for a little ready cash,’van Effen said. ‘This, we thought, had been your original intention and one with which we’d have gone along. Quite willingly. We have no reason to love the government.’ He stared off into the far distance. ‘I have no reason to like quite a number of governments.’
‘On the basis of what you have told me,’ Agnelli said, ‘I can quite understand that.’ He smiled, produced his ebony cigarette-holder, fitted a Turkish cigarette and lit it with his gold-inlaid onyx lighter, all of which demonstrated that he was at ease, in charge and back on balance again — assuming, that is, that he had ever been off it in the first place. ‘Cash is the basis, gentlemen, and only cash. Precisely how it is the basis I am not yet permitted to divulge but you have my assurance that it is the sole and only motivation. And you also have my assurance — which you can take or leave as you choose — that we have no intention of bringing harm to anyone. And, quite honestly, in saying so we are not so moved, perhaps, by humanitarian considerations as you are. Organized crime on a large scale is big business and we run our affairs on a businesslike basis. Emotion is nothing, calculation all. Killing not only pays no dividends, it is counter-productive. A robber is pursued by the law, but only within reasonable limits: but he who kills in the process of robbery is relentlessly pursued. No, no, gentlemen, we are in the business of conducting a purely psychological warfare.’ George reached across the table and touched another headline. ‘Kidnapping young ladies is another form of psychological warfare?’ ‘But of course. One of the most effective of all psychological forms of blackmail. It touches the strings of one’s heart, you understand.’ ‘You are a cold-blooded bastard,’George said genially. When George was at his most genial he was at his most menacing and the slight compression of Agnelli’s lips. showed that he realized that he was in the presence of menace. ‘I wonder how you would like it if your wife, sister or daughter were held with a gun at their heads or a knife at their throats? And don’t throw up your hands in horror. Blackmailers never hold hostages without accompanying threats of what will happen if their blackmailing ends are not achieved. As often as not such threats are carried out. What would it be in this case? Turning, them over to some of the less uninhibited among your employees for a few hours’ innocent pleasure? Torture? Or the ultimate? We are, as we have repeatedly told you, not men of violence. But if any harm were to come in any way to those young ladies, totally harmless and innocent as we believe them to be, we would be capable of actions that you would regard as being acts of unimaginable violence. I do wish you would believe me, Mr Agnelli.’
Agnelli believed him all right. The atmosphere in the Trianon’s lounge was acceptably cool but a sheen of sweat had suddenly appeared on Agnelli’s forehead.
George said: ‘Why, for instance, did you kidnap this Anne Meijer? Is it because her father runs a minor kingdom of his own and may be presumed to have a powerful voice in government?’ Agnelli nodded silently. ‘And this’ — lie twisted the paper to have a glance at it — ‘this Julie van Effen. She’s only a policeman’s sister. There are thousands of policemen in the Netherlands.’
‘There’s only one van Effen.’ Agnelli spoke with a considerable depth of feeling. ‘We know there’s a nation- wide hunt up for us but we also know who’s leading it. Van Effen. If we have his sister, and we do, we may clip his wings a bit.
‘You don’t sound as if you care for this man very much?’ Agnelli said nothing, the look in his eyes said it for him. ‘And you still ask me to believe that you wouldn’t subject those girls to some subtle or not so subtle forms of persuasion to achieve your ends?’
‘I don’t really care whether you believe me or not.’ Once again Agnelli was beginning to sound more than a little tired. ‘I believe you are quite capable of doing what you say you would do if you found out we are deceiving you. I have no doubt that you are heavily armed. I suggest you come along and see and believe for yourselves. That includes seeing our hostages this afternoon. If you don’t like what you see you can leave or take any other measures you think appropriate. There’s nothing else I can say and I can’t speak fairer than that.’
George said: ‘Stephan?’
