This United state tac-16

by Colin Forbes

  'One English twenty-pound note, one English ten-pound note. I am mystified. Why would Kurt travel all the way to St Ursanne to see his friend, Juliette, just to leave these with her? And then put her details in that little black book Irina extracted from behind the brick in the wall?'

  'He was leaving us a secret paper trail for us to follow. I imagine he knew he had a tail. That's a guess. So he evades the tail and goes to St Ursanne.'

  'Just to hide two ordinary banknotes? Why?' 'I haven't a clue.'

  'Was there anywhere else written down in the little black book?'

  'Yes, but we haven't time to follow it up at the moment. Now, I had a chat with Strangeways…'

  He told her all about their conversation. She listened, memorizing every word. When he had finished she sat lost in thought before she reacted.

  'Something very weird's going on. And I could have told you Rupert is here. He's on the same floor as me.' 'He saw you?'

  'No. I dodged back in my room until he'd gone off down the corridor. He definitely did not see me. And how, in Heaven's name, did Strangeways find out you were here? Monica would never tell him.'

  'I told you what he said. I don't like his finding me any more than you do. There's a leak somewhere.'

  He stopped talking as the phone rang. Paula jumped up, answered it. She called out to Tweed.

  'Keith Kent's in the lobby.'

  'Ask him to come up immediately.' He checked his watch. 'We have about five minutes before we rush across to Beck. I see Marler remembered what I asked him to do. He must have given it to a maid and asked her to use her pass key.'

  He walked quickly to where a canvas holdall was perched by a settee. Picking it up he opened the flap, turned it upside down to, show Paula it was empty.

  Wondering what the deuce he was up to, she watched as he unlocked a cupboard, took out a powerful cone-shaped loudhailer, slipped it inside the holdall, closed the flap.

  'What do you want that for?' she asked.

  'I hope you'll never know. If you do, it will save lives.'

  Before she could ask him what he was talking about someone knocked quietly on the door. Paula, shoulder bag over her arm, took out her Browning. She opened the door a few inches, then threw it wide. Keith Kent strolled in.

  'Warm in here,' he remarked, taking off his overcoat. 'Don't go out. You'll freeze to death.' He smiled at Paula. 'Normally the service here is first rate. I get a cup of steaming coffee.'

  Paula went to the largest table, felt the silver pot, took her hand away quickly. One of the staff must have brought up a fresh pot with new cups when they had seen Tweed return. The service at the Three Kings was first rate. They had noticed the amount of coffee Tweed consumed. She poured a cup for their guest.

  'Thanks.' Kent had sat down. He drank half the cup. 'Makes really good central heating. Now, what can I do for you?'

  'These mean anything to you, Keith?' Tweed asked. He handed him the two British banknotes. Kent felt them with his sensitive fingers. Standing up, he took them over to the window, held them up to the light. Returning to the couch, he sat down, took an eyeglass from his pocket, screwed it into his right eye, examined the banknotes again. Then he removed the eyeglass, put it back in his pocket.

  'I'm sorry, Keith,' Tweed said, 'but we do have to leave here in about three minutes.'

  'That's all right. Where did you get these?'

  'Can't tell you that. Does it matter?'

  'Not really.' He drank more coffee. 'I just wondered.' 'Have you any comment?' Tweed persisted.

  'Yes. They're fakes. Paper they're printed on seems OK. Can't imagine how whoever printed them got hold of it. But they are quite definitely forgeries. Some of the best I've seen. But they do have an error.'

  'Would it be spotted by a bank teller?'

  'Yes. Especially if someone walked into a British bank with a wad of them. As the teller riffled through them the error would jump out at him. If a lot of these were in circulation they'd be detected very quickly. Good as they are.'

  'Thank you. It's a breakthrough. Keith, would you mind moving from the Hilton to this hotel? They're more than half empty. Time of the year.'

  'I'll go and collect my things now.'

  'Thank you again.' Tweed was putting on his coat, picking up the canvas holdall. 'We have to rush now. Book yourself a room here on your way out. Get one overlooking the Rhine, if you can.'

