This United State (53 page)

'The explanation could be very simple,' said Paula, handing him her torch. 'I've done it myself. Turned over two pages without realizing it, leaving one page blank.'

'I hope you're right. Let me check what's on the following page. I see. Just one word.
Schluchsee
. Sounds like a lake.'

'Give me back my torch. I want to check the map.'

She studied the map, looked quickly at the screen with the red light showing Ronstadt's convoy ahead of them. She watched the light for a few minutes. Then she spoke rapidly.

'We were moving south-east through the Höllental. Now we're heading east towards Titisee, which has a smaller lake and is a famous resort. But soon there's a big junction which turns us south-west and soon runs alongside Lake Titisee

'Which we don't want,' Tweed protested.

'If you'd just let me finish; Paula snapped. 'There is a Schluchsee, a much bigger lake, and it looks remote. After passing Lake Titisee we come to another junction on the way to Feldberg.'

'Highest point in the Black Forest,' said Tweed. 'About four thousand five hundred feet high. Sorry,' he concluded.

'I can do without any more interruptions until I've finished. At the junction we turn left and then we're heading due south-east - straight for Schluchsee.'

'If the blue light on Marler's screen which is us vanishes, he will never follow such a complicated route,' Newman objected.

'We'll have to take that risk,' Tweed repeated.

'I don't like it. I should slow down, give Marler time to catch up with us,' Newman insisted.

'I'm not going to keep giving the same order,' Tweed told him. 'Your job is to keep Ronstadt in sight. That's a direct order.'

'Might be a good idea if we all calmed down a bit,' Keith Kent suggested.

'You're right,' Tweed agreed. 'Tension will get us nowhere.'

'So,' said Paula, 'let's all relax - including you, Tweed.'

'We're losing Tweed,' said Marler, driving his Audi at speed. 'The blue light is fading. We'll just have to go faster.'

And end up going off the road,' Nield warned.

'I don't think so,' Marler drawled. 'I used to be a racing driver.'

'But this isn't Le Mans,' Nield remarked as Marler accelerated even more. 'Strange that we've left the Höllental behind. I thought that's where their base was. And you're not flying a plane, Marler.'

'And there could be ice under this snow,' called out Butler, which was the first time Nield could recall him ever showing nervousness.

'I'm not going to let Tweed down,' Marler informed them. 'Did you,' he began, changing the subject, 'notice that amazing complex of buildings in the Höllental - the Hofgut Sternen?'

'Wouldn't have minded stopping there for a bite to eat,' Butler remarked. 'Place was enormous and a blaze of lights.'

'I was surprised to see a number of parked cars,' Nield replied. 'And I caught sight of people eating in a pretty good-looking restaurant.'

'Germans,' Marler said, 'coming from not too far away. The cars had skis attached to their roofs. A few hoping to take advantage of the falls of snow.'

There was silence for a while. Marler refused to moderate his speed. To their left a dense forest of firs stretched endlessly up a slope. Still no other traffic on the road. Thank heavens for small mercies, Nield thought.

'Tweed's blue light is growing stronger,' Marler said suddenly. 'We're catching him up. Half a mo' - he's changed direction. He's going due south-west now.'

'We're coining up to a junction,' Nield told him.

Like Paula, he had a map open on his lap. He had been studying it with a small torch. He stared fixedly ahead for signs of a turn.

'Newman's now heading for the Feldberg,' he announced. 'That is the highest point in the whole of the Black Forest.'

'Deeper snow up there,' Butler commented, half to himself.

'Slow down, for God's sake,' Nield pleaded.

Marler, content now that he was much closer to the other Audi, reduced his breakneck pace. Nield leaned forward even more, stretching his seat belt.

'Turn here. We're on our way to Titisee.'

Marler obeyed his instructions. He pressed his foot down again. A short while later on their right they had glimpses of Lake Titisee, gleaming in the moonlight and utterly deserted. Close to the far shore Nield caught sight of colonies of holiday cabins. Marler checked the blue light again.

'Now Newman's turned due south-east,' he remarked.

'He's not heading for the Feldberg,' Nield reported after checking his map. 'There's another junction ahead. He appears to be heading instead for a big lake, Schluchsee. I wonder why?'

'Still no sign of Marler,' Newman commented to Paula. 'The red light which is Ronstadt flashed once,' she warned. 'So we must be closing on him.'

'Drop back a bit, then, Tweed ordered. 'But don't lose him.'

'I've got it - do two things at once,' Newman cracked back at him.

But he did slow down. Everyone in the car noticed that now they had begun to descend and kept on doing so. Paula checked her map again.

'Soon the road zigzags a lot,' she warned.

'Well, I have slowed down,' Newman reassured her. 'Good job you did.'

As she spoke Newman was guiding the car round a steep bend and then immediately afterwards he was swinging round another. By his side Paula was staring through the windscreen, hoping to catch sight of the mysterious lake. The atmosphere inside the car was now far more relaxed, Tweed was thinking. Which he welcomed. Lord knew what was facing them ahead, if they were able to track Ronstadt'to his base.

'I can see something now.'

As Paula spoke Newman stopped the car. The red light on his screen was flashing madly. He had almost overtaken Ronstadt's convoy. Paula raised a small pair of high-powered night binoculars she'd had looped round her neck. She thought she had never seen anywhere so lonely and forbidding.

