The Danger of Life

by Ken Lussey

  ‘As I understand it,’ said Bob, ‘the aim is to lead the Germans to believe that Geoffrey Smith, assuming you still want me to use that name for him, has sabotaged the factory. Given the size of the place, I can’t see how that’s possible.’

  ‘German intelligence, or the Abwehr, briefed Smith using out-of-date aerial photographs. According to them, the best way to sabotage the factory is to attack the power house, which forms part of the most north eastern block of the factory, the one nearest Renfrew and the River Clyde. What they failed to consider was that as well as generating its own, the factory can also draw electricity from, or feed it into, the municipal supply. That means there are a series of transformers in the same area. We are going to try to make it look like Smith has successfully destroyed part of that block.’

  ‘But even if he did, surely it would only disrupt production for a very short time? I’d have thought nothing short of a large and very well targeted air raid, of the sort the Luftwaffe are incapable of mounting these days, could damage a factory of that size sufficiently to make much real difference?’

  ‘You’d have thought so, wouldn’t you?’ said Monique. ‘But that’s what the Abwehr sent Smith here to do, and far be it from us to argue with their reasoning. I’ve got some very good deception and camouflage people coming up to Glasgow tomorrow, some of the same people who built dummy airfields to divert the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain. The security people at Hillington will show them round, and we will try to come up with a plan to simulate sabotage. I know German overflights are rare these days, but we think the Abwehr will get the Luftwaffe to try to photograph the factory after Geoffrey Smith radios to say he has damaged it. They’ve recently moved a few examples of a very high altitude reconnaissance aircraft, the Junkers Ju 86P, to one of their bases in Norway. We think that if they have a go with one of these, we can get the RAF to leave it alone without raising German suspicions that it was too easy. We’re also considering how to get press reports about the sabotage out in a way that doesn’t raise alarm at home but gives the Abwehr more reason to believe that Geoffrey is telling the truth.’

  ‘Surely there are other Abwehr agents over here who can report independently on whether Smith has actually sabotaged the factory?’

  ‘No, there aren’t, and we know that with absolute certainty. Every single German spy they have tried to establish in Britain has either been imprisoned, executed, or in many cases has been turned to work for MI5, the Security Service, against the Abwehr.’

  ‘But you can’t know that for certain,’ said Bob. ‘You can’t prove a negative. You can’t know that one hasn’t been slipped in without anyone noticing.’

  ‘Actually, we can, Bob. The reason for that is also the reason why I was allowed to book this private room for our discussion. I was quite busy before heading out to Northolt for the flight up here. Only a very small number of people are ever told what I am about to tell you. There was a meeting in London early this morning between your boss at MI11, Commodore Cunningham and my boss several times removed, the head of MI5. Also present were the head of MI6 or the Secret Intelligence Service, and the man who all three of them report to, Major General Sir Peter Maitland, the Director of Military Intelligence at the War Office.’

  ‘I’ve met him,’ said Bob. ‘He tried to force me to take this job when all that was needed was something a little nearer to “please”.’

  ‘Well, this morning they agreed to let you into a very select little club. It’s a club I only joined myself a couple of weeks ago. It seems they decided after our little escapade with King George that I could be trusted with the crown jewels, despite my chequered history.’

  ‘You make this sound very melodramatic,’ said Bob.

  ‘Oh, it gets better,’ said Monique. ‘One of the conditions attached to membership is that you must in future avoid doing anything that causes the slightest possibility of your falling into enemy hands. In your case that means no familiarisation flights in bombers bound for Germany, or that sort of thing.’

  Bob laughed. ‘Come on, Monique, you are making this sound like something out of a John Buchan novel.’

  ‘I’m being deadly serious, and I chose those words carefully.’

  ‘You are, aren’t you?’ said Bob. ‘Well, go on, I’d die of curiosity if we didn’t finish this conversation.’

  ‘You can’t say I didn’t warn you. First, though, could you go and get our drinks topped up? How about a bottle of Champagne as it’s on MI5? Then we can pour our own.’

  ‘I do hope it’s better champagne than they serve in the officers’ wardroom at HMS Lochinvar, where we took Geoffrey Smith last night.’

  ‘I very much think it will be,’ said Monique.

  Bob returned with two glasses, while a waiter brought in an ice bucket, a cloth and a bottle of, according to the price list, very fine champagne.

  Monique got up to check the waiter had closed the door behind him on departing. ‘And before you ask, Bob, I have checked the room for any signs of hidden microphones. The trailing wires would be a bit of a giveaway, so I’m sure we are secure.’

  ‘I wasn’t going to ask.’

  ‘What I am about to tell you is classified as Ultra Secret, Bob. I hope you’ve never heard that term before, because “Ultra” is a code word that applies to a particular type of intelligence whose existence we can’t reveal to the Germans. The story starts in the 1920s when the German armed services started to rely on a type of electro-mechanical cipher machine to encode and decode their messages. In theory this was extremely secure. Over time a family of what became known as Enigma machines evolved, with the German Navy using a differently configured machine to the Army and Luftwaffe, and the secret service or Abwehr using a different type of machine to do the same job.’

