mind or minds among the FFF that is not only highly intelligent but has a
clear understanding about the application of practical psychology. First,
they introduce the elements of doubt, dismay, dissension and the erosion of
confidence into Schiphol. Then they apply the same techniques to the
Rijkswaterstaat. And now, through the medium of every paper in the land,
this evening or tomorrow morning, and doubtless, through television and
radio, they will introduce those same elements into the nation at large. If
you ask me, they have – or will have -achieved a very great deal in a very
short space of time. A remarkable feat. They are to be respected as
strategists if not as human beings. I trust that the traitor in our midst
will report that back to thern.’
‘Indeed,’ de Graaf said. ‘And I trust the same traitor will understand if
we don’t discuss the steps we plan to undertake to combat this menace.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, to the final paragraph of their message and
incidentally, no doubt, to introduce some more of what the Lieutenant
referred to as doubt, dismay, dissension, erosion of confidence or
whatever. They go on to say: “In order to demonstrate your helplessness and
our ability to strike at will wherever and whenever we choose, we would
advise you that a breach will be made in the Texel sea dyke at 4.30 P.M.
this afternoon.”‘
‘What!’ The word came simultaneously from at least half a dozen people.
‘Shook me a bit, too,’ de Graaf said. ‘That’s what they say. I don’t for a
moment doubt them. Brinkman’- this to a uniformed young police officer –
‘contact the office. No urgency, probably, but check that people on the
island know what’s coming to them. Mr van der Kuur, I’m sure I can leave it
to you
24
to have the necessary men and equipment to stand by.’ He consulted the
sheet again. ‘Not a big operation, they say. “We are sure that damage will
be minimal but it might behove the citizens of Oosterend and De Waal to
stand by their boats or take to their attics shortly after 4.30. Very
shortly.” Damned arrogance. They end up by saying: “We know that those
names will give you a fairly accurate idea as to where the charges have
been placed. We defy you to find them.”‘
‘And that’s all?’ van der Kuur said.
‘That’s all.’
‘No reasons, no explanations for those damned outrages? No demands?
Nothing?’
‘Nothing.’
‘I still say we’re up against a bunch of raving maniacs.’
‘And I say that we’re up against clever and very calculating criminals
who are more than content to let us stew in our own juice for the time
being. I wouldn’t worry about the demands, if I were you. These will come
in due time – their time. Well, nothing more we can achieve here – not,
on reflection, that we have achieved anything. I bid you good day, Mr de
Jong, and hope that you’ll be back in operational services some time
tomorrow. It’ll take days, I suppose, to replace the machinery ruined in
your basements.’
On their way out, van Effen made a gesture to de Graaf to hold back. He
looked casually around to make sure that no one was within earshot and
said: ‘I’d like to put tails on a couple of gentlemen who were in that
room.’
‘Well, you don’t waste time, I will say. You have, of course, your
reasons.’
I was watching them when you broke the news of the proposed Texel breach.
It hit them. Most of them just stared away into space and those who
didn’t were studying the floor. AU of them, I assume, were considering
the awful implications. Two did neither. They just kept on looking at
you. Maybe they didn’t react because it didn’t come as any news to them.’
‘Straws. You’re just clutching at straws.’
‘Isn’t that what a drowning man is supposed to do?’
25
‘With all the water that’s around, present and promised, you might have
picked a less painful metaphor. Who?’
‘Alfred van Rees.’
‘Ah. The Rijkswaterstaat’s Locks, Weirs and Sluices man. Preposterous.
Friend of mine. Honest as the day’s long.’
‘Maybe the Mr Hyde in him doesn’t come out until after sunset. And Fred
Klassen.’
‘Klassen! Schiphol’s security chief. Preposterous.’
‘That’s twice. Or is he a friend of yours, too?’
‘Impossible. Twenty years’ unblemished service. The security chief ?’
‘If you were a criminal and were given the choice of subverting any one
man in a big organization, who would you go for?’
De Graaf looked at him for a long moment, then walked on in silence.
26
Two
Bakkeren and Dekker were the names of the two boat-owners who had been
involuntarily deprived of their vessels during the previous night. As it
turned out, they were brothers-in-law. Bakkeren was phlegmatic about the
borrowing of his beat and not particularly concerned by the fact that he
had not yet been allowed to examine his boat to see what damage, if any,
had been done to it. Dekker, by contrast and understandably, was seething
with rage: he had, as he had informed de Graaf and van Effen within twenty
seconds of their arrival at his suburban home, been rather roughly handled
during the previous evening.
‘Is no man safe in this godforsaken city?’ He didn’t speak the words, he
shouted them, but it was reasonable to assume that this was not his
normal conversational custom. ‘Police, you say you are, police! Ha!
Police! A fine job you do of guarding the honest citizens of Amsterdam.
There I was, sitting in my own boat and minding my own business when
those four gangsters -‘
‘Moment,’ van Effen said. ‘Were they wearing gloves?’
‘Gloves!’ Dekker, a small dark, intense man, stared at him in outraged
disbelief. ‘Gloves! Here am 1, the victim of a savage assault, and all
you can think of
‘Gloves.’
Something in van Effen’s tone had reached through the man’s anger, one
could almost see his blood pressure easing a few points. ‘Gloves, eh?
Funny, that. Yes, they were. All of them.’
Van Effen turned to a uniformed sergeant. ‘Bernhard.’
‘Yes, sir. I’ll tell the finger-print men to go home.’
‘Sorry, Mr Dekker. Tell it your way. If there was anything that struck
you as unusual or odd, let us know.’
27
‘It was all bloody odd,’ Dekker said morosely. He had been, as he had said,
minding his own business in his little cabin, when he had been hailed from
the bank. He’d gone on deck and a tall man – it was almost dark and his
features had been indistinguishable – had asked him if he could hire the
boat for the night. He said he was from a film company and wanted to shoot
some night scenes and offered a thousand guilders. Dekker had thought it
extremely odd that an offer of that nature should have been made at such
short notice and with night falling: he had refused. Next thing he knew,
three other men had appeared on the scene, he’d been dragged from the boat,
bundled into a car and driven to his home.
Van Effen said: ‘Did you direct them?!
‘Are you mad?’ Looking at the fiery little man it was impossible to believe
that he would volunteer information to anyone.
‘So they’ve been watching your movements for some time. You weren’t aware
that you were under surveillance at any time?’
‘Under what?’
‘Being watched, followed, seeing the same stranger an unusual number of
times?’
‘Who’d watch and follow a fishmonger? Well, who would think they would? So
they hauled me into the house
‘Didn’t you try to escape at any time?’
‘Would you listen to the man?’ Dekker was justifiably bitter. ‘How far
would you get with your wrists handcuffed behind your back?’
‘Handcuffs?’
‘I suppose you thought that only police used those things. So they dragged
me into the bathroom, tied my feet with a clothes line and taped my mouth
with Elastoplast. Then they locked the door from the outside.’
‘You were completely helpless?’
‘Completely.’ The little man’s face darkened at the recollection. ‘I
managed to get to my feet and a hell of a lot of good that did me. There’s
no window in the bathroom. If there had been I don’t know of any way I
could have broken it and even if I bad there was no way I could shout for
help, was there? Not with
28
God knows bow many strips of plaster over my mouth.
‘Three or four hours later – I’m not sure how long it was -they came back
and freed me. The tall man told me they’d left fifteen hundred guilders
on the kitchen table – a thousand for the hire of the boat and five
hundred for incidental expenses.’
‘What expenses?’
‘How should I know?’ Dekker sounded weary. ‘They didn’t explain. They
just left.’
‘Did you see them go? Type of car, number, anything like that?’