– your dirty work – for you instead of those deranged amateurs. Do you know
what would happen if those explosions resulted in the deaths of any
citizens?’
‘Yes. You would ensure that I joined the departed. I wouldn’t like that at
all.’
‘Let’s see the plans.’
Romero Agnelli removed a couple of papers and handed one each to van Effen
and George. George was the first to speak and that only after a few
seconds.
‘This isn’t a half-kilo device. It’s only for the equivalent of fifty tons
Of TNT.’
Samuelson came very close to smirking. ‘The equivalent of ten tons would
have suited me equally well. But it’s useful to exaggerate the terror
potential, don’t you think?’
George didn’t say what he thought. After less than a minute he looked up
and spoke again. ‘Only moderately complicated and very precise. Two snags.
The first is that Joop speaks fractured English and people who have
difficulty in speaking only the simplest form of a language usually are
pretty hopeless when it comcs to reading or writing it. The second snag is
the jargon.’
‘Jargon?~
‘Technical terms,’ van Effen said. ‘They might as well be in Sanskrit as
far as Joop is concerned.’
261
‘Well?’
Van Effen handed his paper back to Agnelli. ‘We’ll have to think and talk
about it.’
Samuelson tried, not altogether successfully, to smother the smile of a man
who knows he has won his point. For the next minute or two they remained,
sipping their branches in comparative and apparently companionable silence,
when the singers, if such they were, slowly faded from the screen to be
replaced by the now familiar figure of the tragcdy-stricken newscaster.
‘The government have just announced that they have just received two more
demands from the FFF. The first of those concerned the demand for a hundred
and twenty million guilders and how it is to be transferred. The government
does not say whether it will accede to the request and refuses to discuss
the nature of the transfer. The second demand is for the release of two
prisoners who were imprisoned several years ago for crimes of extreme
violence. The government refuses to disclose the names of the prisoners.
‘We would remind viewers that we shall be on the air again at midnight to
find out whether the FFF have, in fact, breached the Flevoland dykes.’
Agnelli switched off the set. ‘Satisfactory,’ Samuelson said. He was
actually rubbing his hands together. ‘Eminently satisfactory.’
‘Seems like a pretty silly and stupid broadcast to me,’ van Effen said.
‘Not at all.’ Samuelson was positively beaming. ‘The nation now knows that
the government has received details of our demands and, as they have not
outright rejected them it probably means that they are going to accede to
them. It also shows how weak the government is and in how strong a position
we are.’
‘That’s not what I mean. They’ve been stupid. They didn’t have to make that
announcement at all.’
‘Oh, yes, they did. They were told that if they didn’t we would racho the
communiqud to Warsaw who would be just too delighted to re-broadcast it to
Western Europe.’
262
‘You have a transmitter that can reach as far as Warsaw?’
‘We haven’t got a transmitter, period. Nor do we know anyone in Warsaw. The
threat was enough. Your government,’ Samuelson said with considerable
satisfaction, ‘is now reduced to such a state of fear and trepidation, that
they believe anything we say. Besides, they would look pretty silly,
wouldn’t they, if the announcement came through Poland?’
Van Effen refused the offer of a second brandy, he had every reason to keep
a clear mind for the next hour or two, and said goodnight.
Samuelson looked at him in some surprise. ‘But you’ll be coming down to see
the midnight broadcast?’
‘I don’t think so. I don’t doubt your ability to carry out your threat.’
‘I’m going too,’ George said, ‘but I shall be back down. Just going to see
how the Lieutenant is. Incidentally, Mr Samuelson, if I may -‘
‘Another toddy for the young lieutenant. Certainly, my friend, certainly.’
‘He may have a bit of a head in the morning,’ George said, ‘but he should
be halfway towards recovery in the morning.’
Vasco, was in fact, in excellent health and showing no signs of an incipient
headache.
‘Still the same lad. I should imagine the changeover will be at nine. Some
guard. Spends most of the time with his chin on his chest then jerks
awake.’
