Deadlock tac-5

by Colin Forbes

  'Have some more coffee. Now, from the beginning. I was in my car outside this house a few days ago – ready to drive off into the wild blue yonder. No particular destination. Day off from my pottery business – which I'm seriously thinking of selling. Behind me were the docks where a coaster was unloading soya bean meal. They store it in that tall warehouse down the street. I saw this white-haired man – very tall and tough-looking – striding down the gangplank, carrying a case. I began to get curious…'

  'Why?'

  'The coasters normally carry only cargo. And he looked familiar.' She leaned forward, slim hands clasped over shapely knees. 'And a funny little man brought him a red Porsche. Didn't add up – travelling cargo and then the expensive car. I decided to follow him, see where he went. For something to do.'

  'Surely he'd spot you quickly?'

  'I didn't think so – not in this part of the world. The roads are so narrow. Often it's happened to me. Driving to the factory at Wisbech – another car catches up with you, perches on your tail for miles until it can overtake. See what I mean?'

  'Go on.' Tweed drank more coffee and started on the bowl of fruit salad she'd put before him.

  'We drove to Fakenham, then he took the A 1065 to Swaffham. Beyond Swaffham he kept on the 1065 for Mundford. We were in Breckland by now. He pulled up suddenly – the bastard timed it perfectly.'

  'What happened?'

  'I had to stop close behind him – a big truck was coming in the opposite direction. So, when I passed him I was moving slowly. I glanced at him and damned nearly swerved. He was pointing something at me which looked like a gun.'

  She shuddered at the recollection and helped herself to coffee. 'He got a good look at me – and I'm sure it was Foley. Afterwards I realized he was holding some kind of camera – a cine job…'

  'Probably the type with a pistol grip.'

  That's right. Next thing I knew he overtook me and drove alongside. We were both going like bats out of hell. Then the sod deliberately swerved towards me, tried to drive me off the road.'

  'Unnerving. What happened then?'

  'I've seen that sort of thing so often in films and wondered why they didn't do the obvious thing. I suddenly reduced speed – as much as I dared. He shot ahead and I dropped back.'

  'What next?'

  'I was flaming. You know – macho girl not going to allow a chauvinist pig to get away with that. I followed him. When he turned left up the narrow road to Cockley Ford I kept after him. Soon he'd gone clear out of sight. That cooled my ardour. Commonsense took over. I came to an entrance to a field and turned the car round. I find Breckland creepy and there have been queer rumours about that village.'

  'What kind of rumours? And this fruit salad is some of the best I've ever tasted.'

  'Take you to Cockley Cley – the other village. That is, if you will stay on a few days. I've a friend there, a Mrs Massingham who knows all the gossip.'

  There's a hotel in Blakeney?'

  'Hotel! I have a guest bedroom. Bit of a box, but you can bed down there.'

  'You're tempting me.' Tweed paused.

  'Box room for you then.' She smiled. 'It was good of you to come. Have you got your complete picture now?'

  'You've missed out a vital bit. Something about someone going round with a photo of you, asking where you lived.'

  That was yesterday. Creepy- like Breckland. A woman friend who lives up the street warned me. Told her some yarn about visiting his cousin and he'd lost the address. Showed her a photo of me. She sent him off with a flea in his ear – but he went on to see Mrs Piggott. She'll tell anybody anything.'

  'Any description from your friend?'

  'Yes, and she's observant. Short, stocky build, in his forties at a guess. Wears pebble glasses which gives him a sinister look. A face like a lump of dough. Plump. His clothes hanging off him – and messy into the bargain. Spoke English with a foreign accent. Mittel-European, Cathy thought.'

  'Observant, Cathy, as you said…'

  'Oh, and the description reminds me of the man who met Foley with the Porsche off the coaster.'

  ' If it was Lee Foley. I deal in facts. Talking about facts,' he continued casually, 'your vetting for joining the Service came up Al. If you're still interested.'

  'That's marvellous.' Her grey-blue eyes glowed. 'I can sell the business at any time for a good price. I held off till I heard the verdict.'

