But X-rays are different, said Denison thoughtfully.
Right! Its theoretically possible to make an X-ray laser, but for one snag. X-rays penetrate and dont reflect. No one has found a way of doing it except Merikken who did it before the war and the working of a laser depends entirely upon multiple reflection.
Denison rubbed his chin, feeling the flabbiness. Already he was becoming used to it. What would be the use of a gadget like that?
Take a missile coming in at umpteen thousand miles an hour and loaded with an atomic warhead. Youve got to knock it down so you use another missile like the American Sprint. But you dont shoot your missile directly at the enemy missile you aim it at where the enemy will be when your missile gets up there. That takes time to work out and a hell of a lot of computing power. With an X-ray laser you aim directly at the enemy missile because it operates with the speed of light 186,000 miles a second and youd drill a hole right through it.
Balls, said Carey. Youd cut the damned thing in two.
My God! said Denison. Thats a death ray. He frowned. Could it be made powerful enough?
Lasers have come a long way since the first one, said McCready soberly. They dont use the flash any more on the big ones they pour in the power with a rocket engine. Already theyre up to millions of horse power but its still ordinary light. With X-rays you could knock a satellite out of orbit from the ground.
Now do you understand the significance? asked Carey. When Denison nodded, he said, So what are you going to do about it?
There was a long silence while Denison thought. Carey stood up and went to the window where he looked across to the Studenterlunden, his fingers drumming on the window sill. McCready lay back on the bed with his hands behind his head, and inspected the ceiling closely.
Denison stirred and unclasped his fingers. He straightened in his chair and stretched his arms, then he sighed deeply. My name is Harry Meyrick, he said.
THIRTEEN
Three days later Denison, descending for breakfast, bought a newspaper at the kiosk in the lobby and scanned it over coffee. Diana Hansen joined him, and said, Whats new?
He shrugged. The world is still going to hell in a handcart. Listen to this. Item one. Two more skyjackings, one successful and one not. In the unsuccessful one God save the mark two passengers were killed. Item two pollution. A tanker collision in the Baltic and a fifteen mile oil slick is drifting on to Gotland; the Swedes are understandably acid. Item three. There are strikes in Britain, France and Italy, with consequent riots in London, Paris and Milan. Item four He raised his head. do you want me to go on?
She sipped her coffee. You sound a bit acid yourself.
Just how would you feel in my circumstances? he asked a little grimly.
Diana shrugged. Wheres Lyn?
The young sleep late.
I have a feeling shes sharpening her claws, getting ready to scratch my eyes out, said Diana meditatively. Shes made one or two odd remarks lately. She stretched over and patted Denisons hand. She thinks her daddy is getting into bad company.
How right the child is.
Child! Diana raised her eyebrows. Shes only eight years younger than I am. Shes no child shes a healthy young woman with all her wits about her so watch your step.
Denison put his head on one side. Of course! he said, somewhat surprised. Privately he thought that Diana was drawing the longbow a bit. He put her age at thirty-two which probably meant she was thirty-four; that would give her twelve years on Lyn, not much less than the fourteen years he had himself.
Carey wants to see you, said Diana. If you leave the hotel, turn left and walk about three hundred yards, youll come to a place where theyre building a memorial or something. Be around there at ten oclock.
All right, said Denison.
And heres your darling daughter. Diana raised her voice. Good morning, Lyn.
Denison turned and smiled appreciatively at Lyns chic appearance. Its the money that makes the difference, he thought; the grand ideas of the rulers of the fashion world are apt to look tatty when filtered through the salary of a junior London typist. Did you have a good night?
Fine, said Lyn lightly, and sat down. I didnt expect to see you at breakfast, Mrs Hansen. She glanced sideways at Denison. Did you sleep in the hotel last night?
No, darling, said Diana sweetly. I brought a message for your father.
Lyn poured coffee. What are we doing today?
I have a business appointment this morning, said Denison. Why dont you two go shopping?
