Philpott nodded.
‘Naturally I’ll keep you all up to date on any developments that may arise during the day. But as I said, I don’t hold out much hope of finding the vial before five o’clock.’
‘We know you and your team will do your best,’ the British Prime Minister said.
‘I only hope that will be enough,’ Philpott replied.
Whitlock had arrived at the Offenbach Centre while the meeting was in progress and was poring over one of the plans with Graham when Philpott returned to the office. Philpott lit his pipe and recounted briefly what had happened at the meeting.
‘At least they’ve agreed to pay the ransom,’ Kolchinsky said.
‘As a last resort,’ Philpott replied. ‘We’re going to have to pull out all the stops to find the vial before five o’clock. If the ransom is paid it’ll not only be a psychological victory for world terrorism, it’ll also leave us with a lot of egg on our faces. It’ll be the perfect ammunition for those politicians who’d like nothing better than to see UNACO disbanded. I can just imagine what they’ll say. We worked with Calvieri from the start. A known terrorist. We even helped him smuggle the vial into the building.’
‘We had no way of knowing he was the mastermind behind the whole thing,’ Graham said angrily.
‘We know that, but you can be sure our opponents will use it against us. We have to find the vial if we’re to save face.’ Philpott stabbed the stem of his pipe at the blueprint on the desk. ‘Have you compiled the list yet?’
Kolchinsky handed a sheet of foolscap paper to Philpott.
‘We’re going to have to draft in more personnel, Malcolm. There are over fifty possible hiding places on that list. We’d never be able to cover them all thoroughly by five o’clock.’
‘I had the same thought on the way back from the meeting,’ Philpott said. ‘I don’t think I realized just how big the building was until then. It means more people are going to know about the vial. That’s something I was hoping to avoid. But it can’t be helped. Five extra men, maximum. The search has to be undertaken in secrecy.’
‘I’ve got four men on standby at the airport,’ Paluzzi announced. ‘I had them flown in this morning in case we needed them. They’ve been on the case since Monday so there will be no need to waste time briefing them.’
‘Get them over here as quickly as possible,’ Philpott told him. ‘There’s no time to lose.’
Paluzzi disappeared into the outer office to use the telephone.
‘Michael came up with something while we were going through the plans. What if Calvieri gave the vial to a woman? We don’t have Sabrina to check the women’s cloakrooms.’
‘Good point.’ Philpott looked at Kuhlmann. ‘We’ll need your best policewoman. I’ll brief her personally.’
‘I’ll get on to it right away,’ Kuhlmann said, and left the room.
Philpott read through the list.
‘You’re going to need some kind of cover to make it easy for you to move about the building without drawing unnecessary attention to yourselves.’
‘I’ve already seen to that,’ Kolchinsky replied. ‘Vlok’s bringing up half a dozen maintenance overalls for us to use.’
Paluzzi returned.
‘The men should be here in about fifteen minutes. One of my deputies, Captain Molinetti, has taken a team of men to Milan to search Calvieri’s apartment. He’ll only call if they come up with something important. I’ve told him to ask for you.’
‘I look forward to hearing from him,’ Philpott replied, then reached for the receiver to call Calvieri.
Calvieri replaced the handset and gave Ubrino a thumbs-up sign. Ubrino punched the air in delight and grinned at Sabrina, his animosity towards her forgotten in his moment of triumph.
‘You haven’t won yet,’ Sabrina snapped, glaring at Ubrino. ‘Five o’clock’s still a long way off.’
‘It will be for us, stuck in here,’ Calvieri said, then sat down opposite Sabrina. The transmitter was still clenched tightly in his left hand. ‘I don’t think your colleagues would agree with you, though. They have six hours left to find the vial. So much ground to cover and so little time in which to do it. And to make matters worse, they have to conduct the search in complete secrecy. It wouldn’t do to alert the media, would it? So many problems to overcome. And even then they still won’t find it. All that time and effort wasted.’
‘Don’t count on it,’ she retorted, eyeing him coldly.
‘I don’t underestimate any of you, believe me. That would be suicidal. I don’t expect them to sit around idly waiting for the deadline. Of course they’re going to try to find the vial. But I bargained on that when I was planning the operation. That’s why I’ve had it hidden where they’ll never find it.’
‘Where?’
Calvieri smiled faintly and put his finger to his lips. ‘There’s a saying in Latin. Vir sapit qui pauca loquitur.’
‘The man is wise who talks little,’ she translated.
‘In other words, know when to hold your tongue.’
‘You should have borne that in mind yesterday.’
‘I don’t follow you,’ Calvieri said with a frown.
‘When you were so quick to tell Mike and me about your plans to put Italy back on its feet again. Now you’re threatening to destroy it, along with countless other nations around the world. You can’t have it both ways. Question is, which is the truth?’
‘I’m sure you’re going to tell me,’ Calvieri said.
‘I don’t have to. You answered it yourself when you insisted that I remain here with you.’
‘I see what you’re getting at,’ Calvieri said, keeping up the sarcasm. ‘You think I was telling the truth yesterday. And by holding you here I’ve prevented you from passing information on to the leaders which could have had a bearing on their decision whether or not to pay the ransom.’ He chuckled softly to himself. ‘It’s a fascinating theory but unfortunately there’s one major flaw in it. Why didn’t I insist on holding Graham and Paluzzi here as well? They know just as much about the coalition as you do.’
‘Because they don’t know you like I do,’ she replied quickly. ‘Fabio knows you, and the other Brigatisti, like a teenager knows his favourite band. He knows your family histories, who your associates are and what you’ve done since joining the Red Brigades. But he doesn’t know you as a human being. I got to know you as a person over these past few days. Take that incident in Venice. You treated that runaway as if he were your own son. And it would be the children who would be the first casualties if the virus was ever released into the atmosphere. You know you could no more press that button than send that kid back to the orphanage.’
Calvieri put the transmitter on the table and clapped lightly.
‘Bravo. A wonderful speech. So touching.’
Ubrino grinned at Sabrina. ‘So much for your theory, bella.’
Calvieri held up the transmitter in front of Sabrina.
‘It’s like nuclear weapons. Are they just a deterrent, or would they be used as a last resort? Bluff and counter-bluff. It’s all a game.’ He shifted his chair round to face the television screen, then looked back at her, a faint smile on his lips. ‘Or is it?’
Philpott arranged for the final briefing to be held at 11.15 in the boardroom on the tenth floor. He was the last to arrive, having left Kuhlmann in Vlok’s office to man the telephone. After taking his place at the head of the table he took his pipe and tobacco pouch from his jacket pocket and put them beside the folder he had brought with him. He took a wad of tobacco from the pouch and as he tamped it into the mouth of his pipe he looked around slowly at the faces watching his every move. Paluzzi and his men sat on his left, Kolchinsky, Graham and Whitlock on his right. Sergeant Ingrid Hauser, the policewoman he had briefed only minutes earlier, sat beside Whitlock. She was in her late twenties with a stocky figure and curly black hair. Her confident manner had already impressed him.