  'All mod. cons. I do like the life of luxury,' Kent said.

  27

  They were transported in unmarked police cars from headquarters to the far side of the river. The route took them over the bridge Tweed could see when he looked right – upstream – from his bedroom window. Beck drove the first car with Tweed sitting next to him, nursing the canvas holdall in his lap. In the rear sat Paula and Newman. The others were in a similar car following behind them.

  'The Minotaur will come downriver on this side,' Beck explained. 'I've had a report from my officer watching the vessel that a number of people in cars drove into the yard, then when they came out they only had the driver in each vehicle. So the party is aboard.'

  'Did your officer wait – to see if those cars returned?' Tweed asked.

  'No, he didn't. Why would the cars return so quickly?'

  'I just wondered.'

  A strong wind had blown up suddenly. Crossing the bridge, Paula noticed wavelets ruffling the surface of the Rhine. She hoped the tablet she had given Tweed would work. It was likely to be choppy aboard a launch. Added to the wind, an army of low dark clouds swept over the city, creating a heavy pall. Beck had driven into the city on the other hank and then turned right along a course parallel to the river.

  'You have your own launch, as requested,' he told Tweed. 'I am in the big one brought out of the boat shed. There will be three other launches, packed with my men. One of them has boarding equipment – just in case we meet resistance when I order the Minotaur to heave to. I shall do that further downriver, near the harbour.'

  'I have a loudhailer here. If I order all launches to speed away from the barge they must do so very quickly.'

  'What would cause you to do that?' Beck asked in surprise.

  'An emergency. A dangerous one.'

  'If you say so. You usually know what you're doing.

  All launches have wireless communication, but the skipper of each one also has a mobile phone, as I have.'

  'If it comes to it, use the mobile. It will be quicker.'

  'I should have checked earlier. You do have someone experienced in handling a high-powered launch?'.

  'Two,' Tweed replied. 'Newman and Marler.'

  'We have cordoned off a section of the riverfront with police tape,' Beck went on. 'To keep the public away from where our launches are assembled.'

  'You seem to have thought of everything.'

  'I believed so – until you made your remark about your loudhailer. I expect this to be a straightforward operation. We shall arrest everyone on board, saying we have been tipped off that the barge is carrying drugs. They'll wave their diplomatic passports, particularly if Ronstadt is aboard. I'll say I think they are producing phoney documentation and have to check with their authorities. Ronstadt will think I mean their Berne Embassy, but in due course I'll contact Washington. Meantime we interrogate the passengers.'

  'You've thought it out well. Have you had a complaint from the Berne Embassy?'

  'Not a cheep, as I think you sometimes say. Obviously he was bluffing. Rather a giveaway.'

  'It's after 4 pm,' Tweed said. 'If they stick to their timetable the Minotaur is coming.'

  'And here we are at the landing stage.'

  27

  They were transported in unmarked police cars from headquarters to the far side of the river. The route took them over the bridge Tweed could see when he looked right – upstream – from his bedroom window. Beck drove the first car with Tweed sitting next to him, nursing the canvas holdall in his lap. In the rear sat Paula and Newman. The others were in a similar
car following behind them.

  'The Minotaur will come downriver on this side,' Beck explained. 'I've had a report from my officer watching the vessel that a number of people in cars drove into the yard, then when they came out they only had the driver in each vehicle. So the party is aboard.'

  'Did your officer wait – to see if those cars returned?' Tweed asked.

  'No, he didn't. Why would the cars return so quickly?'

  'I just wondered.'

  A strong wind had blown up suddenly. Crossing the bridge, Paula noticed wavelets ruffling the surface of the Rhine. She hoped the tablet she had given Tweed would work. It was likely to be choppy aboard a launch. Added to the wind, an army of low dark clouds swept over the city, creating a heavy pall. Beck had driven into the city on the other hank and then turned right along a course parallel to the river.

  'You have your own launch, as requested,' he told Tweed. 'I am in the big one brought out of the boat shed. There will be three other launches, packed with my men. One of them has boarding equipment – just in case we meet resistance when I order the Minotaur to heave to. I shall do that further downriver, near the harbour.'

