Red Alert (29 page)

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'No!' Kozanakis screamed down the line.

'I know you won't let it come to that, Andreas.' Calvieri gave him the number, and extension, where he could 1 reached. 'Twelve minutes. Don't let Alexis down.'

'How much lower can you sink?' Sabrina hissed whe Calvieri had replaced the receiver.

'I never realized you spoke Greek as well,' Calvieri said 'You continue to impress me.'

'It's not mutual,' she retorted. 'A seventeen-year-old girl. You disgust me.'

'And how would UNACO have handled the situation?'! Calvieri asked, sitting astride the chair at the head of the table, his arms resting on its back.

'We wouldn't have threatened to send round a coupli of hatchet men to rape her.'

'Who said anything about rape?' Calvieri exclaimed| with a look of feigned disbelief.

'Spare the theatrics, we both know what you meant.'

'He'll call before two forty-five,' Calvieri said.

'And if he doesn't?' she challenged.

'He will, end of subject.' Calvieri looked at the television ^ screen. 'What's happening?'

'The Dutch Prime Minister's making a speech about! the need for European unity in 1992,' Ubrino replied.

'Still no sign of Bellini?'

Ubrino shook his head. 'The Foreign Secretary is still < representing the Italian Government.'

'Good.' Calvieri watched the screen for a couple of! minutes, then got to his feet and took a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. It was empty. He crumpled the pack into a ball and threw it angrily against the wall. 'You got a cigarette?' he asked Ubrino.

'I smoked my last one twenty minutes ago,' Ubrino said with an apologetic shrug.

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'Great. We could be here all night and we're already of cigarettes.' Calvieri crossed to the side table and through the drawers. 'Pens, paper, even pepper Sints. But no damn cigarettes.'

'What do you expect?' Sabrina said. 'It's a conference >m, not a tobacco stall.'

Calvieri closed the bottom drawer, then tugged back sis sleeve to look at his watch: 2.39.

'Tempus fugit,' Sabrina said, looking at the clock on Ithe wall.

'He's still got six minutes.' Calvieri leaned back against |the side table and folded his arms across his chest. 'He'll I call. Wouldn't you? Or perhaps you don't think I'd carry out my threat against Alexis, just as you don't think I'd press the button if it came to the crunch.'

'I'm sure you would, under the circumstances.' 'And what's that supposed to mean?' 'As you said earlier, who's going to take you seriously unless you're prepared to back up your threats? But I still .don't believe you'd push the button, even as a last resort. You'd have so much to lose.'

'If I found myself in a situation where I was forced to press the button, I'd have reached a stage where I had nothing left to lose.' Calvieri dismissed the subject with a curt flick of the hand. 'This is all idle speculation. Bellini will resign, the money will be paid and the virus will be returned to the authorities intact.'

'Let's hope the ELA have read the script as well.' Sabrina looked up at the clock. Three minutes left. Are you stilj so sure he's going to call?'

'Of course,' Calvieri replied indifferently. They lapsed into silence, both caught up in their own thoughts.

She knew he wouldn't push the button. He couldn't.

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He wasn't the megalomaniac the others believed him to be. She knew him better than them. He had even managed to fool Ubrino - then again, that wouldn't be very difficult. She smiled faintly as she looked at Ubrino, who sat in front of the television set, as enthralled as a child. She had her doubts whether he even understood what was being said at the conference. He was slow, even gullible. But he was also very dangerous. He wouldn't touch her as long as Calvieri needed her. They were sure to use her as a hostage to get clear of the building once the ransom had been paid. Then what? She suddenly realized her life was entirely in Calvieri's hands. There was little comfort in that thought.

Calvieri flexed his fingers and winced as the pain shot through the back of his hand. He took the transmitter from his pocket again and turned it around slowly in his hands. It seemed to ease the pain. Strange. His eyes flickered towards the telephone. Damn the ELA. What if Kozanakis couldn't contact his aide? What if the bomb went off? The building would be evacuated. Then what? He looked at the transmitter. The button. He smiled to himself. Would he press it? Not according to Sabrina. Only he knew the answer. If it did come to the crunch, he --The telephone rang.

He snatched up the receiver.

'Calvieri?'

'About time,' Calvieri replied, recognizing Kozanakis's voice. He glanced at his watch: 1.44. 'You just made it. What did you find out?'

'The Semtex is in the boot of a white Audi Quattro. It's parked close to the building.'

