by Colin Forbes
'Come to what?'
'Page 12. Several years ago Howard spent a tour of duty with the Paris Embassy as Intelligence Officer. While he was there he took a spell of leave – six weeks. In Vienna.'
'Normal leave?'
'No, sick leave. He was on the edge of a nervous breakdown – "mental exhaustion" is the phrase used by the quack. The medical report is there. He was away January to February. Think of the Austrian climate. Damned funny place to go for sick leave…'
'If he knows Vienna that will help him protect the PM.' 'That's another odd note,' Tweed commented. 'He's never made a single mention of the fact as far as I know.'
Martel handed back the photocopy and sat puffing his cigarette. Tweed produced an envelope with four glossy prints. 'You wanted photographs of Flandres, O'Meara, Howard and Stoller…' Martel put the envelope in his pocket, stubbed out his cigarette and spoke with great vigour.
'Time is so short we have to put maximum pressure on all four security chiefs – in the hope that the unknown assassin makes a wrong move. We stir up the cauldron…'
'How?'
'By telling each of them on the quiet the part we left out. I can deal with Stoller – you'll have to pass the word on to Howard, Main and O'Meara…'
'What word?'
'That the same unimpeachable source which told us one of the Western leaders is marked for assassination aboard the express also told you that the killer is among the four security chiefs.'
From an inside pocket Tweed extracted a card protected by a plastic folder and gave it to his companion. Martel studied the card, which carried his photograph, as Tweed explained while he wandered restlessly round the room. So far he had not reacted to the audacious suggestion Martel had put forward.
'Keith, we shan't meet again before the Summit Express leaves the Gare de l'Est tomorrow night. That card enables you to board the train at any point en route. No one can stop you – not even Howard…'
Permission to board… every facility to be given to the bearer, Keith Martel… specific permission to carry any weapon'
Across his photograph was inscribed the neat and very legible signature of the Prime Minister. She had counter-signed the reference to weapons. Martel stared at Tweed.
'In God's name, how did you get this?'
'I approached her directly through the Minister. I spent half an hour with her. I told her one of the four security chiefs, may be an assassin…'
'She must have loved that…'
'Took it very calmly,' Tweed replied. 'She even said she would feel perfectly safe in our hands. She went through your dossier while I was there. Incidentally, you brought a good passport picture of Claire Hofer with you? Good. Do you trust her?'
'With my life – I have done already. Twice..
'Give me her photo.'
Tweed sat down at the table, produced a second card, a duplicate of Martel's but without the photo or signatures. Taking a tube of adhesive from his pocket, Tweed carefully affixed Claire's photo in position. He then extracted a pen Martel had not seen before and proceeded with great care and skill to forge the PM's signature twice. He looked at Martel over his glasses.
'I have her permission – and she loaned me her pen to do the job. Here is Miss Hofer's card. One thing I must remember to do above all else.'
'What's that?'
'Return the PM her pen. She'll give me hell if I forget. One thing more is exercising my mind – before we go. Manfred…'
'What his next move will be, you mean?'
'I know,' Tweed replied. 'I have duelled with him long-distance before and I should know by now how his mind works. Sit in his chair for a moment. He has been informed that we know one of the four western leaders is marked down for assassination. When we reveal to the security chiefs that one of them is the assassin he will react – he may already have put into action the next phase of his strategy …'
'Which is?'
'Smokescreens. To conceal the identity of the killer he will try to divert our suspicions to the wrong man. He will aim for the maximum confusion in our minds – simply put, so we don't know where the hell we are. And we have no time at all left to locate the guilty man.'
'You agree my idea, then,' Martel said and stood up, checking his watch.
'Yes. We tell the security chiefs one of them is a phoney. And then watch all hell break loose…'
Reinhard Dietrich was in a state of controlled fury as he drove the Mercedes 450 SEL from his apartment to the underground garage which Manfred had designated as the meeting place. On the phone it had almost been in the nature of a summons for Dietrich to come immediately – alone and with just sufficient time to get there.
