The Tightrope Men / The Enemy

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?’

‘It’s just that I want to find out something about my father.’

‘But that’s my grandfather,’ she said. ‘Of course I’m 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. I’m not bad-looking, she thought, as she regarded the straight black eyebrows and the grey eyes. Mouth too big, of course. I’m no raving beauty, but I’ll 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? It’s 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: ‘I’m 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 haven’t 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 Merikken’s son.’

‘Allow me to introduce my daughter, Lyn.’

Kääriänen came forward, his hands outstretched. ‘And his granddaughter – a great honour. But sit down, please. Would you like coffee?’

‘Thank you; that would be very nice.’

Kääriänen went to the door, spoke to the girl in the other office, and then came back. ‘Your father was a great man, Dr … er … Meyrick.’

Denison nodded. ‘That is my name now. I reverted to the old family name.’

The professor laughed. ‘Ah, yes; I well remember Hannu telling me the story. He made it sound so romantic. And what are you doing here in Finland, Dr Meyrick?’

‘I don’t really know,’ said Denison cautiously. ‘Perhaps it’s a need to get back to my origins. A delayed homesickness, if you like.’

‘I understand,’ said Kääriänen. ‘And you want to know something about your father – that’s why you’ve come to me?’

‘I understand you worked with him – before the war.’

‘I did, much to my own profit. Your father was not only a great research worker – he was also a great teacher. But I was not the only one. There were four of us, as I remember. You should remember that.’

‘I was very young before the war,’ said Denison defensively. ‘Not even into my teens.’

‘And you don’t remember me,’ said Kääriänen, his eyes twinkling. His hand patted his plump belly. ‘I’m not surprised; I’ve changed quite a lot. But I remember you. You were a young rascal – you upset one of my experiments.’

Denison smiled. ‘If guilty I plead sorrow.’

‘Yes,’ said Kääriänen reminiscently. ‘There were four of us with your father in those days. We made a good team.’ He frowned. ‘You know; I think I am the only one left.’ He ticked them off with his fingers. ‘Olavi Koivisto joined the army and was killed. Liisa Linnankivi – she was also killed in the bombing of Viipuri; that was just before your father died, of course. Kaj Salojärvi survived the war; he died three years ago – cancer, poor fellow. Yes, there is only me left of the old team.’

‘Did you all work together on the same projects?’

‘Sometimes yes, sometimes no.’ Kääriänen leaned forward. ‘Sometimes we worked on our own projects with Hannu giving advice. As a scientist yourself, Dr Meyrick, you will understand the work of the laboratory.’

Denison nodded. ‘What was the main trend of my father’s thought in those days before the war?’

Kääriänen spread his hands. ‘What else but the atom? We were all thinking about the atom. Those were the great pioneering days, you know; it was very exciting.’ He paused, and added drily, ‘Not long after that, of course, it became too exciting, but by that time no one in Finland had time to think about the atom.’

He clasped his hands across his belly. ‘I well remember the time Hannu showed me a paper written by Meitner and Frisch interpreting Hahn’s experiments. The paper showed clearly that a chain reaction could take place and that the generation of atomic energy was clearly possible. We were all excited – you cannot imagine the excitement – and all our work was put aside to concentrate on this new thing.’ He shrugged heavily. ‘But that was 1939 – the year of the Winter War. No time for frivolities like atoms.’ His tone was sardonic.

‘What was my father working on when this happened?’

‘Ah – here is the coffee,’ said Kääriänen. He fussed about with the coffee, and offered small cakes to Lyn. ‘And what do you do, young lady? Are you a scientist like your father and your grandfather?’

‘I’m afraid not,’ said Lyn politely. ‘I’m a teacher.’

‘We must have the teachers, too,’ said Kääriänen. ‘What was that you asked, Doctor?’

‘I was wondering what my father was working on at the time he read the paper on atomic fission.’

‘Ah, yes,’ the professor said vaguely, and waved his hand a little helplessly. ‘It was a long time ago, you know; so much has happened since – it is difficult to remember.’ He picked up a cake and was about to bite into it when he said, ‘I remember – it was something to do with some aspects of the properties of X-rays.’

‘Did you work on that project?’