A shadow briefly crossed Lyns face, but she said, All right. Dianas answering smile was sickly in its sweetness.
Denison found Carey with his rump buttressed by a coping stone and his back to the Royal Palace. He looked up at Denisons approach and said brusquely, Were ready to move. Are you fit?
Carey nodded. How are you getting on with the girl?
Im tired of being Daddy, said Denison bitterly. Im only getting through by the skin of my teeth. She asks the damnedest questions.
Whats she like?
A nice kid in danger of being spoiled rotten but for one thing.
Whats that?
Her parents were divorced and its messed up her life. Im beginning to realize what an unmitigated bastard Harry Meyrick is. He paused. Or was. He looked at Carey. Any news?
Carey flapped his hand in negation. Tell me more.
Well, the mother is a rich bitch who ignores the girl. I dont think Lyn would care if she dropped dead tomorrow. But Lyn has always had a respect for her father; she doesnt like him but she respects him. She looks up to him like a like a sort of God. Denison rubbed his chin and said meditatively, I suppose people respect God, but do they really like him? Anyway, every time she tries to get near Meyrick he slaps her down hard. Thats no way to bring up a daughter and its been breaking her up.
I never did like his arrogance myself, said Carey. Its the one thing that would have given you away in the end. Youre not bloody-minded enough to be Meyrick.
Thank God for that, said Denison.
But you get on with her all right? As Meyrick?
Denison nodded. So far but no future guarantees.
Ive been thinking about her, said Carey. Suppose we took her to Finland what would the opposition think?
For Gods sake! said Denison disgustedly.
Think about it, man, Carey urged. Theyd check on her, and when they find out who she is theyd be bloody flummoxed. They might think that if youre good enough to deceive Meyricks daughter youre good enough to deceive me.
Denison was acid. Thats not far short of the mark. I had to tell you who I was.
You can do it, said Carey. It adds a bit of confusion, and theres nothing like confusion for creating opportunity. Right now we need all the luck we can create for ourselves. Will you ask her if shell go with you to Helsinki tomorrow?
Denison was acid. Thats not far short of the mark. I had to tell you who I was.
You can do it, said Carey. It adds a bit of confusion, and theres nothing like confusion for creating opportunity. Right now we need all the luck we can create for ourselves. Will you ask her if shell go with you to Helsinki tomorrow?
Denison was troubled. Its all right for me, he said. Im going into this with my eyes open but shes being conned. Will you guarantee her safety?
Of course I will. Shell be as safe as though she were in England.
It was a long time before Denison made his decision. All right, he said resignedly. Ill ask her.
Carey slapped him lightly on the arm. Which brings us back to Meyricks character. As you said hes a right bastard. Bear that in mind when youre handling her.
You want her in Finland, said Denison. I dont. If I really act like her father shes going to run and hide like she always has. Do you want that?
I cant say I do, said Carey. But lean too far the other way and shell know youre not Meyrick.
Denison thought of the many ways in which he had hurt Lyn by his apparent forgetfulness. As in the case of her mascot, for instance; he had idly picked it up and asked what it was. But you know, said Lyn in astonishment. He had incautiously shaken his head, and she burst out, But you named him. There was a hurt look in her eyes. You called him Thread-Bear.
He laughed sourly. Dont worry; Im hurting her enough just by being myself.
Its settled then, said Carey. You have an appointment at Helsinki University tomorrow afternoon with Professor Pentti Kääriänen. Your secretary arranged it.
Who the devil is he?
He was one of Hannu Merikkens assistants before the war. You are to introduce yourself as Merikkens son and pump him about what Merikken was doing in his laboratory from 1937 to 1939. I want to find out if theres been any other leakage about his X-ray researches. He paused. Take the girl with you; it adds to your cover.
All right. Denison gave Carey a level look. And her name is Lyn. Shes not a bloody puppet; shes a human being.
