The crew of the submarine was reported to be in good shape. Modern scientific devices in the ship would enable them to remain so for several weeks to come, without being compelled to surface for air. The United States had long since made a declaration that she would never be the first to launch a nuclear conflict, and the Russians would be mad to do so. There was still plenty of time for further negotiations and, in some way or other, a com-
m 349 promise would be reached. 'Anyhow,' the optimistic Mr. Mahogany Brown concluded, 'if the Russians do go crackers and start the big party, we couldn't be better situated than we are right now. No one's going to waste an I.C.B.M. on Crete.'
When they had finished lunch, they spent an hour wandering about the great open courts, broad imposing stairways and small rooms of the Palace. It was not so large as Knossos but, with its many terraces, must have been much more beautiful. It had been destroyed in the same great earthquake that had devastated the island from end to end somewhere about 1400 b.c.
A little before four o'clock, they set off back to Heraklion. As Mahogany Brown started up his motor bike, he gave a casual wave, shouted 'I'll be seeing you,' then roared away.
Stephanie let in the clutch of the car and, as it sped down the hill, said to Robbie: 'Fancy running into him again. How unlike him, though, not to have suggested our doing something together this evening. He didn't even ask where we were staying. Or did you fob him off by giving him a false address when you were up there with him at Ayia Triada?'
'No. But he gave me the fright of my life.' Robbie then told her how Mahogany Brown had held him up, and of their conversation afterwards.
She made no comment until he had finished, then she said: 'It was very loyal of you, Robbie, to have refused to co-operate with him without telling me. I take it you didn't deny that I was Mrs. Barak?'
'No. I saw no point in doing so. During the few days between your reported death and his coming upon us at Monolithos, the odds against my having found another woman who more or less answered your description and was willing to pose as my wife would be fantastic.'
'That's true; and, knowing me to be Vaclav's wife, it's perfectly understandable that he should be unwilling to trust me.'
'I didn't give him any particulars about what happened, but gave him simply to understand that you were on our side and that it was only by your help that I had so far kept out of the hands of the police.'
'He would put that down to the belief that we ran away from Athens together as lovers; but that doesn't make me any the less a Czech. You were absolutely right, though, to accept the compromise he suggested. Vaclav may not take the bait I offered, and this gives you another chance to justify your having killed Cepicka. That's the all-important thing. How about our plan, though? If Vaclav does come to Heraklion, do you intend to let Henry know?'
'No, I don't think there's anything to be gained by doing that. Quite apart from getting all I can out of Barak, I've got a personal score to settle with him and I don't want any interference.'
It was half-past-six by the time they were back in Heraklion. Parking the car in Morosini Square, they went over to a caf6 to have a drink. They noticed then that little groups of people were standing about, either moodily or arguing excitedly together. As they gave their order to a waiter, they learnt the reason. At midday Russia had issued an ultimatum to the United States. Either the submarine must be surrendered intact within seven days or mines would be exploded in the ice under which she lay, to drive her out.
That was grim news. Actually to attack the submarine would almost certainly lead to war. The Americans were a proud and courageous people. In every country, there was always a 'peace at any price' party, but the majority would not submit to the humiliation of allowing their warship to be destroyed without retaliating. The Russians must realize that so, had they really wanted a 'showdown', surely, instead of issuing an ultimatum, they could have blown New York off the map without warning. Even so, things had now reached a point where an impatient finger on a trigger might cause that to happen at any moment.
When Stephanie and Robbie had talked over this latest news and finished their drink, it was time for him to walk up the street to the Heraklion Club. Next day, there might be a letter for Stephanie from Barak; so it was agreed that, after she had called at the G.P.O., she should come in the car to their usual meeting place at ten o'clock. If there were no letter, and Mahogany Brown had not asked Robbie to give him his help in some way, they would spend the day motoring to the east along the northern coast of Crete, to see other remains of the Minoan Age and the bay of Malea with its scores of windmills.
Robbie found the entrance to the Club without difficulty and a lift took him up to the premises, which proved to be airy but bleak. Mahogany Brown was waiting for him at the cloakroom counter and led him straight down a long passage, past a room in which some men were playing billiards, to the restaurant. It was a large, lofty room that had only about twenty tables in it, although it could easily have held double that number. There was a bar in one corner and, beside one end of it, a serving door to the kitchen, which stood open, revealing a chef and three women all talking at the tops of their voices. Apart from them and a solitary waiter the place was empty, as it was well before the hour at which the Greeks usually dine.
The waiter served them drinks and they carried them over to a table in a far corner of the room, then got down to exchanging information. It soon transpired that all the groups which either of them had investigated were carrying out exactly similar operations, the drilling of a single, deep hole about a foot in diameter, with long screws having in their centre a hollow eight or more inches across. It was not until Robbie gave an account of the conversation he had overheard at Gortyne that morning between the two Czechs that Mahogany Brown showed sudden interest.
'So he wanted to drop one down the Zeus Grotto, eh?' he said. 'Well, anyway, that confirms my guess that they mean to put something down those holes. But what? Have you any sort of idea?'
Atom bombs,' replied Robbie promptly. 'Or rather, I suppose, by this time they've got cobalt bombs.'
'I thought of that. But there'd be no sense in it. Even the site we saw today on the bay of Mesara is several miles from our big, new air base, and none of the others are anywhere near important military installations. What would be the point of blowing great holes in the Greek coastline and several of the islands?'
'At one time, I thought they might be installing some form of radar gadget which would, in some way, assist Russian submarines,' Robbie remarked.
That would make more sense, but why the holes?'
'I don't know a thing about science, so I couldn't even make a guess. From tonight's news, though, it looks as if we may soon be given the answer in a way we won't like. Or are you still of the opinion you expressed at lunch?'
Mahogany Brown shook his fair, crew-cut head. 'What I said at lunch was all hooey, except for one thing. That was that, if the big bang is coming, we're as well placed here to survive as anywhere, except the outspots like darkest Africa or Peru.'
'You think it really looks like war, then?'
'I wouldn't wager more than evens that it won't come to that. We've been at maximum alert since midday, and whatever declarations may have been made from the White House, I wouldn't put it past one of our top brass in the Pentagon letting off the fireworks rather than risk letting the Russians have first crack at us.'
'If we are as near the edge as that, why in God's name don't your people go right into these sites and stop the Czechs doing whatever they are at?' Robbie asked.