'That I would be allowed to proceed to Europe in the hope that I'd expose Telescope.' He gave a lopsided grin.
'Whatever that might be. Once I'd done that, I'd be liquidated — probably by Harvey Sholto himself. Luckily the Sapo chief's men in Sweden spotted the early arrival of Sholto so I took extra precautions to keep underground. Once they realised I was devoting all my energies — using all the network of informants and helpers I built up over twenty years — to crack the Stockholm Syndicate, my limited schedule, as they so nicely phrase it, ran out. They sent out a Nadir signal on me. To be terminated with extreme prejudice.'
'Why is Washington so worried?'
'Because most of the President's electoral campaign funds come from precisely those American industrial corporations who are members of the Syndicate.' Cottel's voice became briefly vehement. 'You know how our President avoids issues likely to embarrass him — he looks the other way, pretends they don't exist.'
'I still don't understand it fully, Ed. This Harvey Sholto — how much power has he? What is his official position?'
'No official position at all any longer. More power than anyone else in Washington below the rank of president because of what he knows. Christ, Louise, I've as good as told you — that's the guy who photocopied all Edgar J. Hoover's files! Those files had all the dirt on every influential figure in the country. He's built up dossiers so dangerous, no-one in Washington dare touch him. But what was the use of just scaring people? And then he thought up the idea of the Stockholm Syndicate. He contacted Viktor Rashkin in Stockholm — I suspect they must have met secretly in the Far East earlier.'
He broke off as Beaurain reappeared, his former fatigue no longer apparent, and he checked his watch as he came up to the seat. 'We'll be out of here in five minutes, maybe less.'
'How?' Cottel asked sceptic ally
'By courtesy of Superintendent Marker of Danish police Intelligence. At the moment a fleet of police cars full of armed men is racing to Kastrup. I told him where Sholto has placed his troops it is Sholto, isn't it, Ed? I thought so. Those two pretending to repair a street lamp are in for a shock.'
'There'll be shooting?' Cottel queried.
'Not a shot fired would be my guess. Viktor Rashkin is due here aboard a Danair flight from Bonne and they won't want the place swarming with police. I think I can hear police sirens now.'
'You can't touch Rashkin,' the American warned. The bastard can always claim diplomatic immunity.'
'So we wait a few hours and I think Rashkin will solve the problem for us. Yes, you can hear the sirens. Sound to be a hell of a lot of them,'
There was no shooting. Bodel Marker had sent an overwhelming force to Kastrup and none of the men waiting for Beaurain put up resistance. The fact that they carried firearms was more than sufficient reason, for putting them behind bars. Beaurain then explained the final move in detail to Marker, one of the key men responsible for smashing the Syndicate's communications system. He obtained the Dane's full agreement to his plan, not all of which was strictly in accordance with the law. And it was Marker who provided transport in the form of unmarked police cars for Beaurain and his companions to move into the city.
'What was all that about?' Louise asked as they drove away from Kastrup.
Marker had provided them with three cars. In the lead vehicle, a Citroen, Beaurain was driving with Louise beside him while in the rear sat Palme and Anderson, the laconic Sikorsky pilot. The two cars following them, both Audis, contained Max Keller-man and five of Henderson's gunners. Henderson was driving the third car, guarding their rear.
'I will guide you to the arms depot,' Palme announced.
'Here in Copenhagen?' queried Louise.
'Over this bridge and turn right,' said Palme calmly. 'Into the Prinsesse Gade.' The three cars pulled into a drab side street and parked. Minutes later Palme had returned with his suitcase and they were on their way again, heading back to the main road.
'Where are we going now Stig has tooled up, as he would say?' Louise enquired.
'To the house on Nyhavn — which is where the whole horrendous series of events is going to end unless I've guessed wrong.'
'You wouldn't care to elaborate?' They drove over the Knippels Bro into the heart of Copenhagen.
'The American connection is Harvey Sholto Ed explained about the Edgar Hoover dossiers. With those and his high-level connections Sholto organised the Syndicate membership in the States. He links up with Rashkin, who organises the European end; I suspect that Rashkin has been running a one-man band.'
'With the aid of a three-man directorate?'
'Let's see what happens at the house on Nyhavn,' Beaurain said.
Ed Cottel, who had stayed behind at Kastrup, watched through a pair of high-powered glasses the arrival of the DC-9 jet Danair Flight SK 262 from Bonne. As he watched passengers filing off the plane he began to worry. He couldn't identify Viktor Rash-kin. Then he had an idea. He hurried to the main exit where cabs waited for fares.
He was rewarded for his flash of inspiration or so he thought, when he saw a Mercedes with Soviet diplomatic plates pull in at the kerb. A slim man carrying a Danair flight bag appeared, the rear door was opened by the chauffeur, closed, and the limousine glided away, followed by one of Superintendent Marker's 'plain-clothes' cars when Cottel gave the driver a signal. Sweating with the anxiety he had felt, Cottel waited a little longer, watching the departing passengers before he walked rapidly along the airport building front to a parked car which was Marker's control vehicle and equipped with a transceiver. He slid in beside the man behind the wheel.
'I'd like to report to Jules Beaurain.'
'Be my guest,' the Dane invited, handing him the microphone. 'If you can get through it will be a miracle — on a clear day like this the static is bloody murder — what with the high pressure area over Scandinavia.'
Talking of high pressure…' Cottel mopped his damp forehead as he called Beaurain. The Belgian replied at once with great clarity.
'The big R.,' Cottel began, referring to Viktor Rashkin, 'had a Merc with CD. plates waiting to pick him up. Our friends have followed. Funny thing, when I watched the passengers disembarking earlier I couldn't spot him through the glasses.'
It was just one of those throwaway observations you make, particularly when you have been keyed up, when you are short on sleep, when you thought you had blown it and then found you hadn't. The Belgian's reaction was tense, almost explosive.
'Listen to this description, Ed. A grey-haired man of medium build. Probably a snappy dresser, could even be wearing a velvet jacket with gold buttons. Rimless glasses. May be wearing a skull-cap like Orthodox Jews go in for.'
Cottel stared at the microphone open-mouthed, then got a grip on himself. 'A guy just like that got into a beat-up Volkswagen as the limousine took off. I didn't take much notice of him — and he wasn't carrying a Danair bag.'
'He wouldn't be,' Beaurain informed him. 'You wouldn't recognise him, but Dr. Benny Horn has just arrived in Copenhagen. You're waiting now for the flight bringing in Sonia Karnell from Stockholm? Good. I think we're all going to meet up at the house on Nyhavn. And good luck — no-one has yet located Harvey Sholto,'
'You think he's in the city too?' Cottel asked grimly.
'He has to be.'
For the first time in weeks the weather changed as they approached Nyhavn. The sky clouded over, a faint hint of mist drifted in from the sea and, as they arrived at the familiar basin of water, the seamen's bars on the left and tourist shops on the right, it began to drizzle. A fine spray of moisture descended on the tangle of ship's masts in the basin. The stones in the street were moist. The convoy of three cars drove a short distance past the end of the basin, out of sight of Nyhavn, and then parked.
'They may have watchers observing Horn's house,' Beaurain warned, 'so our first task is to locate them and take them out.'
' May? ' Louise queried. 'The Syndicate always has watchers.'
'That was before this morning.'
'But they still had Kastrup airport staked out with men,' she objected. 'You had to get Marker to send out a whole team to pick them up.'