They were still high up and she was looking down on a small section of the long lake way below. She felt she might have been in a remote region of Canada. The moon kept fading as transparent drifts of cloud crossed beneath it. The lake was still as death and black as pitch. Its surface was so unruffled it gave her the impression it was covered with ice. The opposite shore was banked by steep hills choked with fir forest.

'See anything?' Tweed asked.

'Nothing. No sign of life, of human habitation. Just nothing.'

'Very promising.'

'Marler has caught us up,' Newman called out, unable to conceal his relief.

'I'm getting out of the car for a closer look,' said Paula.

She had got out, closed the door quietly, when she found Marler standing beside her. A few yards behind Newman's Audi, Marler's was parked, lights dimmed, as were Newman's.

'Well, I gather Ronstadt's base wasn't in the Höllental,' Marler remarked.

'No, it wasn't,' Paula replied. 'Tweed has an idea it has to be somewhere near here. That weird lake down there is called Schluchsee.'

'Tweed is sure the base is in this area,' Tweed called out through a window he had lowered. 'Kurt Schwarz has a reference to this place in his little book. I missed the significance of the name - a blank page followed his note on the Höllental.'

'Let's get closer,' Paula suggested to Marler. 'I think there's a track beyond the verge.'

Newman had switched off his engine. They had been so close to Ronstadt he'd felt it was a wise precaution. The enemy could have had the same idea and switched off their engines to listen. Walking a few paces along the track, Paula was struck by the incredible silence which added to the sinister atmosphere of this place out in the wilds. She sensed they were waiting for something terrible to happen.

For a short time she welcomed the bitter night air, well below zero. It was a pleasant contrast to the fetid air which had built up inside the car. She'd left her gloves in the car so she could manipulate the binoculars more easily and already her face and hands were beginning to feel frozen.

'Marler, I should have asked first what happened when you vanished off the highway. Are Nield and Kent OK?'

'In the pink. We had a bit of a dust-up. Four down, eleven in front to go. Tell you about it later.'

Moving a short distance down the track gave her a far more panoramic view, no longer obscured by a copse of firs at the roadside. The lake was wide but seemed immensely long - far longer than Lake Titisee which she had caught sight of earlier. She scanned it through her binoculars. Still no sign of a single building, or even a landing stage. The silence, lack of movement, the absence of even a small wooden house with lights in it was getting to her.

'Lake surface looks as solid as slate,' Marler commented. 'A perfect setting for a horror film. Subhuman giants with huge axes creeping out of the woods.'

'Stop it,' Paula protested. 'I have a vivid imagination. I'll be seeing them now.'

'Any data?' asked Tweed behind her after getting quietly out of the car.

'Not a damned thing. Look for yourself.'

'No thanks. I can see with my own eyes. As desolate a spot as I've seen for a long time. We'd better get back in the car. The red light has stopped flashing. Ronstadt's on the move.'

40

'We're nearly there, Moonhead,' Ronstadt said to the man beside him.

Ronstadt was behind the wheel of the third Audi, following the two cars ahead of him as they bumped over the wide track round the tip of the lake. The moon had temporarily been blotted out by a dark cloud and the cars had their headlights full on. He suddenly let out a belly laugh of pure pleasure.

'What is it?' asked Leo Madison.

'Moonhead, it's turnin' out great. No sign of Tweed and his miserable crew. Brad and his boys must have made hash browns of them back in Höllental. With ketchup for the blood.' He laughed again, a raucous sound. 'Think of the avalanche hittin' those two white Audis. Think of what the people inside look like now. Hope that Paula Grey was with 'em. It's great.'

'Funny Brad and his boys haven't caught up with us,' Madison commented.

'Takes time to cook a dish like that.' He laughed again. 'I like it. Cookin' a dish like that. The dish is Paula Grey.'

'I just hope you're right.'

'You know your problem, Moonhead?'

'I guess you're gonna tell me.'

'You ain't got no sense of humour. Better roll up your sleeves, feller. Lot of work to do.'

'What kinda work?'

'Loading cartons — heavy ones — on to three trucks. I guess Bernhard Yorcke will have loaded one truck ready for the go. Makes four truckloads. What's in 'em will destroy Britain.'

'Who is this Bernhard Yorcke?'

'Came from Luxembourg years ago. He's a printer. Moved on to Switzerland as a youngster. Stayed there ever since. Just where he shoulda gone, being a printer. Swiss, I'll give 'em that, are best printers in the world.' He peered up through the windscreen. 'Nearly there. Trouble with Bernhard Yorcke is he can be a very nasty piece of work.'

Coming from Ronstadt, Madison wondered what on earth this Yorcke could be like.

'What's he print?' he asked.

'See when we gets there, won't you?'

'There is a base,' Paula said, 'and that has to be it.' 'I agree,' said Tweed.

They had driven down and down from the point where Paula had surveyed Schluchsee through her binoculars. Newman's car had progressed first, with Marler's following close behind. The red light on Newman's screen had glowed so strongly he had driven at a slow pace. Gradually the red glow had dimmed. Newman had had his lights dimmed when he'd stopped suddenly for two reasons. They were now on the level and he'd caught sight of an open stretch of road running next to the lake. They parked the cars on the left-hand verge, under cover of a copse of trees. Then they had cautiously walked into the open.

To their right was a shoulder-high wall between the road and the lake. All seven of them had kept out of sight behind the wall, peering over it. Paula had perched her elbows on top of the wall and stared through her binoculars. Immediately opposite them on the far side of the lake was the base.