This United State (36 page)

'I'm sorry, Keith,' Tweed said, 'but we do have to leave here in about three minutes.'

'That's all right. Where did you get these?'

'Can't tell you that. Does it matter?'

'Not really.' He drank more coffee. 'I just wondered.' 'Have you any comment?' Tweed persisted.

'Yes. They're fakes. Paper they're printed on seems OK. Can't imagine how whoever printed them got hold of it. But they are quite definitely forgeries. Some of the best I've seen. But they do have an error.'

'Would it be spotted by a bank teller?'

'Yes. Especially if someone walked into a British bank with a wad of them. As the teller riffled through them the error would jump out at him. If a lot of these were in circulation they'd be detected very quickly. Good as they are.'

'Thank you. It's a breakthrough. Keith, would you mind moving from the Hilton to this hotel? They're more than half empty. Time of the year.'

'I'll go and collect my things now.'

'Thank you again.' Tweed was putting on his coat, picking up the canvas holdall. 'We have to rush now. Book yourself a room here on your way out. Get one overlooking the Rhine, if you can.'

'All mod. cons. I do like the life of luxury,' Kent said.

27

They were transported in unmarked police cars from headquarters to the far side of the river. The route took them over the bridge Tweed could see when he looked right - upstream - from his bedroom window. Beck drove the first car with Tweed sitting next to him, nursing the canvas holdall in his lap. In the rear sat Paula and Newman. The others were in a similar car following behind them.

'The
Minotaur
will come downriver on this side,' Beck explained. 'I've had a report from my officer watching the vessel that a number of people in cars drove into the yard, then when they came out they only had the driver in each vehicle. So the party is aboard.'

'Did your officer wait - to see if those cars returned?' Tweed asked.

'No, he didn't. Why would the cars return so quickly?'

'I just wondered.'

A strong wind had blown up suddenly. Crossing the bridge, Paula noticed wavelets ruffling the surface of the Rhine. She hoped the tablet she had given Tweed would work. It was likely to be choppy aboard a launch. Added to the wind, an army of low dark clouds swept over the city, creating a heavy pall. Beck had driven into the city on the other hank and then turned right along a course parallel to the river.

'You have your own launch, as requested,' he told Tweed. 'I am in the big one brought out of the boat shed. There will be three other launches, packed with my men. One of them has boarding equipment - just in case we meet resistance when I order the
Minotaur
to heave to. I shall do that further downriver, near the harbour.'

'I have a loudhailer here. If I order all launches to speed away from the barge they must do so very quickly.'

'What would cause you to do that?' Beck asked in surprise.

'An emergency. A dangerous one.'

'If you say so. You usually know what you're doing.

All launches have wireless communication, but the skipper of each one also has a mobile phone, as I have.'

'If it comes to it, use the mobile. It will be quicker.'

'I should have checked earlier. You do have someone experienced in handling a high-powered launch?'.

'Two,' Tweed replied. 'Newman and Marler.'

'We have cordoned off a section of the riverfront with police tape,' Beck went on. 'To keep the public away from where our launches are assembled.'

'You seem to have thought of everything.'

'I believed so — until you made your remark about your loudhailer. I expect this to be a straightforward operation. We shall arrest everyone on board, saying we have been tipped off that the barge is carrying drugs. They'll wave their diplomatic passports, particularly if Ronstadt is aboard. I'll say I think they are producing phoney documentation and have to check with their authorities. Ronstadt will think I mean their Berne Embassy, but in due course I'll contact Washington. Meantime we interrogate the passengers.'

'You've thought it out well. Have you had a complaint from the Berne Embassy?'

'Not a cheep, as I think you sometimes say. Obviously he was bluffing. Rather a giveaway.'

'It's after 4 pm,' Tweed said. 'If they stick to their timetable the
Minotaur
is coming.'

'And here we are at the landing stage.'

27

They were transported in unmarked police cars from headquarters to the far side of the river. The route took them over the bridge Tweed could see when he looked right - upstream - from his bedroom window. Beck drove the first car with Tweed sitting next to him, nursing the canvas holdall in his lap. In the rear sat Paula and Newman. The others were in a similar car following behind them.

'The
Minotaur
will come downriver on this side,' Beck explained. 'I've had a report from my officer watching the vessel that a number of people in cars drove into the yard, then when they came out they only had the driver in each vehicle. So the party is aboard.'

'Did your officer wait - to see if those cars returned?' Tweed asked.

'No, he didn't. Why would the cars return so quickly?'

'I just wondered.'

A strong wind had blown up suddenly. Crossing the bridge, Paula noticed wavelets ruffling the surface of the Rhine. She hoped the tablet she had given Tweed would work. It was likely to be choppy aboard a launch. Added to the wind, an army of low dark clouds swept over the city, creating a heavy pall. Beck had driven into the city on the other hank and then turned right along a course parallel to the river.

'You have your own launch, as requested,' he told Tweed. 'I am in the big one brought out of the boat shed. There will be three other launches, packed with my men. One of them has boarding equipment - just in case we meet resistance when I order the
Minotaur
to heave to. I shall do that further downriver, near the harbour.'

