Floodgate (38 page)

As they came to a halt at the red light, Gropious and his two men, all three trailing machine-pistols in their left hands, approached the stolen army truck, Gropious going to the front of the truck and his two men to the rear. Ylvisaker opened his door.
'What's all this then, Corporal?'
'Colonel' An embarrassed Gropious, perceptibly stiffening, executed as military a salute as could be expected from a slovenly corporal. 'Colonel. If I had known -'
Ylvisaker smiled tolerantly. 'What is it, Corporal?' 'Orders, sir. We are under instructions to stop and examine all vehicles, army trucks included, which may be carrying illegally obtained weapons. We were given the registration number of one particular army truck. This is not the one.'
Ylvisaker displayed some mild interest. 'Are you searching for anything in particular?'
'Missiles, sir. Ground-to-ground and ground-to-air missiles. I must admit, sir, that I don't even know what they look like except that they're copper coloured and over two metres long.' 'Duty is duty, Corporal. I see you have two men at the rear. Instruct them to open up and search. just, you know, for the records.' Gropious gave the instructions, the rear doors were opened and no missiles were found.
'My apologies, Colonel,' Gropious said. He hesitated, then produced a notebook and pencil. 'My instructions are to make a note of the identification of every person passing through this check-point.'
Ylvisaker reached inside his uniform jacket. Gropious said: 'No, no, sir. In your case, no papers are necessary. just your name, Colonel.' 'Ylvisaker.'
'Colonel Ylvisaker.' Rather laboriously, Gropious wrote down the name in his notebook. How ironic, he thought, that such a confrontation should occur between a lieutenant-colonel posing as a fake corporal and a civilian - and criminal - posing as a lieutenant-colonel. He put his notebook away and lifted his machine-pistol at the same instant as his two soldiers at the rear of the truck.
'Move,'Gropious said, 'and you're dead.'
No sooner had Gropious and his men brought Ylvisaker and his two men out on to the roadside than Sergeant Druckmann's car drew -up behind them. Druckmann and his men got out, Druckmann carrying a considerable number of metal objects in his hand. Druckmann looked at the scruffy corporal with the straggling blond locks and said hesitantly: 'Colonel Gropious?' 'it is indeed.' Gropious removed his hat, took off his wig and threw it beyond the roadside. 'Those damn things itch.'
Druckmann said: 'Congratulations, sir.'
Gropious, who without his wig now looked remarkably like a lieutenant-colonel, shook his hand warmly. 'And the very same to you, Sergeant. Your name, please? All I know is that all the police cars were manned by sergeants.'
:Druckmann, Colonel.'
An excellent piece of work, Sergeant Druckmann. Most professional. And what, may I enquire, is all that. ironmongery you're carrying?' 'Handcuffs and leg irons, sir. I understand that those are not standard army issue.'
'Splendid. Kindly have one of your men attach them at once.' He turned to one of his soldiers. 'Instruct all patrols to return to base. I suggest, Sergeant Druckmann, that you instruct one of your men to do the same for the police cars. Emphasising, of course, the need for complete secrecy.'
'At once, Colonel. But there is no need to emphasize secrecy. All of us, myself included, have been threatened by Colonel de Graaf with the equivalent of Devil's Island.'
'Ah! Our redoubtable Chief of Police in Amsterdam.' 'Yes, sir. Whose prisoners are those - yours or ours?' 'They are now the property of the nation. We will drive to my base, call up Mr Wieringa, the Defence Minister, and Colonel de Graaf and see what is to be done with them. Meantime, let's have a look at Ylvisaker's truck - well, his stolen truck.'
Inside the truck Druckmann said: 'I really know very little about what's going on. Those three men are FFF?'
'They are indeed and they face three charges. The first is impersonating army officers. The second is being in possession of a stolen army vehicle.' Gropious opened the lids of the two fake long-range petrol tanks to reveal the squat, cylindrical shapes of two bronze-coloured metal objects. 'The third, of course, is to have them explain how come they are transporting a couple of nuclear bombs along the roads of our fair countryside.'
The lids were lowered and they stepped outside. Druckmann said: 'May I smoke in the Colonel's presence?'
'The Colonel is about to do the same.'
After a few moments, Druckmann said: 'Well, all right. I volunteer.' Gropious smiled. 'To drive this truck to base?'
