off and the four ladies will remain in hiding until we have taken over.’
‘It has occurred to you that the other two girls might scream for help or
attempt to overpower Kathleen and Maria?’
‘They find it difficult to scream for anything when they’re gagged and
difficult to attack anyone when their hands are tied behind their backs. As
an additional precaution, Joop will be with them. Joop is very useful with
a gun.’
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‘You think of everything,’ van Effen said. He hoped Joop wasn’t too useful,
for then Joop would have to die.
Samuelson rose, went to a desk and brought out two sheets of paper. ‘These
are the ground and elevation plans of the Haringviiet dam. Leonardo, go and
bring the others here. I want every man to know exactly what to do, to know
exactly where every guard will be on duty, where the off-duty guards and
workers are, and where each man on duty may reasonably be expected to be.
There will be no shp-ups.’
Daniken returned just as Leonardo left. In seconds only Leonardo returned,
bringing with him Joop, Joachim and the two nameless RAF youths that had
been at the other windmill, four older men in their thirties and forties
whom van Effen had not seen before and two of the guards he had seen
before. The last six looked very tough, very competent. They all crowded
round the table, followed by van Effen, Vasco, George, Samuelson, Romero
Agnelli, Daniken and O’Brien. Only two men were missing – Willi, who was
locked up in a cellar somewhere and Riordan, who was presumably above such
mundane and secular matters.
Although it was Samuelson who had called the meeting it was Romero Agnelli
who conducted the meeting. His organizational abilities were indeed quite
rema kable. He pointed out to each man exactly where he was to go and what
was expected of him. He also insisted that they coordinate their watches so
that each -.an should know exactly what time he should be at any given
place. This took about five minutes. He then started it all over again.
When he started a third time van Effen, accompanied by George and Vasco,
headed resolutely towards the bar. Samuelson, smiling, came after them and
moved behind the bar.
‘You get easily bored, Mr Danilov?
‘I don’t have to be told the same thing twice, far less three
‘You have a point. Maybe I am overdoing it a bit.’He looked at his watch.
‘I find this a bit worrisome. I should have thought the truck would have
been hem by this time.’
‘Ylvisaker struck me as being a pretty competent character,’
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van Effen said. ‘Engine trouble, heavy traffic, burst tyre, anything.
Anyway, you can soon find out. You’ve said you have a radio transmitter
here. The Lieutenant is an expert operator -and, of course, he knows the
frequency of the truck.’
‘Would you, Lieutenant? Thank you.’ Samuelson pointed across the room.
‘There.’
Vasco seated himself at the transceiver, adjusted his headphones and
started transnutting. After two minutes he took off the head-phones and
returned to the bar.
‘Nothing, Mr Samuelson. Can’t raise him.’
Samuelson pursed his lips. ‘You’re sure?’
‘Sure I’m sure.’ Vasco spoke with just a faint trace of irritation. ‘I know
what I’m doing. If you don’t believe me, let Daniken try. He knows what
he’s doing too.’
‘No, no. I’m sorry, Lieutenant. Wornied, you know.’
‘Two things may have happened,’ Vasco said. ‘He may have had an accident.
That’s the more serious and less likely happening. What’s more probable is
that the on-off switch is in the off position.’
Samuelson’s brow cleared slightly but only slightly. ‘If he’s late, why
doesn’t he call us?’
‘Does he know how to operate the radio?’
Samuelson’s brow cleared even more. ‘Quite honestly, I don’t know.’ He
looked up as an aproned maid approached him.
‘Sorry, sir,’ she said. ‘I thought you might like to know that there is to
be a government broadcast in two minutes. Less.’
‘Thank you, thank you.’ Samuelson hurried round the bar, gestured to
Agnelli to end the lecture and switched on the TV set. Within half a
minute, the announcer appeared on the screen, a much younger one than
previously, but one who had clearly been trained in the same mortician’s
school.
