"Why didn't she phone me?"
"Because there's no telephone yet installed where she is. You know how difficult it is to get a phone these days—the majority of applicants wait years…"
"Where is she?"
"With friends. I have a car here to take you to her."
"Very well then," the Professor agreed, and took coat and hat from the clothes rack in the entrance hail. "I'm ready. Let's go."
"The apparatus, sir," the stranger reminded him. "You've forgotten it."
"How stupid of me to forget!" the scientist retorted. "If you care to come along with me, we'll fetch it from my laboratory."
When they reached the heavy steel door to the laboratory, Professor Novak placed himself close to it in order to prevent the stranger observing the combination of the lock. His hands were trembling and it took longer than usual to open the door. As they stepped into the laboratory, he wiped thick beads of sweat from his forehead and said in a weak voice:
"Excuse me if I sit down a while, I'm suddenly dizzy. Probably the excitement..."
"Don't worry, sir," said the stranger understandingly. "Take your time. Would you like a cigarette?"
"No, thank you. I'll be all right in a minute or two..."
The minute or two stretched to almost ten minutes. Suddenly the stillness of the laboratory was disturbed by hard boots running inside the villa and shouted commands. Uniformed State Security men, pistols drawn, rushed into the laboratory and handcuffed the stranger before he could protest. When he had been led away, the officer in charge said;
"What happened, Professor?"
The scientist relayed the details of the incident, handed the officer his daughter's letter and added:
"The handwriting is my daughter's, I am certain, but it's not her style of writing. She never calls me 'papa', and why would she ask me to come and see her with the apparatus? I thought it best to call you.
The easiest way of doing it was not to disconnect the alarm system before setting the combination of the lock and then to wait for you."
"You did well, Professor," the officer praised him, "and it might give us a lead as to your daughter. It's clear that she was kidnapped, to be used as a hostage to force you to hand over your apparatus."
"I only hope that my summoning you doesn't induce her kidnappers to kill her in revenge..."
"You needn't worry about that, Professor," the officer reassured him. "As long as the kidnappers keep her alive they can hope to get at you through her. Besides, they have no clue that you called us. They'll assume that our guards, who keep the villa under observation, became suspicious and raised the alarm."
"I hope you are right."
"I'm sure I am. And if there's another approach, which I expect there will be, play along with them, Professor. Why not let them have a replica of your apparatus without the vital components in it?"
"A good idea, officer. When they find the thing doesn't work I can always convince them that I am still far from the final working solution—which in fact I am."
But unknown to them, the Chief Organizing Officer at THRUSH European Center E knew exactly what had happened at Professor Novak's villa even before his control agent, who had shadowed his colleague, reported the event. The Monitoring Officer had bugged and taped every single sound and word that had been spoken.
"What are we going to do now?" the Head of the Technical Department enquired.
"The only solution is to use force," the Chief of the Special Tasks Department decided, after pondering the problem.
"And risk the apparatus being destroyed before we can lay our hands on it?" the Head of the Science Department objected.
"My plan is foolproof," the other assured him, "and I wish I'd thought of it earlier—we would have had the Professor and his precious apparatus here by now. The plan entails possibly killing some State Security people, but that doesn't worry me unduly and I don't think it worries any of you."
"Perhaps you'll put us in the picture," the Head of the Technical Department suggested.
"I'll send a detachment in uniforms and vehicles of the State Security, to the Professor's villa. The real State Security guards keeping the villa under round-the-clock surveillance must of course be silenced, but this is a small detail. When our 'State Security' officers arrive there, the officer in charge will tell the Professor that State Security Headquarters were worried about the earlier occurrence and decided to move him and his apparatus to a safer place.
That's all, gentlemen, and I don't doubt that the plan will work. Professor Novak and his apparatus should be here inside two hours."
His estimate was right, almost to the minute, for the plan worked. Professor Novak was not surprised at the decision of State Security Headquarters to move him and the apparatus from the villa; in fact, he was in favor of it. Yet once in the fake State Security car, he at once realized he had been tricked—too late to escape his kidnappers.
CHAPTER FIVE
KISSING CAN CAUSE UNCONSCIOUSNESS
NAPOLEON SOLO gazed out of the window as the giant jet prepared to land at Prague. He had studied the layout of the Czech capital during his flight from New York, yet still he did not expect the city to look as picturesque and romantic as it did in the glorious bright sunshine, with its silvery, winding river Moldau, its numerous bridges, multi-colored roofs and gables, countless churches, and the imposing castle Hradcany overlooking the whole panorama. He was not usually an admirer of ancient or modern cities, but the unexpected view of Prague evoked a feeling of contentedness in him.
"Will you please fasten your safety belt, sir," a pretty stewardess interrupted his thoughts.
"Certainly, Miss," he said with a bright smile, looking provocatively into the greenish eyes of the redhead. He hadn't seen her before during the flight—she was probably busy in the tourist class, he thought—and decided on the spur of the moment to try and date her. "How long are you staying in Prague?" he asked.
"We're returning in an hour's time."
"My luck," he mumbled.
"Pardon?"
"I meant, what a pity you aren't staying longer," he explained. "I'd hoped to have dinner with you to night."
"Another time perhaps," she said, and moved on towards the pilot's cabin.
The aircraft circled over the sunbathed city, reducing speed and height until it eventually flew only a short distance above some houses that stood in the immediate vicinity of the airport. Then the wheels of the giant jet touched down and the pilot headed the machine towards the white terminal building with the outsize letters, KBELY AIRPORT, on its walls.
There were not too many passengers bound for Prague, and passport and customs clearance was fairly speedy.
As Solo left the Customs Hall and strode into the reception area, he noticed a short, thick-set man who was somehow familiar to him and who hastily left the airport building as soon as he'd spotted him. For a moment he couldn't place the man, then he remembered that he had come across him some six months earlier in Cairo, where the man, a THRUSH agent, had escaped arrest.
"Well, it's not really my business to chase this villain," he thought as he went towards the taxi in front of the rank. "Take me to Dejvice, please," he asked the driver as he boarded the cab. "And I should be obliged if you would put your foot down—I'm in a hurry."