^ 'Nothing that I can see might have any bearing on this situation.' Harper's precise voice sounded irritated. 'Is this whole business becoming rather a wild goose chase? And who is this friend you refer to so mysteriously – the one who told you this yarn about French terrorists?'
^ 'You've never had any connection with Hamburg at all?' Sullivan persisted.
^ 'Couple of 50,000-tonners – the ^ Challenger ^ first, then its twin, the ^ Chieftain. ^ Both of them at the Wilhelm Voss yard. Paul Hahnemann is the boss – good chap, typically German; he drives the place like a steam engine. Both delivered bang on time, of course. I don't see how he could help…'
^ 'Frankly, neither do I. Where are those ships now? In the Middle East?'
^ 'Neither of them. ^ Chieftain ^ is in dry-dock for repairs at Genoa, ^ Challenger ^ is on the Alaska-San Francisco run. Better come home, Larry. Call it a day…'
^ Sullivan put down the phone and yawned. He had made a night of it with Messmer before the Frenchman caught the morning train back to Paris. Paul Hahnemann wasn't going to tell him anything, so why hang about? Yawning again, he began packing his bag.
^ The telephone message travelled a devious route before it reached Gamal Tafak at the Saudi Arabian embassy in Damascus. Originating from Paris, the call was taken by a man in Athens who then phoned a number in Beirut. From there Ahmed Riad phoned the message to Damascus. Tafak was just about to have lunch when Riad called him from the Lebanese capital.
^ 'Excellency, KLM Flight 401 from Amsterdam to Paris has just been hi-jacked by terrorists. There is going to be trouble about this…'
^ 'The plane is carrying three senior Royal-Dutch Shell executives, Including a managing director…'
^ Tafak replaced the receiver. If anyone had been listening in to the call, which was unlikely but not impossible the way the American intelligence services were tapping phones all over the world these days, the conversation would have seemed innocent enough.
^ But the call told Tafak that the diversionary operation was under way. This had been Winter's idea, as was the timing. While LeCat set up listening posts to check on any loose security Winter had come up with a more imaginative plan. To mask the hi-jack of the ship, he had suggested a plane should be seized a few days before the real event, something to keep the newspapers busy, to divert anyone who might have heard a whisper of what was really going to happen.
^ The hi-jack had been organised by the serious-faced man sitting on Tafak's right at the recent secret meeting in the Syrian desert. The KLM plane would now be kept hopping about from airport to airport while the main operation was under way. It still seemed easy enough to hi-jack a plane; Tafak hoped it would prove equally easy to hi-jack a 50,000-ton oil tanker.
^ 'It did strike me that if someone wanted to sabotage one of Harper's tankers they might try and check the layout and structure of the tanker they were after. Can you tell me, Mr Hahnemann, has anyone asked to see blueprints of a Harper tanker recently?'
^ At the last moment before leaving Hamburg, Sullivan's natural obstinacy had made him stay. He had made an appointment to see Paul Hahnemann very late in the afternoon, so late that it was dark outside, too dark to see the falling snow. A letter of introduction from Victor Harper – 'to whom it may concern' – had got him inside the Wilhelm Voss shipyard. His Lloyd's of London identification had convinced the German he ought to see the Englishman. Hahnemann was a discreet man.
^ 'I find that a strange question,' the German said woodenly. 'You say you have heard vague rumours – about Harper. The shipping world lives on rumours. Surely you know that by now?'
^ 'I withdraw the question.' Sullivan smiled amiably. 'I've told you what I've been doing for the past week- coming up the Atlantic coast. Two nights ago someone tried to kill me in a Hamburg bar. That makes me think there is something – something in Hamburg I'm getting too close to.'
^ 'I don't see how I can help you,' the German replied. 'We have no one suspect here. We are very careful who we let inside this yard – you yourself had to produce proof of identity before you were allowed in.'
^ Sullivan was in a difficult position. He realised that Hahnemann was too shrewd by half, that he wanted some evidence, that there was no evidence to show him. Sullivan wasn't even sure what he was looking for himself.
^ There may be an Englishman in this business somewhere,' he suggested.