Inside the deserted underground garage Manfred sat behind the wheel of his BMW hired under a fictitious name with false papers. He had deliberately arrived early and positioned himself so his car would face Dietrich's on arrival.
He heard Dietrich coming, driving on the brake.
The garage was dimly lit and Manfred timed it perfectly. As the millionaire appeared driving towards him he turned on his light full power. The unexpected glare blinded the industrialist who threw up a hand to shield his eyes and cursed as he reduced speed and pulled up alongside the BMW. Manfred promptly turned off his lights, which further confused Dietrich's vision.
He saw a vague image of a man wearing a dark beret, the face turned towards him concealed behind large sun-goggles. Switching off his motor he lowered the window. Manfred was already talking as the window purred open.
'If you lose the election you go ahead with the putsch as planned. Your men in full uniform. You march on Munich – make it as much a replica of Hitler's 1923 march on Munich as you can.'
'Hitler didn't succeed,' Dietrich pointed out. 'He ended up in Landsberg Prison…'
'Where is the new weapons dump?' Manfred interjected. 'I see…' He paused. 'We are so close to zero hour you should use armed guards to protect the place this time. That is all…'
'Wait!'
Manfred had not even heard the plea. He was driving out of the garage, his red tail-lights disappearing round a corner. Dietrich swore again, took out a cigar and lit it. The arrangement was he should wait two minutes before he also left.
Arriving back at Munich Airport, Martel took a cab to the corner of a side street in the city. Waiting until the cab had gone, he walked the last four hundred yards to the Hotel Clausen where the Swiss girl was staying. He was relieved to find Claire safe in her room.
'I've been busy while you were away,' she announced. `I spent a lot of time at the Hauptbahnhof
'That was foolhardy – you could have been spotted…' 'When will you learn I'm not stupid?' she flared up. 'I change my clothes before each visit. A trouser suit in the morning, a skirt and blouse with dark glasses after lunch…'
'Sorry.' Martel dropped his brief-case on the bed and stretched his arms. 'I'm tensed up. The Summit Express leaves Paris tomorrow night and we're no nearer knowing who the target is, let alone the assassin…'
'The dossiers that woman in London is checking? She has found nothing?'
'It could be Flandres, Howard, O'Meara – even Erich Stoller. Any one of them. But she's persisting. The Hauptbahnhof…'
'You never told me what you had noticed after we ran for it,' she reminded him.
'Your impressions first.'
He slipped off his shoes, lay on the bed and propped his back on the bedboard. While she talked he smoked and watched her, thinking how fresh and appetising she looked. He felt a limp, sweaty, mess: the humidity in Munich was growing worse.
'The Hauptbahnhof here,' she began, 'and probably in Zurich – for the same reasons – is the mobile headquarters of Delta. Which explains why Stoller has never managed to locate their main base. The schloss Dietrich has in the country is a blind…'
'Goon.'
'It makes an ideal headquarters because of all the facilities. It is always crowded. So a meeting between two men-or several- is unlikely to be noticed. Courier
s come in on trains, deliver their messages – and depart on other trains. They never actually go into Munich! How am I doing?'
'Promising. Do go on.'
'You observed one of those meetings- the man off the Zurich Express. Plenty of meeting-places – far less risky than any so-called safe houses which might be located and watched. The cafeteria, the cinema, and so on. They even have fool-proof communications which can be used with the certainty no call will ever be intercepted. The payphones.'
'I think you've got it,' Martel agreed. 'But suppose they are spotted?'
'Look at the number of exits available. They can even rush on to a train just leaving. Remember how we escaped – by diving down into the U-Bahn
'That's what I think Warner worked out – all you've been saying. And it explains his reference to the Hauptbahnhofs in his little notebook.'
