occasion were so outlandish that he probably didn’t spend much time
examining your face. It will serve.’
Vasco had indeed undergone a considerable metamorphosis. The long blond
locks that had straggled haphazardly over his shoulder had been neady, even
severely, trimmed and parted with millimetric precision just to the centre
left. His hair was also black, as were his eyebrows and newly-acquired and
immaculately shaped moustache, all of which went very well with his
shadowed, thinned-down cheeks and heavy tan. All dyes were guaranteed
waterproof. He was the maiden’s concep-
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tualized dream of what every young army officer should look like. Shirt,
tie, suit and belted trench-coat were correspondingly immaculate.
‘They could use him in those army advertisements,’ George said. ‘You know,
your country needs you.’ George, himself, was still George. For him,
disguise was impossible.
‘And the voice,’ van Effen said. ‘I’m not worried about Agnelli, he’s
hardly heard you say more thah a few words. It’s Annemarie. I don’t know
whether she’s a good actress with her emotions under control or not, but I
rather suspect not. It would rather spoil things if she flung her arms
round your neck and cried “My saviour!”‘
‘I have a very bad cold,’ Vasco said hoarsely. ‘My throat is like
sandpaper.’ His voice reverted to normal and he said morosely: ‘Whose
throat wouldn’t be in this damned weather. Anyway, I’ll be the strong,
silent type: I shall speak as little as possible.’
‘And 1,’George said,’shall lurk discreetly in the background until one of
you have advised the ladies – if the ladies arc indeed there – of my
presence. But make it fast.’
‘We’ll make itas fast as we can, George,’ van Effen said. ‘We appreciate
it’s a bit difficult for you to lurk discreetly anywhere for any length of
time. And I have no doubt whatsoever the ladies will be there.’ He tapped
the newspaper under his arm. ‘What’s the point, in holding a couple of
trumps if you don’t have them in your hand?’
The FFF’s latest aimouncement had been very simple, direct and to the
point. They had now with them, they said – crude words like ‘abducted’ and
‘kidnapped’ had been studiously avoided – two young ladies, one of them the
daughter of the nation’s leading industrialist, the other the sister of a
senior police officer in Amsterdam. They had then proceeded to name names.
Condolences, the FFF had said, had been sent to both parents and brother,
together with assurances that they were being well cared for and expressing
the pious hope that they would continue to remain in good health.
‘I do look forward to meeting those cardplayers,’ Georg-, said wistfully.
‘Crafty bunch of devils, aren’t they? I wonder what
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American university – or it could be Irish – offers a combined course in
terrorism and psychology?’
‘They’re not exactly mentally retarded,’van Effen said. ‘But, then, we
never thought they were. Another push up the back for the arm of the
government – and another push into an even more impossible situation.
just ending their message with those prayerful good wishes. No threats,
no hints of reprisals or what might happen to the girls, no possibility
of torture or even death. Nothing. The old uncertainty principle in full
operation again. What, we are left to wonder, do they have in mind.
That’s left to us – and, of course, it’s only human nature to come up
with the worst possible scenario. Bad enough to have the country
threatened with inundation, but for the tender-hearted and romantic – and
even among the so-called stolid Dutch there are an uncommon number of
those around – the thought of what dreadful terrors may lie in store for
two beautiful and innocent young damsels could be a great deal worse.’
‘Well, there’s one consolation,’Vasco said. He was practising his in
extremis voice again. ‘I’m sure that’s the last threat about your
sister’s well-being that you’ll be getting, Lieutenant.’
‘Stephan,’ van Effen said.
‘Stephan. I know. But I won’t apologize this time.’ Vasco’s voice was
back to normal. ‘Once I clap eyes on that lot there’s not the slightest
chance I’ll forget.’
‘My mistake,’van Effen said. ‘I’m the person who’s doing the forgetting
– about your undercover years. I agree with you -there’ll be no more
threats to Julie. By the same token, I don’t even think they’ll bother
to try to extract any money from David Meijer. Apart from the fact that
they appear to have unlimited funds of their own, David.Meijer is much
more important to them as David Meijer – the man who, however
unofficially, has very much the ear of the government and is in a
position to influence them, to swing whatever decision may be under
consideration. Not that I think that the government has any decision
under consideration. I think that matter has been effectively taken out
of their hands now. The ball, in the American phrase, is now very much
in the court of the British.’
‘I wouldn’t very much like to be in the position of the British
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either.’ George said. ‘They f2ce a position that, if it’s possible, is even
worse than the one our government had to face. Are they going to be dictated
to, even by proxy, by a bunch of what are essentially no more than
terrorists, no matter what lofty motives they may ascribe to themselves?
What will happen in Northern Ireland if they did pull out – would there be
strife, and murder, even massacre that might cost more than any lives that
could or would be lost in the Netherlands – and, of course, we can have no
idea of how many lives that might be – hundreds or hundreds of thousands. Or
do they just dig in, refuse to move and sit back and let the Hollanders
drown and make themselves the lepers of the world, ostracized, perhaps for
generations to come, by all nations – and although this is a wicked old
world there must be still quite a few left – who still subscribe to some
ideals of decency and humanity?’
‘I do wish you’d shut up, George.’ Rarely for him, van Effen sounded almost
irritable. ‘You put the damn thing all too clearly. In a nutshell, it’s a
toss-up between what value is put on the lives of x number of citizens in
Ulster againsty number of citizens in the Netherlands.’ Van. Effen smiled
without much mirth. ‘It’s difficult to solve an equation when you don’t
even have a clue as to what the factors are. Imponderables, imponderables.
The physicists who ramble on about the indeterminates and uncertainties in
quantum mechanics should have this one dumped on their laps. Me, I’d rather
spin a coin.’
‘Heads or tails,’ George said. ‘What way do you think the coin would land?’
11 have absolutelv no idea because, of course, no one eve” knows which face
01 the coin is going to show. But there’s one factor that is at ‘Least
faintly determinate, even although that is wildly uncertain, and that is
human nature. So at a wild guess, just as wild as guessing at the toss, I
would say that the British would give in.’
George was silent for a few moments, one massive hand caressing his chin,
then said: ‘The British haven’t got much of a reputation for giving in.
Feed any of them enough beer or scotch or whatever and like as not someone
will end up by telling you that no unspeakable foreigner has ever set foot
on
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their sacred soil for a thousand years. Which is true – and it’s the only
country in the world that can claim.that.’
‘True, true. But not applicable – or at least of importance -here. This is
not a case of Churchill declaiming that we will fight in the streets,
hills, beaches or wherever and that we will never surrender. That’s for
martial warfare and in martial warfare the parameters and issues are
clearcut. This is psychological warfare where the distinctions are blurred
out of sight. Are the British any good at psychological warfare? I’m not
sure they are. Come to that, I’m not sure that any country is – too many
indefinables.’
‘I don’t think, anyway, that it’s a factor of either martial or
psychological warfare. If there’s any factor that’s going to count, it’s
the factor of human nature. This is how it might just possibly happen. The
British will bluff and bluster, rant ind rave – you have to admit that they
yield first place to none when it comes to that – throw their arms in the
general direction of a mindless heaven, appeal for common justice and claim
they’re as pure and white and innocent as the driven snow, which, at this
moment of time and conveniently forgetting their not-sodistant bloody
history, they have some justification in claiming to be. What, they will
ask, have we done to precipitate this intolerable situation and why should