way as the first.
Julie locked the bedroom door behind her, opened her bag and brought out the
note which she began to unfold. Annemarie looked at her curiously.
‘What have you got there? And why are your hands shaking, Julie?’
‘A billet-doux that I have just got from a love-lorn suitor in the bar.
Wouldn’t your hands shake if you’d just got a billetdoux from a love-lorn
suitor in the bar?’ She smoothed out the note so that they could both read
it together. It had been meticulously typed so obviously it was not a
scribbled note put together at the last moment.
‘Sony about the appearance and the thick accent,’ it said, ‘but you will
understand that I can’t very well go around in my ordinary clothes and
using my ordinary voice.
‘The dashingyaung army captain is Vasco. You will understand why he has
developed this sore throat. Annemarie mighijust have been a little startled
to hear his normal voice. Agnelli would have been very startled.
‘George is with us. Couldn’t bring him in atfirst because George can’t be
disguised. Couldn’t have you hugong him with feminine shrieks of delight.
‘You don’t know, us and you don’t want to know us. Stay away from us but
don’t make it too obvious. Distant, remote and extending to us as much
courtesy asyou would to any other common criminals.
‘Don’t try to do anything clever. Don’t try to do anything. The men,
probably, are not dangerous but watch the girls. They’re shrewd and have
nasty devious feminine minds.
‘Destroy this note immediately. I loveyou both.’
227
‘And signed,’ Julie said, ‘with his own unmistakable signature.’ Her
hands still weren’t too steady.
‘You said he would come,’ Annemarie said. Tier voice was like Julie’s
hands.
‘Yes, I did, didn’t I? Didn’t expect him quite so soon, though. What are
we going to do – cry with relief?’
‘Certainly not.’Annemarle sniffed. ‘He might have spared us the bits
about feminine shrieks of delight and shrewd and nasty devious feminine
minds.’ She watched as Julie ignited the note over a wash-basin and
flushed the ashes away. ‘So what do we do now?’
‘Celebrate.’
‘In the bar?’
‘Where else?’
‘And ignore them totally.’
‘Totally.’
228
Nine
The barn that served as a garage was cold and draughty and leaking and
couldn’t have served as a barn for many years: the air was heavy with the
unsavoury smell of musty hay although there was no trace of hay to be seen.
But it was clean and well fit, enough to show that the army truck’s freshly
painted bodywork had vanished under a thick encrustation of mud.
George and O’Brien were bent over what appeared to be some kind of
check-list when van Effen entered. George looked over O’Brien’s shoulder
and lifted an interrogative eyebrow. Van Effen gave a brief nod in return,
then said: ‘About through?’
‘Finished,’ George said. ‘All present and correct, I think.’
‘Think,’ O’Brien said. ‘Check, re-check and cross-check. Never saw a man so
meticulous about anything.’ Julie and Annemarie had taken what seemed like
an unconscionably long time before making their departure. ‘But I did learn
a little about explosives. And a lot about drinking beer.’
They switched off the lights, padlocked the doors – George pointedly
pocketing the key while making some remark to the effect that signed
receipts came first – and entered the mill. Julie and Annemarie were seated
at a table by the fire, each with a small glass before her, a sure
indication, van Effen knew, that they had read the note he had left with
them. He noted, approvingly, that both girls regarded their entry with an
open curiosity: it would have been an odd person indeed who would have
registered indifference when encountering George’s vast bulk for the first
time. Across the fire-place, and seated at another table, Samuelson was
just replacing the hand-set of a rather splendid-looking radio transceiver:
when obtaining new equipment the FFF obviously didn’t patronise second-hand
markets.
‘All well?’ Samuelson said.
229
‘All weli,’ O’Brien said. ‘Just about managed to stop George testing the
detonators with his teeth. That’s quite an arsenal you have there, Mr
Samuelson.’
‘Sign here, please.’ George laid three copies of the inventory on the
table before Samuelson who signed them, thus confirm, ing that lie w~ls,
indeed, the man in charge, smiled and handed them back. to Georgt who
solemndy handed over the garage padlock key.
