Desmond Bagley - The Tightrope Men

Carey tried to look unconcerned; he was not supposed to know Russian. He saw the beginnings of a grin appear on Armstrong’s face and kicked him on the ankle.

‘Stand to attention!’ roared the sergeant, and the guard snapped straight, his back like a ramrod. The sergeant went very close to him and peered at him from a range of six inches. ‘I have no intention of serving on the Chinese frontier,’ he said. ‘But I will guarantee one thing. Within a week you’ll be wishing you were on the Chinese frontier — and on the Chinese side of it.’

He withdrew. ‘You’ll stay there until I tell you to move,’ he said quietly, and came over to Carey. ‘What’s your name?’ he asked in Finnish.

‘Mäenpää,’ said Carey. ‘Rauno Mäenpää. He’s Simo Velling.’

‘Your passes?’

Carey and Armstrong produced their passes and the sergeant scrutinized them. He handed them back. ‘Report here when you come in tomorrow. Report to me and no one else.’

Carey nodded. ‘We can go?’

‘You can go,’ said the sergeant tiredly. He swung around and yelled at the unfortunate guard, ‘Well, what are you waiting for? The grass to grow between your toes? Raise that barrier.’

The guard was electrified into sudden action. He raised the barrier and Armstrong pushed the wheelbarrow to the other side. Carey was about to follow when he paused. He turned to the sergeant and said, ‘Papermaking is very interesting, you know. When the factory is working you ought to go and see it. Very spectacular.’

‘I might do that,’ said the sergeant.

Carey nodded pleasantly and followed Armstrong. He took a deep breath as though it was a different kind of air.

Schmidt consulted his watch. ‘One minute.’ He dropped a cigarette stub on the floor and put his foot on it.

‘We’ll wait,’ said McCready. He nodded to Denison. ‘Check the windows — see if there’s anyone out there. You too, Harding.’

Denison went to the window. All was quiet and nothing moved except water ripples in the distance and the reeds which swayed stiffly in the light breeze. ‘All quiet.’

‘Here, too,’ said Harding, who was at the back window. ‘Not a thing stirring on the mountain.’

‘I think you’re trying to pull a fast one,’ said McCready. ‘It would be a hell of a joke if there was just one man out there.’

Schmidt shrugged. ‘Wait for it.’

Denison saw a movement in the reed bed at the edge of the marsh. ‘There’s something — or someone out there. It’s a man. He’s...’

His words were cut off by staccato explosions. In front of the hut the ground danced and soil fountained under the impact of bullets. An upthrown stone hit the pane of glass in front of Denison and the glass fractured and starred. He ducked hastily.

The noise stopped, chopping off into a dead silence.

McCready let out his breath. ‘Automatic weapons. At least three.’

‘Five,’ said Schmidt. ‘Seven men — eight including me.’ His hand dipped into his pocket and came back out with the packet of cigarettes. ‘I’ve just cast my vote.’

McCready casually laid down his pistol on the table. ‘Power grows out of the barrel of a gun. Your guns are bigger.’

‘I thought you’d see sense,’ said Schmidt approvingly. ‘Where’s the map, or whatever it is?’

‘Give it to him,’ said McCready.

Denison took a folded sheet of paper from his pocket and held it out to Schmidt who examined it with interest. His interest turned to bafflement. ‘Is this all?’

‘That’s all,’ said Denison.

‘This word—’ Schmidt stumblingly pronounced It — ‘ Luonnonpuisto. What does it mean?’

‘A literal translation would be “nature park”,’ said McCready. ‘The other three words mean lake, hill and gap. The numbers are co-ordinates in degrees of a circle. If you can find a lake, a hill and a gap in that exact relationship, all in a nature park, then you’ve solved the problem.’ He smiled at Schmidt. ‘I can’t say I wish you better luck than we’ve had.’

‘Not much to go on,’ said Schmidt. ‘And this is a photocopy.’

‘Someone snatched the original at Kevo. Our friend there got a bump on the head. So it wasn’t you, then?’

‘Obviously it wasn’t,’ said Schmidt. ‘The Americans?’

‘I don’t think so.’

‘I do think so,’ stated Schmidt. ‘Because they aren’t here. Perhaps they’re back at Kevo measuring angles with a theodolite like he was doing.’ He pointed at Denison.

‘Maybe,’ said McCready non-committally.

Schmidt stared at the paper. ‘This is foolishness. Why didn’t he give the name of the nature park?’

‘Why should he?’ asked McCready. ‘He knew it. That is just an aide-mémoire — just for the figures. You see, Merikken knew where the papers were and expected to dig them up himself — he didn’t expect to be killed in an air raid. But since one bit of rough country looked very much like another he took the precaution of measuring those angles.’ He offered Schmidt a derisory smile. ‘Those papers will be a hell of a job to find — especially with interference.’

Schmidt had a sour expression on his face as he folded the paper and put it into his pocket. ‘Where’s your theodolite?’

‘Over there in the corner.’

‘You don’t mind if I borrow it?’ His voice was heavily ironic.

‘Go ahead; we can get another.’

Schmidt stood up, went to the door and opened it. He shouted something in Czech and came back into the room. ‘Put your guns on the table.’

McCready hesitated, then said, ‘All right, everybody; put your guns with mine.’

‘You’re showing sense,’ said Schmidt. ‘Neither of us can afford a shooting incident — especially if people are killed.’ He laughed. ‘If only I have the guns we’ll both be safe.’

Diana reluctantly laid down her gun and Harding followed suit. When the door opened to admit another man there were five pistols laid out. The man was carrying an automatic rifle and when Schmidt saw that McCready was looking at it with wary interest he laughed, and said, ‘We borrowed some of your NATO weapons. They’re not bad.’ He spoke to the man and pointed at the back packs, then he picked up the pistols, put three of them into his pockets and held the other two in his hands.

‘You spoke of interference,’ he said to McCready. ‘You will not interfere. You are out of the game.’

The other man was dumping the contents of the packs on the floor. He gave a startled exclamation as he came upon McCready’s collapsible rifle. Schmidt smiled, and said, ‘Always trying, Mr McCready — but that I expect. You will stay in this hut. If you attempt to leave it there is a grave danger of being shot dead.’

‘How long for?’

Schmidt shrugged. ‘For as long as I consider necessary.’

Diana spoke up. ‘We’ll need water.’

Schmidt regarded her speculatively, then nodded abruptly. ‘I am not an inhumane man.’ He pointed to Harding and Denison. ‘You and you will bring water now. The rest will stay here.’

Denison picked up the two empty buckets, and Harding said, ‘We’ll need as much as possible. I’ll take the bowls.’

The man with the automatic rifle slung it over his shoulder together with McCready’s rifle. He picked up the theodolite and its tripod and left the hut followed by Denison and Harding, and Schmidt brought up the rear, a gun in each hand.

McCready watched them go down to the edge of the marsh, and cocked an eye at Diana. ‘They seem to have bought it,’ he said softly. ‘For the next few weeks all the nature parks in Finland will be crawling with Czechs wielding theodolites. That ought to make the Finns properly suspicious.’