  ‘I’m guessing it didn’t turn out to be as secure as they thought?’

  ‘That’s right. The breakthrough was made by the Polish Cipher Bureau in the early 1930s. In 1939 the Poles briefed the British and French on what they had discovered and passed over the results of work they had done to reverse-engineer some of the Enigma machines. On the outbreak of war, the Germans launched a new and much more complex, and as a result much more secure, version of the Enigma machine, but thanks to the head start given to us by the Poles, the Germans’ coded messages were soon being decrypted in England. Within the last year, other German communications systems have been compromised in the same way. The result is that although it takes some effort at our end, a large proportion of what the Germans are saying to one another, believing it to be completely secure, can be read and understood by us.’

  Bob took a sip of his champagne. ‘And the security we attach to Ultra is because we don’t want the Germans to know we are looking over their shoulders all the time?’

  ‘That’s right, Bob. They could easily change their systems and MI6, who have the lead responsibility for all this within the intelligence community, would have to start again from scratch. This sensitivity means we must be exceptionally careful about how we react to information gathered by Ultra. For example, we knew the Abwehr was planning to land an agent in Aberdeenshire at the end of last month from radio traffic between their Oslo office and Berlin. We knew his codename, “Adler” or “Eagle”, and a little of his background, and we knew that he had been trained in the use of explosives. We had even been able to read his training and test transmissions as he was taught Morse code.’

  ‘Was that how you caught him?’ asked Bob.

  ‘No, that’s the point,’ said Monique. ‘We couldn’t do anything to reveal we knew he was coming, so we simply stepped up security in the area in a “routine” way. If we’d been obviously waiting for him, it might have alerted the Abwehr to a breach in their security. In the event, he landed miles from where he had intended and it didn’t matter anyway. The first thing he did when he landed was knock on a farmer’s door and ask him to phone the
police. The second thing he did was ask the police to contact MI5.’

  ‘And that’s why you are so confident there are no active German agents in Britain?’ asked Bob.

  ‘Correct,’ said Monique. ‘We know when each one is being trained, we see them coming, and we know when they have arrived. Enough have agreed to work for MI5 to allow us to paint whatever picture we want for their handlers in the Abwehr. The Germans are getting a huge amount of intelligence from their agents in Britain, but it is intelligence that we have very carefully prepared to lead them to believe a particular version of events.’

  ‘That is a pretty powerful weapon. Hang on, though. You and I both know that up until last month the Abwehr had three active spies in Britain. Major Sinclair was in regular radio contact with them, and they had also placed someone in King George VI’s household to pass on information about the king’s movements and plans. We also had your old friend Ferdi busily killing people in Oban until the Soviets got to him.’

  ‘I can only tell you what I was told when I raised the same point, Bob. It seems that the group within MI6 who were trying to promote a peace deal with Admiral Canaris were sufficiently influential to be able to cover up evidence of Sinclair’s activities, and the existence of the other two. Apparently, Sinclair went far beyond what they were expecting when he arranged the German commando raid, but it would seem that two senior members of MI6 were so committed to the peace process that they didn’t take action when they realised what Sinclair was doing, and Ferdi’s activities were also seen by them as being justified by the end they were seeking. Thankfully Sinclair had never been admitted to the Ultra club, so he couldn’t tell the Germans anything about it.’

  ‘But the two senior officers were privy to Ultra?’

  ‘They were, and they were ideally placed to suppress intelligence arriving by that means that was relevant to the operation. I believe that when everything unravelled a few people had sleepless nights fearing that Ultra itself might have been compromised, but it seems to be business as usual as far as the Germans are concerned. Apparently the two men involved set limits on their treasonous actions but they could never be trusted again. I don’t think it is a coincidence that two senior members of MI6, presumably the same two, died in unfortunate accidents quite soon afterwards. One fell under a tube train and another appears to have fallen from a 5th floor window of a London hotel. That should tell you all you need to know about the importance with which security around Ultra is treated.’

  ‘My God. I was told that some of those involved had suffered serious consequences, but it never crossed my mind just how serious.’

  ‘Let’s not dwell on it, Bob. While I think about it, do you want to accompany me on the visit to Hillington tomorrow? Another outcome of the meeting this morning was an agreement that MI5 and MI11 would work closely together on the deception plan.’

  ‘I’d love to,’ said Bob. ‘What’s the eventual aim of all of this? Geoffrey Smith told me last night that he would be returning to Germany. Is that what lies behind the pretence of sabotaging the factory?’

  ‘Yes, it is. The Abwehr are poor employers and have done next to nothing for the agents they’ve sent over. In the early days, when I was sent over by them myself in September 1940, for example, they simply told their agents that once the invasion had taken place they would be able to return to Germany. When that was no longer credible, they promised submarine extractions to the people they sent over, but never lifted a finger to put them in place. They’ve promised the same to Geoffrey Smith and they’ve also promised him a large amount of money when he gets back. He does have a fallback arrangement, however, which would see him join a merchant vessel bound for Lisbon, then jump ship there.’

  ‘And that’s why you are keen to ensure he doesn’t know the name you normally use within the Security Service in London?’

