'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 d.y.k.es.' 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 b.u.t.ton. 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 b.u.t.ton for illumination that picks out the wave-lengths very easily indeed.'

Van Effen nodded, stretched out on a bed and closed his eyes.

George woke van Effen at 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.'

'Suits me fine. That barn wasn't built yesterday and old floor-boards in old lofts tend to creak. With ram like this drumming on the roof he won't be able to hear a thing. Besides, judging from George's general description, the sentry is probably half deaf anyway.' He strapped on his Smith and Wesson, shrugged into his jacket and put the aerosol can in one pocket and the hooded torch in the other.

'Velvet gloves,' George said.

Vasco said: 'What's that?'

'Silenced pistol and a knockout gas canister. That's what he calls velvet gloves.'

Van Effen dug into an inside pocket, brought out a small leather wallet, unzipped it, took out the metallic contents, examined them, then returned them to the wallet and pocket.

'Skeleton keys and picklocks,'George said approvingly. 'No self-respecting detective should be without them.'

Vasco said: 'What happens if you don't come back, sir?' 'I shall be back. It's five past ten now. I should be back by ten-thirty. If I'm not back by eleven go downstairs. Say nothing. No doom laden speeches, no warnings that their end is nigh. Kill Samuelson. Cripple the Agnelli brothers and Daniken, and, if Riordan is there, him also. Remove all weapons of course and one of you keep an eye on them and make sure that n.o.body tries to stagger out of the room and summon help while the other gets the girls. As your guns are silenced, there should be no interruptions. Then get the h.e.l.l out of it. If anyone gets in your way, you know what to do.'

'I see.' Vasco looked and sounded more than slightly shocked. 'And how do we get the h.e.l.l out of it?'

Van Effen touched the pocket where he had replaced his wallet of skeleton keys and picklocks. 'What do you think those are for?' 'Ah. The army truck.'

'Indeed. As soon as you get under way, call up the army or the cops. Give them the approximate location of this place - we know it's somewhere between Leerdam and Gorinchen - and leave the rest to them.' Vasco said: 'They might try to escape by helicopter.' 'You have the alternative of shooting Daniken in both shoulders or taking him with you. I'm virtually certain that none of this will happen. I don't want it to happen and that's not primarily because by the time it happens I'll probably be dead. It would be a confession of failure and I don't like being a.s.sociated with failure. It would be a most unsatisfactory conclusion: in fact, it would be no conclusion at all. Samuelson has another headquarters and, as we have agreed, other a.s.sociates: O'Brien has almost certainly departed this evening to a.s.sociate with those other a.s.sociates. Even although I doubt it, some of those a.s.sociates may - I repeat may - be in a position to carry out his plans to a successful conclusion.' He opened the window. 'Back at ten-thirty.' He slid down the two knotted sheets and vanished into the shadows.

George and Vasco went into the darkened bathroom. Vasco said: 'He is a cold-blooded b.a.s.t.a.r.d, isn't he?'

George said: 'Um.'

'But he's a killer. "

'I know he has killed and would do so again. But he's very selective, is our Peter. n.o.body who has ever departed this world and at his hands has ever been mourned by society.'

Four minutes later Vasco caught George by the arm. 'See?' They saw. The sentry had just taken a long swig from his bottle, laid it on the floor beside him, clasped his hands over his rug and appeared to relapse into some kind of yoga-like contemplation. The shadow that had loomed behind him resolved itself into the unmistakable form of van Effen, whose right hand curved round and held the aerosol can an inch or two from the .sentry's face for a period of not more than two seconds. He then pocketed the aerosol, hooked his hands under the man's knees and eased him forward several inches to ensure that he wouldn't topple sideways from his armchair, picked up a bottle from the floor, poured some of the contents over the sentry's face, emptied the remainder of the contents over the front of his clothes, wrapped the fingers of the unconscious man's right hand round the bottle, thrust hand and bottle partly under the rug, tightened the rug to ensure that hand and bottle would remain where they were then vanished into the gloom.

'Well, now,' Vasco said, 'there's one character who isn't going to report himself for dereliction of duty because of dropping off into a drunken slumber.'

'Our Peter doesn't do things by halves. Let's see now. A two-second burst. He should come to in about half an hour. Peter explained those things to me once.'

'Won't he know he has been drugged?'

'That's the beauty of it! Leaves no trace. That apart, what would you think if you woke up with your clothes reeking of schnapps or whatever and your hand clasped round an empty bottle?'

The stairs, broad and very creaking and just behind where the sentry slept, led directly to the floor of the barn, now converted into a temporary garage. Torch in hand, van Effen descended quickly, loosed the bolts on the retaining half of the entrance door and turned his attention to the army truck. The exterior was as it had been except that the number plates had been changed. He then wriggled under the truck, sc.r.a.ped clear an area on the underside of the cha.s.sis just forward of the rear axle and attached to it the magnetic clamp of the metallic device which Vasco had removed from the bar of soap. Thirty seconds later he was in the driver's seat and through to the Marnixstraat. 'Put me through to Colonel de Graaf, please.'