Tell me, sir, do your linguistic friends at the University have all the tapes? Including the one I brought from the Hunter's Horn?' De Graaf nodded. 'When do you expect them to be ready?'

'When they're ready, one supposes. Things move leisurely in the groves of Academe.'

'Think you could hurry them up, sir? National emergency, something like that.'

'I can but try.' De Graaf called a number, spoke to someone he called Hector then, still holding the phone, turned to van Effen. 'Six o'clock?' 'Five forty-five, if possible.'

De Graaf spoke briefly, hung up and said: 'Very precise about our timing, aren't we?'

'Person coming round at six-thirty to the Trianon to give me the radio data for detonating this bomb in the palace cellars.'

'First I heard of it. One finds it uncommonly difficult to keep up with your activities. One finds it rather droll, if I may say so, to find a police officer paying the courtesy of punctuality to a criminal.' 'Yes, sir. Do you know - personally, I mean - any plastic surgeons?' 'Plastic surgeons! What on earth do you want with - well, I should know better, you'll have your reasons. But plastic surgeons? Do you think I know everyone in this city?'

'To my knowledge, sir, yes. Or nearly everyone.'

'I could talk to the police surgeon.'

'De Wit is not a plastic surgeon, sir.'

'Ah! I have it. My old friend Hugh. Outstanding. Professor Hugh Johnson.' 'Doesn't sound like a Dutch surgeon to me. I mean, he's not Dutch, is he?' 'English. Trained at East Grinstead. I'm told that's the best plastic surgery unit in Europe, if not the world. Man's a genius.' De Graaf smiled. 'Not as smart as the Dutch, though. Not, specifically, as clever as one Dutch lady, a native of Amsterdam, whom he met here on an exchange visit. Six months after they got married he found himself domiciled in this country. Still doesn't know how it happened to him. The very man. 'De Graaf cleared his throat in a delicate fashion. 'If you could give me some slight indication as to what you 'Want -'

'Certainly. In the guise in which I meet Agnelli I have scars on my face and hands - remind me to tell you what I'll look like tonight when we meet at the University otherwise you won't recognize me. I want those scars to look even more realistic and, more important to be of such a nature that they can't easily be pulled off, washed off or scrubbed off.' 'Ah. I see. I mean, I don't see.' De Graaf pondered briefly. 'Don't like this at all. You are referring, of course, to Agnelli and his friends and any suspicions they may harbour. I thought you were of the opinion that your bona fide status as an internationally wanted criminal was fairly secure.'

'I increasingly believe so, sir. But they don't sound like a lot with whom one can safely take any chances. Might even find a reason tonight to prove - without seeming to, of course - the genuineness and permanence of those scars.'

De Graaf sighed. 'We live in a devious world, a very devious world. Without wishing to give offence, Peter, I must say you seem perfectly at home in it. See what I can do. d.a.m.ned phone again.' Van Effen picked it up, listened and said: 'Send a man around with them, will you? Wait a minute.' He turned to de Graaf. 'Sergeant Oudshoorn. Says number thirty-eight is deserted. Neighbours say n.o.body has lived there for years. Most of the furniture is gone, too. Sergeant Oudshoorn - he's young, enthusiastic, I told you he'd relish this a.s.signment and we did give him a sort of carte blanche - has been investigating some locked cupboards and desk drawers.'

'With the aid of crowbars and chisels, I suppose..' 'I imagine so. J also imagine that it's extremely doubtful that we'll ever have any complaints on that score. Thing is, he says he's come across some odd-looking maps, charts and plans that he can't make head or tail of. Probably of no importance whatsoever. But we're in no position to overlook one chance in a thousand. I've asked Oudshoorn to have them sent round. Do you think that, en route, this messenger might pick up some knowledgeable lad from the City Surveyor's office who might just be able to enlighten us about those maps?'

'Chance in a thousand, as you say. Suppose you want me to do the dirty work?'

