The Steel Spring (18 page)

‘Now listen here, Jensen, what has this got to do with anything? If something’s gone badly wrong, neither I personally, nor my party nor the Accord as a whole can be made scapegoats.’

‘Stick to the facts.’

‘With pleasure. I have nothing to hide. One fact, for example, is that a number of different bodies within society collaborated in the implementation of the campaign and were responsible for its overall shape and its various stages.’

‘The security services, for example?’

The man stole another look at the area by the window. At length he said:

‘The security services had very little to do with the operation as a whole. It’s possible that they were involved in some small detail at the preparatory stage. In speaking about the security services, however, you must be aware that you are dealing with questions of an extremely confidential nature.’

‘Not any more. You still haven’t told me what form the operation took.’

‘It was all very simple. They sent out a card with a statement of loyalty. You should have had one yourself.’

‘Yes. That’s right. A white card with a blue sticker.’

‘Just so. Why are you asking lots of things you already know? Did you send the card in, by the way?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did you put on the sticker?’

‘Yes,’ said Jensen.

The minister looked quizzically at Jensen.

‘What the hell is this actually all about?’ he said.

‘Who produced the cards?’

‘Our largest private paper mill, newspaper and printing company.’

‘And the envelope?’

‘The same group of companies. You should know them. You of all people.’

‘Who had responsibility for the stickers?’

‘The National Bank’s banknote printing works.’

‘And who was responsible for the gum on them?’

The silence was even longer than the last. Every so often, there was a clatter from outside as the sub-machine gun knocked lightly against the wall. In the end, the police doctor straightened up. Jensen gave him a quick, expressionless look. Then he repeated the question.

‘Who had responsibility for the stickers?’

‘The Defence Research Institute,’ the minister said quietly.

He looked miserably in Jensen’s direction.

‘No,’ said the doctor. ‘No, it can’t be possible.’

He stared at the minister as if stunned. Then he threw back his shoulders and went rapidly out of the room.

The minister gave Jensen a terrified look.

‘No,’ he said. ‘For God’s sake don’t let him …’

Inspector Jensen did not move. Out in the corridor, the police doctor threw open the door to the toilet next to the office. Almost at once they heard him being sick.

The wall was thin and far from soundproof. The terminal building as a whole was a scandalous bit of jerry-building. It had been put up by a private entrepreneur when the current Education Minister had been serving on the building committee.

At the same instant, the water pipes started to gurgle.

‘Pardon me for interrupting,’ said the police doctor, ‘but I thought it was important to clarify the details. Partly because it saves time, partly because it seems to me the most honest way to do things.’

Jensen nodded.

‘I understand,’ he said.

The police doctor turned to the minister again, gave him a savage look and said:

‘Have you got that?’

‘As a professional politician I’ve had to learn to assess and evaluate situations.’

There was still an undertone of arrogance and pride in his voice.

‘Maybe you’re not a very quick learner. As far as I can see, you’ve completely misinterpreted everything since you arrived. Not least the situation in which you find yourself. So allow me to repeat what I just said. Your chances of getting out of here are extremely limited; in actual fact they are so tiny that it might be considered debatable whether you’ll even make it out of this room. I was very close to laying hands on you myself a minute ago. And I can assure you there are a lot of people here with a good deal less patience than me.’

There was nothing self-controlled about the way the minister was looking at him.

‘He’s scared,’ said Jensen unsympathetically. ‘You’ve already given us proof of that and I don’t see there’s any point in labouring it. A witness in a mentally balanced state is in principle always preferable to one who’s scared out of his wits and feeling physically and/or mentally threatened.’

‘Standard police instructions,’ the doctor said drily. ‘But you’re misinterpreting my motives. For me this is primarily a moral question, not a matter of convenience. Just as you like preserving your antique office equipment, so I like to stick to a few archaic ethical values. They both come in handy sometimes.’

Jensen refrained from answering.

‘Have you finished your private chat?’ asked the minister.

‘Yes.’

‘In that case let me inform you that I fully understand the implications of what you said. If I don’t prove compliant on every point, you’ll have me butchered. You may even do it personally.’

‘That’s about it,’ said the doctor.

‘For me, that’s a very persuasive argument. What do you want to know?’

The police doctor said nothing further. He nodded and returned to his place by the window.

Jensen studied his notes. A minute or two went by, and then he said:

‘You’re claiming the agent was considered to be harmless?’

‘Yes. Otherwise we naturally wouldn’t have used it.’

‘Who suggested using it?’

‘It wasn’t me.’

‘Who?’

‘That’s a complicated question. It requires me to explain various things.’

Jensen gave the man about thirty seconds to muster his thoughts. Then he said:

‘Go ahead.’

‘The Defence Research Institute was a financially profitable company. Over the years, its scientists developed various very successful products, particularly in the biochemical field. These were produced under licence abroad, and provided a significant flow of foreign capital into our country, to the general good.’

‘Were these products intended for military use?’

‘Usually. Herbicides and defoliants, and humane bacteriological warfare agents.’

‘Humane?’

‘Yes, agents not aimed at direct human extermination, but designed to put enemy troops or recalcitrant groups temporarily out of action. Here in our country we had no use for such weapons of course, but in other parts of the globe they were very effective in the fight against world comm—’

He broke off and glanced over at the man by the window.

‘Go on,’ said Jensen.

‘But there were certain disadvantages to bacteriological warfare, and some years ago it became obvious that in a wealthy world market there was a need for a biochemical weapon with the effect I mentioned. Rendering enemy forces temporarily harmless, making them incapable of defending themselves.’

‘Yes?’