  'Hold off a bit longer,' Tweed advised. 'I'd like to think about it a bit longer. The fact that you come from a military family helped.'

  'Sounds rather snobby…'

  'Oh, don't worry. That was just background. We're looking for a different type these days. Excellent linguists. The fact that you can speak French, German and Italian like a native was the key qualification. Let's sleep on it. We can talk more tomorrow – things will look clearer then.'

  'Sleep well…'

  Tweed didn't sleep well. He lay awake in the tiny bedroom at the front, overlooking the harbour. Some time after midnight he heard a great surge of water. The tide was going out. He remembered a remark a restaurant owner had made to him at Brancaster, further along the coast towards King's Lynn. It's like pulling the plug out – one moment the sea's there, then it's gone. Nothing left but the empty creeks. The surging sound ceased abruptly. Tweed fretted about the Mittel-European who had enquired about Paula's address. Why should they want to know where she lived -whoever they might be? The episode had sinister implications. Of course, they'd got her photo from the cine-film taken by the Porsche driver, Foley.

  At some ungodly hour he fell into a troubled sleep. He woke suddenly, alarmed. Broad daylight. He checked his watch. 7 a.m. Stupid. He heard the sound of movements downstairs – Paula was up.

  He went to the window, pulled back the curtains. Black clouds above. Below, beyond the road, a channel of water vanished to the west, towards the North Sea. Beyond the channel a maze of muddy creeks snaked away between large elevated banks of sour grass. At high water in March the spring tides would submerge the lot.

  He was in the bathroom at the back of the house, dressed in pyjamas as he washed and shaved when a hand looped round the door, placed a cup and saucer on a shelf. Paula sounded brisk and businesslike.

  'Room service. First cup of coffee. No milk. No sugar. Do I score?'

  'Ten out often…'

  He dressed quickly, ravenous for breakfast. He was walking down the stairs when Paula appeared from the kitchen. Looking up, she smiled as she continued towards the front door.

  'I've just remembered the fresh milk. The trouble with not being used to having a man in the house. Now, what's this?'

  She had opened the front door as Tweed reached the foot of the stairs. She stood quite still for a moment, staring down. As she stooped forward she called over her shoulder.

  'Well, who can this be from? Someone's left me a present…'

  ' Don't touch it for Christ's sake…! '

  Tweed ran along the hall, wrapped his right aim round her, hauled her upright and backwards. Her right hand had been on the point of closing over a large plastic carrier bag standing on the doorstep. He propelled her back towards the rear of the house.

  'Go into the kitchen, out of the back door and into the yard.. .'

  She obeyed without asking a single question. Tweed stared at the bag from which the fronds of a plant protruded. There was a card with writing on it. By the side of the bag stood a pint bottle of milk. He closed the door carefully, ran back into the kitchen as she opened the rear door, holding her handbag. She kept moving as she waved the handbag.

  'I've got my passport…'

  'Is there a way out of this back yard?' he demanded.

  'Yes, a gate leads to a side road…'

  'Move! We have to warn the village. The whole sea front must be closed off. I think it's a bomb…'

  Panic, confusion, movement took hold of Blakeney for the next half-hour. Tweed sent Paula to warn the villagers, to evacuate houses on the front. It was Tweed who wa
lked on the far side of the harbour road by the deep-water channel past the plastic bag perched on Paula's doorstep to stop all activity where a large crane was unloading a coaster.

  Some of the men ran up a side road, carrying the warning; others fled out on to the open marshland. It was Tweed who found a house with a phone in the side street and called the Bomb Squad at Heathrow. He had a few minutes' frustration identifying himself until Jim Corcoran, chief security officer at the airport, vouched for him. He gave curt instructions to a Captain Nicholls, chief of the Bomb Squad.

  '… you've understood? You fly your team to the private airfield at Langham in a chopper, land, and I'll have two cars waiting. Langham's only a couple of miles from here…'

  'Understood. On our way…'

  It was Tweed who then called the American air base at Lakenheath in Suffolk and had a far more frustrating conversation with an American sergeant who thought it was a hoax call. Tweed at last blew his top, shouting down the phone.