'I did observe one thing which worried me,' Claire went on. 'I saw men coming in on different trains, tough-looking customers who all made for the self-locking luggage containers. They had keys to the lockers and collected large, floppy bags – the kind you use to conceal automatic weapons. Then they walked out into the city…'
Martel whipped his legs off the bed and frowned in concentration. 'You mean Dietrich is sending in an elite force – probably placing them in hotels close to strategic targets like the TV station, the central telephone exchange – all the key centres of control?'
'That was my guess…'
'We should contact Stoller,' Martel was pacing the room. 'The trouble is we don't know whether the assassin we're trying to pinpoint is Stoller. If he is, he'll thank us – and do nothing.'
'Can't we do one damned thing?' Claire protested.
'We can try…'
'Alain,' Tweed said quietly, 'we know one of the four passengers aboard the Summit Express leaving for Vienna tomorrow night is the target for an assassin…'
'We must certainly assume that, my friend,' Flandres replied.
They were eating dinner in a small restaurant at the end of a court off rue St. Honore. Le patron had escorted them to a table in a secluded corner where they were able to converse without being overheard: It was an exclusive place and the food was excellent. Alain was in the most exuberant of moods.
'What I am going to tell you is completely confidential – just between the two of us – and because we have known each other all these years. How long is it?' Tweed ruminated.
'Since 1953 when I left the Army- I was Military Intelligence, you recall? I then joined the Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire. An orphan, I have spent all my adult life engaged – in the traffic of secrets. A strange pastime.' Flandres sipped at his wine glass. 'I do not like your Frederick Anthony Howard, he said suddenly. 'He is not sympathetic – like a man who fears. to say much in case he reveals more than he wishes to…'
'I find that impression interesting, Alain.' Tweed spoke in all sincerity: he greatly respected the Frenchman's acumen. 'And you chose Military Intelligence when you joined the Army?'
Flandres laughed, a vibrant laugh. 'My God, no! My whole life has been a series of absurd accidents. Military Intelligence chose me! Can you imagine it? Two weeks after I put on uniform I am commissioned overnight – and all because of two accidents! My predecessor got drunk, fell out of a window and broke his neck! And my second language was German – because I had been born in Alsace. So I am attached to General Dumas' staff as Intelligence officer since at that moment he was advancing through Bavaria. Absurd!'
'And later you were demobilised…'
'That is so. I return to Paris. My only trump card is a commendation from Gen. Dumas. I show this to the DST and to my utter astonishment they take me on. Even the commendation is an accident. Dumas mixed up the documents! He intended it for a quite different officer! It is a mad world. Now, what were you going to tell me? Something amusing, I hope?'
'Anything but amusing, I fear…'
Tweed looked round the small restaurant, shook his head as le patron caught his eye and moved towards them. He was not happy about what he had to say – and he was enjoying a pleasant evening with his old friend.
'This is a message from a dead man – I prefer not to identify him. I believe he told the truth but I cannot prove it. He reported that the assassin who will kill one of the western leaders aboard the Summit Express is – one of the four, security chiefs charged with their protection.'
'That is a really terrifying prospect,' Flandres replied slowly.
He sipped more wine, his dark eyes pensive. 'Is there any clue as to which of the four is the guilty man?'
`None whatsoever…'
`It could even be me? That is what you are thinking?'
`I have an open mind on the subject – some people might say my mind is blank…'
`That is something I cannot believe. You will have ideas. You will have investigated. How long have you known this?'
Flandres was in one of his rare solemn moods. But his surface temperament had always been mercurial. Only those who knew him well realised he was possibly the most astute security chief in the West.
`For the last few days,' Tweed replied. 'I have told no one elsenot even Howard. Officially I'm not concerned with this Summit Conference…'
`And unofficially?'
`I root around,' Tweed replied vaguely.
'In Europe? In America?'
`In my mind. I do have a prime suspect. There was, shall we say, an incident? It could point in one direction only. It needs further checking. As regards the Summit Express, let no one board that train without impeccable credentials,' Tweed warned.
