The man in the cabinet emerged from the wreckage shaken but intact and came back to help his companion. Shaw was lifted to his feet and held up in front of Rudolf Rencke. Rencke fit a cigar and smiled gendy. In a soft voice he said, “What a troublesome man. Moss, you and Horn hold him tight and bring him nearer to me . . . that’s right.”
Rencke took a pull at his cigar and closed his eyes. Then he opened them again, smiled as charmingly as he knew how, and lashed out with his right shoe. His leg muscles must have been enormously strong. The kick took Shaw right in the groin and he whitened with agony as the men kept his body upright. Twice more Rencke repeated the performance and then, through a drumming in his ears, Shaw heard him say, “That will be all for now, thank you, Moss. We shall remain here until after dark, then it will be quite safe to remove him.”
* * *
Shaw was slugged from behind and given a jab with a hypodermic that put him out like a light and he didn’t know another thing until he came to in the back of a large car travelling fast through the night. There was a blinding pain in his head and he felt sick. Vaguely in the lights from passing cars he saw that Moss was driving. He himself was flanked by the other man and by Rudolf Rencke who, when he felt Shaw stirring, pushed a gun hard into his side.
Rencke said in that soft, suave voice, “No movements, please, and no sound.”
“Where are we going?”
“There will be no questions.”
“Have it your way,” Shaw answered. He closed his eyes, tried to ignore the throbbing in his head. Everything swung around him and he opened his eyes again, looked out at the tracery of trees and hedges as they came up ghost-like in the white beams of the headlights. Wherever they were heading, they were certainly well outside London already. In front Moss wound his window down a little way and cool air, refreshing air, swept over Shaw. The night was very dark, with a hint of rain to come. The land looked flat and low-lying and Shaw picked up the smell of the sea and ships; they were probably somewhere around the Thames estuary. A little after this they came to Purfleet, thus roughly confirming his geographical estimate, went on through and then came upon scattered houses. Moss swung the car into the drive of a big early-Victorian house standing isolated in its own ground about half a mile beyond its nearest neighbour. The car was driven to earth in a garage and Shaw was ordered out and escorted across a cobbled yard that had evidently once been a stableyard,
towards the kitchen regions of the house. Once inside he was led to a cellar entry. His hands were tied behind his back and he was thrust through the doorway. A light was burning and he saw that he was at the top of a greasy, crumbling stone stairway. He moved gingerly down five steps and then something shifted under his feet and he fell the rest of the way. It was quite a long descent and he landed up on large lumps of coal. But he knew how to fall; he wasn’t hurt. Before he could take a look at his surroundings the light went out. He was left in pitch blackness. A voice from up top called down, “You can’t get away, so don’t try. If you do, we’ll know all about it. Just remember, we have a very effective alarm system but we won’t be too pleased if it sounds off in the night.” After that the door was slammed shut and Shaw heard the lock and bolts operate.
* * *
Across the Atlantic, down south in the soft early-evening air of Florida, a four-seater aircraft made a neat landing at the Kennedy base and its occupants hurried to a waiting Thunderbird that drove them fast to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration executive building. The top brass of NASA was getting rattled and the executive chief had called yet another conference and had asked that a representative be sent from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Washington had sent the Vice-Chief of Staff, US Air Force, and three aides.
Rencke took a pull at his cigar and closed his eyes. Then he opened them again, smiled as charmingly as he knew how, and lashed out with his right shoe. His leg muscles must have been enormously strong. The kick took Shaw right in the groin and he whitened with agony as the men kept his body upright. Twice more Rencke repeated the performance and then, through a drumming in his ears, Shaw heard him say, “That will be all for now, thank you, Moss. We shall remain here until after dark, then it will be quite safe to remove him.”
* * *
Shaw was slugged from behind and given a jab with a hypodermic that put him out like a light and he didn’t know another thing until he came to in the back of a large car travelling fast through the night. There was a blinding pain in his head and he felt sick. Vaguely in the lights from passing cars he saw that Moss was driving. He himself was flanked by the other man and by Rudolf Rencke who, when he felt Shaw stirring, pushed a gun hard into his side.
Rencke said in that soft, suave voice, “No movements, please, and no sound.”
“Where are we going?”
“There will be no questions.”
“Have it your way,” Shaw answered. He closed his eyes, tried to ignore the throbbing in his head. Everything swung around him and he opened his eyes again, looked out at the tracery of trees and hedges as they came up ghost-like in the white beams of the headlights. Wherever they were heading, they were certainly well outside London already. In front Moss wound his window down a little way and cool air, refreshing air, swept over Shaw. The night was very dark, with a hint of rain to come. The land looked flat and low-lying and Shaw picked up the smell of the sea and ships; they were probably somewhere around the Thames estuary. A little after this they came to Purfleet, thus roughly confirming his geographical estimate, went on through and then came upon scattered houses. Moss swung the car into the drive of a big early-Victorian house standing isolated in its own ground about half a mile beyond its nearest neighbour. The car was driven to earth in a garage and Shaw was ordered out and escorted across a cobbled yard that had evidently once been a stableyard,
towards the kitchen regions of the house. Once inside he was led to a cellar entry. His hands were tied behind his back and he was thrust through the doorway. A light was burning and he saw that he was at the top of a greasy, crumbling stone stairway. He moved gingerly down five steps and then something shifted under his feet and he fell the rest of the way. It was quite a long descent and he landed up on large lumps of coal. But he knew how to fall; he wasn’t hurt. Before he could take a look at his surroundings the light went out. He was left in pitch blackness. A voice from up top called down, “You can’t get away, so don’t try. If you do, we’ll know all about it. Just remember, we have a very effective alarm system but we won’t be too pleased if it sounds off in the night.” After that the door was slammed shut and Shaw heard the lock and bolts operate.
* * *
Across the Atlantic, down south in the soft early-evening air of Florida, a four-seater aircraft made a neat landing at the Kennedy base and its occupants hurried to a waiting Thunderbird that drove them fast to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration executive building. The top brass of NASA was getting rattled and the executive chief had called yet another conference and had asked that a representative be sent from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Washington had sent the Vice-Chief of Staff, US Air Force, and three aides.
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