally against the Nazis, that type of thing?’

‘I think you’ll find, Tom, that our putting a good word in for him may well have the opposite effect.’

‘Maybe you’re right, Roly.’

Prince looked downcast and Hanne put her hand in his. Tom Gilbey cleared his throat and said something about it being a shame neither Edward Palmer nor Myrtle Carter had been captured alive, but on balance it was probably better not to have the awkwardness of a trial.

‘And what will you two do now?’

Hanne and Prince looked at each other.

‘I’ll continue as a police officer, sir. You may recall that when you asked us to take on this mission back in September – when you said it would last just a couple of weeks – I did mention I was in line for promotion to chief superintendent. I understand that is now very much a probability. And in any case…’ He hesitated and blushed, and looked at Hanne.

‘What Richard was about to say, Tom, is that I’m pregnant. Our careers as spies have come to an end.’

Tom Gilbey and Sir Roland Pearson watched from the upper-floor window as Prince and Hanne emerged from the MI6 building and crossed the road before hailing a taxi.

‘Nice to hear they’re having a child, after what they’ve both been through. Doubt we’ll see them again, though, Roly, eh? Pity, both good sorts and first-class agents. We could do with more of them rather than the usual Oxbridge classics scholars.’

‘I wouldn’t be so sure, Tom.’

‘So sure about what?’

‘About not seeing them again.’

‘What makes you say that?’

‘They’re addicted to espionage – and they have an instinct for it. The only people in this game who are any good are people like that. And more to the point, they know Europe; they have a feel for it. I’ve heard you say more than once how the rules of the game have changed and you’re not sure you understand them.’

Gilbey nodded.

‘Well those two do, Tom. They understand.’

Author’s Note

End of Spies is a work of fiction, so any similarities between characters in the book and real people are unintended and should be regarded as purely coincidental.

There are of course references to obviously non-fictional characters such as Winston Churchill and Hitler, along with others such as prominent Austrian Nazis Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Odilo Globocnik and Adolf Eichmann. Other real people mentioned include John Winant, the US Ambassador to London, Heinrich Müller, the head of the Gestapo, Field Marshal Alexander, and Fritz Suhren, the camp commandant at Ravensbrück.

I’ve tried to stick as closely as possible to what was known at the time about the fate of another non-fictional character – Martin Bormann, Hitler’s deputy. It was known he escaped from the bunker on 1 May and was seen later that day nearer Lehrter station. Over the years the hunt for Bormann continued and there were reported sightings of him around the world, with some people believing he’d escaped to South America, and others convinced he was a Soviet spy in Moscow. In 1972, what were thought to be Bormann’s remains were discovered near Lehrter station, and this was confirmed in 1998 as a result of DNA testing.

The fate of Max Stein in Chapter 15 is based on an actual deportation of Jews from Berlin. Osttransport 33 left Hamburger Strasse on 3 March 1943, and all sixteen hundred people on board are believed to have been murdered at Auschwitz.

The book is set in Europe in 1945 in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War and is factually based in many respects: a lot of the locations and events featured are genuine. This is the case with, for example, the Gestapo headquarters in Dijon, Paris, Amsterdam and Maribor, and with the US Army headquarters in Frankfurt and Munich. The Red Cross Club for US Army officers in Munich was indeed located on Neuhauser Strasse. Many of the Berlin locations