He stared at me. ‘What about Tucek?’ he asked. He didn’t trust me. I could see that.
‘Jan Tucek was arrested on Thursday,’ I told him. ‘Maxwell got him away to Bory airfield that night. Tucek and a senior Czech air force officer flew out in an Anson trainer. They should have arrived at Milan early yesterday morning.’
‘I don’t believe a word of it,’ he said.
‘I’m not interested whether you believe me or not,’ I exclaimed angrily. ‘Maxwell asked me to see you when I got to Milan and tell you to notify him whether or not they’d arrived. He’s afraid they may have crashed since they were told to contact you immediately on arrival and he’s not heard from you.’
He fired a lot of questions at me then. At length he said, ‘Why the devil didn’t you give me that message at the airfield?’
‘Your own attitude made it impossible,’ I answered.
‘What were you doing in Pilsen?’
I told him.
‘Have you any proof that you represent this machine tool company?’
He was still suspicious.