'Number plate?'

'He doesn't remember,' Kozanakis replied hesitantly.

'Brilliant! Does it have any distinctive features?'

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'A plaid rug on the back seat, that's all he can remember.'

'Is the boot booby-trapped?'

'Yes,' came the resigned reply. 'It'll blow if any attempt is made to open it.'

'You've done well, Andreas.'

'What's going on?' Kozanakis demanded. 'I had this number checked with the operator. You're at the Offenbach Centre.'

'That's right,' Calvieri said brusquely.

'The ELA has planned this for months - '

'You're way out of your league,' Calvieri interrupted him sharply. The Red Brigades have got something big going down here. It'll be in the news soon enough. But until then you're to keep your mouth shut. If only for Alexis.'

'This is going to cost you, Calvieri.'

'I'm sure we can come to some arrangement.' Calvieri cut the connection and smiled at Sabrina. 'What did I tell you?'

'What did you mean about it being in the news?' she asked suspiciously. 'I thought the whole point of the exercise was to keep the media in the dark.'

'It is, while we're here. But I intend to hold a press conference once I reach my final destination. I want the world to know what happened here today. And I'll exploit it to the full. The capitulation of the smug Western governments who have always vowed publicly never to bow to so-called terrorism. They will be humiliated and discredited in the eyes of the world. The Red Brigades will become legendary. But more importantly we'll have sent out a message to our revolutionary comrades fighting for justice the world over. And that message will be: we can win. We will win.'

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'You're deluded,' Sabrina said, shaking her head sadlj to herself.

'Am I?' Calvieri said almost to himself, as he picked uf the receiver to call Philpott.

Philpott consulted Kolchinsky's list after he had spoke to Calvieri. Teams One and Three were the closest to the building. He bleeped them then chewed the stem of hisl unlit pipe as he anxiously waited for them to call, hisl eyes continually flickering towards the desk clock as the| seconds slipped away.

Graham and Marco located the white Audi Quattro within a minute of contacting Philpott. It was parked fifty yards away from the building. It had been positioned for; maximum effect. A plaid rug lay crumpled on the back seat. It had diplomatic plates which later turned out to be false.

'We need a piece of wire to unlock the door,' Marco said.

'To hell with that,' Graham replied, then picked up a rock from a nearby flowerbed and pitched it through the driver's window. He reached through the broken window to unlock the door, then used the rug to brush the glass from the seat.

Two security guards, who had seen what had happened from their posts at the main gate, sprinted across to the car, batons drawn. One of the guards prodded Graham painfully in the chest with the tip of his baton and ordered him in German to put his hands on the roof of the car. Graham punched him. The guard fell as if poleaxed. The second guard shoved Marco aside but found himself

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ing down the barrel of Graham's Beretta. Whitlock Paluzzi arrived breathlessly, having been alerted by : sound of breaking glass. Whitlock immediately pushed m's gun hand down to his side. Paluzzi was about each for his NOCS card when Vlok emerged from the nilding and ran towards them, shouting at the guard leave Graham alone. The guard did as he was told. :>k looked down at the unconscious man, then jk the second guard to one side and explained briefly about the bomb. The guard, obeying Vlok's orders, spersed the small crowd of onlookers, then turned his attention to his colleague sprawled beside the open car Dor.

'Was that necessary?' Vlok asked, indicating the unconcious guard.

'We'll discuss that later. Right now we've got a bomb Sphere that's due to go off in,' Graham paused to look at |his watch, 'eleven minutes.'

'Can't you defuse it?' Vlok asked. 'It's booby-trapped. We don't have the time or the ^equipment to deal with it,' Whitlock told him. 'We've got I to get the car off the premises as quickly as possible.'

Graham slid behind the wheel to hotwire the ignition. 'There must be a secluded spot somewhere around here,' he said without looking up. 'We can leave it there and let it blow.'

'It's too dangerous,' Paluzzi said. 'The vibration could trigger off an avalanche on one of the surrounding mountains. Perhaps more than one avalanche. We can't risk it.'

The engine spluttered then died. Graham cursed angrily, then reached under the wheel in another attempt to start the car.

'What are we going to do?' Vlok asked anxiously.

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'Water, that's the only answer,' Whitlock replied after a moment's thought.

'Water?' Vlok said with a frown.