'I have a loudhailer here. If I order all launches to speed away from the barge they must do so very quickly.'

'What would cause you to do that?' Beck asked in surprise.

'An emergency. A dangerous one.'

'If you say so. You usually know what you're doing.

All launches have wireless communication, but the skipper of each one also has a mobile phone, as I have.'

'If it comes to it, use the mobile. It will be quicker.'

'I should have checked earlier. You do have someone

experienced in handling a high-powered launch?'.

'Two,' Tweed replied. 'Newman and Marler.'

'We have cordoned off a section of the riverfront with police tape,' Beck went on. 'To keep the public away from where our launches are assembled.'

'You seem to have thought of everything.'

'I believed so — until you made your remark about your loudhailer. I expect this to be a straightforward operation. We shall arrest everyone on board, saying we have been tipped off that the barge is carrying drugs. They'll wave their diplomatic passports, particularly if Ronstadt is aboard. I'll say I think they are producing phoney documentation and have to check with their authorities. Ronstadt will think I mean their Berne Embassy, but in due course I'll contact Washington. Meantime we interrogate the passengers.'

, 'You've thought it out well. Have you had a complaint from the Berne Embassy?'

'Not a cheep, as I think you sometimes say. Obviously he was bluffing. Rather a giveaway.'

'It's after 4 pm,' Tweed said. 'If they stick to their timetable the
Minotaur
is coming.'

'And here we are at the landing stage.'

*
         
*
  
       
*

To Paula's surprise Tweed hurried aboard the large launch allocated to them. He then made his way to the bow, one hand holding on to the gunwale, the other gripping the loudhailer.

Even while berthed at the landing stage the launch was swaying. The motion seemed to have no effect on him. He gazed back upriver for his first sight of the barge. The other four launches, crammed with police, were waiting to take off.

Beck's very large launch had a bridge at a higher level. The word
Polizei
appeared on its sides and stern. Above the bridge was mounted a large searchlight and a prominent horn. Beck came back from his vessel to Tweed's launch.

'The plan is to let the
Minotaur
pass us, then we go after it when it has gone under the bridge. The current is flowing strongly, so you may be surprised how quickly it will reach the bridge. Good luck...'

The wind cut through Paula's coat like a knife. She was hoping the barge would appear soon. Then one of the policemen from Beck's launch appeared, carrying an armful of oilskins. Handing them to Newman, who had been experimenting with the engine, he called out above the wind.

'All of you put these on. Extra warmth. Stop you getting soaked.'

'Thanks a lot,' said Newman.

'This is better,' said Paula, putting the oilskin over her coat.

Tweed sat down to put on his oilskin, then immediately stood up again. There were no other craft on the Rhine and no public to gawk at them from behind the distant tape. The weather had kept them indoors.

'Here she comes,' Tweed called out.

Round a bend in the river a massive barge loomed into view. The conversion to a passenger craft had been extensive. Huge portholes like giant eyes had been cut out of the hull. Tweed noticed that curtains were closed across all of them. Behind each one a light glowed.

'They've got music,' he called out.

'Didn't expect this,' Paula responded.

'Well, it's supposed to be a pleasure craft,' Newman remarked as he turned off the engine.

He had been surprised at the power it generated. These launches could really move, he decided. The strains of the 'Blue Danube' waltz grew louder. Hardly appropriate for the Rhine, Paula was thinking. There was no sign of anyone on board, but she wouldn't expect passengers to be flaunting themselves on deck in weather like this.

'I can see the helmsman,' Tweed called out. 'In the cabin at the stern.'

'Appears to be by himself,' Marler commented.

'Only takes one man to hold the wheel,' Newman told him.

None of the launches had started their engines. Tweed guessed that Beck had ordered them to maintain silence until the huge barge had passed them. He wouldn't want to alert the people on board to his flotilla waiting to pounce.

Even though she was wearing her gloves Paula's hands were beginning to chill. Butler and Nield, standing up, were slapping their arms vigorously round their bodies. Despite the cold, Paula sensed an air of tension, of suppressed excitement aboard their launch. They were within a few minutes of rounding up the whole American gang which had descended on Basel.

Coining closer and closer, the barge seemed even more enormous than she had expected. Its bow wave swept out like a minor tidal wave, causing their launches to rock madly when it reached them. Tweed remained standing up, still gripping the gunwale, staring fixedly at the monster.

As far as Paula could tell, he seemed focused on the shadowy silhouette of the burly helmsman inside his cabin. He was standing stock-still, his hands moving the wheel slightly for a moment. He never glanced to port or starboard. His whole concentration was ahead, on the bridge where he would soon pass through one of the large arches.

Beck, inside his own bridge, was equally motionless. He did not give the barge a glance as its immense hull started to sweep past. The
Minotaur
was so long it seemed to take ages to pass them, even though travelling at speed with the current. There were a number of dinghies, powered by outboard motors, on the main deck. A poor substitute for lifeboats, Paula was thinking.

Eventually the stern of the
Minotaur
loomed above them and the vessel approached the arch under the bridge. Paula saw Tweed had put his loudhailer down at his feet, and was now using a pair of binoculars to scan the barge. As far as she could tell, he was focused on the cabin and the helmsman inside.