'Yes, sir.' He spoke into the phone. 'Tell whoever it is that's bringing the papers round to stop by the City Surveyor's office and pick up someone who will accompany him here. The Colonel is arranging it.' While de Grad was issuing his instructions over the phone -he never made requests - van Effen turned on the radio and kept the volume low. When the Colonel hung up the phone he still kept the volume low - the cacophonous racket of the latest number one on the hit parade was not to van Effen's taste - but turned it up when the noise stopped. The modulated voice of an announcer took over.

'We interrupt this programme with a special news bulletin. The FFF, about whose activities you must have all heard or read in the past forty-eight hours, have issued another statement. It reads as follows: ' "We promised to breach the North Holland Ca.n.a.l or the Hagestein weir. Or both. In the event, we chose to breach the ca.n.a.l. The reason we did not damage the Hagestein weir is that we have never been within fifty kilometres of it. In spite of this we have to admit that the turn-out of army, police, air-force helicopters and the experts from the Rijkswaterstaat was most impressive.

' "It should now not be in doubt that we can cause flooding, of a degree according to our choosing, wherever and whenever we wish and that we can do this with impunity: the possibility of detection does not exist. The country's authorities, as we have pointed out before and have demonstrated again, are quite powerless.

' "We are sure that the people of the Netherlands do not wish this state of affairs to continue. Neither, quite frankly, do we. We have certain terms that we wish to be met and would like to discuss those with a responsible member of the government. We suggest that an arrangement for such a meeting, time this evening, location immaterial, be broadcast over TV and radio at 6 p.m. this evening. No negotiator below the level of cabinet minister will be considered.

' "We suggest that our negotiator should not be apprehended, held as hostage or subjected to any degree of restraint. Should any of the authorities be so misguided as to do this we would warn them that mines are already in position to the north and south of Lelystad. Precisely how far north and south we choose, in this instance, not to say. The mines, in this instance, are very much larger than on previous occasions and the repair of the breaches will be a matter of days if not weeks. If our negotiator does not return to us by a certain hour to be agreed, then large portions of Oostlijk-Flevoland will be inundated. No warning will be given as to the time of those breaches: they will be some time during the night. ' "We think it almost superfluous to point out that the responsibility for the safety of the Oostlijk-Flevo.land and its inhabitants ties exclusively with the government. We do not ask for a great deal - just to speak with a government representative.

'Should the government ignore our small request and refuse to appoint a negotiator, we shall go ahead and flood the polder. After that, when next we make a similar request accompanied by a similar promise, we think 'the government may deem it more prudent to be a degree rather more co-operative. We are sure that the citizens of the Netherlands would agree that for the government, motivated solely by affronted pride and stiff-necked outrage, to put this large area and those who live there at such risk, would be intolerable and unforgivable.

'The time to co-operate is now, not when incalculable and avoidable damage has been done. "The mines are in position." That is the message in its entirety. The government has requested us - not ordered, requested - not to pa.s.s comment on or discuss this outrageous demand until they have decided what course of action to adopt. It wishes to rea.s.sure the people of this country that the government is confident that it has the resources at its command to meet this or any other threat.'

Van Effen switched off the set. 'G.o.d save us from politicians. The government, as is its wont, is talking through a hole in its collective hat. It's been caught off-balance, hasn't had time to think - one charitably a.s.sumes it can think - and can do no better than trot out old boring, meaningless plat.i.tudes. Confident, they say. Confident of what? G.o.d's sake, they can't possibly be confident of anything, far less of themselves. Trust us, they say. I'd sooner trust the inmates of a lunatic asylum.'

'Treasonable talk, Lieutenant van Effen, treasonable talk. I could have you incarcerated for this.' De Graaf sighed. 'Trouble is, I'd have to incarcerate myself along with you, as I agree with every word you say. If the government honestly believes that the people will take their meaningless a.s.sertions at face value, then they're in an even worse case than I thought. Which, I may add, I didn't think was possible. They are in an impossible situation: do you think it even remotely possible that they don't recognize this?'

