Алистер Маклин - Floodgate

‘I did not. For the same reason that I didn’t take up Samuelson’s unspoken offer to tell us where we are going. If I had done, his immediate reaction – our Defence Minister’s that is – would be to have called his counterpart in Whitehall to send over a Nimrod, the British bomber that is a virtual airborne radar station and which could have tracked us from here to wherever we’re going without our knowing a thing about it.’ He smiled. ‘You wear, what shall we say, George, a rather peculiar expression. The same thought had occurred to yourself?’

‘It had.’ George looked thoroughly chagrined. ‘I thought it rather a good idea, myself.’

‘I don’t. I have no doubt that the Royal Air Force would have been delighted to comply and I have equally no doubt that within a very short time of our arriving at our destination we would have a visit from our paratroopers and commandos who don’t tend to beat about the bush very much. I don’t much care for that idea. Three reasons. I don’t want a fire-fight, a blood bath. Killing or capturing – killing, more likely – Samuelson and his friends would not be the final solution. There may be – in fact I feel certain there will be, don’t ask my why, I don’t know – enough of his men left to carry out the ultimate threat. Thirdly, I don’t much care for the idea of the young ladies being hurt or worse. I wouldn’t much like to gun down – wound, I mean, not kill – a countryman who was threatening the life of one of the girls.’

Vasco said: ‘Julie and Annemarie?’

‘All four.’

George said mildly. ‘The other two are criminals.’

‘They associate with criminals. Different matter entirely. Anyway, if the government were to commit this crass folly, we would be in a position to expose them and dictate our own terms. Wieringa and the Colonel would back us up and they’re the only two people who matter. However, this is all academic. It’s not going to happen. Moment, gentlemen. These denims are rather damp.’

When he’d changed, he said: ‘Our absent friend O’Brien is missing in more than one way – he’s also the missing key. I’d give a great deal to know where he is at this moment. He won’t have gone to their other hang-out for his expertise in debugging and defusing alarm systems wouldn’t be called for there. One could speculate endlessly as to where he has gone to exercise his skills but that would be a waste of time.’

‘I’m neglecting my duties,’ Vasco said. ‘If I may be excused. George, would you come and switch the light on again?’

He turned off the light, went into the bathroom and closed the door. No sooner had George turned the light on than Vasco tapped on the door. George switched the light off again and the bathroom door opened.

‘This may interest you,’ Vasco said.

The sentry’s head was nodding, intermittently and at irregular intervals. After a few seconds of this he held it in an upright position then shook it from side to side. After a few more seconds of this – it was too dark to see what his expression was registering but it was, very probably, one of confusion and apprehension – brought up his right hand from under his rug, looked at the bottle still clutched in it, upended it and apparently established the fact that it was empty, placed it on the floor and pushed himself back in his seat.

‘He’s going to drop off again,’ Vasco said.

‘Not him,’ van Effen said. ‘He’s making a major decision.’

The sentry made his major decision. He lifted his rug to one side, pushed himself groggily to his feet and took a few staggering steps that brought him perilously close to the loft doorway.

Vasco said: ‘He’s drunk.’

‘Again, not him. He’s seen his bottle is empty and assumes because of that and the fact that he reeks of schnapps that he ought to be drunk and acts accordingly. Auto-suggestion, I believe they call it. It could have been a bit awkward if his relief found that he couldn’t wake him. Enough.’

In the bedroom van Effen said: ‘I think we should go downstairs in a few moments. Including you, Vasco, if you feel strong enough.’

‘I’m a captain in the Dutch army. I’m brave.’

George said: ‘You told Samuelson you wouldn’t be down.’

‘My mind changes along with the circumstances. It was freezingly cold out there. I require brandy. More importantly, I want to see their reaction to the news that the hunt for the FFF is now being concentrated in the Rotterdam – Scheldt area. Even more important is that I want those missiles, explosives and other nasties transferred from the truck to the helicopter.’

‘Why?’ George said.

‘The roads between here and the Rotterdam – Scheldt area will be alive with patrols tomorrow morning, police and army, but mainly, I suspect, army. My personal conviction is that Ylvisaker will be intercepted. I want those missiles because the FFF want them mounted for some offensive or defensive purposes and that should give them, from our point of view, owing to the fact that the missiles are totally useless, a splendid sense of false security.’

‘You should have been a lawyer, a politician, a Wall Street broker or a criminal specializing in fraud,’ George said.

‘Such devious minds don’t belong on the ranks of the police forces.’

‘Hark at who’s talking. I have also the hunch that the explosives, grenades and other sundries may prove to be more useful to us than to them. Just a hunch. Vasco, what do you know about the regulations concerning the transport of missiles?’

‘Absolutely nothing.’

‘Then let’s invent some.’

‘I’ll wager, sir, that I can invent better regulations than you can.’

‘Gentlemen, gentlemen!’ Samuelson’s crocodile smile would have shamed an archangel. ‘Delighted to see you. I thought you weren’t coming down, Mr Danilov.’

‘I just couldn’t sleep,’ van Effen said with a transparent honesty that would have shamed the same archangel. ‘As a Dutchman, even an adopted one, I just couldn’t – well, you understand – well, you know, Flevoland.’

‘Of course, of course. I understand. And the Captain – sorry, Lieutenant. Delighted to see you, my boy. I take it you are feeling better?’

‘My voice is not but I am,’ Vasco said hoarsely. ‘Thanks to your kindness, Mr Samuelson.’

‘The universal specific. I suggest another.’ He looked at van Effen and George. ‘Brandies, gentlemen? Large ones?’

‘You are very kind,’ van Effen said. He waited while Samuelson gave instructions to Leonardo. ‘You know that I am a normally incurious person, but two things take my attention. The ladies have returned. I was given to understand that they were still in a state of nervous exhaustion.’

‘As far as I can understand, they still are. Your second question?’

Van Effen smiled. ‘My second question may give the answer to my first implied question. I see your TV is on again. I have by now come to understand that this means that you are expecting a further communiqué or statement or whatever in the near future.’

‘You understand correctly.’ It was Samuelson’s turn to smile, the usual avuncular one. ‘Both questions answered. You will excuse me a moment, gentlemen. I must tell the Reverend that it is earphones time.’

Leonardo brought them their drinks. Van Effen thanked him and led the other two out on to the terrace. No one raised an eyebrow. Apart from the fact that they had already established reputations as eccentric fresh-air fiends, if they wished to have a private conversation they had already had a long time to have held it upstairs.

Van Effen closed the door and said: ‘Well, what do we make of that?’

‘The four young ladies who appear to have recovered from their nervous exhaustion? They’re talking among each other, not animatedly, not very cordially, but they’re talking. And I don’t for a moment believe they’ve come down to watch this next broadcast.’ George sipped his brandy thoughtfully. ‘Somebody wants to talk to us.’