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 about?' 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
