repeat may – be in a position to carry out his plans to a successful
conclusion.’ He opened the window. ‘Back at ten-thirty.’
He slid down the two knotted sheets and vanished into the shadows.
266
George and Vasco went into the darkened bathroom. Vasco said: ‘He is a
cold-blooded bastard, isn’t he?’
George said: ‘Um.’
‘But he’s a killer. ”
‘I know he has killed and would do so again. But he’s very selective, is
our Peter. Nobody who has ever departed this world and at his hands has
ever been mourned by society.’
Four minutes later Vasco caught George by the arm. ‘See?’
They saw. The sentry had just taken a long swig from his bottle, laid it on
the floor beside him, clasped his hands over his rug and appeared to
relapse into some kind of yoga-fike contemplation. The shadow that had
loomed behind him resolved itself into the unmistakable form of van Effen,
whose right hand curved round and held the aerosol can an inch or two from
the .sentry’s face for a period of not more than two seconds. He then
pocketed the aerosol, hooked his hands under the man’s knees and eased him
forward several inches to ensure that he wouldn’t topple sideways from his
armchair, picked up a bottle from the floor, poured some of the contents
over the sentry’s face, emptied the remainder of the contents over the
front of his clothes, wrapped the fingers of the unconscious man’s right
hand round the bottle, thrust hand and bottle partly under the rug,
tightened the rug to ensure that hand and bottle would remain where they
were then vanished into the gloom.
‘Well, now,’ Vasco said, ‘there’s one character who isn’t going to report
himself for dereliction of duty because of dropping off into a drunkem
slumber.’
‘Our Peter doesn’t do things by halves. Let’s see now. A two-second burst.
He should come to in about half an hour. Peter explained those things to me
once.’
‘Won’t he know he has been drugged?’
‘That’s the beauty of it! Leaves no trace. That apart, what would you think
if you woke up with your clothes reeking of schnapps or whatever and your
hand clasped round an empty bottle?’
The stairs, broad and very creaking and just behind where the sentry slept,
led directly to the floor of the barn, now converted
267
into a temporary garage. Torch in hand, van Effen descended quickly,
loosed the bolts on the retaining half of the entrance door and turned his
attention to the army truck. The exterior was as it had been except that
the number plates had been changed. He then wriggled.under the truck,
scraped clear an area on the underside of the chassis just forward of the
rear axle and attached to it the magnetic clamp of the metallic device
which Vasco had removed from the bar of soap. Thirty seconds later he was
in the driver’s seat and through to the Marnixstraat.
‘Put me through to Colonel de Graaf, please.’
‘Who is speaking?’
‘Never mind who’s speaking. The Colonel.’
‘He’s at home.’
‘He is not. He’s there. Ten seconds or you’re an ex-policeman tomorrow.’
In just ten seconds the Colonel was on the phone. ‘You were a bit harsh
on that poor lad.’ His voice held a complaining note.
‘He’s either a fool, an incompetent or was improperly instructed. He was
told to keep open an anonymous line.’ Van Effen spoke in Polish, which
the Colonel understood as well as he did. Dutch police changed their
wave-lengths at infrequent intervals and had done so again only that day.
As in every major city in the world, villains occasionally picked up
police wavelengths. But the probabilities against a villain who
understood Polish picking up a changed wave-length were astronomical.
‘Please switch on your recorder. I don’t know how much time I have and
I don’t want to repeat myself.’
‘Proceed.’
‘I shall spell names backwards. We are south of – this is a name –
Utrecht – and between – two other names – Leerdam and Gorinchen. You have
that?’
‘I have that.’
‘Do not attempt to locate and do not attempt to attack. “The Principals
are elsewhere”‘ – it was an outright lie but the Colonel was not to know
that -‘and it would achieve only the deaths of five people who don’t
deserve to die. You know the people I mean?’
‘I know.’
268
‘We have here the army truck. You know which one. It has changed the
identification plates. I will give you the new numbers. Backwards.’Van
Effen did so. ‘It will be carrying the nuclear devices you know about.’
