Romero Agnelli smiled. ‘Back so soon, gentlemen?’
‘Fresh air is one thing,’ van Effen said. ‘The Polar ice-cap another.’ He looked up at the flickering but silent TV set. ‘Mr Samuelson not down yet?’ ‘He’s hardly had time to get upstairs and back, has he,’ Agnelli said reasonably. ‘Your glasses, gentlemen.’
At the bar, van Effen said: ‘It’s a wild night outside and getting wilder. Do you seriously think it’s safe to fly tomorrow?’ ‘Do you fly?’
‘As a passenger, a lot. I have — had — a pilot’s licence. Never been in a helicopter in my life.’
‘I have a licence for a helicopter. Total solo flying time — about three hours. In weather like this, you wouldn’t get me within a hundred miles of the pilot’s seat in a helicopter. Daniken’s had thousands of hours. Superb pilot.’
‘Well, that’s a relief.’ Van Effen was aware that George and Vasco had drifted away: his eyes made no attempt to follow them. ‘Nice to think we might get there — wherever there is.’
‘If Daniken wasn’t sure he wouldn’t take off.’
They continued an amicable discussion along those lines for two or three minutes until Samuelson reappeared, to all appearances his usual urbane and good-humoured self.
‘Any moment now, ladies and gentlemen. I think we should take our seats.’ It was the same lugubrious announcer and he seemed to have aged considerably since his last appearance.
‘We have two announcements to make, both concerning the FFF. The first is that London and Stormont, the Northern Ireland parliament, have arrived at an agreement to begin active and immediate negotiations with our government. Such negotiations have, in fact, already begun.’ Samuelson beamed.
‘The second is that the government advises all citizens of the Netherlands to be of good heart. The Ministry of Defence suspects, although it has no reason to believe, that the FFF will be switching its scene of operations from the lisselmeer, where the dyke breaches and the explosion of this nuclear device are promised to take place tomorrow. This is because the FFF have established a practice of not striking twice in the same area. The balance of opinion is that they will concentrate on the southwest, most likely in the Rotterdam-Scheldt. The reason given for this announcement is that the government wants every citizen in that area — repeat eve?y — because it affects every citizen, to be on continuous alert and report anything in the slightest way abnormal to the nearest police or army post. It is appreciated that this statement will also be picked up by the FFF, but the government regards this as the lesser of two evils compared to whatever use it may be to the FFF.’
Samuelson was no longer beaming. Van Effen, forehead furrowed and lips pursed, looked at George, then, without altering his expression, at Samuelson and said: ‘I don’t think I like this very much.’ ‘I don’t like it at all.’ His expression was almost a mirror image of van Effen’s and the fingers of both hands were drumming on the arms of his chair. After a few seconds he turned to van Effen and said: ‘And what do you make of this development?’ It was significant, van Effen thought, that Samuelson should have asked him first: it didn’t speak too highly for his confidence in his associates. Van Effen waited about twenty seconds before he replied: he already had the answers to most possible questions but Samuelson wouldn’t have been too impressed by an immediate answer. ‘I think they’re bluffing. Or, at least, counter or double bluffing. They may believe that you intend to strike next in some other spot entirely and that this is intended to put you off your guard and relax while they close in on where they fondly imagine you are, or they may not be bluffing and this may be intended to restrict your movements. Either way, they’re not very bright, but, then, the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Defence and the Chief of Police of Amsterdam are hardly renowned for their outstanding intelligence.’ George coughed softly into his hand but retained an impassive expression.
Samuelson looked doubtful. ‘Don’t forget I’ve met Wieringa. He didn’t strike me as a fool.’
‘He’s not a fool. He’s honest, straightforward and the most popular man in government but lacks the devious intelligence to rise to the very top. Plots and counter-plots are not for him. Another thing, if the authorities knew where we were don’t you think we’d have had a visit from a battalion of paratroopers or commandos — or both — quite some time ago?’ ‘Ah!’ The thought seemed to cheer Samuelson up.
‘And still another thing. I’m told you have another operations centre somewhere. Why don’t you call them and see if they’ve suffered any harassment?’
‘An excellent idea.’ Samuelson nodded to Romero Agnelli, who dialled a number, spoke briefly and hung up.
‘Nothing,’ he said.
‘Again excellent,’ Samuelson said. ‘So we’re in the clear.’ ‘No, we’re not. ‘van Effen shook his head in a discouragingly defiant fashion. ‘Lieutenant, is there any chance that it may have been discovered that the truck and weapons are missing from the armoury from which we took them?’
‘The truck?’Vasco said hoarsely. ‘Possible but unlikely. The weapons, no. The regular inventory isn’t due for another two weeks.’ Van Effen said: ‘Mr Samuelson, it’s not really for me to say, but shouldn’t we change the identification numbers on that truck?’ Samuelson also smirked. ‘Already done.’
‘Well done. But there’s more to it than that.’ Vasco spoke huskily and unhappily. ‘The authorities, as Mr Danilov says, may be operating in this area. Mention was made of both police and army posts. That means there may be police and army road blocks. Police road blocks present no danger. Army ones do. They know the missiles in transport — which is in itself an extremely rare occurrence — always travel in convoy. If you want to get them to their destination they’ll have to travel by helicopter.’ ‘Not in my helicopter, they won’t,’ Daniken said firmly. ‘Mr Daniken, I believe you to be an expert helicopter pilot.’ Vasco’s voice being in the assumed condition it was, it was difficult for him to speak coldly, but his eyes were cold enough. ‘The cobbler should stick to his last. I’m an expert on missiles. A missile cannot be armed until it’s in flight. It’s obvious that you’ve never been in military helicopters. What do you think the Russian gunships use in Afghanistan? Pea-shooters?’ Daniken remained silent. ‘I also think the other weapons and explosives should be removed otherwise you’re more than liable to be asked what armoury you’ve taken them from and to what armoury or army unit you’re taking them. Mobile army controls tend to be very curious, very alert and very persistent — especially when they know there’s a national emergency alert out.’ Daniken looked unhappy. ‘But the detonators
‘The detonators,’ George said comfortably, ‘will be in their velvet sockets, wrapped in cotton wool, in a lead-sheathed steel box and resting on my lap.’ He let a note of irritation creep into his voice. ‘Do you think I want to have myself blown up, far less your damned helicopter?’ ‘I shouldn’t imagine so. ‘It was Samuelson who spoke. ‘What do you think, Romero?’
‘I don’t have to think, Mr Samuelson.’
‘Neither do I. Totally agreed, gentlemen. Excellent precautions. We shall drive the truck down to the helicopter tonight and transfer the missiles and the rest of it after the staff have retired, which may be rather late especially as they, too, will be watching their TV sets at midnight. Not that it matters that much. They are well accustomed to the mysterious goings-on of film companies.’ He paused. ‘I wonder if one of you three gentlemen would care to supervise the transfer of those materials.’ ‘I will,’ George said immediately. ‘No coward like a big coward.’ He looked at Daniken. ‘It looks like being a rather bumpy flight tomorrow. As this is an ex-military helicopter, I assume you have clamps, lashings and other devices to secure things that. have to be secured?’ ‘We have,’ Daniken said. He still looked distinctly unhappy. ‘Seems to be all,’ van Effen said. ‘Mr Samuelson, I’d like another snooze before this midnight broadcast. Not that I’m convinced that we’ll see anything. Even if there am ships or helicopters around with searchlights, visibility in this driving rain will be zero. George? Lieutenant?’ ‘Me, too,’ George said. ‘Any more of this brandy and I’ll be dropping those detonators all over the place.’