‘A r)ieasure to do business with you, George. How would you like & fee
to be paia*?’
‘Not time for th!– fee yet,’ George said. ‘The inventory is only a
proml.se. Wait for the guarantee – let’s see if the damn things work.’
Samuelson smiled again. ‘I thought businessmen always demanded cash on
delivery.’
‘Not this businessman. If, of course, you decide not to use them, then
I’ll present the bill – you understand that I can’t very well recurn them
to the ordnance store. Or if you decide to dispense with our services.’
‘Still a pleasure, George. I’m quite certain we’ll be requiring both your
goods and your services. Weli, gentlemen, we’ll be hearing a rather-‘ He
broke off, looked at van Efien, patted the radio and said: ‘You know what
this is, don’t you’ ‘
‘A transceiver. RCA. The best, I believe. If you’d a mind to, you could
reach the moon with thar.’
‘It can reach Amsterdam, which is all I want. Helmut. Helmut PaderiwsI6,
whom you have met, I believe.’
‘Yes. I rather wondered where Helmut was.’
‘Our voice in the capital. He has just arranged for our latest
message to be made known.’ He glanced at the wall clock.
‘Exactly eight minutes. rV and radio. We’ve decided not to
bother about newspapers any more. I am not being smug when I
say that we can now get instant coverage whenever we wish it. I
think you’ll all I find it a rather interesting message – messages
rather. Don’t you think we should give them – ah – advance
notice, Romero? Mix Danilov here has said that he likes to know
what’s going on before he reads or hears about it.’
‘If it Is your wish, of course.’ Agnelli was his usual smiling
230
self. ‘But I would rather they saw it on TV. I think it would be interesting
to see what the reaction of the average Dutch citizen would be.’
‘We’ll wait. It’s unimportant. Although I’d hardly call those three average
Dutch citizens. Ah! Our provision party has returned.’
The two girls van Effen had met the previous evening in the room off the
Voorburgwal entered, each carrying a shopping basket. They were followed by
a young man who was having some difficulty in coping with a huge hamper he
was carrying.
‘Welcome back,’ Samuelson said benignly. ‘A successful expedition, I see.
Ah! Introductions. Mr Danilov, of course, you’ve met. This is George, this
is the Captain who for some obscure reason is called the Lieutenant. Maria.
Kathleen. You look puzzled, Mr Danilov.’
‘That’s a lot of food.’
‘True, true. But a lot of mouths to feed.’
‘It’s a fair way to Utrecht.’
‘Utrecht? My dear fellow, we shop at the local village store. Delighted to
have our trade. Ah, the factor of anonymity.’ He laughed. ‘Romero. If you
would be so kind.’
Romero led van Effen to the front door, opened it and gestured. At the foot
of the steps stood a dark blue van. Emblazzned on its side, in golden
lettering, was the legend Golden Gate Film Productions.
‘Ingenious,’ van Effen said.
‘It is, rather. Not a famous enough name to attract national attention but
we’re certainly well enough known locally. Been here for almost a month
now. We have a camera crew almost continuously on the move around the area.
An isolated spot, this, and it brings a touch of colour into their
otherwise drab lives. No trouble at all in recruiting house and kitchen
staff- we are generous employers and very well thought of locally.’
‘You’d be even better thought of if they knew that this is probably the
only area in the Netherlands that’s immune from flooding.’
“Mere’s that, there’s that.’ Agnelli seemed quite pleased with the idea.
‘War film, I need hardly say. Hence the heli-
231
copter. Had to get official permission, of course, but that was a mere
formality.’
‘I’d wondered how you’d managed that. You do have your nerve, that I must
say.’
‘Just had a thought. This newly acquired truck. Change of paint and it
can move around in complete freedom. War film -army truck. Follows, no?’
‘Yes. This is your brain-ch:ld, of course?’
‘Yes. But why “of course”F
‘You do have a certain talent for devious organization.’
The TV announcer, soberly suited and tied and ominously grave in
expression, looked as if he were about to pronounce a funeral oration.
‘We have just received what is called an interim communiqud from London.
It -says that the talks about the Dutch crisis are continuing and that