Joachim looked and failed to hide the revulsion in his face. 'That's - that's awful! I couldn't - I mean - how can you bear to go about like that.'

'I don't have much option. It's the only left hand I've got.' Joachim said: 'You'd better put your glove back on. There's nothing I - nothing anyone can do about that.'

'Time to go,' Agnelli said. 'Helmut, we'll meet you and the others down in the Dam in about half an hour, perhaps forty minutes. Don't forget the radio.'

'The radio?' van Effen said. 'You're going to operate the radio in this monsoon?'

'We have a mini-bus. Where's the key to the radio?' 'In my pocket,' van Effen said. 'I thought it might be safer there.' 'I'm sure you're right.'

They left, taking the metal cases with them. Agnelli stopped at a door close to the entrance, opened it, went inside. He reappeared, leading a Dobermann pinscher which had about it the homicidal appearance shared by many members of its breed: it was, rea.s.suringly, muzzled. 'Is that animal as fierce as it looks?' van Effen asked. 'I've had the good fortune never to find out. However, he's not here for the purposes of either defence or attack. Dobermann pinschers can be trained to smell out explosives. Use them at airports. Fact.' 'I know it's a fact. Has this dog been so trained?' 'Quite frankly, I have no idea. For ail I know, his olfactory nerves may be completely paralysed"

'I'm beginning to believe that you might even get off with this,' van Effen said.

They made the best time they could through the drenching rain and were back at the spot where they had parked the Volvo in the Voorburgwal. Van Effen had his hand on the door when he realised that it was not, in fact, the car in which they had arrived: it was' unmistakably, a police car. Van Effen got into the back seat beside Agnelli and said: 'You leave your own car here and come back and find a police car in its place. You know, 1 now do believe that you are going to get off with it after all. You do have your -organization.'

'Organization is all,' said Agnelli.

Everything went off as Agnelli had confidently expected. They were expected at the palace and their credentials received only the most cursory inspection: they and the car were so obviously official that a more detailed examination could only have seemed superfluous: besides, it was raining very heavily indeed and the guards were very anxious indeed to get back to the shelter just as soon as they could. Agnelli led them to a doorway which was so completely shrouded in darkness that he had to use a pencil torch to locate the keyhole of a door, at keyhole for which, as he had promised, he had the key. He also had a succession of keys which he used two flights of stairs down to open a succession of cellars. He knew the location of every door, every light switch.

'You lived here?' van Effen asked.

'I've been here a couple of times. One has to be fairly meticulous about these things.' He led the way through a completely empty cellar into another equally bare cellar and said: 'This is the place. Not too difficult, was it?'

'I find it hard to believe,' van Effen said. 'They do have security systems here?'

'Excellent ones, I'm told. But security is a relative term. There is no security net that can't be breached. Look at Buckingham Palace for instance. One of the tightest security shields in the world but as has been proved several times in the past year or so any semi-intelligent person - and, indeed, as has also been proved, those of a considerably lower IQ - can go in and out whenever they feel so inclined. Well, Mr Daniov, it's yours.'

'Alinutes, only. Open this far door for me - if you have the key.' Agnelli had the key. Van Effen produced a tape and proceeded to measure the thickness of the walls. He said: 'How come all those cellars are so empty?'

'They weren't a few days ago. They were pretty well filled with old furniture, archives, things that you expect to collect in a royal palace over the years. Not that we were concerned with the well-being of those antiquities, most of which were just ancient rubbish anyway. It was no part of our plan to b.u.m the palace down.'

Van Effen nodded, said nothing, went out - accompanied by Agnelli - and climbed a flight of steps to work out the thickness of the ceiling. He returned to the cellar, made a few calculations on a piece of paper then said: 'We'll use the lot. Those walls are stouter than I would have expected. But the resulting bang should still be quite satisfactory.' 'Always a pleasure to watch an expert at work,' Agnelli said. 'No more than it is to watch a journeyman brick-layer at work. He does his five years' apprenticeship. I've done mine.'

'There's a difference, I suggest, between dropping a brick and dropping a detonator.'

'A skilled tradesman never drops anything.' Van Effen busied himself for not more than two minutes, then said: 'I think I recall you saying that you did have the duplicate keys for the cellars we've just pa.s.sed through?'

'I did and I have.'

'So no one else can get near this place?' Agnelli shook his head. 'So. Finished.'

Their departure was no more eventful than their arrival had been. Less than ten minutes after van Effen had inserted the detonator into the primer they parked their car just behind a dimly lit mini-bus. As they stepped out a figure emerged from the shadows. He came up to Agnelli. 'All well, sir?'

'No problem, John.'

'Goodnight, sir.' The man got into the police car and drove off. ,More organization,' van Effen said. 'Formidable.'

The five people they had left in the room close by the Voorburgwal were all seated in the mini-bus which, being a fourteen seater, was considerably larger than its name suggested. Van Effen and Agnelli sat in the wide seat in the back.

Van Effen said: 'May one ask how long you expect to wait here?' 'Of course.' Agnelli had become more than his usual smiling self in the past few minutes: He was now positively jovial. He had shown no signs of strain inside the palace but strain there must inevitably have been. 'Not quite sure myself, to be honest. A few minutes, perhaps. Certainly no more than twenty. But first, one must beware lurking and suspicious policemen. Leonardo? Catch.'