  'Put me through to your commander at once or you'll find yourself on the next bloody flight back to the States. I said I was Special Branch – our equivalent of your FBI…'

  The high-ranking officer he was transferred to was equally dubious of Tweed's motives. The Englishman adopted different tactics and spoke with cold vehemence. Eventually the officer responded – to an extent.

  'I'll first have to check your identity with that phone number you gave me before I can…'

  'Check it, for God's sake. But alert your Bomb Squad first.'

  There are procedures…'

  'Bypass them. Then get moving.' Tweed paused for a few seconds. 'If this is a bomb, if it detonates, if it kills, imagine what the press reports will do to Anglo-American relations. And I wouldn't want to be in your shoes…'

  He slammed down the phone, insisted on paying the stunned woman who owned the house, thanked her and ran out to check that the danger zone was sealed off.

  It was. He found Paula had alerted the local police who had acted quickly. Improvised barriers had been erected, lengths of rope closing off both ends of the front. Uniformed constables stood well back, guarding the barriers. A woman ran out of a house in the main street.

  'You lookin' for Paula? You Mr Tweed?'

  'Yes to both questions…'

  'She's in the car park – where you left your lovely Mercedes. Is it a bomb?'

  'Quite possibly…'

  Terrorist swine. They should castrate them.'

  She ran back into the house and Tweed knew she'd be on the phone, reporting the news to her friends. Which had been his intention. He glanced back along the front which looked strangely deserted.

  A black-headed gull swooped silently over the front, then glided out over the marshes as though it sensed danger from the unaccustomed hush. The thought crossed his mind that, unlike the white-headed variety, the black-heads rarely uttered nerve-racking screeches. He walked to the car park situated on a slope rising up from the street. Paula, standing by the 280E, ran towards him.

  'Are you OK?'

  'Sweating like a bull. You did a magnificent job. God! That carrier bag by my car…'

  'Mine. Or rather that lady's – the one you were talking to. She's a friend. You had no breakfast. Fancy a thermos full of hot coffee and some ham sandwiches? She's a nice old thing, she made them for you

  'For us. Let's sit in the back of the car. Nothing more we can do except wait.'

  'Wait for what?' Paula settled herself in the back of the car, sank her teeth into the sandwich Tweed gave her and ate ravenously.

  'Bomb Squad. They'll come down this road. Either from Lakenheath or Heathrow.'

  She drank more coffee. 'God, I'm thirsty.'

  'Dehydration. Delayed shock.' He drank coffee from the chinaware mug she handed him. 'Me, too. I'm parched as the Sahara. Did that woman volunteer the breakfast?'

  'Actually, no. I asked her.'

  'You really are a practical girl,' he commented. 'And I noticed how you kept your cool back at the house. Good for you.'

  'Did you read the card attached to that plastic bag on my doorstep?'

  'No.'

  'It said, For Paula. With love. In strange handwriting.'

  4

  The Heathrow Bomb Squad arrived first. Tweed climbed out of the Mercedes as the two police cars he'd arranged to wait at Langham airfield drove past the car park. He ran, catching them up as they stopped a few yards behind the rope barrier. A three-pipper in Army uniform alighted, carrying a large box, followed by a sergeant and a corporal.

  'Captain Nicholls?' Tweed panted.

  The officer, tall and unsmiling and with alert grey eyes turned round. He looked Tweed up and down. 'Yes,' he replied in a clipped tone. 'What is it?'

  'I'm Tweed.' He showed his Special Branch folder produced in the documents section in the Park Crescent basement. 'I called you on the phone. I'll show you exactly where it is…'

  'Any idea how long the thing's been sitting there?'

  'It could have been parked on the doorstep any time after ten last night. There's a plant sticking out. A large plastic bag.' They were walking side by side and the Captain grasped Tweed's arm as they reached the rope.

  'No need for you to proceed any further, sir. If you'd just locate it…'

  'Come to the other end of the rope.' Tweed pointed. 'It is parked on a doorstep exactly opposite that lamp-post. The whole immediate area has been evacuated.'

  'Then I'd go back and stay in your car, sir. Our job now.'

  'I'd appreciate a report on what you find.' Tweed paused. 'Good luck.'