'They'll recognize it all right. just as soon as they begin to think in terms of political survival. If they bury their heads in the sand they'll be turfed out of power within a week. An acute concern about preserving the status quo - their status quo - can work wonders. They have already blundered by having the commentator say that they have been requested - not ordered -to discuss the affair. They have been ordered, not requested, otherwise the commentator, the news-reader, would not have used the term "outrageous demand". There's nothing outrageous in their demand. It's the demands that will be made when the meeting takes place - as, of course, it will do - that will almost certainly be outrageous.' 'Any discussion about this matter can only be speculative,' the Colonel said heavily. 'So it's not worth the speculation. We have other and more urgent matters to attend to.'

'There's a matter I should be attending to at this moment,' van Effen said. 'I have an appointment at the Trianon. Well, a kind of appointment. There's a fellow there who will be expecting me but doesn't know that I'm expecting him. One of Agnelli's stake-outs. He's expecting to see me in my full criminal regalia - he's under the impression that I've been a sleep all afternoon, which might have been no bad thing - and I mustn't disappoint him.'

The phone rang. De Graaf answered it and handed it to van Effen. 'Yes. Yes, Lieutenant van Effen ... I'll wait ... Why should I?' He held the phone some inches from his ear. 'Some clown advising me to avoid damage to my ear-drums and to -' He broke off as a High-pitched scream, a feminine scream, not of fear but of agony, came from the earpiece. Van Effen jammed the phone against his ear, listened for a few seconds then hung up. De Graaf said: 'What in G.o.d's name was that?'

'Julie. At least that's what the man said. Well, his words were: "Your sister is a bit slow in co-operating. We'll call again when she does. "' 'Torture,' the Colonel said. His voice was steady but his eyes were mad. 'Torturing my Julie.'

Van Effen smiled faintly. 'Mine, too, remember? Possibly. The Annecy brothers' speciality. But it was just a shade too crude, too pat, too theatrical.'

'G.o.d, Peter, she's your sister!'

:Yes, sir. I'll remind the brothers of that when I meet them.' Trace the call, man! Trace the call!'

'No point, sir. I have good ears. I could just detect the faint overlay hiss of a recorder. That could have come from anywhere. And it's what makes me think it's a phoney put-together job.'

'Then why the devil was the call made?'

'Two reasons, perhaps, although I can only guess at the first. I don't think they thought that I would even suspect that the call was not what it purported to be, that I would be so upset over my sister's kidnapping that ! would take anything in its connection at face value. Second thing, of course, is that they're not after Julie, they're after me. This - at least to their highly suspect way of psychological reasoning - is part of the softening-up process.'

De Graaf sat in silence, rose, poured himself another Van der Hum, returned to his seat, thought some more then said: 'I hardly like to bring up this point, Lieutenant, but has it occurred to you that next time, or maybe the time after next, the Annecys may decide to abandon the psychological approach and say: "Surrender to us, Lieutenant van Effen, or your sister will cbe and we'll see to it that she dies very very slowly." 'Would you do it-'

'Do what?'

'Give yourself up to them?'

'Of course. My appointment at the Trianon is overdue, sir. If there is any message for me, would you call me there. Stephan Danilov, if you remember. How long do you intend to re

here, sir?'

'Until I see those maps or charts or whatever that Sergeant Oudshoorn found, and until I can get Lieutenant Valken here to take over. I'll put him in the picture as L-r as I can.'

'You have all the facts, sir.'

'One would hope so,'de Graaf said rather enigmatically. When van Effen had gone, Thyssen said curiously: 'I know it's not my place to speak, sir, but would the Lieutenant really do that?' 'Do what?'

'Give himself up.'

'You heard the Lieutenant.'

'But - but that would be suicide, 'Thyssen seemed almost agitated. 'That would be the end of him.'

'It would be the end of someone, and that's a fact.' De Graaf didn't seem overly concerned.

Van Effen returned, via the rear entrance, to his room in the Trianon, called the desk and asked for Charles.

'Charles? Van Effen. Has our friend returned? ... Good. He will, I know, be in a position to hear every word you say. Kindly say the following into the phone. "Certainly, Mr Danilov. Coffee immediately and not to be disturbed afterwards. Expecting a visitor at six-thirty." Let me know when he's gone.'

Some thirty seconds later Charles called to inform him that the lobby was now empty.