‘We’ll go along. Mr Agnelli’s explanations may be a bit thin, but if we are to believe in the essence of what he says-and I have no reason to think that we shouldn’t — then I think we all may have a great deal to lose if we are raising objections to a state of affairs that do not exist. It wouldn’t be very bright of us to cut off our own noses. As Mr Agnelli says, let’s go and see for ourselves.’
‘Thank you, gentlemen,’ Agnelli didn’t mop his brow, perhaps because he wasn’t the brow-mopping kind, but almost certainly because he would not have regarded it as a very politic thing to do. ‘I was by no means convinced that you would come to see it my way — you are exceptionally difficult negotiators, if I may say so — but I am glad you have done.’ Moderation, reasonableness, courtesy — Agnelli could generously afford all of those now that he had had, as he thought, his own way. ‘Now, where’s the truck?’
‘Nearby garage.’
‘Garage? Is it safe-‘
‘I own it,’ George said. ‘Goodness sake, do you think this is the first time?’
‘Of course. Silly question.’
‘We have one or two questions,’ van Effen said. ‘We’re committed now and we’ve no more wish to take chances than you have. I don’t for a moment suppose we’ll know where this place is until we get there. Have you a place of concealment for this truck?’
‘Yes.’
‘How many people are going out there?’
‘Apart from yourselves? The three of us, Mr Riordan whom you haven’t met but have read about, Joop, and Joachim. Why?’
”Please. My turn for questions. You travel in the minibus?’ ‘Well, no. We’d hoped there would be plenty of room in the truck., No, indeed, van Effen thought. They wanted to keep the closest possible eye on the three of them and the precious contents of the truck. ‘How many cars?’
‘Cars?’Agnelli looked faintly surprised. ‘No cars. Why?’ ‘Why?’ Van Effen looked at the ceiling, then at George, then back at Agnelli. ‘Why? Tell me, Mr Agnelli, have you ever transported stolen Government property before?’
‘This will be a new experience for me.’
‘I want two cars. One to follow the truck at two or three hundred metres, the other to follow the first car at a similar distance.’ ‘Ah! Well, now, I appreciate this. You do not wish to be followed.’ ‘I have a rooted objection to being followed. One chance in a million. We do not take that chance.’
‘Good, good. Joop and Joachim. I’ll phone now.’
‘Last question. We forgot to discuss this. Do we return to the city tonight?’
‘No.’
‘You should have told us. We do require a tooth-brush or two. However, we guessed right and packed some gear. Three minutes in the lobby.’
Back in his room van Effen said: ‘George, I’ve said it before and say it again. Your career has been a wasted one, ruined and misplaced. That was splendid, quite splendid.’
George made a mock-modest gesture of depreciation. ‘It was nothing.’ ‘How to establish a moral ascendancy in one easy lesson. They’re going to go out of their way not to step on our toes. And did you gather the impression, George, that they need us more than we need them. Or, at least, that they think so?’
‘Yes. Intriguing.’
‘Very. Second, they know that they’re not going to be followed. It was our suggestion, so that makes us trustworthy?’
‘Anyone can see that. It will also, we trust, make them relax their vigilance.’
‘We trust. Third, a&n thanks to you, it is certain that Agnelli has no idea whatsoever who I am. Agnelli is sadly in need of a course of instruction from you. He’s a poor dissembler and over-reacts too easily. it is not possible, that, knowing who I was, he could have sat at the same table without giving himself away. Lastly, it seems fairly certain that we’ll be safe until or unless they find out who we are or until we are no longer of any use to them — when they have achieved whatever it is they want to achieve, that is. But I think the latter unlikely. I could understand them wanting to dispose of us if we were to betray their identity but their identity is already well known — the names of those in Dessens’ house last night will probably be in every major newspaper in Europe this morning. Or by nightfall. And the TV and radio. I asked Mr Wieringa to make specially sure about that. And didn’t you love all this talk about limiting themselves solely to pure psychology and being interested only in cash returns? You believed him, of course?’
‘You can’t always trust a man like Mr Agnelli.’
