The Cauldron (6 page)

"Then they might know we're coming.'

'They will know we're coming. The chopper will radio a warning to the communications complex Moloch has on top of his mansion.'

'Should we go on? I'm game, but if they're expecting us...'

'Let's see what equipment Marler has brought with him. And Harry always carries his tool kit. There's a high wall round the place with wire on top, probably electrified.'

'Welcome all,' Marler greeted them cheerfully as he shoved something back into the rear of the car.

"That's a telescopic ladder, isn't it?' Newman asked.

'Just that. From what I heard of Moloch he'll have this little cottage with a wall round it.'

'He has.'

'And, Harry,' Newman went on as Butler approached them, 'it has a wall with a wire, probably electrified.'

'Child's play,' Butler assured him.

"Then we go on up to that architectural masterpiece?' Paula suggested.

Tweed wanted us to check out the place. What Tweed wants, Tweed gets.'

Joel Brand put down the earphones after receiving the coded message from the pilot of the chopper. He hurried down to Moloch's office. Moloch was again studying the map of California with strange wriggly lines. He looked up as Brand burst in with his usual unceremonious manner. Moloch passed the map to him after tearing it into four pieces.

Tut that through the shredder. It must be destroyed.'

Brand stuffed the pieces impatiently in the pocket of his denims, sat down in the carver, bolt upright. Moloch clasped his finely shaped hands and leant back.

'Why don't you calm down, Brand, before you tell me what's on your mind?'

'Because it's a friggin' emergency. Intruders are coming this way in force...'

'What intruders? Please be more specific.'

'I had a radio message from the chopper from the
Venetia
, which watches over this place. Prior to that, in the radio room upstairs I'd been watching them myself through field glasses. Down by the dam. There was a heavily built guy who looked tough - not that I can't handle that type,' he added aggressively. 'He was with a nice-looking chick, dark haired - hair tied back with a ribbon. Had on a T-shirt and white trousers. Then...'

'Just a moment,' Moloch reached into a drawer, took out a photograph taken secretly in California. He pushed the print across the desk. 'That wouldn't be this girl?'

'Spitting image. A good looker. In this pic she doesn't have her hair tied back, but it's her. No doubt about it . . .'

"This is bad news.' Moloch replaced the photo inside his drawer. This is Tweed's lot. Tweed.' he repeated. 'He has moved fast.'

Tweed isn't Superman...'

'Keep quiet. You don't know what you're talking about. Just the two of them?'

'No! At least four. One is a slim guy wearing a linen suit. Looks like a toff. Then there's a bruiser on a motorbike. They've left the dam and they're heading up the road towards us. I've alerted the boys. They're carrying shotguns. Before you blow your top, farmers are often carrying shotguns - to clear their fields of vermin.'

'Let me think - these people have to be handled carefully, especially as Paula Grey, Tweed's right arm, is with them. She ...'

'The chick's Tweed's girl friend?' Brand sneered.

'No, she is not.' Moloch slapped the palm of his hand on the desk and it sounded like a pistol shot. 'You listen to me. Tweed is a very ethical man. Not that you would ever understand a man like that, but I respect him as a man, as a very formidable opponent. The dogs are to be brought in and chained up in their kennels. That's an order. Try to deal with the situation with finesse...'

'
Finesse
?'

'
Finesse
. You probably think that's a French pastry. It means tread carefully. Now get the hell out of my sight...'

Brand, who despite his rough exterior was a good strategist, left Moloch's office, ran up the stairs to the communications room. He had left the radio op. stationed behind his very modern set.

'We're under siege. Send a coded message to the chopper to fly straight back to the
Venetia
. He's giving the game away that we know intruders are on their way here. Do it yesterday...'

He ran back down the staircase to the back door to check his guards patrolling the grounds. He was passing the litter bin when he remembered the instruction Moloch had given him.

'Frig the shredder,' he muttered to himself.

Pulling out the four pieces of paper, he screwed them up, lifted the plastic lid, dropped the pieces on top of a load of rubbish. Then he ran round the house, met his most reliable thug, Gene Lessinger.

'Call in all the dogs quickly. Shove them in the kennels. All except one. You keep Brute on a leash and take him round the place constantly. Dangerous intruders coming...'

Gene, a lean, bony-faced man with a hideous scar down his right cheek, grinned. His favourite weapon was a knife and he had one tucked inside a sheath suspended from his leather belt.

'When they see Brute they'll run for it.'

"That would be my guess. Get moving...'

Brute was the largest and fiercest of the Dobermanns which prowled the grounds. Brand felt pleased with himself as he continued running round the estate to contact his other guards.

'VB used the word "dogs".' he said to himself. 'He didn't say anything about one dog. And I'm in charge of security in this mob. So come on, Grey and Co. We have an interesting reception party waiting for you.'

Ahead of the small convoy Butler rode his machine along the narrow lane leading uphill towards the strange mansion. He rode slowly now and stopped abruptly as he topped the crest of a hill. Switching off the motor, he freewheeled the bike back a few feet, then held up a hand to stop the Merc, and the Saab.

Newman stopped his car, jumped out and ran to meet Butler with Paula at his heels.

'We're very close.' he warned them. 'Just over that top you can see the house perched on the ridge.'

'Good.' said Newman as Marler joined them. 'Let's take a peek.'