'I'm a fearful coward, Colonel. I shall take great care.' 'I have a great deal of time for fearful cowards, sergeant. By the time we get there we shall have two US experts from Germany standing by to de-activate those damned things. I shall lead the way, red lights flashing and all that sort of thing, you will follow close behind and your police car will follow close behind you. You have this consolation, Sergeant Druckmann. If you're vaporized, we're all vaporized.' The time was 9.27 a.m.
At precisely 9.27 a.m. Daniken touched down outside another isolated windmill-cum-farmhouse, considerably larger than the one they had so recently left. Two men and two women, umbrellas in hand, came hurrying out to meet them. It was clear that Samuelson and his friends, judging from the smiles on the faces of the four, were not only known and welcome but also expected. With the power shut off the interior of the gunship was almost deathly quiet. Van Effen said to Agnelli: 'Well, yes, you do have a certain gift for organization.'
Agnelli smiled and said nothing.
The living-room of the windmill, which had a similar veranda outside, was considerably larger and even more luxurious than the one they had left behind, There were ten people in the room - Samuelson and the Agnelli brothers, van Effen and his friends and the four girls. Daniken, van Effen guessed, was presumably parking - and concealing - his helicopter in a nearby barn. Riordan had gone upstairs, no doubt to indulge in another bout of meditation and prayer.
Samuelson, relaxed in an armchair before a crackling wood fire, sighed like a man well content with himself.
'Clockwork, my friends, just clockwork. The penultimate stage successfully completed. I know it's still relatively early in the morning, but, then, we shall be having an early lunch. Something in the nature of a soupfon of jonge jenever, I think.'
'An early lunch?' van Effen said. 'We are moving on?' 'Just after two o'clock.' Samuelson gestured towards a TV set. 'After we've seen what happens in the Markerwaard.'
'I see.' Van Effen made it abundantly clear that he didn't see at all. 'Well, wherever.' He shrugged. 'How many of those establishment do you own in the Netherlands?'
'None. The owners of this house, for instance, are presently basking in the sunshine of the Bahamas. The Golden Gate pays well. This, as you are aware, is the dead season for farming. A local farmer, also well rewarded, looks after the cattle and sheep. There are no problems. Do you know where you are, Mr Danilov?'
'I haven't the faintest idea.' Long experience had taught van Effen to he with total conviction: he knew exactly where he was.
'After so short a flight, still somewhere in Holland. Does it matter?' 'You are a singularly incurious person. We are in the vicinity of Middelharnis. You know of it?'
'Middelharnis?' Van Effen frowned then said: 'Over Flakkee.' Samuelson smiled, nodded and said nothing.
Van Effen set down the glass that Leonardo had just given him. His face was stonily bleak and his eyes very cold.
'The Haringvliet,' he whispered. 'You're after the Haringvliet.' He had been well aware of this for some quite considerable time. The Haringvliet dam was variously referred to as the valve or the sluice gate of Holland. It blocked the entry to the Haringvliet estuary and many waterways beyond. In the late spring and early summer, when the snows in the Alps, Germany and France melted,-it diverted the waters from the swollen Rhine, Waal and Maas rivers past Rotterdam and into the New Waterway which joined the North Sea at Europort simply by keeping its massive hydraulically operated, electrically powered gates closed. It could also, when the level of the river water rose too high, and the level of the North Sea was considerably lower, release water directly into the North Sea simply by opening as many of its gates as was deemed necessary. At this time of the year, however, with the river water shrunk to its lowest level, its main task was to keep out the North Sea except at the very latest of neap tides. The flooding, the damage and the deaths that would inevitably result from the destruction of the sluice gate of Holland were incalculable.
'Yes, Mr Danilov.' Samuelson must have been convinced that his life was in danger, but he remained outwardly calm. 'I am, as you say, after the Haringvliet.'
Van Effen nodded just once, briefly. 'Hence the nuclear weapons. I hope to God they detonate en route and blast Ylvisaker and his friends into outer space.'
'A most uncharitable wish, to say the least.' Samuelson sipped his drink: if he was perturbed, he hid the fact uncommonly well. 'I see you are wearing your Smith and Wesson, Mr Danilov. I have no doubt your friends are similarly armed. Romero, Leonardo and I carry no arms - it's a point of principle with us. If you choose to shoot me, there's nothing I can do about it. But wouldn't you consider it rather unfair to shoot a man merely because you're labouring under a vast misapprehension?' Samuelson seemed to be positively enjoying himself. 'Go on.'