Careys answering stare was equally unblinking. Thats what Im afraid of, he said.
Carey watched Denison walk away and waited until he was joined by McCready. He sighed. Sometimes I have moments of quiet desperation.
McCready suppressed a smile. What is it this time?
See those buildings over there?
McCready looked across the road. That scrubby lot?
Thats Victoria Terrace theres a police station in there now. The authorities wanted to pull it down but the conservationists objected and won their case on architectural grounds.
I dont see the point.
Well, you see, it was Gestapo Headquarters during the war and it still smells to a lot of Norwegians. He paused. I had a session in there once, with a man called Dieter Brun. Not a nice chap. He was killed towards the end of the war. Someone ran him down with a car.
McCready was quiet because Carey rarely spoke of his past service. Ive been running around Scandinavia for nearly forty years Spitzbergen to the Danish-German border, Bergen to the Russo-Finnish border. Ill be sixty next month, said Carey. And the bloody world hasnt changed, after all. There was a note of quiet melancholy in his voice.
Next morning they all flew to Finland.
FOURTEEN
Lyn Meyrick was worried about her father, which was a new and unwanted experience. Her previous worries in that direction had always been for herself in relation to her father. To worry for her father was something new which gave her an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach.
She had been delighted when he suggested that she accompany him to Finland; a delight compounded by the fact that for the first time he was treating her like a grown-up person. He now asked her opinion and deferred to her wishes in a way he had never done before. Diffidently she had fallen in with his wish that she call him by his given name and she was becoming accustomed to it.
However, the delight had been qualified by the presence of Diana Hansen who somehow destroyed that adult feeling and made her feel young and gawky like a schoolgirl. The relationship between Diana and her father puzzled her. At first she had thought they were lovers and had been neither surprised nor shocked. Well, not too shocked. Her father was a man and not all that old, and her mother had not been reticent about the reasons for the divorce. And, yet, she had not thought that Diana Hansen would have been the type to appeal to her father and the relationship seemed oddly cold and almost businesslike.
And there were other things about him that were strange. He would become abstract and remote. This was nothing new because he had always had that ability to switch off in the middle of a conversation which made her feel as though he had dropped a barrier to cut her off. What was new was that he would snap out of these abstracted moments and smile at her in a way he never had before, which made her heart turn over. And he seemed deliberately to put himself out to please her.
And he was losing his memory, too. Not about anything big or important, but about minor things like like Thread-Bear, for instance. How could a man forget a pun which had caused so much excitement in a little girl? If there was anything about her father that had annoyed her in the past it was his memory for detail he usually remembered too much for her comfort. It was all very odd.
Anyway, she was glad he had invited her to go to the University to meet the man with the unpronounceable name. He had been hesitant about it, and she said, Why are you going?
Its just that I want to find out something about my father.
But thats my grandfather, she said. Of course Im coming.
It seemed strange to have a grandfather called Hannu Merikken. She sat before the mirror and contemplated herself, making sure that all was in order. Im not bad-looking, she thought, as she regarded the straight black eyebrows and the grey eyes. Mouth too big, of course. Im no raving beauty, but Ill do.
She snatched up her bag and went to the door on the way to meet her father. Then she stopped in mid-pace and thought, What am I thinking of? Its my father not She shook the thought from her and opened the door.
Professor Kääriänen was a jolly, chubby-faced man of about sixty, not at all the dry professorial stick Lyn had imagined. He rose from his desk to greet Denison, and shot out a spate of Finnish. Denison held up his hand in protest: Im sorry; I have no Finnish.
Kääriänen raised his eyebrows and said in English, Remarkable!
Denison shrugged. Is it? I left when I was seventeen. I suppose I spoke Finnish for fifteen years and I havent spoken it for nearly thirty. He smiled. You might say my Finnish language muscle has atrophied.
Kääriänen nodded understandably. Yes, yes; my own German was once quite fluent but now? He spread his hands. So you are Hannu Merikkens son.