CHAPTER 16
'Welcome to Hamburg,' said Lisa as she walked in, went over to hug Paula. 'Amazing,' she said, turning to Tweed. 'Truly amazing. You worked out my message, you clever man,' she ended cheekily.
'Interested in a glass of champagne?' Tweed suggested.
'Buckets of it,' Lisa rapped back after checking the bottle. 'Can I sit down? It's bloody hot,' she remarked, sitting down.
She wore a white blouse, khaki shorts. Her feet were clad in sandals. No jewellery – not even one ring on her fingers. Tweed gave her a glass of champagne. She drank half of it straight off.
'How did you know we were here?' Tweed asked casually.
'I make it my business to know what's going on. Thought you'd have caught on to that when I made it my business to come to London – to warn you where the imminent riots were going to take place. Wake up, Tweed,' she rapped out, again saucy.
'Why have you come to see us now – glad as we are of your restrained presence?'
'Touche! My guess is you're hunting Rhinoceros.'
'Is it?' Tweed sat down facing her so as not to miss any nuance of expression. 'And supposing that was one of the reasons we are here?'
'Then you're in the right place. Germany.'
'Rhinoceros is in Germany? Whereabouts?'
'No damned idea.' Lisa refilled her glass, knocked back half of her fresh drink. 'You really will have to do some of the work yourself.'
'I have been known to exert a little energy. What about a hint?'
'I haven't a clue.' She suddenly dropped her flippant attitude, stared at Paula. 'But I can tell you that all of you are in grave danger.'
'From who?'
'This interrogation has gone far enough.' She flared up, her face flushed with anger. She turned on Tweed. 'I do not know. Don't you bloody well think I'd tell you if I did?' Standing up, she confronted him. 'There's a quality called trust. Ever heard of it? Trust]' she shouted at him. 'As you obviously don't trust me we have no more to talk about.' She reached for the champagne glass, saw it was empty, threw it onto the table where it shattered. 'When I think of what I went through in London to help you and you treat me like this!'
'I remember that well, Lisa…' Tweed began.
'Don't 'Lisa' me. The name is Trent. Got it? T-r-e-n-t. So forget about me,' she shouted, heading for the door. 'Paula, I pity you, working for this man…'
Then she was gone.
'I blew it,' said Tweed.
'She didn't have to rave at you like that.'
'I blew it,' Tweed repeated. He went on to the balcony and Paula followed. 'She is just out of the clinic and probably needed a few more days, but she's gutsy. In her place I'd have walked out of that clinic. We've lost one important key.'
'I could go and try and find her…'
'Don't. She has to simmer, then quieten down. Her sister Helga was murdered. She probably realizes the bullet was meant for herself.' He took a deep breath. 'At least we still have Dr Kefler tonight.'
'And maybe Rondel.'
'Funny idea. His inviting us to dinner and then not sitting with us. Something odd there.'
'We'll find out tomorrow night,' Paula said quietly.
'Meantime, I think we should go now to the Hotel Renaissance and contact Harry for tonight. We just don't know what may be waiting for us down in the docks area.'
As if on cue, Marler arrived, carrying a large hold-all. He grinned, refused a glass of champagne.
'Just back from the Reeperbahn. I've seen Newman, given him his favourite, a. 38 Smith amp; Wesson with holster and spare ammo. Said he felt better now.'
'Why? Was he nervous?' Tweed asked, not believing it.
'This is a nervous city. Also visited Mark. His bedtime companion is a 7.65mm Walther.'
'How did you know which rooms to go to?'
'Followed them discreetly when they arrived separately. They didn't know I was there.'
'Must be losing their grip,' Paula joked.
'You said,' Tweed recalled, 'this is a nervous city. What prompted that remark?'
'My contact off the Reeperbahn who supplied the weaponry. He said they had enough of their own thugs, but on the grapevine he'd heard more were coming from Britain -some by ferry, some flying in. I bought enough weaponry to deal with a small army. Now, Paula.'
He handed her out of the hold-all what he knew she wanted. A. 32 Browning automatic with ammo. She checked the empty weapon, checked its mechanism, pushed a magazine inside the butt, slipped the gun into the special pocket inside her shoulder bag.
'Now I feel fully dressed,' she announced.
'You're as bad as Newman,' Marler commented. 'How about a couple of grenades, two compact containers of concentrated tear gas?'
'Give,' she said, holding out her hand.
'And then there's yourself, Tweed. A Walther, if I remember rightly.'
'You know I rarely carry a weapon,' Tweed objected, staring with distaste at the automatic held out to him.
'Take it,' snapped Paula. 'I sense we are in for a very rough ride on this one. Don't you want to save my life when the time comes?'
'You are diabolically persuasive. You should be kept locked up.'
But he accepted the Walther, hip holster and ammo from Marler. Then he checked his watch.
'Paula and I were just going out to make contact with Harry and Pete, staying at the Hotel Renaissance.'
'Then, since I was going there next, I'll give you a thirty seconds start, then stroll after you to guard your rear…'
It was still daylight as Tweed and Paula walked out of the hotel, turned right and strolled like a couple of holidaymakers. The sun, which had glared in at the windows of Tweed's suite, still roasted them even though it was mid-evening.
They had reached the end of the street, crossed over. Paula paused, staring across the street at the wide pedestrian platform of Jungfernstieg. The ferries, far fewer in number than earlier, were still plying their way from the landing stage over the Alster.
'In the early morning and at the end of the day,' Tweed told her, 'commuters who live in houses or apartments near the Alster commute by ferry. Saves them worrying about parking cars.'
'It's heaven,' sighed Paula, looking at the beautiful big buildings on the opposite shore.
'We must keep moving,' Tweed decided. He glanced back the way they had come. Marler was overtaking them. He had just called Harry's mobile on his own. His lips hardly moved as he spoke when passing them.
'I've got Harry's phone number, so now I know his room. Just follow me a bit behind when we reach the Renaissance…'
They were passing department stores in tall massive buildings which looked as though they had stood there for ever. Marler turned right down Grosse Bleichen, a narrower street. Very few people about. They followed Marler, entering the Hotel Renaissance, a quiet comfortable place. Paula glanced into the entrance to the restaurant, turned away quickly.
'What's the matter?' Tweed whispered.
'In the restaurant. You're not going to believe this. Remember Pink Shirt, fat-faced with a large head – on the pavement opposite The Hangman's Noose during the riots?'
'Yes.'
'He's sitting in the restaurant we've just passed. And I think he spotted me…'