‘No – that would be Liisa – or was it Olavi?’

‘So you don’t know the nature of the work he was doing?’

‘No.’ Kääriänen’s face broke into a smile, and he shook with laughter. ‘But, knowing your father, I can tell you it had no practical application. He was very proud of being a pure research physicist. We were all like that in those days – proud of being uncontaminated by the world.’ He shook his head sadly. ‘A pity we’re not like that now.’

The next hour and a half was spent in reminiscences from Kääriänen interspersed with Denison’s desperate ploys to fend off his inquiries into Meyrick’s work. After allowing what he thought was a decent time he excused himself and he and Lyn took their leave of the professor with assurances that they would keep in professional contact.

They came out into Senate Square and made their way back to the hotel along Aleksanterinkatu, Helsinki’s equivalent of Bond Street. Lyn was thoughtful and quiet, and Denison said, ‘A penny for your thoughts.’

‘I was just thinking,’ she said. ‘It seemed at one time as though you were pumping Professor Kääriänen.’

Did it, by God! thought Denison. You’re too bloody smart by half. Aloud he said, ‘I just wanted to know about my father, the work he did and so on.’

‘You didn’t give much back,’ said Lyn tartly. ‘Every time he asked a question you evaded it.’

‘I had to,’ said Denison. ‘Most of my work is in defence. I can’t babble about that in a foreign country.’

‘Of course,’ said Lyn colourlessly.

They were outside a jeweller’s shop and Denison pointed. ‘What do you think of that?’

She caught her breath. ‘Oh, it’s beautiful!’

It was a necklace – chunky, rough-hewn gold of an intricate and yet natural shape. He felt reckless and took her arm. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘Inside.’

The necklace cost him £215 of Meyrick’s money which he paid by credit card. Apart from the fact that he thought that Meyrick ought to pay more attention to his daughter he thought it would take her mind off other things.

‘Your birthday present,’ he said.

Lyn was breathless with excitement. ‘Oh, thank you, Da … Harry.’ Impulsively she kissed him. ‘But I have nothing to wear with it.’

‘Then you’ll have to buy something, won’t you? Let’s go back to the hotel.’

‘Yes, let’s.’ She slipped her fingers into his. ‘I have a surprise for you, too – at the hotel.’

‘Oh? What is it?’

‘Well, I thought that now you’re back in Finland you ought to become reacquainted with the sauna.’

He laughed, and said cheerfully, ‘I’ve never been to a sauna in my life.’

She stopped dead on the pavement and stared at him. ‘But you must have. When you were a boy.’

‘Oh, yes; I went then.’ He cursed himself for the slip. Carey had given him books to read about Finland; language was one thing but there was a minimum any Finn would know, expatriate or not. The sauna definitely fitted into that category. ‘I tend to regard my years in Finland as another life.’ It was lame but it would have to do.

‘It’s about time you were reintroduced to the sauna,’ she said firmly. ‘I go often in London – it’s great fun. I’ve booked for us both in the hotel sauna for six o’clock.’

‘Great!’ he said hollowly.

FIFTEEN

In the hotel he escaped to his room and rang the number he had been given. When Carey answered he gave a report on his interview with Kääriänen, and Carey said, ‘So it all comes to this: Merikken was working on X-rays at the time but no one can remember exactly what he was doing. Those who would know are dead. That’s encouraging.’

‘Yes,’ said Denison.

‘You don’t sound pleased,’ said Carey.

‘It’s not that. I have something else on my mind.’

‘Out with it.’

‘Lyn has booked me in for the sauna this evening.’

‘So?’

‘She’s booked us both in.’

‘So?’ There was a pause before Carey chuckled. ‘My boy; I can see you have a wrong impression or an evil mind. This is not Hamburg nor is it the lower reaches of Soho; you’re in Helsinki and the Finns are a decent people. I think you’ll find there is one sauna for gentlemen and another for ladies.’

‘Oh!’ said Denison weakly. ‘It’s just that I don’t know much about it. One gets the wrong impression.’

‘Didn’t you read the books I gave you?’

‘I must have missed that one.’

