In the room directly below McCready was giving his report to Carey. He had nearly finished. ‘It was a right shambles,’ he said. ‘The Czechs were shooting up everything in sight.’ He stopped and considered. ‘Except us.’
‘Who were the opposition?’
‘I don’t know. They were armed with pistols, nothing bigger. We only saw them once in the marsh when Denison tickled them up with that overgrown shotgun. Remarkable man, Denison.’
‘I agree,’ said Carey.
‘He keeps his cool in an emergency and he’s a good tactician. It was his idea that we cross the marsh. It was a good idea because we didn’t run into the Czechs at all. When the punt sank he led us out.’ McCready grinned. ‘He had us all lined up on a thirty-foot length of string. And his estimation of speed was accurate; we hit the main road just seven hours after leaving the hut.’
‘Did you have any trouble in Vuotso?’
McCready shook his head. ‘We nipped in quietly, got into the cars, and drove out. Not far from Rovaniemi we changed into decent clothing to make ourselves presentable for the flight south.’ He grinned. ‘There’s a Dr Mannermaa in Vuotso — a bird watcher. He’s going to be a bit peeved about losing his punt and his gun.’
‘I’ll straighten that out,’ said Carey. ‘You said the Czechs were also at Kevo.’
‘Czechs, Americans — and a crowd of Germans hovering on the outskirts. I didn’t tell the others about them because they never really came into the game.’
‘East Germans or West Germans?’ asked Carey sharply.
‘I don’t know,’ said McCready. ‘They all speak the same lingo.’
‘And then there was the chap who knocked Denison on the head and took the original map.’
‘I never spotted him from start to finish,’ said McCready. ‘I think he was a singleton — working on his own.’
‘Four groups,’ said Carey thoughtfully. ‘And we can’t identify any Russians for certain.’
‘Five,’ said McCready. ‘There’s the gang that substituted Denison for Meyrick. They wouldn’t have come chasing after us to Kevo and Sompio. They knew better.’
Carey grunted. ‘I have my own ideas about who did the dirty on Denison and Meyrick — and I don’t think the Russians came into it.’
‘You said Thornton was here. What did he want?’
‘I didn’t find out,’ said Carey. ‘I wouldn’t let him speak to me except in front of a witness and he turned chicken. He’s too fly to be caught that way. But he knew about Sir Charles Hastings, and he knew about Denison.’
‘Did he, by God? We’ll have to seal that leak when we get back to London. What did Hastings say?’
‘Oh, we’ve got the goods all right. He’s taken photocopies back to London. Now we can prepare for the next stage of the operation. I hope nothing happens tonight because I’d like to get Denison and the girl out of it. They’re leaving tomorrow on the ten o’clock flight from Helsinki.’
‘Where are the original papers now?’
‘In the safe in the library.’
‘In that antique? I could open it with my grandmother’s hat-pin.’
Carey smiled blandly. ‘Does it matter — under the circumstances?’
‘No, I don’t suppose it does,’ said McCready.
Thirty-Nine
Denison went to bed early that night because he had a lot of sleep to catch up on and because he had to get up fairly early to catch the flight to London. He said good night to Lyn and then went into his bedroom where he undressed slowly. Before getting into bed he drew the curtains to darken the room. Even though he was now below the Arctic Circle there was still enough light in the sky to make falling asleep annoyingly difficult. It would get darker towards midnight but never more than a deep twilight.
He woke up because someone was prodding him, and came swimming up to the surface out of a deep sleep. ‘Giles; wake up!’
‘Mmmm. Who’s that?’
The room was in darkness but someone looked over him. ‘Lyn,’ she whispered.
He elbowed himself up. ‘What’s the matter? Turn on the light.’
‘No!’ she said. ‘There’s something funny going on.’
Denison sat up and rubbed his eyes. ‘What sort of funny?’
‘I don’t really know. There are some people in the house — down in the library. Americans. You know the man you introduced me to — the man you said was a bore.’
‘Kidder?’
‘Yes. I think he’s down there. I heard his voice.’
Kidder! The man who had interrogated him in the hotel in Helsinki after he had been kidnapped from the sauna. The man who had led the American party at Kevo. The over-jovial and deadly boring Jack Kidder.
‘Christ!’ said Denison. ‘Hand me my trousers — they’re on a chair somewhere.’ He heard a noise in the darkness and the trousers were thrust into his groping hand. ‘What were you doing prowling in the middle of the night?’
‘I couldn’t sleep,’ said Lyn. ‘I was standing at my bedroom window when I saw these men in the grounds — there’s still just enough light to see. They didn’t seem to be up to any good — they were dodging about a bit. Then they all disappeared and I wondered what to do. I wanted to find Carey or McCready but I don’t know where their rooms are. Anyway, I looked down the stairs and there was a light in the library, and when I got to the door I heard Kidder’s voice.’
‘What was he saying?’
‘I don’t know. It was just a rumble — but I recognized the voice. I didn’t know what to do so I came and woke you.’
Denison thrust his bare feet into shoes. ‘There’s a sweater on the back of the chair.’ Lyn found it and he put it on. ‘I don’t know where Carey’s room is, either. I think I’ll just nip downstairs.’
‘Be careful,’ said Lyn. ‘I’ve heard enough shooting already.’
‘I’ll just listen,’ he said. ‘But you be ready to scream the place down.’
He opened the bedroom door gently and went into the dimness of the corridor. He trod carefully on his way to the stairs to avoid creaking boards, and tiptoed down, his hand running along the balustrade. The door to the library was closed but illumination leaked out from under the door. He paused by the door and listened and heard the deep sound of male voices.
He could make nothing of it until he bent and put his ear to the keyhole and then he immediately recognized the gravelly voice of Kidder. He could not distinguish the words but he recognized the voice. Another man spoke in lighter tones and Denison knew it was Carey.
He straightened up and wondered what to do. Lyn had spoken of men in the plural which would mean there were others about besides Kidder. He could cause a disturbance and arouse the house but if Kidder was holding up Carey at gunpoint that might not be good for Carey. He thought he had better find out what was really going on before doing anything drastic. He turned and saw Lyn standing by the staircase and he put his finger to his lips. Then he took hold of the door knob and eased it around very gently.
The door opened a crack and the voices immediately became clearer. Carey was speaking. ‘...and you ran into trouble again at Sompio?’
‘Jesus!’ said Kidder. ‘I thought we’d run into the Finnish army but it turned out they were goddamn Czechs — we wounded one and he was cussing fit to bust. Who the hell would expect to find Czechs in the middle of Finland? Especially carrying automatic rifles and some sort of crazy flame-thrower. That’s why I’m bandaged up like this.’
Carey laughed. ‘That was our crowd.’
Denison swung the door open half an inch and put his eye to the crack. He saw Carey standing by the safe in the corner but Kidder was not in sight. Carey said, ‘It wasn’t a flame-thrower — it was a bloody big shotgun operated by no less than the eminent Dr Meyrick.’