^ Sullivan heard himself saying this. God, how vague can you get? In another minute or two the German would start shuffling papers on his desk, maybe even look pointedly at his watch. It was hopeless.
^ 'Would you like some coffee?' Hahnemann ordered coffee over the intercom and then excused himself. He was gone for thirty minutes by Sullivan's watch and the Englishman wondered whether he was calling the police. When he came back into the office he was followed by an attractive girl carrying a tray with the coffee. 'I will pour it,' Hahnemann said. He waited until they were alone. 'I apologise for being so long, but I decided to phone Mr Harper in London. I hope you don't mind – documents can so easily be faked these days.'
^ 'A wise precaution.' Sullivan was puzzled. Why would Hahnemann take this trouble if he had nothing to say to him? The German took out a photograph which he placed face down on the desk, then he poured the coffee.
^ 'Mr Sullivan, I imagine you know most of the top shipping people in London?'
^ 'Most of them, yes – it's my job.' Sullivan carefully did not look at the concealed photograph as Hahnemann went back and sat down behind his desk.
^ Hahnemann turned up the photograph and pushed it over the desk. 'Is that man familiar? Specifically, is he Manders, Smeth-wick or Ross?'
^ 'Quite definitely not. Ross is a small, well-built man with a face like an amiable gargoyle. This time of the year, he's usually off on a cruise to the West Indies.'
^ 'That man called on me five days ago and passed himself off as Arnold Ross of Ross Tankers.'
^ Sullivan stared at the picture with fascination, the first picture which had ever been taken of Winter, except for passport purposes when the likeness changed as rapidly as the names. It showed a distinguished-looking man wearing a bowler hat and an expensive overcoat striding up a staircase. He appeared to be staring at the camera without seeing it.
^ Like a Guards officer, Sullivan thought. Trim moustache, erect bearing, a clipped look about the face. All the cliches. God, he even carried a tightly-rolled umbrella on his arm. The absolute personification of a European's idea of the City Englishman. And he existed – you could see him walking past the Bank of England each morning at 9.30. With nothing to go on, Sullivan had the strongest of hunches: this man was Winter.
^ Hahnemann looked embarrassed, then laughed. 'I am giving away my trade secrets. I have a fetish for security, I admit it. But we live in a dangerous world and one day someone who does not like my customers may try to sabotage a ship I am building. So everyone who conies into the building is secretly photographed. We have your own picture, Mr Sullivan. I hope I have not shocked you – Watergate and all that…'
^ 'Thank God you do use a hidden camera. You take just one shot?'
^ 'No, several…' Hahnemann took an envelope out of his breast pocket and spilled glossy prints on to the desk. 'I showed you the best, although this is more of a closeup.'
^ Winter was nearer the camera, probably just turning on to the staircase landing – his head was turned and showed in profile. He had a cold, very alert look. 'Who is this man?' Hahnemann asked.
^ 'I find it hard to believe – he was in my office, sitting where you are sitting.'
^ That's probably his secret,' Sullivan commented drily. 'He doesn't look the part. Before I leave Hamburg could I have three copies of the profile shot and the one you showed me first?'
^ 'No problem, as the Americans say.' He used the phone and told Sullivan they would be ready in thirty minutes. 'He spent ^ ^ the whole day poring over blueprints of the ^ Chieftain, ^ asking questions about her. He pretended he wanted a ship built to a similar specification.'
^ 'The ^ Chieftain! He ^ didn't take any interest in the twin ship you built for Harper, the ^ Challenger?'
^ 'None at all. I think I mentioned that vessel once and he wasn't interested.'
^ So now we know, Sullivan thought. The target ship was the ^ Chieftain, ^ lying up in dry-dock in Genoa, a perfect place for an act of sabotage, while the ship was immobile and helpless. He would fly back to London tomorrow and get Harper to have the security stepped up in Italy.
^ Heathrow Airport, London, Wednesday January 15. 12.15pm ^ Flight BA 601 took off for Montreal, Canada. Aboard the Boeing 707 travelled thirteen of the fifteen ex-OAS terrorists. Such a large group of Frenchmen was hardly likely to excite any interest since they were flying to a city where French is spoken on every street. When they reached Montreal in charge of Andre Dupont, they would stay there overnight; the following day they would