  'I have a loudhailer here. If I order all launches to speed away from the barge they must do so very quickly.'

  'What would cause you to do that?' Beck asked in surprise.

  'An emergency. A dangerous one.'

  'If you say so. You usually know what you're doing.

  All launches have wireless communication, but the skipper of each one also has a mobile phone, as I have.'

  'If it comes to it, use the mobile. It will be quicker.'

  'I should have checked earlier. You do have someone experienced in handling a high-powered launch?'.

  'Two,' Tweed replied. 'Newman and Marler.'

  'We have cordoned off a section of the riverfront with police tape,' Beck went on. 'To keep the public away from where our launches are assembled.'

  'You seem to have thought of everything.'

  'I believed so – until you made your remark about your loudhailer. I expect this to be a straightforward operation. We shall arrest everyone on board, saying we have been tipped off that the barge is carrying drugs. They'll wave their diplomatic passports, particularly if Ronstadt is aboard. I'll say I think they are producing phoney documentation and have to check with their authorities. Ronstadt will think I mean their Berne Embassy, but in due course I'll contact Washington. Meantime we interrogate the passengers.' , 'You've thought it out well. Have you had a complaint from the Berne Embassy?'

  'Not a cheep, as I think you sometimes say. Obviously he was bluffing. Rather a giveaway.'

  'It's after 4 pm,' Tweed said. 'If they stick to their timetable the Minotaur is coming.'

  'And here we are at the landing stage.'

  ***

  To Paula's surprise Tweed hurried aboard the large launch allocated to them. He then made his way to the bow, one hand holding on to the gunwale, the other gripping the loudhailer.

  Even while berthed at the landing stage the launch was swaying. The motion seemed to have no effect on him. He gazed back upriver for his first sight of the barge. The other four launches, crammed with police, were waiting to take off.

  Beck's very large launch had a bridge at a higher level. The word Polizei appeared on its sides and stern. Above the bridge was mounted a large searchlight and a prominent horn. Beck came back from his vessel to Tweed's launch.

  'The plan is to let the Minotaur pass us, then we go after it when it has gone under the bridge. The current is flowing strongly, so you may be surprised how quickly it will reach the bridge. Good luck…'

  The wind cut through Paula's coat like a knife. She was hoping the barge would appear soon. Then one of the policemen from Beck's launch appeared, carrying an armful of oilskins. Handing them to Newman, who had been experimenting with the engine, he called out above the wind.

  'All of you put these on. Extra warmth. Stop you getting soaked.'

  'Thanks a lot,' said Newman.

  'This is better,' said Paula, putting the oilskin over her coat.

  Tweed sat down to put on his oilskin, then immediately stood up again. There were no other craft on the Rhine and no public to gawk at them from behind the distant tape. The weather had kept them indoors.

  'Here she comes,' Tweed called out.

  Round a bend in the river a massive barge loomed into view. The conversion to a passenger craft had been extensive. Huge portholes like giant eyes had been cut out of the hull. Tweed noticed that curtains were closed across all of them. Behind each one a light glowed.

  'They've got music,' he called out.

  'Didn't expect this,' Paula responded.

  'Well, it's supposed to be a pleasure craft,' Newman remarked as he turned off the engine.

  He had been surprised at the power it generated. These launches could really move, he decided. The strains of the 'Blue Danube' waltz grew louder. Hardly appropriate for the Rhine, Paula was thinking. There was no sign of anyone on board, but she wouldn't expect passengers to be flaunting themselves on deck in weather like this.

  'I can see the helmsman,' Tweed called out. 'In the cabin at the stern.'

  'Appears to be by himself,' Marler commented.

  'Only takes one man to hold the wheel,' Newman told him.

  None of the launches had started their engines. Tweed guessed that Beck had ordered them to maintain silence until the huge barge had passed them. He wouldn't want to alert the people on board to his flotilla waiting to pounce.

  Even though she was wearing her gloves Paula's hands were beginning to chill. Butler and Nield, standing up, were slapping their arms vigorously round their bodies. Despite the cold, Paula sensed an air of tension, of suppressed excitement aboard their launch. They were within a few minutes of rounding up the whole American gang which had descended on Basel.