‘The government have three announcements to make. The first is that the
British government and Stormont have agreed to withdraw all British troops
to barracks. As the troops arc scattered all over Northern Ireland this is
expected to take several hours but the process is already under way.
Although no
299
statement to this effect has been made, this is taken to be indicative of
London’s intentions.’
Samuelson beamed in satisfaction. At that moment, Ylvisaker was the last
thing in his mind.
‘The second is that the British Foreign Minister, Defence Minister, the
chief of the Imperial General Staff and the First Sea Lord are en route to
Amsterdam in a VCio to witness the detonation of this nuclear device in the
Markerwaard at 2 P.M.
‘The third is that the government have offered an amnesty to the two as yet
iinnamed prisoners whose release has been demanded by the FFF.
‘We will, of course, be back on screen at 2 P.m.’
‘Well,’ van Effen said, ‘it looks like wholesale surrender.’
‘Matters are certainly proceeding quite satisfactorily,’ Samuelson said
modestly. ‘We will each take a minimum of luggage with us. This can be
concealed in the rear of the helicopter – soldiers on active duty do not
carry suitcases around with them. Lunch will be at twelve-thirty, so we
have about two and a half hours to wait till then. I do not think it would
be a good idea to indulge in any more jonge jenevers so I suggest we rest.
Although we are not returning tonight we have quarters prepared for you, to
which you will be shown. Tell me, Lieutenant, do you intend to have a
snooze?’
‘Not U
‘Then perhaps you would be kind enough to come down, say, every twenty
minutes, and try to contact Ylvisaker?’
‘If you think it’s worth trying, certainly. I’ll go upstairs, have a wash,
pack what little equipment I have to pack and be down in twenty minutes.
After that, I nidgnt as well stay down.’Vasco smiled. ‘No furtive trips to
the bar, I promise you.’
The room to which van Effen and his companions were shown was almost a
duplicate of the one they had left in the other windmill. Vasco carried out
his usual meticulous search and pronounced the room clear.
Van Effen said: ‘Samuelson is rather concerned about the non-arrival of
Ylvisaker and his friends who, I think we may take it, are at present being
detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure.
300
More importantly, Samuelson seems to think that it’s all over bar the
shouting. The possibility of failure doesn’t now exist for him. That’s a
very dangerous state of mind to be in – dangerous for him, I mean.’
George said: ‘And what do you think he’ll do when he gets to the dam.’
‘Take it over. I can’t see that giving him any trouble. Then he’ll tell
the government that he has done just that. Coming so soon after the
nuclear explosion in the Markerwaard, it should have a devastating effect
on the government who will all too clearly appreciate the implications
and realize that the FFF has the nation by the throat.’
‘And then,’ Vasco said, ‘they blow a few bits of concrete off the dam
just to show they mean business.’
‘Nothing like that,’ van Effen said. ‘Nothing so crude. The explosives
are Agnelli’s idea. Apart from being a first-class organizer, Agnelli is
a very prudent fellow. I befieve that the explosives are for back-up
purposes only, just in case something should go wrong.
‘What I do believe is that O’Brien knows as much about the controls of
the hydraulic gates as the man who designed them. They just open the
slwicecs.’
‘And if the authorities cut off the power from the mainland, if you can
call it that?’ Vasco said. ‘Then, perhaps, the explosives?’
‘There have to be standby generators, O’Brien will have checked on that.
As far as the safety of the country is concerned, the sluice gates of the
Haringvliet are the most vital installations in the country. Imagine the
sluice gates being open at low tide and a major power failure occurs?
They simply cannot afford to rely on a single source of power.
‘For the moment, however, and much more importantly, Samuelson and
Agnelli have been kind enough to provide us with a detailed outline of
their plans.’
George rubbed his hands.’And now we make our own plans.’
‘Now we make our own plans.’
301
Some forty minutes after Vasco had gone down to the livingroom he was
joined by Samuelson. Vasco, sitting on the radio chair and idly leafing
through a magazine, looked up at his entrance.