As the war begins, Cooper is soon back in London working for the intelligence services and assigned to the Invasion Warning Sub-Committee. The Germans are planning to invade, and the UK is concerned about spies, saboteurs, and collaborators. Cooper gets back to work and is promoted for his efforts defending the realm. His Soviet handlers assure him that the pact with the Germans is tactical and that he is supporting a future ally of the UK. The Sub-Committee unearths a list of sympathizers and begins to ascertain who is up to what. The Soviets are concerned that the British will make a separate peace, leaving them alone facing Germany. They want Britain to know as much as possible about Germany's plans for invasion in order to ensure they are prepared to fight. They want Cooper to go to Rotterdam and meet one of their men in the Kriegsmarine, and Cooper convinces MI6 to send him there after he concocts a phony lead. He pulls off the coup on behalf of the two services. It seems as if just about everyone knows the date of Sea Lion, but because of the RAF's success in the air over the south, it's called off. The purpose of the Sub-Committee is no more, and Cooper and his boss are packed off to SOE. Both novels are smart, sophisticated, and magnificent on the details of the era, but just not compelling.
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