‘In any case, there’s nothing wrong with a father joining his daughter in the sauna,’ said Carey judicially. ‘It may be done in your own home but not, I think, in an international hotel.’ He paused. ‘You’d better read up on it. Meyrick wouldn’t have forgotten the sauna – no Finn would.’

‘I’ll do that.’

‘Have fun,’ said Carey, and rang off.

Denison put down the telephone and rummaged in his suitcase where he found a slim book on the sauna written for the benefit of English-speaking visitors to Finland. On studying it he was relieved to find that the sauna appeared to be little more than a Turkish bath in essence – with differences.

He turned back the pages and read the introduction. There was, apparently, one sauna for every six Finns which, he reflected, was probably a greater incidence than bathrooms in Britain. A clean people, the Finns – mens sana in corpore sauna. Stones were heated by birch logs or, in modern times, by electric elements. Humidity was introduced by löyly – tossing water on the stones. The booklet managed to convey an air of mystic ritual about what was essentially a prosaic activity, and Denison came to the conclusion that the sauna was the Finnish equivalent of the Japanese tea ceremony.

At quarter to six Lyn rang him. ‘Are you ready?’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘I’ll meet you afterwards in the swimming pool. Have you got your trunks?’

Denison mentally ran down a checklist of Meyrick’s clothing. ‘Yes.’

‘At half past six, then.’ She rang off.

He went up to the top floor of the hotel, found the sauna for men, and went into the change room where he took his time, taking his cue from the others who were there. He stripped and went into the ante-chamber to the sauna where he showered and then took a square of towelling from a pile and went into the sauna itself.

It was hot.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a man lay his towel on a slatted, wooden bench and sit on it, so he followed suit. The wood beneath his feet was almost unbearably hot and sweat was already beginning to start from his skin. A man left the sauna and another took a bucket of water and sluiced it along the wood on which his feet were resting. Tendrils of steam arose but his feet were cooler.

Another man left the sauna and Denison turned and found a thermometer on the wall by his head. It registered 115 degrees. Not too bad, he thought; I can stand that. Then he looked again and saw that the thermometer was calibrated in degrees Celsius. Christ Almighty! Water boils at 100°C.

He blinked the sweat out of his eyes and turned his head to find that there was just himself and another man left – a broad-shouldered, deep-chested man, shaggy with hair. The man picked up a wooden dipper and filled it with water from a bucket. He paused with it in his hand, and said interrogatively, ‘Löylyä?’

Denison answered with one of the few Finnish words he had picked up. ‘Kiitos.’

The man tossed the dipperful of water on to the square tub of hot stones in the corner. A blast of heat hit Denison like a physical blow and he gasped involuntarily. The man shot a sudden spate of Finnish at him, and Denison shook his head. ‘I’m sorry; I have no Finnish.’

‘Ah; first time in Finland?’

‘Yes,’ said Denison, and added, ‘since I was a boy.’

The man nodded. A sheen of sweat covered his hairy torso. He grinned. ‘First time in sauna?’

Sweat dripped from Denison’s nose. ‘For a long time – many years.’

The man nodded and rose. He picked up the dipper again and, turning away from Denison, he filled it from the bucket, Denison gritted his teeth. Anything a bloody Finn can stand, I can; he thought.

With a casual flick of the wrist the man tossed the water on to the hot stones, then quickly went out of the sauna, slamming the door behind him. Again the wave of heat hit Denison, rising to an almost intolerable level so that he gasped and spluttered. A bloody practical joker – baiting a beginner!

He felt his head swim and tried to stand up but found that his legs had gone rubbery beneath him. He rolled off the top bench and tried to crawl to the door and felt the hot wood burning his hands. Darkness closed in on him and the last thing he saw was his own hand groping for the door handle before he collapsed and passed out.

He did not see the door open, nor did he feel himself being lifted up and carried out.

SIXTEEN

He awoke to darkness.

For a long time he just lay there, unable to think because of the throbbing pain in his head. Then his head cleared a little and he stirred and knew he was lying on a bed. When he moved he heard a metallic clinking noise. He moved again and became aware that he was naked, and a recollection of the sauna came back.

His first thought was that he had collapsed of heat prostration and had been taken to his own room, but when he lifted his hand that theory disintegrated quickly. There was a tug on both wrists and he felt cold metal, and when he twisted his hands around he heard that clinking sound again and felt the handcuffs.

