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his family in the operation. He explained that Thorbjoern could be extremely useful, because he worked for an electrical communications company in Copenhagen that was closely associated with the famous Bang and Olufsen. It was called Gyberg and Jensen. Supporting his brother, Thorbjoern then told Sneum how fiercely anti-German his colleagues were, although no one dared to say as much in public. Even the directors, Werner Gyberg and Robert Jensen, were said to be resistance sympathizers. And from his own dealings with Gyberg, the twenty-two-year-old Thorbjoern felt he could be trusted. It was through his boss that Thorbjoern had heard of a brilliant radio technician, a man knowledgeable enough in the field of communications to have become Bang and Olufsen’s chief engineer. His name was Lorens Arne Duus Hansen, and he was said to build his own transmitters for fun. Obviously, this man could be the solution to their communications problems.

‘How do you know about the radio?’ hissed Tommy.

‘I told him everything, Sneum.’ Christophersen was unrepentant. ‘He needs to know in order to brief Gyberg and Duus Hansen.’

Sneum fixed his eyes on the younger brother. ‘If anyone is going to talk to this Duus Hansen, it will be me.’ Then, out of anger and because he felt it might help him regain some control over the situation, he issued a new threat, though he knew deep down he couldn’t carry it out: ‘If you say a word about this meeting to anyone, I’ll kill both of you.’

Sigfred, feeling protective of his brother, accused Sneum of overreacting, and claimed his constant threats were putting the mission at risk. The implication that it was Tommy who had begun to show signs of irrational behavior under pressure, rather than Sigfred, was one provocation too many. To be told that he was losing his grip by someone as nervous as Christophersen seemed so outrageous to Tommy that he became incensed, but he managed to leave before succumbing to the temptation to silence his partner immediately and pemanently.

As he said goodbye to his brother and returned to Kaj Oxlund’s apartment alone, Sigfred Christophersen must have sensed the danger he was in. Back in the flat, when the phone rang he forgot protocol and foolishly picked up the receiver. It was Tulle, Oxlund’s estranged wife. She didn’t recognize the stranger’s voice on the other end of the line, and her suspicions cannot have been eased when Christophersen told her she had dialled the wrong number and slammed down the hand-set. Tulle had lived at the apartment for ten years and thought it unlikely that she had made a mistake. When she tried again, there was no answer. She decided that as soon as she had time, she would visit the flat in person to solve the mystery of the stranger’s voice, confront Kaj and try to sort out their differences.

Fearing such a visit, or perhaps a more sinister one from the Abwehr, Sigfred Christophersen must have decided that he could take no more. He opened Oxlund’s writing desk, took a bundle of cash from the funds Sneum had collected, and left as quickly as his long legs would carry him.

From that moment, Colonel Rabagliati’s men were at war—with each other. The only thing they had in common was that they both needed effective radio communication with England. And they both knew where the key to that lay.

Chapter 25

HISTORY-MAKERS

TROUBLED AS TOMMY WAS by Christophersen’s disappearance, another development soon took priority. For on Tuesday, 25 November 1941, Denmark signed the Anti-Comintern Pact in Berlin. It was a move that incensed not only Danish communists but most moderate citizens who feared that Germany’s next step would be to force Denmark to take action against her Jewish nationals. At 2.00 p.m. the news was broadcast that the agreement had been signed, and almost immediately a large group of students gathered in front of the King’s Palace in Copenhagen to demonstrate during the changing of the guard. They sang patriotic Danish songs with great passion and chanted ‘Down with Scavenius’, a reference to the Foreign Minister who had just