'The nuclear devices are most definitely not intended for use on the Haringvliet dam and this for three reasons. Firstly, I don't relish the prospect of vaporizing myself. Secondly I want the sluice gates to remain intact and in perfect working order. Thirdly, I intend to take over the dam.'
Van Effen sipped his drink in silence for a few moments, as if to take time out for thinking. Not only had he known that the Haringvliet was Samuelson's target, he'd been equally convinced that Samuelson had had no intention of destroying it.
'How very ambitious. And how do you intend to set about this takeover?' 'It's already half done. About forty hours ago a skilled electrician carried out a very delicate and ail but undetectable job of sabotaging three turbo-generators.'
'The devil he did. He was an employee?'
'Naturally.'
'And Dutch?'
'Yes. Twenty thousand dollars, I've always found, has a most profound influence on even the most patriotic of souls. Besides, he had no idea what we had in mind. He, of course, was given the opportunity to trace the source of those faults and when he failed they called in experts from Rotterdam. Those four are currently lodged m a cellar beneath us. They are being well fed and cared for as you can see for yourself any time you wish.'
'That will not be necessary. And then, of course, you sent in your own four experts.'
'Yes. Alas, all four have criminal records and have served prism sentences but they have the saving virtue that they are probably the four best safe-crackers in the country. They also have a considerable knowledge of electrics.'
'Such men could not have been easy to come by,' van Effen said. He paused then said: 'Wrong. They could have been easily come by.' He looked at Romero Agnelli. 'Your brothers in prison, of course. They must have the names and track records of every outstanding - by their standards - criminal in the country.'
'They are very able men,' Samuelson said, 'but better at safe-cracking; than electrics.'
'Their purpose being, of course,' van Effen said, 'to locate and deactivate all the alarm systems in the dam - pressure pads, rays, panic buttons and whatever, Also to discover the location of both on-duty and off-duty guards.'
'Not to deactivate. Not yet. Might not even be necessary,' Agnelli said. 'The rest, yes. There were one or two points about which they were uncertain so they asked permission to bring in the best turbo-generator experts in the country.'
Van Effen nodded. 'And, of course, they got the best expert in a totally different field. O'Brien. Very clever, I must admit.' Samuelson waved a hand. 'All Romero's work. He would have made an excellent divisional officer. Has O'Brien returned, by the way?' Leonardo left the room and returned with an O'Brien who was totally unlike his real self owing to the fact that he had acquired a beard and a moustache.
'Sorry about this,' O'Brien said. Wincing more than slightly he tore off both moustache and beard. 'As I'm going aboard with you, I thought the sudden transformation of a civil= engineer into a Dutch army sergeant-major might have caused some eyebrow raising.' Samuelson said: 'How is everything?'
'Ready to go,' O'Brien said.
'One point,'George said. 'How are we to recognize those four - ah - colleagues you have on the dam. We don't want to point guns at the wrong people.'
'A good point,'Agnelli said. 'All four are dressed in very light blue overalls.'
'And carrying only tools in their tool-bags?'
'The odd pistol. A few gas grenades. Useful things like that.'
'I'd like some of those,' van Effen said. 'Gas grenades, I mean. In a small satchel or suitcase. Like Mr Samuelson, I'm averse to unnecessary violence and the people on the dam are, after all, my adopted countrymen. If it's necessary to restrain any of them I'd much rather do it with a whiff of gas rather than a bullet.'
'My sentiments exactly,' Samuelson said. 'You shall have them.' 'One further point,' van Effen said. 'How are you going to account for the presence of two civilians in an army group?'
'Aha!' Samuelson smiled broadly. 'Civilians, but not just ordinary civilians. You are two senior members of the Amsterdam police specialist anti-terrorist squad. That should fit the bill rather nicely, don't you think?'
'That's nice,' van Effen said. 'I always wanted to be a policeman. How do you propose to gain entrance to the dam, Mr Samuelson?' 'Nothing simpler. We land on the roadway on the dam. First, of course, we send a radio message to the dam to the effect that there is a suspicion, nothing more, that the FFF may be thinking of making an attack on the dam either from the sea or from the river side and that patrol boats will be approaching from the river side and a destroyer from the sea side. We, of course, shall be there first - it's only a few minutes flying time from here. They will be ordered to maintain complete radio silence - no transmissions, no receptions.'
"Me simplicity of true genius,' van Effen said. 'You have your nerve. The young ladies, of course, remain behind?'