‘You’d want to put a plane in here?’ she asked.
‘Only for a short while, to be out of sight. A Lysan-der. Not too large. It would fit in here and no trouble.’
‘When exactly?’
‘Tomorrow night.’
‘My goodness, you are pushing things along.’
‘Yes, well, time’s important.’
They went out and he closed the door. Somewhere in the far distance a shotgun was fired. ‘My brother,’ she said. ‘Let’s go and find him, shall we?’
As they walked across the meadow she said, ‘We had a German friend who used to come here in the old days, Werner Keitel. We used to fly all over the place together. Do you happen to know him?’
‘He was killed in the Battle of Britain.’
She paused for a moment only, then carried on. ‘Yes, I thought it would be something like that.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Devlin told her.
She shrugged. ‘A long time ago, Major,’ and she started to walk faster.
They followed a dyke through the small reeds and it was Nell who appeared first, splashing through water, gambolling around them before running away again. There was another shot and then Shaw emerged from the reeds in the distance and came towards them.
‘Look at this, old girl.’ He held up a couple of rabbits.
‘See who’s here,’ she called.
He paused and came forward again. ‘Conlon, my dear chap. Nice to see you. Won’t shake hands. Blood on them.’ He might have been welcoming Devlin to a weekend in the country. ‘Better get home and find you a drink.’
They started back along the dyke. Devlin looked out across the expanse of reeds intersected by creeks. ‘Desolate country, this.’
‘Dead, old man. Everything about this damn place is dead. Rain, mist and the ghosts of things past. Of course it was different in my grandfather’s day. Twenty-five servants in the house alone. God knows how many on the estate.’ He didn’t stop talking for a moment as he walked along. ‘People don’t want to work these days, that’s the trouble. Damn Bolshies all over the place. That’s what I admire about the Fuhrer. Gives people some order in their lives.’
‘Makes them do as they’re told, you mean?’ Devlin said.
Shaw nodded enthusiastically. ‘Exactly, old man, exactly.’
Devlin set up the radio in a small study behind the old library. Shaw had gone to have a bath and it was Lavinia who helped festoon the aerials around the room and watched intently as the Irishman explained the set to her.
‘Is it much different from the one you had before?’ he asked.
‘A bit more sophisticated, that’s all.’
‘And your Morse code. Can you still remember it?’
‘Good heavens, Major Conlon, you never forget something like that. I was a Girl Guide when I first learned it.’
‘Right,’ Devlin said. ‘Let’s see what you can do then.’
In the radio room at Prinz Albrechtstrasse, Schellenberg studied Devlin’s first message then turned to Use and Asa Vaughan. ‘Incredible. He intends to pull Steiner out tomorrow evening. He wants you at Shaw Place in time to leave no later than midnight.’
‘Then we’ll have to get moving,’ Asa told him.
‘Yes, well, the Lysander was delivered to Chernay yesterday,’ Schellenberg said. ‘It’s only a matter of getting ourselves down there.’ He said to the radio operator, ‘Take this message to Falcon. “Will meet your requirements. Departure time will be confirmed to you tomorrow night.” ‘
He started to walk out and the operator called, ‘I have a reply, General.’
Schellenberg turned. ‘What is it?’ ‘A pleasure to do business with you.’ Schellenberg smiled and kept on going, Asa and Use Huber following him.
In the study, Lavinia turned from the radio set. ‘Did I do all right?’
Her brother was sitting by the empty fireplace, a tumbler of whisky in his hand. ‘Seemed fine to me.’
‘You were excellent,’ Devlin said. ‘Now this set is different from the one you threw away in one respect. It has a direct voice capacity for short ranges only. Say twenty-five miles. That was why I gave them the frequency reading. I’ve adjusted it and all you do is switch on and you’re in business. That means you can talk to the pilot when he’s close.’