'A gorge, a lake, even a swimming-pool would do. If we can immerse the car in water, it'll short-circuit the wiring in the bomb and that would stop it from exploding.'

'There is a lake not far from here,' Vlok said. 'It's very small.'

'How far?'

Vlok shrugged helplessly. 'A five-minute drive, about that.'

'Did you hear that?' Whitlock asked Graham.

'I heard. We'll get going as soon as I can get this started.'

The engine coughed into life. Graham revved the engine, then gestured for them to get into the car.

'What have you in mind?' Whitlock asked.

'You'll see. Now get in.' Graham turned to Paluzzi. 'You guys tell the Colonel what's happening.'

'How will you get back?' Marco asked.

'I've got that covered,' Graham replied, closing the door.

'Good luck,' Paluzzi said, hitting the roof with the palm of his hand.

Graham reversed out of the space, then spun the wheel violently and sped towards the red and white boomgate.

'What's the plan?' Whitlock asked from the back seat.

'There's a police car parked outside the main gate. It can give us an escort to the lake. We'll get there in half the time.'

'In theory,' Vlok said.

'What's that supposed to mean?' Graham asked, glancing at Vlok in the rearview mirror.

The quickest route to the Lottersee, that's the name of

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: lake, is on the old Berne--Thun road. It's only used by ries now that the N6 has been built. It's a narrow, visting road and overtaking is virtually impossible.' 'It gets better by the minute,' Graham muttered, en trod lightly on the brake as they neared the boom ate.

'I'm not saying we'll encounter any traffic,' Vlok said, ping to appease Graham. 'Most of the lorries use the N6 nyway. But it's best to be warned.'

Graham stopped the car but kept it idling. Vlok told he guard to raise the boomgate. It was raised and Graham drove through. He pulled up beside the police car. Vlok at out, identified himself to the uniformed policeman liind the wheel, and told him about the bomb in the of of the Quattro. The policeman listened in disbelief, ben leaned over and pushed open the passenger door, lok got in beside him. The policeman started up the |*ngine.

'Wait,' Graham shouted at the policeman above the Idrone of the siren. He turned to Whitlock. 'Out. If I'm fgoing to drive this baby into the lake, I don't want to be f carrying any passengers.'

Whitlock nodded, then climbed out of the Quattro and ^got into the police car. Graham gave the policeman a Ithumbs-up sign. The police car pulled away in a screech ] of burning rubber. Graham glanced at the dashboard |Ťlock. Eight minutes. He put the Quattro into gear and fsped after the police car. They joined the N6 and kept to \ the fast lane, forcing the traffic in front of them to give > way. When the police car suddenly swung across into the middle lane Graham was quick to follow it, forcing a Seat Malaga to brake sharply behind him. The driver hooted ą angrily. The police car then took a gap in the slow lane and indicated that it would be leaving the motorway at

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the next turn-off. Thirty yards away. Graham cur under his breath. He couldn't get into the slow lane, the was a tailback of traffic behind the police car. He waite until he was only a few yards away from the turn-off the accelerated sharply and cut across the slow lane into slip road. Brakes screeched behind him, followed by sickening crunch of clashing metal. He didn't look bac The cars hadn't been travelling very fast. There shouldn'lj be much damage. A crumpled fender. A shattered light Nothing more. He braked at the end of the turn-of changed down into second, and followed the police on to the old Berne--Thun road.

He saw what Vlok had meant about overtaking being virtually impossible. The single lane on each side of the road was narrow, restricting visibility. To the left was sheer drop of two hundred feet, to the right a towering rockface. He followed the police car around a sharp bend in the road and groaned in dismay at the pantechnicon! twenty yards ahead of them. The pantechnicon disap| peared around another bend. He glanced anxiously at the! clock. He had six minutes left. He wiped the back of his| hand across his sweaty forehead and turned the car into| the bend. The police car was already sitting on the pantechj nicon's tail, waiting for an opportunity to pass. It swayed I out from behind the truck but the policeman couldn't risk| overtaking on one of the blind corners. Graham bit his lipj nervously. They would never reach the lake at this rate.; He knew he would have to take the initiative. He had noj choice. He gritted his teeth and pulled out from behind i the police car. He passed it. Another bend loomed ahead. The police car dropped back, giving him the chance to : tuck in behind the pantechnicon. Graham knew it would i only waste more time. He had to get past. The Quattro and the pantechnicon turned into the bend together.