‘What!’
‘I have attached a magnetic transmitter bug to this vehicle. Have an
unmarked police car in the vicinity as from, say, 7 a.m. It is to track
this truck at a safe distance. This police car will also be in radio
contact with two or three Army Commando trucks lying to the west. I am
becoming increasingly convinced that this truck will be heading towards
the Scheldt area. There will be three people in that truck, all dressed
in Dutch army uniforms, including a bogus lieutenant-colonel called
Ylvisaker, who may even call himself by that name. I want that truck
seized along with its occupants and the seizure to be kept in complete
secrecy. If you ri~lease that news then the responsibility for the
flooding of the country will lie in your hands.’
De Graaf’s voice took on an even more complaining note. ‘You don’t have
to threaten me, my boy.’
‘I apologize. I am under intense pressure and have to make my points in
as impressive a way as I can – One other thing. Have TV and radio
announce – or just say, if you like – that they are to be of good heart
and that you are closing in on the Rotterdam and Scheldt areas. The
reason to be given is that you want every citizen thereabouts to be on
continuous alert and report anything abnormal to the police. This is
purely psychological and I don’t believe our friends are very good at
psychology. But please, please, apart from taking this truck in complete
secrecy, no other attempts at interference.’
‘Understood. I have someone with me who would like a word with you and
who speaks Polish even better than you and I do.’
‘Spell his name backwards.’
De Graaf did so and Wieringa’s voice came on the phone. ‘Congratulations,
my boy.’
‘Those may be a bit premature, Minister. I can’t for instance, stop the
breaching of the Flevoland dykes or the detonation of the Markewaard
device. A further thought has occurred to me. You might have the media
include in their broadcasts about the
269
Rotterdam area that Whitehall and Stormont have arrived at an agreement
to begin active and immediate negotiations.’
‘The two parliaments might not like it.’
‘I’m a Dutchman. Instruct them to like it.’
‘Some obscure psychological motive again, I suppose. Very well, I agree.
Frankly, my boy, how do you rate our chances?’
‘Better than evens, Minister. They trust us. They have to trust us.’ He
explained briefly about the De Dooms ammunition dump and the RAF’s
inability to handle radio-controlled devices. ‘Apart from that, I’m not
only sure but know that they don’t distrust or suspect us. They are
basicaUy naive, complacent, over confident and sure of themselves. They
lack the devious minds of honest detectives. I have to move, sir. I’ll
call again as soon as whenever possible.’
In the Marnixstraat, the Minister of Defence said: ‘You agree with van
Effen’s assessment, Colonel?’
‘If that’s what he thinks then that’s what I think.’
‘Why isn’t that young man – well, young compared to us -not Chief of
Police somewhere?’
‘He’ll be the chief here in the not too distant future. In the meantime,
I need him.?
‘Don’t we a.U,’Wieringa sighed. ‘Don’t we all.’
Van Effen climbed up to the loft, patted the sentry lightly on the cheek,
got no reaction and left. Three minutes later he was inside the bedroom.
Vasco looked pointedly at his watch.
‘Ten thirty-three,’ Vasco said accusingly.
‘Sorry. I was detained. Anyway, that’s a fine way to welcome back a man
who may just have escaped the jaws of death.’
‘There was trouble?’
‘No. Clockwork.’
‘You didn’t unpick the garage lock,’ George said, also accusingly.
‘Another warm welcome. Where are the congratulations for a mission
successfully accomplished? Would you have picked that lock if, at the
window next to our bathroom, you had seen the Reverend Riordan, who seems
to meditate on his feet and
270
pray with his eyes open, gazing out pensively over the courtyard? Instead,
I unbolted the garage doors from the inside.’
‘I hope you remembered to re-bolt them.’
‘George!’
‘Sorry. What detained you?’
‘Wieringa, the Defence Minister. He was in the Marnixstraat with Colonel
de Graaf. If you refrain from asking questions, I’ll tell you word for
word how our conversations went.’