Earlier Newman had outlined a plan with the others. It was based on what he had observed when he had carefully scanned the mansion through his binoculars from near the dam. Marler had added his own suggestions. They walked to the top until they could see. Paula shuddered inwardly at the view.

The ridge which Mullion Towers was perched on looked even bleaker close up. Nothing grew on the long sharp slope descending from the ridge towards the reservoir and the dam far below them now. The slope seemed to consist of dust which, in the scorching sunlight, had a strange, almost yellowish colour.

'Could be the Sahara.' she commented. 'I never realized Cornwall inland could be so uninviting. So different from near the sea with its nice beaches and coves and intriguing creeks.'

Following Newman's example, they were lying alongside each other in the road, their heads peering over the top. Newman again scanned the Gothic-like horror called Mullion Towers, then he handed the binoculars to Marler.

'What do you think of the creeper up the side of the place?'

'Just what I need, I think. I'll only know when I see it close up, but it looks as though it's grown there for years. The stems are thick and gnarled. The plan is going to work, I'm sure - just so long as I reach that creeper unobserved.'

'What is that long knotted rope attached to your telescopic ladder for?' Paula asked.

'All will be clear when we get there. Guards with shotguns are patrolling - but they seem to be concentrating on the front of the house. One has a somewhat unfriendly-looking Dobermann. I'll worry about the little canine.'

'Let's get on with it.' Newman said, sliding backwards before he stood up. 'Interesting the way that chopper has disappeared. I think they recalled it to lull us into a false mood of self-confidence. Assume the worst possible case - that they know we're coming...'

At Park Crescent Tweed sat behind his desk, very still as he gazed towards the windows. Monica knew he was worrying about what was happening in Cornwall. He checked his watch again as the phone rang. Monica answered it. She frowned, repeated her question several times.

'Who is this speaking?'

Then she pressed the secrecy button and called across to Tweed.

'Someone with a strangely hoarse voice insists on speaking to you. They're using the name Waltz.'

'I'll take the call. Tweed here.'

'You should know that while Paula was in Monterey a Vanity Richmond secretly took several pictures of her. I followed her and she sent a package by Federal Express to somewhere in Cornwall. That is all for now.'

"Thank you.' Tweed put down the phone and looked grim. He was still staring out of the window when he told Monica what the caller had said.

'Who is Waltz?' she asked.

'An informant who was present in Monterey at the same time as Paula. It is, of course, a code name.'

'It's not good news.'

'At this juncture it most certainly isn't. I wish I'd had that call yesterday. It means that if our team is spotted approaching Mullion Towers someone may recognize Paula - and know who they are.'

'Oh, my Lord, doesn't that mean the whole enterprise could end in a frightful disaster?'

'Newman can handle any situation, but it doesn't help our finding out what Moloch is up to - I have no doubt he is up to something pretty major. If only we could find out the identity of that girl who was washed ashore at Octopus Cove - and the identity of the same woman who jumped ship off Cornwall.'

'Cord's picture of Julia Sanchez, the girl from Philadelphia who disappeared, and who was Moloch's friend, should arrive at any moment. It might help.'

'It might - and it might not.'

Tweed checked his watch again. 'I reckon from the time Bob called me, from the distance to Stithians on the map, he and his team should just be about ready to assault Mullion Towers - may already be doing so.'

3

Marler led the way back to his Saab, asking the others to come with him. He opened the back door of his car and inside Paula saw a large canvas bag on top of the telescopic ladder.

'I know you're all equipped with weapons,' he said crisply, 'but you may well need extra defences. That bag contains them. Father Christmas is about to give you his toys.'

Diving inside, he opened the large bag, produced a small device like a grenade, handed one to Paula.

"That's the new type of smoke bomb. Press the button on the top and hurl the thing. It will not only fog the enemy, it gives off an acrid smell which will put them out of action for thirty minutes. They then recover quickly. Here are two for you, Paula, two for you, Bob.'

'You've come well prepared,' Paula commented as she examined the device quickly and put it inside her shoulder bag.

'Wait, there's more ...'

'We're starting a small war,' Paula joked.

'It may well be that.' Marler replied.

He handed her a grenade with a pin. This she recognized as he spoke.

'Stun grenade. You've practised with it down at the training centre in Send. As you know, when it explodes near your opponent the deafening explosion puts him out of the picture for long enough for us to get away. Here's another, Paula.'

He gave two more to Newman and Butler, then stood away, closed the door quietly. He lit a king-size.

'I'd say we're ready to take on a whole army of thugs - which we must assume is what's waiting for us. You all know where I'll be. What are we waiting for?'

Tor you to shut up,' Newman told him with a grin.

The convoy then took off, driving at speed, again with Butler in the lead. Well behind him, Newman followed in the Merc, with Paula alongside him and Marler bringing up the rear a distance behind them.

They sped down a hill and then up a much steeper, higher incline. At the top of the ridge they passed the closed high wrought-iron gates leading down a long drive to Mullion Towers. The tactic was to confuse the enemy - by driving at speed it appeared they were on their way elsewhere. Only Butler had stopped just beyond the gates, hiding his machine in a hedge.

He took a grenade out of the satchel Marler had given him before they left Nansidwell Country Hotel and waited. Crouching in the hedge, he watched both the entrance gates and the crest of the road where it crossed the ridge.