This United state tac-16

by Colin Forbes

  'That was pretty tough,' Newman said as Marler switched off the TV. 'Thank God. He really means it.'

  'So do I,' Tweed said very quietly. 'We will exterminate these vermin.'

  Marler remained behind when the others had left, after a warning from Tweed that no one should contemplate going to bed. That they must be ready to leave at a moment's notice.

  'After we got back from Beck's place,' Marler said, 'and you missed death by inches, I went up to my room. I immediately phoned Windermere's room. There was no reply. I then phoned Rupert's room. Again there was no reply. So both were out.'

  'You think one of them is the Phantom?'

  'Don't you?'

  'It could be a third person who hasn't yet appeared on the scene,' Tweed mused.

  'The Phantom is a crack shot, although twice he's just missed. Once with Paula at Irongates in Kent, the second time with you tonight.'

  'You don't think they could have been deliberate misses, to unnerve me? And why has it to be a man. These days there are some women who are as expert shots as men,' Tweed speculated.

  'I'll get him – or her – in my sights sooner or later. I still have my Armalite.'

  'By the way,' Tweed said, 'when we drive to Freiburg, which I'm convinced 'Mill be the case, we'll be staying at the Colombi to begin with. I remember it – a first-class hotel not far from the railway station and fairly close to the outskirts. We have the Schwarzwalder Hof as an alternative base. It's deep inside the old city. We may even dodge backwards and forwards. And don't be surprised if, when we do arrive at the Colombi, we see Sharon. She told me at dinner she's going there.'

  'What is that woman up to? I saw her when you came through the Brasserie on your way to the bar.'

  'She's trying to decide whether to leave America for ever, to settle down in England.'

  Someone tapped on the door. When Marler opened it Paula walked in. Without sitting down, she stopped uncertainly.

  'Is this the wrong moment for me to turn up? I can always go back to my room. I was restless. The waiting.'

  'Stay,' Tweed told her. 'Sit down.' He turned to Marler. 'I was wondering why you asked about Sharon.'

  'I doubt if instructions to kill you were transmitted over the phone. Which suggests to me they were given by someone inside this hotel.'

  'What are you talking about?' Paula demanded. 'Instructions to kill Tweed?'

  'I was going to tell you later,' Tweed said quickly. 'On our way back from seeing Beck across the road someone took a pot-shot at me. Missed by a mile.

  'A short mile,' Marler corrected.

  'So why query Sharon?' Tweed asked him. 'There are other people in the hotel.'

  'Who, for example?'

  'Ed Osborne.'

  It was in the middle of the night when Jake Ronstadt called the members of his outfit to his suite. As ordered, they were all fully dressed. Unusually he stood at the head of the table.

  'Who the hell gave you permission to sit down?' he snarled when they had automatically occupied their chairs. 'Get on your feet.'

  'Anyone gettin' old and tired?' he sneered as they jumped up.

  'Sorry, Chief. We're OK,' said Vernon.

  'You'd better be – otherwise you'll find yourself with a bullet in the head, dumped in a ditch.' His voice changed, became dangerously wheedling. 'Has everyone packed, like I said? If you ain't raise your right hand.'

  No hands were raised. Ronstadt stared slowly round, his hard eyes glaring at each man. They waited, not daring to move a muscle. Ronstadt spoke again, this time in a calm voice.

  'We're leaving – for Freiburg first, then the Black Forest. I've told you before. But in case you've got short memories I'm goin' to repeat myself. I'll drive the lead car. Vernon comes up behind me. When we're on the autobahn, Vernon, I'll signal where you turn off – with a wave of my arm. You go up the slip road, meet the two cars waiting, transfer the weapons into your car, then drive down to rejoin me. Is that too difficult for you?'

  'Piece of cake.'

  'Then ram it down your throat. The bill's paid, so why are you all hangin' around here?'

  'So Denise never called you after leaving?' Tweed asked.

  'No. Why would she?' Marler said. `I'm the last person she'll want to see again. She must have concocted that whole yarn about the Minotaur.'

  'Seems she did.

