Mr. Suki nodded to them with a rather sheepish grin and gratefully accepted the drink that von Kobenthal poured out for him, as Wuolijoki hurried on:
"There has been a major development since I was here this afternoon. The `peace' party in the Cabinet have gained the upper hand and have now agreed to all the Russian demands with the exception of two."
"That means giving up the Mannerheim Line, then," Erika said quickly.
"Yes,Frau Gräfin. We shall be delivering ourselves, naked and bound, into the hands of the Bolsheviks unless something can be done in the next few hours. For that reason the matter of securing Field-Marshal Goering's report now becomes of the greatest urgency. It is the last hope by which Field-Marshal Mannerheim might yet induce the Government to reconsider their decision and make a stand." Wuolijoki turned to Gregory. "You are still determined to make this attempt,Herr Oberst Baron?"
Gregory nodded. "Yes. And these two gentlemen have volunteered to come with me."
"Good. I had hoped that you might secure private help, since it is impossible for me to give you any officially. You realize, of course, that this whole affair is illegal and that if you are caught you will be answerable for your actions to the Finnish law?"
"Yes, we know that."
"For that reason I am most anxious that there should be the house while you are at work. If not, you must try to hold up no shooting if it can possibly be avoided. I have brought two bombs, one explosive and the other incendiary. It is to be hoped that they will be sufficient to distract all the occupants of anyone who interrupts you until you have finished, and the more deadly your weapons the more likely a successful hold-up without bloodshed will be. To help you in this I have brought you two of our Suma automatic rifles which fire twenty-five rounds a minute and, of course, if you are compelled to fight they will give you a much better chance of escaping alive than if you were armed only with pistols."
"That was a grand thought. Did you manage to secure a plan if the house?"
"Yes." Wuolijoki drew a paper from his pocket and spread it out. "The house, as you will see, stands in its own grounds with a drive up to its front but with one of its sides abutting m a lane. The whole garden is surrounded by a wall but, 'fortunately, out there in the suburbs there will be few people about at this hour of night, so you should have no difficulty in getting in, unseen, over it. The front room on the lane side of the house is used as a dining-room. Behind it are the kitchens. The front room on the garden side of the house is used as an office. The room behind it is a private office also used for; conferences, and it is there that you will find the safe."
"All right," said Gregory, taking charge. "Then I shall place the bombs in the lane so that their explosion, which should blow a hole in the wall and set fire to it, will bring everybody running to that side of the house. If they can't get in unseen at the gate, the rest of the party will come in over the front wall the moment the first bomb goes off and break open a window of the back -room on the garden side. I shall rejoin them directly I have placed the bombs. Mr. Suki and I will then enter the house and while he works on the safe I will hold the door with one of the sub-machine-guns. In the meantime the other two will remain in the garden to deal with anybody who comes round the louse and protect our retreat. Is that all clear?"
"It will not do," Wuolijoki shook his head. "If you place the bombs in the lane they may injure or kill some innocent person who is passing at the time."
"They must be on that side of the house," Gregory insisted, in order to draw its occupants in that direction and give us a free field on entering the back room; otherwise we should be compelled to start a shooting match at once."
` I think Fredeline and I could help you there," Erika said, glancing at her cousin.
"No, no," von Kobenthal protested. "Neither of you must be mixed up in this."
"Oh, I'm not suggesting that we should play any part in the burglary or run any risk," Erika smiled, "but we could stand in the lane about a hundred yards on either side of the bomb, or far enough away to be out of danger; then if either of us saw anyone coming along at the critical moment we could engage them in conversation and keep them with us until the bomb had gone off. We could pretend that we had lost our way-or anything."
"Excellent,Frau Gräfin, excellent “Wuolijoki cried. "In that case the plan is good. Let us set off. I have my car outside so I can drop some of you there and I will wait near-by so that there will be no delay in the Colonel-Baron's handing the packet to me if he can manage to get it."
"We shall want a second car in any case," von Kobenthal said, "as we ought to have at least one in which we can make a quick get-away." He glanced at his wife… "We'll take ours, dearest, and you had better drive. You can park it at the entrance to the lane, stand a few yards from it in case you have to delay a pedestrian for a few moments, then get back into the driver's seat immediately the bomb has exploded."
"Oh, Oscar," she laughed, "how thrilling l It's almost like a gangster film, isn't it?"
"I wish we were only making a film," said Erika soberly as she looked across at Gregory.
They filed out, put on their furs, distributed the weapons and bombs and entered the two cars. Twenty-five minutes later the cars entered a long, lonely road right on the outskirts of the city and drew up a hundred yards short of the house. It was pitch-dark, as a black-out rehearsal was in progress-a piece of unexpected luck which cheered Gregory enormously, since he knew that it would make it much easier for them to get in and out over the garden-wall without being spotted by a patrolling policeman or some civic-minded citizen; which was a part of the operation that had been worrying him considerably.
Gregory, Charlton, von Kobenthal and Suki got out, and Wuolijoki turned his car round; while Fredeline von Kobenthal drove hers on, with Erika in it, to the corner of the lane. The raiding- party then made an inspection of the front wall, with the aid of a small torch which Suki carried hung round his neck so that when it was on he could work by its light with both hands free.
The wall was broken only by a single gateway, and this was of solid wood. They tried it, but it was locked, and a long bell pull that hung beside it indicated that anyone who wanted to get in had to ring for the porter. Gregory directed the other three to climb in over the wall at its furthest point from the lane, here it adjoined another property, and leaving them with a whispered "Good luck", went along to the corner, where he found Erika waiting for him near Fredeline's parked car.
With Erika beside him he proceeded along the lane until hey reached the side of the house, which was blank except for is kitchen-entrance. He set down the two bombs and the rifle hat he was carrying and took her in his arms. They clung together for a moment, then she drew herself from his embrace and disappeared down the lane in the darkness.
There was a drift of snow against the wall. Gregory dug down into it for a couple of feet, put the bombs up against the Brickwork in the bottom of the hole he had made and released the springs which Wuolijoki had told him would cause them to detonate in sixty seconds. He then began rapidly to tread the snow back on top of them with his foot, knowing that the firmer he could embed them the more shattering the explosion would be. For forty seconds he worked like a maniac, piling up the now and stamping it down; then, snatching up his automatic rifle, he ran for his life.