Van Effen pulled back the curtain and said: ‘Ah, there you are, Joop. Keeping a good watch, I see.’ Joop’s good watch lasted for all of another two seconds before he slumped to the floor. Van Effen produced his Smith and Wesson, waved it in the general direction of Kathleen and Maria and sliced Annemarie’s and Julie’s bonds free. He raised both girls to their feet, helped them free their gags, and, gun still in hand, put his arms round their shoulders. ‘My beloved sister. And my dear dear Annemarie.’ The eyes of Kathleen and Maria were as round as the proverbial saucers. ‘You took your time about it, didn’t you,’ Julie said. There were tears in her eyes.
‘Gratitude was ever thus,’ van Effen sighed. ‘There were problems.’ ‘It’s over?’ Annemarie whispered. ‘It’s all over?’
‘All over.’
‘I love you.’
‘I’ll have you repeat that when you are in a more normal state of mind.’
The two seated girls were still staring at them. Kathleen said: ‘Your brother?’ Her voice was husky, her voice disbelieving. ‘My brother,’ Julie said. ‘Peter van Effen. Senior detective lieutenant of the Amsterdam police force.’
‘It’s a nasty shock, I will admit,’ van Effen said. ‘There may be an even nastier one awaiting you. There are those whom you might like to see or who might like to see you. When they wake up, that is.’
All of the FFF were still sound asleep, bound hand and foot, or in the process of being so bound.
‘Not bad, not bad,’ van Effen said. ‘And what else have you been doing with your time?’
‘Would you listen to him,’ Vasco said. He tightened, with unmistakable enthusiasm, the last knot on the rope binding Samuelson’s legs. ‘To start with, half the police cars and vans in Rotterdam and Dordrecht should be on the dam inside fifteen minutes. I thought that up all by myself.’ ‘A promising officer, as I said.’ Van Effen turned to Kathleen, who was staring at her father, her face ashen with shock and fear. ‘Why, Kathleen?’
Instead of replying, she reached inside her handbag and brought out a small pearl-handed gun. ‘You’re not going to take Mr Samuelson. You didn’t know he was my father.’
‘Yes, Kathleen, I did.’
‘You did?’ Her voice faltered. ‘How did you know?’
‘Julie told me.’
Julie stepped between the gun and van Effen. ‘You’ll have to shoot me first, won’t you, Kathleen. I’m not being brave because I know you could never do it.’
Vasco moved quietly forward, removed the gun from the suddenly nerveless hand and replaced it in her handbag.
Van Effen said again: ‘Why, Kathleen?’
‘I suppose it will all come out, won’t it?’ She was crying openly now. Vasco put an arm around her trembling shoulders and instead of resisting she seemed to lean against him. ‘My father is English. He was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Guards, not under that name. His father was an Earl, who left him a fortune. His sons, my brothers, went to Sandhurst. Both were killed in Northern Ireland, one a lieutenant, the other a second lieutenant. My mother was killed by a renegade off-shoot of the IRA. He’s never been the same man since.’
‘I guessed as much. He may be tried in this country or be extradited by the British.’ Van Effen sounded as tired as he undoubtedly felt. ‘In either case, diminished responsibility will apply.’
‘You mean he’s mad?’ she whispered.
‘I’m no doctor. Some kind of temporary derangement, I should imagine. Tell me, Maria, had either Romero or Leonardo anything to do with the murder of my wife and children?’
‘No, no, no! I swear it. They wouldn’t hurt a fly. My two other brothers in prison. I know they arranged it. They are hateful, evil men. I will testify to that in court. I promise.’
‘That could mean another five or ten years to their sentence.’ ‘I hope they remain there till they die.’
‘No charges will be brought against you and Kathleen. Accessories are one thing, accessories under duress another. Vasco, be so kind as to release that young lady and put a call through to Uncle Arthur. Tell him all. George, take those four ladies, out for a restorative. There’s bound to be a suitable supply in their mess or canteen or whatever. If not, the helicopter is not exactly bereft. Beware of suicide attempts.’ Julie said; ‘I don’t think that anyone is going to commit suicide.’ ‘Your feminine intuition, I suppose. Well, I agree. And, George, you could bring something back here. I feel very weak.’
George smiled and ushered the four girls from the control room. Vasco was two minutes on the telephone then turned to van Effen, his hand over the mouthpiece. ‘I believe Uncle Arthur would like a word with you. May I — ah — join the ladies?’
‘By all means. ‘van Effen picked up the phone as he heard the first sound of screaming police sirens. Colonel de Graaf ‘s congratulations were fulsome in the extreme. So were those of Vieringa, who eventually handed him back to de Graaf.
Van Effen said: ‘I am, Colonel de Graaf, becoming tired of being the handmaiden who does all the dirty washing for you. I want a new job, increased salary, or both.’
‘You shall have both, my boy. An increased salary is inevitably what goes with my job.’ He coughed. ‘Six months, say? A year?’
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALISTAIR MACLEAN, the son of a Scots Minister, was brought up in the Scottish Highlands. In 1941 at the age of eighteen, he joined the Royal Navy; two-and-a half years spent aboard a cruiser was later to give him the background for HMS Ulysses, his first novel, the outstanding documentary novel on the war at sea. After the war, he gained an English Honours degree at Glasgow University, and became a school master. In 1983, he was awarded a D.Litt. from the same university.
Alistair MacLean is now recognized to be the outstanding writer of our time in his own genre. He has written over twenty world bestsellers. Many have been filmed — Force 10 from Navarone The Guns of Navarone, Where Eagles Dare and Bear Island are among the most famous.