Tet’s hope his relief is of the same cast of mind. Me, I’m going to have a
snooze. If he’s still there at, say, nine-twenty, give me a shake. If he’s
relieved at nine, shake me at ten. How do you operate the radio on that
army truck? And what’s its range?t
‘Unlimited. Well, a hundred, two hundred kilometres, I’m not sure.
Operation is simple. just lift the receiver and press the red button. The
transmitter is pre-set to the nearest army command base which is always
manned.’
‘I particularly don’t want to talk to the army. I want to talk to
Marnixstraat.’
263
‘Easy. Standard tuning dial, standard wave-bands and a switch beside
the button for illumination that picks out the wave-lengths very
easily indeed.’
Van Effen nodded, stretched out on a bed and closed his eyes.
264
TM
George woke van Effen at to p.m.
‘New sentry took over at nine. Hardly seems an improvement on the other one
except, that is, from your point of view. He’s middle-aged, fat, wears two
overcoats, is sitting in the armchair with a rug over his knees and, you’ll
be pleased to hear, also has a bottle in his hand.’
‘Sounds like my kind of man.’ Van Effen rose and changed his trousers for
a pair of denims.
Vasco said: ‘What’s that? Your battle uniform?’
‘What’s Samuelson going to say if he sees me in sodden trousers or even dry
trousers that are so wrinkled that it will look as if I’d fallen into a
river?’
‘Ah. Well, you’re going to get wet enough, that’s for sure. Rain’s heavier
than ever. There are times when we can hardly see the lad in the loft
doorway.’
‘Suits me fine. That bam wasn’t built yesterday and old floor-boards in old
lofts tend to creak. With ram like this drumming on the roof he won’t be
able to hear a thing. Besides, judging from George’s general description,
the sentry is probably half deaf anyway.’ He strapped on his Smith and
Wesson, shrugged into his jacket and put the aerosol can in one pocket and
the hooded torch in the other.
‘Velvet gloves,’ George said.
Vasco said: ‘What’s that?’
‘Silenced pistol and a knockout gas canister. That’s what he calls velvet
gloves.’
Van Effen dug into an inside pocket, brought out a small leather wallet,
unzipped it, took out the metallic contents, exammed them, then returned
them to the wallet and pocket.
‘Skeleton keys and picklocks,’George said approvingly. ‘No self-respecting
detective should be without them.’
265
Vasco said: ‘What happens if you don’t come back, sir?’
‘I shall be back. It’s five past ten now. I should be back by ten-thirty.
If I’m not back by eleven go downstairs. Say nothing. No doomladen
speeches, no warnings that their end is nigh. Kill Samuelson. Cripple the
Agnelli brothers and Daniken, and, if Riordan is there, him also. Remove
all weapons of course and one of you keep an eye on them and make sure that
nobody tries to stagger out of the room and summon help while the other
gets the girls. As your guns are silenced, there should be no
interruptions. Then get the hell out of it. If anyone gets in your way, you
know what to do.’
‘I see.’ Vasco looked and sounded more than slightly shocked. ‘And how do
we get the hell out of it?’
Van Effen touched the pocket where he had replaced his wallet of skeleton
keys and picklocks. ‘What do you think those are for?’
‘Ah. The army truck.’
‘Indeed. As soon as you get under way, call up the army or the cops. Give
them the approximate location of this place – we know it’s somewhere
between Leerdam and Gorinchen – and leave the rest to them.’
Vasco said: ‘They might try to escape by helicopter.’
‘You have the alternative of shooting Daniken in both shoulders or taking
him with you. I’m virtually certain that none of this will happen. I don’t
want it to happen and that’s not primarily because by the time it happens
I’ll probably be dead. It would be a confession of failure and I don’t like
being associated with failure. It would be a most unsatisfactory
conclusion: in fact, it would be no conclusion at all. Samuelson has
another headquarters and, as we have agreed, other associates: O’Brien has
ahnost certainly departed this evening to associate with those other
associates. Even although I doubt it, some of those associates may – I