that we’re all involved in.’
‘Why would the Germans tell you all this in a physics journal and published papers? Shouldn’t this be top secret?’
Sutherland ignored the question.
‘The fact is that the Allies have their own bomb programme. We have our own Ekarhenium, the 94th element, which for reasons of secrecy we refer to as “49”.’
Brilliant, thought Anne, to switch the numbers round like that.
‘In March 1941 Fritz Reiche, a German physicist on the run from the Nazis, passed through Lisbon on the way to the United States,’ Rose continued. ‘He was met by the Jewish Refugee Organization here and before they put him on a ship to New York we had a meeting in which he warned us that a bomb programme did exist in Germany. We now know that they’re building an atomic pile forthe creation of Ekarhenium somewhere in Berlin. We also know that Heisenberg went to see Niels Bohr, the Danish physicist, and that they had an argument about whether atomic warfare was the right way for physics to be going. A rift developed between the two men over the Germans’ active bomb programme. Heisenberg also sketched out, in rough, the makings of an atomic pile. Since then Bohr has left Denmark and gone over to the Americans. You’ve been in London since June?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘So you know about the doodlebugs…the V1 rocket bombs?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘We believe that these are the prototype rockets for launching an atomic bomb on London.’
It felt suddenly cold in the room despite the grinding heat outside. Anne rubbed her arms. Sutherland sucked on his pipe, which bubbled like a tubercular lung in the stem.
‘Your day job in Cardew’s office will be to microfilm the two German physics journals Zeitschrift für Physik and Die Naturwissenschafen and provide Sutherland and me with typed translations of any articles which pertain to atomic physics,’ said Rose. ‘More important than that is the accommodation we’ve managed to arrange for you in Estoril. Cardew has been working up a good social relationship with a fellow called Patrick Wilshere. He’s a wealthy businessman in his mid fifties, with contacts and companies in the Portuguese colonies, mainly Angola. He is also Irish, a Catholic and not a lover of Great Britain. We have intelligence that he was selling wolfram, from his Portuguese wife’s family’s mining concessions in the north, exclusively to the Germans, as well as cork and olive oil from family estates in the Alentejo. He has offered Cardew a room in his considerable house for a lodger. He specified a female lodger.’
Sutherland looked to see the effect of this on his new agent. Her blood now felt as thin and cold as ether.
‘What is expected of me?’ she asked, clipping each word off.
‘To listen.’
‘You just said that he specified a female lodger.’
‘He prefers female company,’ said Rose, as if it was something he himself couldn’t understand.
‘What about his wife? Doesn’t his wife live in the same house?’
‘I understand that the relationship with his wife has…broken down somewhat.’
Anne began to breathe deep, slow breaths. Her thighs were sticking together under the cotton of her dress. Sweat seemed to be pricking out all over. Sutherland shifted in his chair. His first bodily movement.
‘Cardew thinks she’s suffered some kind of breakdown,’ he said.
‘You mean she’s mad, too?’ asked Anne, the scenario burgeoning in her mind.
‘Not howling at the moon, exactly,’ said Rose. ‘More nerves, we think.’
‘What’s her name?’ she asked.
‘Mafalda. She’s very well connected. Excellent family. Hugely wealthy. The spread they’ve got in Estoril…magnificent. Small palace. Own grounds. Marvellous,’ said Sutherland, selling it hard.
‘Do you mind if I smoke, sir?’ she asked.
Sutherland broke out of his chair and offered her a cigarette from a silver box on the table. He lit it with a weighty Georgian silver lighter with a green
‘Why would the Germans tell you all this in a physics journal and published papers? Shouldn’t this be top secret?’
Sutherland ignored the question.
‘The fact is that the Allies have their own bomb programme. We have our own Ekarhenium, the 94th element, which for reasons of secrecy we refer to as “49”.’
Brilliant, thought Anne, to switch the numbers round like that.
‘In March 1941 Fritz Reiche, a German physicist on the run from the Nazis, passed through Lisbon on the way to the United States,’ Rose continued. ‘He was met by the Jewish Refugee Organization here and before they put him on a ship to New York we had a meeting in which he warned us that a bomb programme did exist in Germany. We now know that they’re building an atomic pile forthe creation of Ekarhenium somewhere in Berlin. We also know that Heisenberg went to see Niels Bohr, the Danish physicist, and that they had an argument about whether atomic warfare was the right way for physics to be going. A rift developed between the two men over the Germans’ active bomb programme. Heisenberg also sketched out, in rough, the makings of an atomic pile. Since then Bohr has left Denmark and gone over to the Americans. You’ve been in London since June?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘So you know about the doodlebugs…the V1 rocket bombs?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘We believe that these are the prototype rockets for launching an atomic bomb on London.’
It felt suddenly cold in the room despite the grinding heat outside. Anne rubbed her arms. Sutherland sucked on his pipe, which bubbled like a tubercular lung in the stem.
‘Your day job in Cardew’s office will be to microfilm the two German physics journals Zeitschrift für Physik and Die Naturwissenschafen and provide Sutherland and me with typed translations of any articles which pertain to atomic physics,’ said Rose. ‘More important than that is the accommodation we’ve managed to arrange for you in Estoril. Cardew has been working up a good social relationship with a fellow called Patrick Wilshere. He’s a wealthy businessman in his mid fifties, with contacts and companies in the Portuguese colonies, mainly Angola. He is also Irish, a Catholic and not a lover of Great Britain. We have intelligence that he was selling wolfram, from his Portuguese wife’s family’s mining concessions in the north, exclusively to the Germans, as well as cork and olive oil from family estates in the Alentejo. He has offered Cardew a room in his considerable house for a lodger. He specified a female lodger.’
Sutherland looked to see the effect of this on his new agent. Her blood now felt as thin and cold as ether.
‘What is expected of me?’ she asked, clipping each word off.
‘To listen.’
‘You just said that he specified a female lodger.’
‘He prefers female company,’ said Rose, as if it was something he himself couldn’t understand.
‘What about his wife? Doesn’t his wife live in the same house?’
‘I understand that the relationship with his wife has…broken down somewhat.’
Anne began to breathe deep, slow breaths. Her thighs were sticking together under the cotton of her dress. Sweat seemed to be pricking out all over. Sutherland shifted in his chair. His first bodily movement.
‘Cardew thinks she’s suffered some kind of breakdown,’ he said.
‘You mean she’s mad, too?’ asked Anne, the scenario burgeoning in her mind.
‘Not howling at the moon, exactly,’ said Rose. ‘More nerves, we think.’
‘What’s her name?’ she asked.
‘Mafalda. She’s very well connected. Excellent family. Hugely wealthy. The spread they’ve got in Estoril…magnificent. Small palace. Own grounds. Marvellous,’ said Sutherland, selling it hard.
‘Do you mind if I smoke, sir?’ she asked.
Sutherland broke out of his chair and offered her a cigarette from a silver box on the table. He lit it with a weighty Georgian silver lighter with a green
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