like a man well content with himself.
‘Clockwork, my friends, just clockwork. The penultimate stage
successfully completed. I know it’s still relatively early in the
morning, but, then, we shall be having an early lunch. Something in the
nature of a soupfon of jonge jenever, I th&k.’
‘An early lunch?’ van Effen said. ‘We are moving on?’
‘Just after two o’clock.’ Samuelson gestured towards a TV set. ‘After
we’ve seen what happens in the Markerwaard.’
‘I see.’ Van Effen made it abundantly clear that he didn’t see at all.
‘Well, wherever.’ He shrugged. ‘How many of those establishment do you
own in the Netherlands?’
‘None. The owners of this house, for instance, are presently basking in
the sunshine of the Bahamas. The Golden Gate pays well. This, as you are
aware, is the dead season for farming. A local farmer, also well
rewarded, looks after the cattle and sheep. There are no problems. Do you
know where you are, Mr Danilov?’
‘I haven’t the faintest idea.’ Long experience had taught van Effen to
he with total conviction: he knew exactly where he was.
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‘After so short a flight, still somewhere in Holland. Does it matter?’
‘You are a singularly incurious person. We are in the vicinity of
Middelharnis. You know of it?’
‘Middelharnis?’ Van Effen frowned then said: ‘Over Flakkee.’
Samuelson smiled, nodded and said nothing.
Van Effen set down the glass that Leonardo had just given him. His face
was stonily bleak and his eyes very cold.
‘The Haringvliet,’ he whispered. ‘You’re after the Haringvliet.’ He had
been well aware of this for some quite considerable time.
The Haringvliet dam was variously referred to as the valve or the sluice
gate of Holland. It blocked the entry to the Haringvliet estuary and many
waterways beyond. In the late spring and early summer, when the snows in
the Alps, Germany and France melted,-it diverted the waters from the
swollen Rhine, Waal and Maas rivers past Rotterdam and into the New
Waterway which joined the North Sea at Europort simply by keeping its
massive hydraulically operated, electrically powered gates closed. It
could also, when the level of the river water rose too high, and the
level of the North Sea was considerably lower, release water directly
into the North Sea simply by opening as many of its gates as was deemed
necessary. At this time of the year, however, with the river water shrunk
to its lowest level, its main task was to keep out the North Sea except
at the very latest of neap tides. The flooding, the damage and the deaths
that would inevitably result from the destruction of the sluice gate of
Holland were incalculable.
‘Yes, Mr Danilov.’ Samuelson must have been convinced that his life was
in danger, but he remained outwardly calm. ‘I am, as you say, after the
Haringvliet.’
Van Effen nodded just once, briefly. ‘Hence the nuclear weapons. I hope
to God they detonate en route and blast Ylvisaker and his friends into
outer space.’
‘A most uncharitable wish, to say the least.’ Samuelson sipped his drink:
if he was perturbed, he hid the fact uncommonly well. ‘I see you are
wearing your Smith and Wesson, Mr
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Danilov. I have no doubt your friends are similarly armed. Romero, Leonardo
and I carry no arms – it’s a point of principle with us. If you choose to
shoot me, there’s nothing I can do about it. But wouldn’t you consider it
rather unfair to shoot a man merely because you’re labouring under a vast
misapprehension?’ Samuelson seemed to be positively enjoying himself.
‘Go on.’
‘The nuclear devices are most definitely not intended for use on the
Haringvliet dam and this for three reasons. Firstly, I don’t relish the
prospect of vaporizing myself. Secondly I want the sluice gates to remain
intact and in perfect working order. Thirdly, I intend to take over the
dam.’
Van Effen sipped his drink in silence for a few moments, as if to take time
out for thinking. Not only had he known that the Haringvliet was
Samuelson’s target, he’d been equally convinced that Samuelson had had no
intention of destroying it.
‘How very ambitious. And how do you intend to set about this takeover?’
‘It’s already half done. About forty hours ago a skilled electrician
carried out a very delicate and ail but undetectable job of sabotaging
three turbo-generators.’
‘The devil he did. He was an employee?’
‘Naturally.’
‘And Dutch?’