`I shall lose a little sleep,' Flandres assured him. 'I am not entirely happy that the train leaves the Gare de l'Est at 11.35 at night and that it will still be dark when it crosses the frontier into Germany.'
`I understand it is the normal train with a section of coaches sealed off from the rest of the express for our illustrious passengers? Plus their own restaurant…'
`That is so. Which means there are six stops before the express reaches Munich. There Chancellor Langer boards the train…'
Flandres threw up both hands in a gesture of frustration. 'All because my own President will not get into a plane – so the others agree, seeing it as a chance to confer during the journey so they present a united front to the Soviet leadership in Vienna.'
Well, you can't alter that, so let's talk about something more congenial…'
For the rest of the meal Flandres was his normal ebullient self, a tribute to his exceptional self-control. But Tweed thought he could see in the Frenchman's eyes an unspoken question. Who was the Englishman's prime suspect?
The caller gave the code-name Franz to the operator at Stoller's Pullach headquarters and said he would ring off in twenty seconds if he was not put through without delay. It was late on Monday evening but the BND chief was waiting hopefully in his office.
'Erich Stoller here…'
'Franz speaking again. I have more information for you -the location of the largest arms dump yet. This time it will be protected by Delta men…'
`Let me get a notepad, I'll only be a moment…'
'Stop! I know that trick! Make your notes afterwards. Wait until the dump has been built up – organise your raid for tomorrow, the day before the election. The location of the dump is…'
Having provided Stoller with the information Reinhard Dietrich had given him earlier in the underground garage, Manfred replaced the receiver.
CHAPTER 22
Tuesday June 2
FREISTAAT BAYERN! TOFLER! TOFLER!! TOFLER!!! FREE STATE OF BAVARIA! TOFLER..
The banners and posters had appeared overnight and were everywhere. Small planes flew over the cities cascading thousands of leaflets bearing the same message. Two days before the election Bavaria seethed in a turmoil.
There were marches by Delta men wearing peaked caps, brown shirts and trousers tucked into jackboots. They sported armbands carrying the Delta symbol.
There were co
unter-marches by Toiler's supporters waving banners and dressed in civilian clothes – each cavalcade preceded by small groups of teen-age girls carrying flowers – which made it tricky for the police to intervene for fear of hurting the girls.
Miinich was like a cauldron with motorists shrieking their horns as planes above fluttered leaflets like confetti. Standing by a window in the office reserved for him at police headquarters Erich Stoller's expression was grim as he spoke to Martel who stood beside him.
'It's getting out of control. And the news tomorrow that we've seized the biggest Delta arms dump yet isn't going to help…'
'Your informant again?' enquired Claire who stood behind the two men. 'There has to be an informant for you to have traced so many weapon caches recently..
'Yes, Franz phoned me again
'Franz?'
'The code-name for my informant.' Stoller made a gesture of impotence. 'I really have no idea who he is – but every time we react to his brief messages we find a fresh dump…'
'The timing is interesting,' Martel commented. 'This business of the arms dumps has been rising to a crescendo – and the climax, oddly enough – will coincide with the Summit Express crossing the Bavarian sector. There is, incidentally, an item of news I should pass on to you. Just before Werner Hagen caused his own death at the water-mill he made an alarming statement.'
'What was that?' Stoller asked quietly as he went to the table and poured more coffee.
'He alleged -and both Claire and I believed him -that…' He swung round and stared at the German as he completed his sentence. '… the assassin who will kill one of the western leaders aboard the train is one of the four security chiefs assigned to protect those leaders…'
A hush descended on the large room. Claire remained quite still, sensing the rise in tension. Stoller paused in the act of pouring coffee. Four sparrows settled on the window-ledge outside, which struck Claire as very strange. Four. There were four security men involved.
`Did – you – say – Hagen?' asked Stoller, spacing his words. 'Yes.'