  Tweed was trying to think up things to say. In his room everyone was gathered, including Keith Kent, who seemed the most placid. In the middle of the night there was an air of unspoken tension. Everyone was waiting to get on with it, knowing that nothing might happen. Paula sat in an armchair, swinging her crossed legs. She reached for her pack in her shoulder bag, then decided she didn't want a cigarette. Newman, seated on a couch, kept checking his watch. Marler was leaning against a wall. The other two who were most patient were Butler and Nield, chatting quietly to each other.

  'Anyone like some more coffee?' Tweed enquired. 'Helps to keep you alert.'

  No one did. Newman was thinking he could have had a nap in his room. Paula got up, went over to the windows, carefully peeked through a gap she made in the closed curtains. On the opposite bank of the Rhine a few lights gleamed in the old houses, their reflections trembling in the river. Insomniacs, she thought. They existed all over the world.

  The mobile phone on the table began buzzing. Tweed forced himself not to grab. Picking it up, he was aware of six pairs of eyes watching him intently.

  'Hello?'

  'They're on the move. Must be close to the border.' 'Thank you.'

  Beck's distinctive voice had come clearly across. Tweed put the mobile into his pocket. He spoke offhandedly, as though they were going on a day trip to a resort.

  'Time to go. I suspect we have very little time left.'

  In the Atlantic, well clear of the American coastline, Crag – Rear Admiral Joseph Honeywood, in command of the huge naval task force – settled into his seat in the Island of the President. It was night and he liked to be at control after dark. That was when you could get an unpleasant surprise. He looked at his Operations Officer.

  'We're making good time. We should be on station in the English Channel less than four days from now.'

  'No doubt about it, sir.'

  'And so far, Bill, we've been lucky. We haven't been spotted by any other ship or a commercial airliner.'

  'I have a feeling that will go on. The Brits will wake up to find us off their shores.'

  'The SEALs are ready for action?'

  'They are. If they have to land they'll sweep over anything that gets in their way. They're rarin' to go.'

  32

  Driving through Basel at night was an eerie experience, Paula was thinking. She liked the city, but in the dark the medieval buildings, illuminated only by street lanterns at intervals, had a majestic – and sinister – atmosphere. There were no trams running at this hour, the streets were deserted, the shadows deep and menacing.

  She sat beside Newman, who was driving the first car. In the rear seats Tweed was alongside Keith Kent. Tweed was sitting up erect, his eyes everywhere. The adrenalin was flowing and he was very alert. He knew the layout of the city well and was on the lookout for anything unusual, which should not be there.

  'We're getting close to the border,' he warned after a while.

  'Marler's keeping up with us well, not too close, not far behind,' Newman commented after checking his rearview mirror.

  Tweed glanced back through the rear window. Marler was driving the second Audi. As passengers he had Butler and Nield in the back. The seat beside him was unoccupied – for a purpose. He slowed as Newman's car lost speed, then the two cars stopped.

  In the near distance was the checkpoint at the border. Paula could make out the heavy figure of Jake Ronstadt behind the wheel of a black Audi. He had his window down and appeared to be arguing with the duty officer. Another officer searched the interior of the car while three men in dark coats stood outside.

  'What the hell is this all ab
out?' Ronstadt was demanding for the third time. 'I've shown you my diplomatic passport. You have no right to stop us – let alone search the car.'

  'Information received, sir,' another officer replied. 'What information might that be, buddy?'

  'We are not allowed to disclose our sources. Would you mind stepping out so I can check the front?'

  'I damned well would. I'm reporting this to Washington. And I'd like your name.'

  'As Chief Customs Officer at this crossing point I have sole authority…'

  He paused as another officer pulled at his sleeve. They walked a short distance from the car. They conversed briefly and the Chief Customs Officer was careful not to look to where Newman's car was waiting with Marler's, parked in the shadows. He returned to the Audi.

  'If it was a large consignment we would have found it by now. You are free to proceed.'

  Ronstadt started his engine. He lowered his window. The moment he had crossed the border he shouted back, 'You can stick your sole authority.'

  He pressed his foot down, increasing speed as he drove onto the autobahn. Behind him three more black Audis followed. In his own Audi, Newman commented while he waited a little longer.

  'Four cars. I counted four men in each – that's sixteen. We're outnumbered.'