  Coining closer and closer, the barge seemed even more enormous than she had expected. Its bow wave swept out like a minor tidal wave, causing their launches to rock madly when it reached them. Tweed remained standing up, still gripping the gunwale, staring fixedly at the monster.

  As far as Paula could tell, he seemed focused on the shadowy silhouette of the burly helmsman inside his cabin. He was standing stock-still, his hands moving the wheel slightly for a moment. He never glanced to port or starboard. His whole concentration was ahead, on the bridge where he would soon pass through one of the large arches.

  Beck, inside his own bridge, was equally motionless. He did not give the barge a glance as its immense hull started to sweep past. The Minotaur was so long it seemed to take ages to pass them, even though travelling at speed with the current. There were a number of dinghies, powered by outboard motors, on the main deck. A poor substitute for lifeboats, Paula was thinking.

  Eventually the stern of the Minotaur loomed above them and the vessel approached the arch under the bridge. Paula saw Tweed had put his loudhailer down at his feet, and was now using a pair of binoculars to scan the barge. As far as she could tell, he was focused on the cabin and the helmsman inside.

  The barge passed under the bridge, was now opposite the Three Kings. It struck her that anyone sitting by the windows at the rear of the lobby would have a ringside view. Beck was still erect and still as a statue, his eyes glued to the receding barge. Once he glanced at his watch. Paula guessed he had estimated the barge's speed, was waiting for it to reach a certain point on the river.

  Looking back onshore, she noticed the cars which had brought them had disappeared. She wondered where they would eventually land. Then she remembered Beck had said something about ordering the barge to heave to further downriver, near the harbour. Maybe the cars had been driven there, waiting to pick them up as passengers again.

  The stern of the barge had vanished from sight. Surely Beck was cutting the timing a bit fine? As though he had read her mind, he raised his right hand, held it aloft, staring at his wristwatch. The engines of the launches burst into action, but rema
ined at the landing stage. Then Beck dropped his hand.

  The launch he was aboard moved off when one of his men freed the rope holding it to a bollard. Marler unleashed them in the same way and they sped out on to the Rhine. Paula noticed that the strong current was giving them extra speed. Tweed, the binoculars dropped from a loop round his neck, the loudhailer gripped in his hand, turned to shout at Newman, who was gripping the wheel.

  'Bob! Get ahead of Beck. Get this damned launch moving!'

  'Doesn't expect much, does he?' Newman said to Marler.

  He opened full throttle and the launch soared forward while Tweed gripped the gunwale with both hands. They were skimming over the waves as Beck passed under the bridge. Newman was still behind him as their launch sped through the arch under the bridge. In the distance Paula could see the Minotaur again. The barge was about to pass under another bridge. Tweed again turned round to shout a fresh order at Newman.

  'Keep us as close to the shore as you safely can. Do get a move on!'

  'What does he think I'm doing!' Newman snapped to Marler. 'Paddling across the Serpentine?'

  He changed course to obey Tweed's command. Paula couldn't understand what Tweed was up to. Beck's craft was in the middle of the Rhine – or as close as he could be without leaving the official channel for vessels moving downstream. Paula was so intent on watching what was happening ahead she forgot to glance at the Three Kings as they passed it.

  Newman was coaxing an extra burst of speed out of his engine after changing course, which had lost him a few seconds. Seated, as everyone else was, except Tweed and Newman, Paula looked back quickly. The other police launches were racing close behind them. It was then that she remembered Newman had once taken part in a powerboat race off Cannes. Up against some well-known names, he had won the race.

  Beck's launch passed under the second bridge. Newman, with a determined look on his face, roared through the arch, was now almost alongside Beck with a safe distance between the two craft. Beck was waving him back but Newman thundered on, inched his way ahead. Paula, who had been gazing back at Newman, turned to face the way they were going and was taken aback when she saw how close they were to the Minotaur, passing a well-known pharmaceutical firm's headquarters on the opposite bank.