‘In other countries there had already been some efforts in that direction, but the results were unsatisfactory. Admittedly they had developed a few trial products, but they all proved defective in some respect or other. What’s more, some of them did considerable harm, since the secret of their existence got out to the public, who used them as narcotics. We even felt the
effects here at one time. Psychedelic drugs that were smuggled in and abused by the depraved youth of the time. Do you remember?’

‘I remember,’ said Jensen.

‘Anyway, a group at the Defence Research Institute started looking into the subject. A team of trained research scientists that had previously achieved profitable results in other areas. Their activities were shrouded in the greatest secrecy of course, which was a very natural condition insisted on by the foreign interests that had invested the capital.’

‘Who had access to the results?’

‘Apart from the clients, only one special committee within the government. Where appropriate, the security services and the top military leadership were also informed.’

‘And were you yourself a member of this special committee?’

The minister hesitated.

‘Yes,’ he said finally. ‘There would be no point denying it.’

‘Go on.’

‘As far as I understood it, this is what happened. What they were searching for was an agent with the capacity to render certain individuals within, for example, armies of hostile groups passive for a time. The research and development was taking a long time, our clients gradually lost patience and made repeated representations to the special committee through diplomatic channels. They demanded no less than to be shown the results that had been achieved to that point. This finally led the committee to demand the same of the research institute. About two years ago, the head of the research team sent the committee a memorandum.’

A loudspeaker began to boom somewhere in the building. The minister jumped.

‘The radio,’ said the police doctor tersely. ‘A so-called historic moment.’

‘What was in the memorandum?’ asked Jensen.

‘For a layman, what it had to say was not only incredibly complex but also very blunt. It said work was proceeding normally … but to cut a long story short, they had no results whatsoever to show as yet, that the costs had spiralled and budgets were overspent and that furthur grants would be needed if work was to carry on.’

‘Was that all?’

‘No. There was an appendix to the dossier.’

‘Yes?’

‘We read it more or less as an attempt at evasion. It said they had pursued their research on the basis of some kind of antithesis method, and sure enough they had come up with a number of by-products, among them a preparation that hadn’t yet been fully tested. It was known by its code number and was considered promising. For us, on the other hand, it seemed anything but promising, since it was evidently the complete opposite of what the financial backers thought they had a right to expect.’

‘Insofar as what?’

‘The agent in question had been shown to stimulate the will and the urge to achieve targets. They thought they could develop it quite quickly for military use. Battle-weary soldiers could be made more aggressive, more eager to fight and mentally more consolidated. For now, there were various disquieting side effects to contend with. The agent brought with it a kind of hangover, similar to that seen in alcohol abuse. It also led to the abandonment of inhibitions, most obviously in respect of sexual behaviour. They were confident these side
effects could be eradicated in the foreseeable future. The preparation was called D
₅
H.’

The man stopped. Appeared to be thinking. Then he said:

‘That was the gist of it. We sent the dossier on to the clients, who replied at once that they could invest no more capital on such meagre results.’

‘And what about D
₅
H?’

‘On that point, their reply was wholly negative. They said they had more than enough alcoholics and troublemakers, not to mention drug abuse and promiscuity.’

‘And what was the committee’s reaction to that answer?’

‘There was only one way it could react. The Defence Research Institute isn’t some charitable employment scheme. We immediately cancelled the whole project and transferred the staff involved to more lucrative activities. We heard no more about it until a couple of months ago.’

He gave a dry, racking cough and put his hand over his mouth.

‘Then the individual who had invented D
₅
H informed us that he had completed the research on his own initiative with the help of a female assistant, and that the preparation had now been through a full set of trials. He was given permission to appear before the committee in person, and came across to us as extremely enthusiastic.’

‘What does D
₅
H stand for?’

‘The letters are just the inventor’s initials. The five was some kind of serial number, I suppose.’

‘Carry on.’

‘The agent was available in tablet form at that stage. According to its originator, it stimulated the will, and the drive to achieve goals, to an extraordinary extent, while arousing
the subjects’ interest in their surroundings and refining their thinking.’

‘Refining their thinking?’

‘In that it made it easier for them to express emotions they already had. For example: affection, determination to win, loyalty, love, always assuming these feelings were directed at specific individuals or concepts. One side effect remained. The agent was a sexual stimulant. But since it was also goal-orientated, it wouldn’t necessarily lead to promiscuity, in fact just the opposite. This was what the inventor told us, anyway, and he was also kind enough to point out that our people, with their falling birth rate and extremely underdeveloped sexuality, had long been in need of serviceable aphrodisiacs.’

‘Well he was right about that,’ said the police doctor.

Jensen silenced him with a look and said:

‘Well?’

‘The man asked for permission to try D
₅
H on human subjects. First individuals, then trial groups.’

‘And?’

‘As far as we could see, there was no reason to turn down his request.’

‘How did the trials go?’

‘Very well indeed. The tablets were initially given to boxers who were expected to lose. They won. Then other individual sportsmen, and then a football team. With excellent results all the way. The agent took effect immediately and did everything its originator had promised. The next step was experiments on people engaged in political activities, in our youth organisations and so on. I tried it myself, when I was at a congress. The effect was as intended, and the tablets weren’t habit-forming or addictive. One could observe an instant boost in energy levels,
although unfortunately only a very temporary one. It was also observed that the sexually stimulating effect was more noticeable among women than men. But that seemed to be it. Although D
₅
H worked, we had difficulty seeing any way of putting it to practical use. Above all because its effect was so transitory. The inventor personally, and his institute, were informed of this. We were not of the view that the tablets should be manufactured in larger quantities or released as pharmaceutical products, since in the wrong hands they might have undesired consequences.’