‘Yes. Twenty thousand dollars, I’ve always found, has a most profound
influence on even the most patriotic of souls. Besides, he had no idea what
we had in mind. He, of course, was given the opportunity to trace the
source of those faults and when he failed they called in experts from
Rotterdam. Those four are currently lodged m a cellar beneath us. They are
being well fed and cared for as you can see for yourself any time you
wish.’
‘That will not be necessary. And then, of course, you sent in your own four
experts.’
‘Yes. Alas, all four have criminal records and have served prism sentences
but they have the saving virtue that they are probably the four best
safe-crackers in the country. They also have a considerable knowledge of
electrics.’
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‘Such men could not have been easy to come by,’ van Effen said. He paused
then said: ‘Wrong. They could have been easily come by.’ He looked at
Romero Agnelli. ‘Your brothers in prison, of course. They must have the
names and track records of every outstanding – by their standards –
criminal in the country.’
‘They are very able men,’ Samuelson said, ‘but better at safe-cracking;
than electrics.’
‘Their purpose being, of course,’ van Effen said, ‘to locate and
deactivate all the alarm systems in the dam – pressure pads, rays, panic
buttons and whatever, Also to discover the location of both on-duty and
off-duty guards.’
‘Not to deactivate. Not yet. Might not even be necessary,’ Agnelli said.
‘The rest, yes. There were one or two points about which they were
uncertain so they asked permission to bring in the best turbo-generator
experts in the country.’
Van Effen nodded. ‘And, of course, they got the best expert in a totally
different field. O’Brien. Very clever, I must admit.’
Samuelson waved a hand. ‘All Romero’s work. He would have made an
excellent divisional officer. Has O’Brien returned, by the way?’
Leonardo left the room and returned with an O’Brien who was totally
unlike his real self owing to the fact that he had acquired a beard and
a moustache.
‘Sorry about this,’ O’Brien said. Wincing more than slightly he tore off
both moustache and beard. ‘As I’m going aboard with you, I thought the
sudden transformation of a civil= engineer into a Dutch army
sergeant-major might have caused some eyebrow raising.’
Samuelson said: ‘How is everything?’
‘Ready to go,’ O’Brien said.
‘One point,’George said. ‘How are we to recognize those four – ah –
colleagues you have on the dam. We don’t want to point guns at the wrong
people.’
‘A good point,’Agnelli said. ‘All four are dressed in very light blue
overalls.’
‘And carrying only tools in their tool-bags?’
‘The odd pistol. A few gas grenades. Useful things like that.’
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‘I’d like some of those,’ van Effen said. ‘Gas grenades, I mean. In a small
satchel or suitcase. Like Mr Samuelson, I’m averse to unnecessary violence
and the people on the dam are, after all, my adopted countrymen. If it’s
necessary to restrain any of them I’d much rather do it with a whiff of gas
rather than a bullet.’
‘My sentiments exactly,’ Samuelson said. ‘You shall have them.’
‘One further point,’ van Effen said. ‘How are you going to account for the
presence of two civilians in an army group?’
‘Aha!’ Samuelson smiled broadly. ‘Civilians, but not just ordinary
civilians. You are two senior members of the Amsterdam police specialist
anti-terrorist squad. That should fit the bill rather nicely, don’t you
think?’
‘That’s nice,’ van Effen said. ‘I always wanted to be a policeman. How do
you propose to gain entrance to the dam, Mr Samuelson?’
‘Nothing simpler. We land on the roadway on the dam. First, of course, we
send a radio message to the dam to the effect that there is a suspicion,
nothing more, that the FFF may be thinking of making an attack on the dam
either from the sea or from the river side and that patrol boats will be
approaching from the river side and a destroyer from the sea side. We, of
course, shall be there first – it’s only a few minutes flying time from
here. They will be ordered to maintain complete radio silence – no
transmissions, no receptions.’
“Me simplicity of true genius,’ van Effen said. ‘You have your nerve. The
young ladies, of course, remain behind?’
‘Most certainly not. I wouldn’t have Kathleen and Maria miss this splendid
dknouement for all the world. The rear of the helicopter will be screened