rebuke but the tone didn’t: it required no telepathy to realize that Samuelson shared van Effen’s opinion of the Red Army Faction. ‘When they got hold of those devices in Metnitz, they also obtained copies of the operating instructions. One would have been useless without the other.’
‘Remind me not to be within five kilometres of Joop and company when they arm either of those devices. A palm-reader once told me I had a long life-line but she could have been wrong. How is this device in the Markerwaard to be detonated?’
‘Pre-set timing device.’
‘And the two other devices?’
‘By radio control.’
‘God help us all. Make that ten kilometres.’
‘You don’t trust them?’
‘I wouldn’t trust Joop and his friends with a firework. They are fanatics and fanatics have unstable minds. Unstable hands also, probably. No, I don’t trust them. Neither, I suspect, do you.’
‘You still wouldn’t like to see those devices?’
‘I presume you’re not lunatic enough to keep those in the mill.’ ‘They’re a kilometre away in a secure underground cellar.’ ‘I’ve no intention of going out in that monsoon. And though you might not be lunatic I think you’re guilty of a grave error of judgement. To detonate any device by radio doesn’t call for the mind of an Einstein but it can be tricky and a job for experts.
Joop, and his band of trusty experts have never detonated a charge in their lives.’
‘And how would you know that?’
‘That’s being simple-minded. Why did you have to call me in for the palace job?’
‘True, true. Would your scruples, or your objections to monsoons, prevent you from having a look at the operating instructions? We have them in this room.’
Van Effen looked at him then looked away. The TV was on, showing a weirdly dressed quartet who. were presumably singing, but, perhaps fortunately, in silence: the volume control had been turned off. Samuelson and his friends were presumably expecting another newscast. Van Effen looked back at Samuelson.
‘Scruples? What you have in mind, of course, is that we should do your work — your dirty work — for you instead of those deranged amateurs. Do you know what would happen if those explosions resulted in the deaths of any citizens?’
‘Yes. You would ensure that I joined the departed. I wouldn’t like that at all.’
‘Let’s see the plans.’
Romero Agnelli removed a couple of papers and handed one each to van Effen and George. George was the first to speak and that only after a few seconds.
‘This isn’t a half-kilo device. It’s only for the equivalent of fifty tons Of TNT.’
Samuelson came very close to smirking. ‘The equivalent of ten tons would have suited me equally well. But it’s useful to exaggerate the terror potential, don’t you think?’
George didn’t say what he thought. After less than a minute he looked up and spoke again. ‘Only moderately complicated and very precise. Two snags. The first is that Joop speaks fractured English and people who have difficulty in speaking only the simplest form of a language usually are pretty hopeless when it comes to reading or writing it. The second snag is the jargon.’
‘Jargon?’
‘Technical terms,’ van Effen said. ‘They might as well be in Sanskrit as far as Joop is concerned.’
‘Well?’
Van Effen handed his paper back to Agnelli. ‘We’ll have to think and talk about it.’
Samuelson tried, not altogether successfully, to smother the smile of a man who knows he has won his point. For the next minute or two they remained, sipping their branches in comparative and apparently companionable silence, when the singers, if such they were, slowly faded from the screen to be replaced by the now familiar figure of the tragedy-stricken newscaster. ‘The government have just announced that they have just received two more demands from the FFF. The first of those concerned the demand for a hundred and twenty million guilders and how it is to be transferred. The government does not say whether it will accede to the request and refuses to discuss the nature of the transfer. The second demand is for the release of two prisoners who were imprisoned several years ago for crimes of extreme violence. The government refuses to disclose the names of the prisoners. ‘We would remind viewers that we shall be on the air again at midnight to find out whether the FFF have, in fact, breached the Flevoland dykes.’ Agnelli switched off the set. ‘Satisfactory,’ Samuelson said. He was actually rubbing his hands together. ‘Eminently satisfactory.’ ‘Seems like a pretty silly and stupid broadcast to me,’ van Effen said. ‘Not at all.’ Samuelson was positively beaming. ‘The nation now knows that the government has received details of our demands and, as they have not outright rejected them it probably means that they are going to accede to them. It also shows how weak the government is and in how strong a position we are.’
‘That’s not what I mean. They’ve been stupid. They didn’t have to make that announcement at all.’
‘Oh, yes, they did. They were told that if they didn’t we would radio the communique to Warsaw who would be just too delighted to re-broadcast it to Western Europe.’
‘You have a transmitter that can reach as far as Warsaw?’ ‘We haven’t got a transmitter, period. Nor do we know anyone in Warsaw. The threat was enough. Your government,’ Samuelson said with considerable satisfaction, ‘is now reduced to such a state of fear and trepidation, that they believe anything we say. Besides, they would look pretty silly, wouldn’t they, if the announcement came through Poland?’ Van Effen refused the offer of a second brandy, he had every reason to keep a clear mind for the next hour or two, and said goodnight. Samuelson looked at him in some surprise. ‘But you’ll be coming down to see the midnight broadcast?’
‘I don’t think so. I don’t doubt your ability to carry out your threat.’ ‘I’m going too,’ George said, ‘but I shall be back down. Just going to see how the Lieutenant is. Incidentally, Mr Samuelson, if I may — ‘ ‘Another toddy for the young lieutenant. Certainly, my friend, certainly.’ ‘He may have a bit of a head in the morning,’ George said, ‘but he should be halfway towards recovery in the morning.’
Vasco, was in fact, in excellent health and showing no signs of an incipient headache.
‘Still the same lad. I should imagine the changeover will be at nine. Some guard. Spends most of the time with his chin on his chest then jerks awake.’
Let’s hope his relief is of the same cast of mind. Me, I’m going to have a snooze. If he’s still there at, say, nine-twenty, give me a shake. If he’s relieved at nine, shake me at ten. How do you operate the radio on that army truck? And what’s its range?t
‘Unlimited. Well, a hundred, two hundred kilometres, I’m not sure. Operation is simple. just lift the receiver and press the red button. The transmitter is pre-set to the nearest army command base which is always manned.’
‘I particularly don’t want to talk to the army. I want to talk to Marnixstraat.’
‘Easy. Standard tuning dial, standard wave-bands and a switch beside the button for illumination that picks out the wavelengths very easily indeed.’
Van Effen nodded, stretched out on a bed and closed his eyes.
Ten
George woke van Effen at ten to p.m.
‘New sentry took over at nine. Hardly seems an improvement on the other one except, that is, from your point of view. He’s middle-aged, fat, wears two overcoats, is sitting in the armchair with a rug over his knees and, you’ll be pleased to hear, also has a bottle in his hand.’ ‘Sounds like my kind of man.’ Van Effen rose and changed his trousers for a pair of denims.
Vasco said: ‘What’s that? Your battle uniform?’
‘What’s Samuelson going to say if he sees me in sodden trousers or even dry trousers that are so wrinkled that it will look as if I’d fallen into a river?’
‘Ah. Well, you’re going to get wet enough, that’s for sure. Rain’s heavier than ever. There are times when we can hardly see the lad in the loft doorway.’