He threw something to his brother then stood up himself and shrugged his way into a long grey raincoat. Then he sat, reached below the seat, pulled out a machine which looked like and was a radio transceiver, flicked a switch which made a red light glow, then brought up a headband with one earphone, which he draped over his knee: he reached down again and brought up a microphone the lead of which was, presumably, attached to the transceiver.

'Sorry I have to keep you waiting,'he said, almost apologetically. 'But I, in turn, have to wait a call.'

'More organization,' van Effen said. 'Quite admirable. But there is one area in which your organization falls down.'

'Inevitably.' Agnelli smiled. 'In what respect?'

'No heating in this vehicle.'

'An oversight. Maria?'

'It's by the radio.'

Agnelli reached under the seat and, not without some effort, brought up a large wicker basket which he placed on the seat between van Effen and himself. He opened the lid to reveal a rather splendidly appointed picnic basket.

'What you would have expected, Mr Danilov. A picnic basket for the Sunday-school picnickers. If we cannot have external warmth at least we can provide some of the internal variety.' The contents of the basket tended to bear out his claim. Apart from two rows of gleaming gla.s.ses and packets of sandwiches neatly wrapped in cellophane, it held a very Promising variety of bottles. 'We thought we might have something to celebrate this evening,' he said, again almost apologetically, 'and I do think we have. A schnapps, perhaps, Mr Danilov?'

Van Effen said: 'I unreservedly withdraw my remarks about your organization.'

Agnelli hadn't even had time to begin to pour the schnapps when the transceiver buzzer rang. He clamped on the headpiece and acknowledged the call then listened in silence for almost a minute. Then he said: 'Yes, they are foolish. They have no place to go. So a little persuasion to tip the balance? Call me back in one minute.' He took off the headpiece. 'WeLl, who's the volunteer to press the b.u.t.ton?' There were no volunteers. 'Well, then, I suggest you, Mr Danilov. You're the man who prepared the charges so, of course, we'll all blame you if the explosion turns out to be a damp squib or, alternatively, the palace falls down, so perhaps it's only fitting that you press the b.u.t.ton also. That way the rest of us will all feel blameless while you -,

He wasn't given time to complete his sentence. Van Effen stabbed the b.u.t.ton and less than two seconds later, deep and m.u.f.fled like a distant underwater explosion but very unmistakable for all that - to anyone with normal hearing, the sound must have been audible up to a kilometre away - the reverberation from the detonating amatol rolled across the square. Van Effen took the bottle from Agnelli's unresisting hand - Agnelli, not smiling and with lips parted, seemed to be seeing something very far away - and poured himself a schnapps.

'Seems I'll just have to congratulate myself. A nice loud bang but the royal walls still stand. As guaranteed. My health.' 'That was splendid,'Agnelli said warmly. He was back on his own usual smiling balance again. 'Perfectly splendid, Mr Danilov. And no damage after all that noise. Unbelievable.'

'Perhaps a little royal wine spilt on the royal table-cloth.' Van Effen made a dismissive gesture. 'I don't want to seem unduly modest - not in my nature, really - but that was next to nothing. Next time - if there is a next time - something a little more demanding perhaps.' 'There'll be a next time. That I promise. And a little more exacting. That I also promise.' He paused to sip some schnapps as the others, obviously excited and elated, turned to congratulate van Effen, then held up a hand for silence as the buzzer rang again.

'Ah! You heard it also, did you? Very, very satisfactory. Mr Danilov is a man of his word. 'He was silent for almost a minute then said: 'Yes, I agree. I'd been thinking along those lines myself. Most fortuitous, most ... Thank you. Ten o'clock then.'

He replaced headpiece and microphone, then leaned back in his seat. 'Well, now, time to relax.'

'You relax,' van Effen said. 'Not me. If you're not moving on, I am.' He made to get up and a puzzled Agnelli caught his arm. 'What is wrong?'

'There's nothing wrong with me. It's just, as I've told you, that I've got a very acute sense of self-preservation. As soon as the police come to their senses - if they ever lost them, they're a pretty efficient bunch hereabouts - they're going to start questioning everyone within eyesight of the palace. I should imagine - no, I'm certain - that a minibus with eight odd characters such as us parked in a rainstorm in the Dam would be a prime target for questioning.' He shrugged off Agnelli's hand and rose. 'I've an acute aversion to being questioned by the police. A criminal - and we are criminals - has to be some kind of r.e.t.a.r.ded lunatic to remain in the vicinity of his crime.'

'Sit down. You're right, of course. Foolish of me - one should never let one's guard down. Helmut?'

Paderiwski, who was obviously in full agreement with van Effen, drove off at once.

Back in the room they had so recently vacated, Agnelli sank into an armchair. 'Thank you, ladies, thank you. Schnapps would be fine. Now, perhaps, Mr Danilov, we can relax.'

'Safer than where we were. But relax? For me, no. Still too close. Instinct? Plain cowardice? I just don't know. Anyway, I have an appointment tonight. Nine-thirty.'

Agnelli smiled. 'You were pretty sure that you were going to keep that appointment?'

'I never had any reason to doubt it. No, that's not quite accurate. I never had reason to doubt that the arranging of the explosion was a simple matter. I had ample reason to question your ability to get us in and out undetected. But, then, I had no reason beforehand to be aware of your rather remarkable organizational ability. I'll have no doubts about you again.'