The Thinking Machine Affair (6 page)

"I think you'd better discuss this with the gentleman who arranges this sort of thing—I'm only concerned with medical matters. He'll see you presently."

"Thank you, doctor."

The Medical Officer left to rejoin the Chief Organizing Officer. "She's all yours now. There's no longer any danger of shock and you can put her through the mill now, if need be."

As the Chief Organizing Officer entered, Vlasta looked up. She thought him quite good looking, though she disliked his thin lips and the close-set eyes which had a suggestion of cruelty. He noted that she was now looking very much prettier than before, when she had been under the influence of the gas.

"I am pleased to see you looking so well, Miss Novak," he said, and forced a smile.

"I feel fine," she replied, "and I think the doctor is being over-careful in keeping me here."

He ignored the remark. "I understand you're anxious to see your father," he said, sitting down on the chair beside the bed.

"I am, and I'm sure he's terribly worried about me, too."

"Well, all you need do is to write a note to him and I will arrange for him to be brought here immediately."

"I would rather phone him."

"That's not convenient," he said, dismissing her request. "You'll have to write a note."

"Can I have pen and paper?"

"Certainly." He gave the necessary orders to a messenger outside and the pen and paper was quickly brought to her.

"A short note should do," he suggested. "And you can tell your father that he can bring along his apparatus, if he wishes."

"How do you know about that?" Vlasta exclaimed, suddenly alarmed.

"My dear Miss Novak, you talked almost non-stop about your father's apparatus and your assisting him while you were unconscious," he lied. "So you see, I am only trying to be helpful—both to your father and you—by giving you the opportunity to utilize your stay here to continue working on 'Project I.P.' With a project as important as that, there is no time to lose, for the sake of the world and humanity. It's a wonderful idea."

For some inexplicable reason Vlasta began to feel uneasy. She asked: "Which hospital am I in, actually?"

"This is not a hospital," he told her. "You're in the Medical Room of an organization."

"I want to leave at once!" she demanded, as she suddenly sensed danger.

"I'm afraid that's not possible," he said suavely.

"Are you saying I am your prisoner?"

"Let's say, a guest—as long as you don't behave foolishly."

There was now an expression in his eyes she didn't like, yet she was not afraid, and was determined to withstand any pressure on her.

"I'd advise you to write the note, Miss Novak," he pressed. "It would make matters very much easier all round."

"I am not going to write anything. I am not going to help you get my father here!" She was adamant, despite his threatening tone.

"You have five minutes to change your mind. If you..."

"I am not going to change my mind in five minutes or five thousand hours," Vlasta interrupted.

He stabbed a button on the wall beside her and seconds later two guards and some THRUSH officers filed into the room. Vlasta was securely strapped to the bed and electronic equipment was attached to her limbs.

The brainwashing and conditioning of her mind lasted a considerable time. When it was done, she wrote the note to her father.

His daughter's disappearance had brought Professor Novak to the verge of a nervous breakdown. He had visibly aged, and felt physically ill. He couldn't sleep, didn't touch food or drink—only chain-smoked. He was almost continuously in touch with State Security Headquarters, but the people there could only repeatedly tell him that the nationwide search for his daughter had not been slackened for an instant. As the hours dragged on without the slightest clue being found, he lived in fear that he would never see Vlasta again.

The stillness of his villa was suddenly disturbed by the sound of the doorbell, but he was not interested in learning who his visitor was, being in no mood for seeing anyone. All he wanted was news that his daughter had been found alive, and that, he knew, could only come by telephone from State Security Headquarters.

The caller continued to ring the doorbell.

Grudgingly the scientist pulled himself from his arm chair in the living room and walked heavily to the entrance door. When he opened it, a stranger, a well-dressed man of about forty, raised his bat and said:

"Professor Novak?"

"Yes."

"May I come in, please?"

"What is it about?"

"It's a private matter which I can't very well convey on the doorstep," the stranger said. "I won't keep you long, Professor."

"Step inside then."

As soon as the door was shut, the stranger removed Vlasta's note from the breast pocket of his coat and said: "Your daughter asked me to deliver this to you."

"My daughter?" the Professor answered in a trembling voice. "Is she all right?"

"Yes. Why don't you read her letter?"

The Professor tore open the envelope, read the note, re-read it, and each time stumbled over the sentence, "I'm longing to see you, papa—and the apparatus—I think I have found the solution."

"How can I be certain this is my daughter's handwriting?" he said after a long pause.

"You surely know your daughter's handwriting," the stranger returned.

"I do; but it is also known that good forgeries can be made."

"I can assure you, sir, that it is your daughter's handwriting," the other assured him. "You'll see for yourself that she's written the letter to you when you meet her."

"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."

The driver grinned and raced along the semi-deserted road towards Prague.

As Napoleon leaned against the seat of the cab, trying to make himself as comfortable as possible, he gazed out at the factories and dwelling houses on each side of the road, his thoughts returning to the THRUSH agent who had managed to disappear so effectively. He could not know that the man had already privately radioed THRUSH European Center E of Solo's arrival in Prague.

Napoleon ordered the driver to stop a couple of streets away from Professor Novak's villa. He intended to arrive at the scientist's residence discreetly.

After paying the man, he walked along the deserted streets.

The Professor's villa on the opposite side of the tree-lined street came into view and Napoleon slowed to have a good look at it. He was surprised at the lack of State Security guards around the building and surrounding area and assumed they were probably hidden in neighboring properties to create the impression that the house was not under surveillance.

He crossed the quiet, completely deserted street, went straight to the entrance door, and pushed his thumb on the bell button. He heard the shrill sound echo inside the villa.