  Nicholls stared hard at Tweed. A wintry smile appeared briefly. 'You seem to know a bit about these jobs. Luck does come into it. See you later, sir.' On this optimistic note he turned to his men. 'Let's get cracking, lads.'

  Tweed returned to the car. Paula would be under pressure. It was important to see how she was coping. He found her with a sketch-pad on her knee, drawing with a felt-tip pen. 'I use this for working out new pottery designs,' she said without looking up. 'Carry it with me everywhere.'

  Tweed checked the time by his watch and drank the last of the coffee. Ten minutes later he checked his watch again. Paula closed her book and folded her arm inside his as she asked the question. 'Something's bothering you?'

  'Yes. I want to warn you. The police will question you soon. They may be London men from the Anti-Terrorist Squad. Shrewd as a barrel of monkeys. So let's get your story straight. No mention about following that chap who may – or may not – be Lee Foley. Start your story with going to the front door. I was on holiday and you offered me a bed for the night. Then jump to this morning. Tell them how it happened. The way I grabbed you, etc. Keep it simple.'

  'They may be curious you spent the night in my house.'

  'Who cares?' He hastily corrected himself. 'You mean your local reputation could go down the drain?'

  'I couldn't give an "f" for my local reputation. I'll do as you say. I won't let you down. Now answer my question -the one you dodged.'

  'Which one?'

  'Something's bothering you – something else. You keep checking your watch and your mouth tightened the third time.'

  'All right. They've been there over half an hour. If it had been all right – a harmless package – they'd have been back before now. It is a bomb.'

  Three hours later Captain Nicholls appeared alone beyond the rope. Ducking under it, he walked to the car park, glanced at Paula and frowned at Tweed. Climbing out of the car, Tweed bent down and spoke to Paula before closing the door.

  'Won't be long. I think the captain wants a word with me.'

  'Take your time…'

  Nicholls strolled up to the deserted top of the car park with Tweed. He lit a cigarette and waved the pack before replacing it in his pocket. 'Don't normally use them any more. This one tastes very good.'

  'It was a bomb?'

  'Forty pounds of TNT. It would have converted that house into a pile of powdered rubble. NO hope for anyone inside.
Same for the houses on either side. A bit tricky, this one. My chaps are taking the TNI out on to the marshes for a controlled detonation. They'll have to walk miles. Conservation area and all that.'

  'Instant detonation if the woman living there had picked it up?'

  'Oh, absolutely. She'd have been blown -into a million pieces. Bit of a bore, the time we took – but it had been tricked out with all kinds of gadgets. You did say Special Branch?'

  Silently Tweed handed over his folder. Nicholls examined the document very carefully this time. He compared the photo with its subject, then handed back the folder.

  'What was so special about that bomb that made you double-check my identity?'

  'You want the details?' Nicholls took a deep drag on the cigarette.

  The lot, please.'

  'First, it had a plate of steel lined with lead facing towards the waterfront. That would create implosion – most of the blast would have gone into and up the house.'

  The harbour would have suffered?'

  'Not a chance. Second – and this is particularly confidential-it was not the work of any kind of terrorist. Absolutely not.'

  'How do you know that?'

  The new and highly sophisticated mechanism. Perfected no more than a year ago. Of course, normally the explosive wouldn't be TNI – but it was just right for taking out that house. The one item which could be improved – in my opinion – is the timer…'

  Nicholls sported a small trim moustache. He fingered it with the nail of his index finger. Apart from the cigarette, Tweed could detect no trace of the enormous tension the officer must have laboured under. The professional had taken over and his tone was full of enthusiasm as he went on.

  'Devilish clever device though. Really a weapon of war – for use by saboteurs on major naval targets when the balloon goes up.'

  'It sounds pretty heavy – all that steel and lead,' commented Tweed. 'Surely no plastic bag would hold it?'

  'Very cunning, these johnnies. Inside that plastic bag was a smaller one. Made of reinforced leather – with a carrying handle. You do have a point. No one could have carried it far. Probably transported by car. Maybe they parked it a few yards back from the target house, then carted it the rest of the way.'