  ‘That’s right. We believe he’s genuinely on our side, but don’t want him to have any information that would cause damage if he revealed it, willingly or unwillingly, to the Abwehr once he gets back to Germany.’ Monique looked at her watch. ‘Perhaps it’s time we had some dinner? Is there any champagne left?’

  ‘Can I just raise something with you, first, Monique?’

  ‘What’s that?’

  Bob told her about Sergeant Winograd’s apparent attempt to steal a Mosquito from RAF Leuchars. ‘I rather assumed that if he was working for anyone, he was working for the Germans. I have no idea how he was instructed in the start-up procedures for a Mosquito, but at the very least it would have needed someone with a good set of photographs of the interior of the cockpit. From what you tell me, however, there are no German agents in the country who could have done that.’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘Which raises the question of who he was working for and where he was going to fly the aircraft to. All he had with him was a local Ordnance Survey map, which frankly seems a little odd.’

  Monique placed her empty champagne glass on the table between them. ‘What’s the range of the aircraft you think he was trying to steal?’

  ‘I’m not sure. Far enough to get to Berlin and back, at least.’

  ‘Here’s a thought,’ said Monique, ‘I’d need to check on a map, but it can’t be much more than twice as far to Moscow as it is to Berlin. I’ve heard the Mosquito is something of a wonder weapon. Perhaps the Soviets have heard the same thing and want a better look at one?’

  ‘You think the Soviet secret service, the NKVD, might have tried to steal one?’

  ‘It has to be a possibility, doesn’t it? They are our allies, but you and I both know they interpret that flexibly. And before you ask, Bob, as far as I know, we don’t have the same window onto NKVD operations as we have onto Abwehr operations. Now, it’s about time we had some dinner. I took the liberty of ordering for both of us earlier.’

  Chapter Eight

  Dinner had been thoroughly enjoyable. Over coffee, Monique asked how Bob was finding MI11.

  He sat back on the sofa they were sharing. ‘With the great insight afforded by five days in post, most of which were spent away from the office, my first impression is that it’s remarkably varied. I suppose with hindsight that running a training unit did have an element of repetition about it, especially as I wasn’t meant to be doing any of the flying or training myself.

  ‘It’s very early days yet, but I’ve not yet had cause to think I made a wrong decision in taking the post. The skill I’m going to have to develop is trusting my team leaders to get on and do their jobs. I went with my RAF team up to Leuchars yesterday. It’s right that I get sufficiently involved to develop an understanding of what the work entails. But I did get the sense that the team leader would have preferred it if I’d been somewhere else. I tried to avoid heading off at any tangents, but I think he was relieved when I disappeared for a flight in a Mosquito with the squadron commander, who I flew with in 1940. By the time I was back you were trying to get hold of me on the phone, so he was rid of me entirely.

  ‘My problem is wanting to get stuck in and sort things out myself. I heard this morning that my deputy, in my absence yesterday, had agreed that my army team should head up to the Commando Basic Training Centre at Achnacarry Castle, north of Fort William, to investigate a suspicious death. Entirely right, but my first reaction was to think that I should have been involved in the investigation. It sounds intriguing. The dead man is a Belgian and there’s an added complication because some of those currently being trained there are Germans. It was news to me that we train Germans to be commandos and my first instinct was to abandon my in-tray and get a driver to take me up there. I think perhaps I’ve still got some growing up to do.’

  Monique laughed.

  ‘How about you?’ asked Bob. ‘How does being “not quite as small a cog in the wheel” feel?’

  ‘It’s early days for me too. This thing in Glasgow is my first real opportunity to sh
ow I’ve got what it takes to operate at a more senior level. However barmy the whole thing sounds, what we are trying to do does have the potential to disrupt the Abwehr even more than we’ve managed thus far. Smith and Thompson getting locked up was the absolute last thing I needed. I really am grateful, Bob.’ Monique smiled and placed her hand on his.

  ‘How grateful?’ he asked.

  ‘Grateful enough to suggest we abandon what’s left of the coffee and head up to my room. I don’t think there’s any champagne left, but I can live without any more.’

  If dinner had been enjoyable, what followed was even better. Afterwards they lay together in Monique’s bed in the darkened room.

  Bob could tell Monique was still awake. ‘I thought about telephoning you, you know. A couple of times when I was coming down to London.’

  ‘You should have done.’

  ‘I was afraid you’d tell me to get lost.’

  ‘Why would I do that?’

  ‘Things were a bit strained that last night in Dunrobin Castle. I understand that it sounded like I was saying I thought that you’d betrayed me, and that really wasn’t what I meant. But it was too late to unsay what I’d said. You came out with something about a couple of enjoyable nights together not being a basis for announcing our engagement in The Times, and if I’m honest I felt pretty rejected.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Bob. I thought you’d go back to training pilots and I really didn’t think our paths would cross again. For what it’s worth, I’m glad they have and I’m glad you twisted my arm into coming up to Scotland, though I’d probably have had to come anyway.’

  ‘If Smith and Thompson hadn’t been picked up by the police and you had come up to Scotland, would you have called me?’