‘I was at the airport.’
‘Were you catching that plane?’
‘No. I was waiting to see you.’ I saw the whites of his eyes in the shadow of his face as he glanced quickly round the room. Then he smoothed his paper out flat on the table and leaned slightly forward. ‘You probably know by now why the S.N.B. police picked you up for questioning.’ I shook my head and he said, ‘We got Tucek out of the country last night. That’s why I couldn’t meet you as arranged. There was a lot to do.’
‘You got him out of the country!’ I stared at him. ‘But — he was in protective custody. How—’
‘A little diversion. The house next door caught fire. But don’t worry about the details. We had an old Anson waiting at Bory airfield. There were two of them — Tucek and a senior Czech air force officer, general letectva Lemlin.
They should have been in Milan early this morning.’ He was talking very fast, his lips hardly moving. ‘Reece wouldn’t be expecting them till Sunday morning, but they knew where to contact him, and I should have had confirmation of their arrival by wire this morning.’ He paused and then said, ‘I’m very worried, Dick. I’ve heard nothing. When you get to Milan tomorrow, I want you to go straight to the Albergo Excelsior, opposite the Stazione Centrale. Tell Reece to wire me immediately. Will you do that?’
‘The Excelsior! Is Reece staying there?’ I asked him.
He nodded and I cursed the luck that had booked me at the same hotel. I didn’t want to see Reece. I think Maxwell knew that, for he added, ‘It’s very urgent, Dick. They may have crashed.’
‘All right,’ I said. ‘I’ll see Reece.’
‘Good man. Just one other thing. A message from Tucek. He told me to tell you that he wished to see you as soon as you arrived in Milan. He was very insistent.’