“I'll do what?”
Kalitzkin repeated what he had said. Shaw stared, wondering if he could have misunderstood. “You don’t find that a trifle risky from your point of view, Doctor?” he asked sardonically.
“No, no — not at all! Please let me go on. You will speak also to London, to your own chief, who will lose no time in confirming to Washington that the voice is yours. In the time that is now left — and that, as you know, is short — you will be well rehearsed in what you must say, but to summarize this briefly, you will tell your Western authorities that all is well, that you have managed to locate the source of the threat. You will tell the West to withdraw the fleets and the aircraft at once from all the areas of search or there will be war. You will urge your people to leave everything to you… you will say you have been a little too late to stop the actual diversion and to interrupt the process now might be to drop the capsule on to the land — but you have taken control of the base and the capsule will come down quite safely in the North Pacific if it is not interfered with… and you will stress most urgently that it is vital and imperative that Russian sovereignty is not in any way whatsoever breached by Western aircraft or warships. You are the man on the spot, Commander — they will have no alternative but to do as you say. I am sure you must agree with this. They may suspect coercion, but you are going to be very convincing, and they win have no proof — and they will not take the risk.” He paused. “Now, as you will have gathered, I shall want this broadcast to be made after the diversion has started — not before. No doubt you appreciate why, Commander?”
Harshly Shaw said, “I think so. Once the retro-rockets fire early and Skyprobe is known to be coming down over the Pacific, the Americans will already be aware that something had started… and once you go into your diversion procedure after that, the radar is going to report that the capsule is in fact on a diversion course anyway, so—”
“Exactly, yes. So if the broadcast came before the diversion started, they would at once discount what you had said when they saw the capsule starting to move away after re-entry. You, if you had spoken the truth about having got control of the base, would have been able to stop the diversion at that stage. Now — the ships that are searching for us not so far outside the Sea of Okhotsk are going to pick up the capsule on their radar as it approaches in the Masurov Beam — but once you have explained that a move into the North Pacific is to be expected, they will not be too alarmed. They will not break orders — the searching forces will have been called off as you will have asked, in case some indiscretion resulting from their presence should touch off the shooting war. They will wait for more information and after this it will be too late. And—”
“Why do you want this, Kalitzkin? The truth is going to come out soon after, isn’t it? And suppose I hadn’t been brought in by Rencke — what would you have done then?”
Kalitzkin shrugged. “The point is, Commander, you are here — and the situation has altered a little in the last few days, the more so because, I have to confess, our monitoring service tells us that the searching forces are sweeping closer to the Kuriles. I am confident they cannot find our base from the sea or the air either, for we are entirely underground as you have seen, apart from the wire perimeter fence which will mean nothing to anybody even if seen from a reconnaissance aircraft. But originally, remember, we did not expect any search — not until Spalinski talked. In all these circumstances, I would feel much safer if I were to gain a little more time after the landing of the capsule, so as to make quite sure of getting it safely to the Chinese. This would be in jeopardy if the search were allowed to come too close. Your vocal interpolation at the right moment, Commander, will secure for me this extra time.” He was looking successful already. “Having you, my dear Commander, to speak for us — this will be the final thing needed to ensure the complete accomplishment of—”
“You’ll be lucky!” Shaw snapped.
“Yes, I believe we will,” Kalitzkin said evenly, the triumph in his eyes magnified by the spectacles into a leer of megalomania, “because there will be certain inducements to you to give your help unstintingly. You may be wondering what use we have for the girl. Bear in mind that she is of no particular value to us… except insofar as your help is concerned. I am sure you follow?”
Shaw glanced quickly at Ingrid. She could hardly have failed to guess Kalitzkin’s meaning. Again the Russian gave his cold, mirthless laugh. “I see you need no elaboration,” he remarked casually, “but if you should, then I suggest you consult Comrade Rencke, for he will be in charge of what I might best call the persuasion proceedings.”
TWENTY-TWO
Kalitzkin pressed a button set in a panel on his desk and at once two armed men — Chinese dressed in thin denims and caps with ear-flaps — came into the compartment. Kalitzkin glanced across at Rencke. “For now,” he said, “I have finished with them, Comrade Rencke. Later I shall need your assistance.”
“You shall have it,” Rencke promised.
Kalitzkin motioned to the guards, who, together with the two men who had been present throughout, closed in around Shaw and Ingrid. Kalitzkin said, “There is just one thing more, Commander. Tomorrow there will be a final test, when we shall switch on the Masurov Beam briefly. I think you will be impressed with the result. In the meantime you will both be kept locked up, and later tonight, and again tomorrow after the test, you will be rehearsed in what you will have to say during the diversion itself. May I recommend very strongly that you do exactly as you are told?” Once again he signed to the guards, who nudged with their automatics and Shaw and Ingrid were taken from the room, back into the gallery that ran around the main silo.
A few moments later Rencke came after them and called out to the escort to stop.
They did so.
Rencke came up and put a hand on Ingrid’s arm, sliding his fingers gloatingly along the bare skin. Throatily he said, “So far we have had too little chance to talk over old times, my dear. Soon there will be plenty of time to do that, and more also, perhaps?”
His eyes undressed her.
Ingrid’s face had gone white when she had felt the man’s touch on her flesh. Now she backed away from him, her breath coming jerkily. Rencke gave a high laugh as she backed right into the guns of the escort. “Come, come, dear girl,” he murmured. “It is not going to do you any good — to behave like this! From now on, you must do precisely as I want, mustn’t you? You are mine now, dearest Ingrid… mine for ever!” His voice hardened. “Do not make things difficult for me or for yourself by being too obviously unwilling. You do not forget, I hope, what happened to your sister?”