He lay quiet for a while before he levered himself up on one elbow to stare into the blackness, then he swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up. Tentatively he moved his feet apart; at least they were not manacled and he could walk. But walk where? He held his arms out before him and moved them sideways, first to the left and then to the right, until he encountered an object. It was flat with square edges and he concluded it was a bedside table. Exploring the top brought no joy; there was nothing on it.

Although his headache had eased he felt as weak as a kitten and he sat for a few moments to conserve his strength. Whether his weakness was a natural result of the heat of the sauna was debatable. He reasoned that if the sauna did that to everyone then it would not be so popular in Finland. Apart from that, he had no idea of how long he had been unconscious. He felt his skin and found it cool and with no moisture.

After a while he stood up with his arms out in front of him and began to shuffle forward. He had gone only a few feet when he stubbed his toe on something and the pain was agonizing. ‘Damn!’ he said viciously, and stepped back until he felt the bed behind his legs. He sat down and nursed his foot.

A sound came from the other side of the room and he saw a patch of greyness, quickly obscured and vanishing. A light suddenly stabbed at him and he blinked and screwed up his eyes against the sudden glare. A voice said in accented English, ‘So Dr Meyrick is awake – and up, too.’

Denison brought up his hands before his eyes. The voice said sharply, ‘Don’t move, Meyrick. Stay on the bed.’ Then, more coolly, ‘Do you know what this is?’

The lamp dipped a little so that he could see the vague outline of a man in back-reflected light. He saw the glint of metal in an out-thrust hand. ‘Well?’ said the voice impatiently. ‘What is it, Meyrick?’

Denison’s voice was hoarse. ‘A pistol.’ He cleared his throat. ‘I’d like to know what the hell this is all about.’

The voice was amused. ‘No doubt you would.’ As Denison tried to sort out the accent the light played over him. ‘I see you’ve hurt your side, Dr Meyrick. How did that happen?’

‘A pack of maniacs attacked me in Norway. They seem to have the same breed in Finland, too.’

‘Poor Dr Meyrick,’ mocked the voice. ‘You seem to be continually in trouble. Did you report it to the police?’

‘Of course I did. What else would you expect me to do? And to the British Embassy in Oslo.’ He remembered what Carey had said about Meyrick’s bloody-mindedness, and added irascibly, ‘Bloody incompetents – the lot of them.’

‘Who did you see at the Embassy?’

‘A man called McCready picked me up at the police station and took me to the Embassy. Look, I’ve had enough of this. I’m answering no more questions. None at all.’

The pistol moved languidly. ‘Yes, you will. Did you meet Carey?’

‘No.’

‘You’re a liar.’

‘If you think you know the answers, why ask me the questions? I don’t know anyone called Carey.’

A sigh came out of the darkness. ‘Meyrick, I think you ought to know that we have your daughter.’

Denison tensed, but sat quietly. After a moment he said, ‘Prove it.’

‘Nothing easier.’ The pistol withdrew slowly. ‘Tape recorders are made conveniently small these days, are they not?’ There was a click and a slight hissing noise in the darkness beyond the flashlight, then a man spoke:

‘Now tell me; what’s your father doing here in Finland?’

‘He’s on holiday.’

That was Lyn’s clear voice. Denison recognized it in spite of the slight distortion which was far less than that of a telephone.

‘Did he tell you that?’

‘Who else would tell me?’ She sounded amused.

‘But he went to see Professor Kääriänen this afternoon. That sounds more like business than pleasure.’

‘He wanted to find out something about his father – my grandfather.’

‘What did he want to find out?’

There was a raw silence, then the man said, ‘Come now, Miss Meyrick; nothing will happen, either to you or to your father, if you answer my questions. I assure you that you will be released unharmed.’

A switch snapped and the voices stopped. From the darkness: ‘You see, Dr Meyrick! Of course, I cannot guarantee the truthfulness of my friend regarding his last statement.’ The pistol reappeared, glinting in the light. ‘Now, to return to Mr Carey – what did he have to say?’

‘He hauled me over the coals for being in a road accident,’ said Denison.