  'That worries you?' Tweed enquired from the back. 'Not at all. We've been outnumbered more heavily before. Time to go.'

  The officer waved them through. He even saluted them. Then they were on the wide autobahn. It had two lanes in both directions, separated by a metal crash barrier and hedges. They drove on through the night and there was no other traffic as Newman held back from the convoy ahead. He drove so he could always see the red lights of the rear-most vehicle. Paula was shielding a pocket torch as she examined an ADAC map she had purchased of the Schwarzwald area.

  'We turn off at junction 63 to get to Freiburg,' she called out. 'It's quite a distance yet.'

  'We'll get there.'

  In Ronstadt's car Leo Madison, the man who had murdered Juliette Leroy in St Ursanne, sat beside Ronstadt. He kept looking back down the autobahn behind them. He was trying to decide if it was wise to speak. He decided it was.

  'Every time we go round a big curve I see two white cars behind us.'

  'So?'

  'When you speed up, they speed up. When you go slower, they do.'

  'So?'

  'Reckon it could be Tweed and his mob. I've heard German drivers love overtaking.'

  'That worries you, Moonhead?'

  'The name is Leo Madison. They may tail us to where we're goin' and that could be a problem.'

  'Moonhead, I expected Tweed to follow us. What do you think that crap at the checkpoint was about? Holdin' us up so Tweed could get there. A little idea of that nutter Police Chief Beck. I'm happy if that is Tweed behind us. Wait our opportunity and wipe out Tweed and his boys off the face of the earth. Any more comments floating round in that thing you call a brain?'

  'Nothin' I can think of, Chief.'

  'Well, we're comin' up to junction 66. That's where Vernon peels off up the slip road, collects the weapons, brings them back to us. We wait.'

  A few minutes later he slowed, lowered his window, reached out an arm and made a circling gesture. He continued to slow down and then parked at the side of the autobahn, which was illegal.

  Tweed had taken from his pocket a pair of night glasses. He was focusing them on the lead car of the convoy of black Audis as they swept round a curve. He grunted.

  'They're slowing down a lot. More than they have previously.'

  'They're testing,' Newman suggested. 'To see if we do the same thing, which we have to. Maybe Ronstadt suspects we're following him.'

  'I'm sure he does,' Tweed replied. 'At least I hope so. I want to keep up the pressure on him. Keith, you saw him when you went into the Zurcher Kredit Bank. What was your impression of him?'

  'Very confident, quite dynamic, impatient and with a short fuse.'

  'Which is the picture I got of him when he came over to see Paula and me when we were dining at Santorini's. That short fuse may blow – when it does he's liable to make a mistake. And now the whole convoy has stopped.'

  'So I'll park here until we see what they're up to,' Newman remarked. 'Except it's totally illegal and we'll be caught if a patrol car comes along.'

  'If it does,' Tweed assured him, 'I'll ask them to use their radio transmitter to put me through to Otto Kuhlmann in Wiesbaden. That will stop them searching Marler's car…'

  'Marler wouldn't like that,' said Marler at the open windows 'I pulled up and came along to see what's happening.'

  'No idea. It's possible they may be picking up some weapons. They wouldn't risk carrying them through the checkpoint.'

  'Then now is the time to take them,' Marler urged.

  'It is not. We shoot down unarmed men – with diplomatic passports – and we haven't a leg to stand on. Even Kuhlmann would have to arrest us.' Tweed had pressed his night glasses to his eyes after removing his spectacles as he spoke. 'The second car is moving off by itself. What's up there?'

  'From my map,' said Paula, 'I'm pretty sure they're stopped just before junction 66.'

  'I think you're right. The second car has disappeared up a slip road. Yes, that must be it, they're collecting a load of weapons. We'll just sit it out here until they make their next move.'

  'Meantime,' Marler said, 'I'll hand you back your ironmongery.'

  He gave Newman his Smith amp; Wesson, his holster and ammo. Then he returned to Paula her Browning and ammo. Diving his hand inside the canvas holdall slung over his shoulder, he produced two stun grenades, passed them to Newman. Taking out another grenade, he extended it to Paula.

  ''I don't think I need that.'

  'Take it. They're not Pekinese waiting a bit further up the autobahn. They're the most cold-blooded and professional killers we have met so far. That's better.'

  He looked at Keith Kent. The money tracer was sitting relaxed as though half asleep.

  'I think, Keith, you should have a Walther automatic.' 'Thank you. It's a little while since I used one of these.'

  'We'd better keep you locked up safely in a cupboard somewhere, then,' Marley commented before returning to his car.

  'While we're waiting,' Tweed said, 'you may be interested to hear that Sharon checked out of the hotel an hour before we left. She drove off in a Mercedes.'

  'She must have made up her mind quickly to go on to Freiburg,' Paula remarked.

  'She must indeed. I found that out at the last moment when I paid the bill at the Three Kings. I also heard from the receptionist that Ed Osborne also had checked out and taken off in his own car.'

  'Again to Freiburg, I imagine,' said Paula. 'That town is going to be rather crowded. I meant to ask you earlier: any word from Monica about the identity of Charlie?'

  'Monica did call me. Very 'discreetly. In words no one except me would understand she did inform me that so far she has found no trace of anyone called Charlie. She's still digging.'

  Five minutes later Tweed was again gazing through his night glasses. Paula had closed the window to stop any more of the night air freezing them. Newman had kept the engine on, so the heating was beginning to warm up the interior again. Tweed lowered his glasses.

  "That second car which drove off up the slip road has appeared again. All four men got out carrying suitcases. They deposited two cases in the first car and then one in each of the last two cars. They must have an armoury now.'

  `So Marler was right to hand out grenades,' Newman said. 'And they're on the move again.'

  He waited a short time, then drove on with Marler following behind him. Paula started checking her map again. Ahead of them the autobahn stretched away into the distance. A moon had risen, casting a milky glow over the empty countryside on either side. They had passed junction 65 when Newman reduced speed. Paula looked up, saw a faint covering of snow on the autobahn. The convoy in front of them slowed seconds later.

  '
Here and there are patches of ice under this snow,' Newman explained.

  'I wouldn't want to skid at the speed you were going,' Paula remarked.

  'It would be all right if there was ice all the way,' Newman told her. 'Then I'd know how to handle it. But they are random patches. You hit them without warning. Ronstadt has obviously come to the same conclusion. I will give him one thing – he's an expert driver.'

  'He probably started out his career driving getaway cars in the States,' interjected Keith for the first time.

  'Just the type,' Newman agreed. 'Then worked his way up over a pile of bodies.'

  They drove on and on through the night. The black Audi convoy had slowed down. Newman guessed Ronstadt was no keener on racing across ice patches than he ' was. The moon was now illuminating the light covering of snow on the fields stretching away. In the rear of the car Paula was once more studying her map.

  'We're just about to pass junction 65. Then it's a longish run to junction 64. When we eventually reach 63 we can drive straight into Freiburg.'

  'Can I look at that map?' Tweed asked her.

  Using the torch, he examined the map. carefully. He was relying partly on his memory, but the Germans might well have changed the road layout since his previous visit. Holding on to the map, he called out to Newman.

  'When we've passed junction 65, could you pull up? I need to have a brief word with Marler.'

  'Will do…'

  'We have just passed junction 65,' Paula reported a few minutes later.

  'I know.'

  Newman reduced speed, then pulled over and parked. Marler had stopped close behind them. Without being summoned he appeared at the window which Tweed had lowered. He smiled as he leant inside.

  'So far, so good. What's the next move?'

  'Look at this map.' Tweed used the torch so Marler could see clearly. 'If Ronstadt turns off at junction 63, which I think he will, we're then on route 31 leading direct to Freiburg. But here, close to the city, the road splits. Right fork leads to the Munster – close to the Schwarzwalder Hof where we have rooms booked. Left fork will take us in close to the Colombi, where we also have rooms booked. I just have a feeling that several of the cars behind Ronstadt will peel off, taking the right fork. If that happens Paula will flash her torch three times through the rear window. That means you leave us; take the right fork, follow any cars which do peel off. Wait till the occupants have booked in at the Schwarzwalder Hof, then book in yourselves.'