"The computer came up with zero," Monica added.
"Computer?" An odd expression flickered behind Tweed"s gla.s.ses and was then gone. He relaxed again. "Mason, from the moment you leave this building I want you to watch your back. Especially when you"ve arrived in Switzerland."
"Anything particular in mind?"
"We"ve already had one murder - Franz Oswald. People will kill for what I"ve got in that locked drawer..." He looked at Monica. "Or has the courier from the Ministry of Defence collected it?"
"Not so far..."
"They must be mad." Tweed drummed his thick fingers on the desk. "The sooner their experts examine it..."
"Charlton is a careful type," Monica reminded him. "He"s very conscious of security. My bet is the courier will arrive as soon as night has fallen."
"You"re probably right. I shan"t leave my office until the thing is off our hands. Now, Mason," he resumed, "another unknown factor is the att.i.tude of the Swiss authorities - the Federal police and their Military Intelligence. They could prove hostile..."
"What on earth for?" Monica protested.
"It worries me - that Lear executive jet Mason watched leaving Schwechat. The fact that it bore a flag on its side with a white cross on a red ground, the Swiss flag. Don"t accept anyone as a friend. Oh, one more thing. We"ve reserved a room at the Bellevue Palace in Berne."
Mason whistled. "Very nice. VIP treatment. Howard will do his nut when he finds out..."
"It"s convenient," Tweed said shortly. "I may join you later."
Monica had trouble keeping her face expressionless. She knew that Tweed had his own reservation at the Bellevue Palace a few days hence: she had booked the room herself. Tweed, naturally secretive, was playing this one closer to the chest than ever before. He wasn"t even letting his own operative know about his movements. For G.o.d"s sake, he couldn"t suspect Mason?
"Why convenient?" enquired Mason.
"It"s central," Tweed said shortly and left it at that. "We"re getting things moving," he went on with that distant look in his eyes, "placing the pieces on the board. One thing I"d dearly like to know - where is Manfred Seidler now?"
Basle, 13 February 1984. 0?. Seidler still felt hunted. He had spent the whole weekend inside Erika Stahel"s apartment and the walls were starting to close in on him. He heard a key being inserted in the outer door and grabbed for his 9-mm Luger, a weapon he had concealed from Erika.
When she walked in, carrying a bag of groceries, the Luger was out of sight under a cushion. She closed the door with her foot and surveyed the newspapers spread out over the table. She had dashed out first thing to get them for him. Now she had dashed back from the office - only one hour for lunch - to prepare him some food.
"Anything in the papers?" she called out from the tiny kitchen.
"Nothing. Yet. You don"t have to make me a meal..."
"Won"t take any time at all. We can talk while we eat..."
He looked at the newspapers on the table. The Berner Zeitung Berner Zeitung, the main Zurich morning, the Journal de Geneve Journal de Geneve and the Basle locals. He lifted one of them and underneath lay the executive case. He"d made up his mind. and the Basle locals. He lifted one of them and underneath lay the executive case. He"d made up his mind.
Since he was a youth Seidler had involved himself in unsavoury activities - always to make money. Brought up by an aunt in Vienna - his mother had been killed by the Russians, his father had died on the Eastern Front - Seidler had been one of the world"s wanderers. Now, when he had the money, when he felt like settling down, the whole system was trying to locate him He felt a great affection for Erika because she was such a decent decent girl. He laid the table, listened to her chatting with animation while they ate, and only brought up the subject over coffee. girl. He laid the table, listened to her chatting with animation while they ate, and only brought up the subject over coffee.
"Erika, if anything happens to me I want you to have this..."
He opened the executive case, revealing the neatly stacked Swiss banknotes inside. Her face, which always showed the pink flush Seidler had observed when women were pregnant, went blank as she stood up. Her deft fingers rifled through several of the stacks at random and replaced them. She stared at him.
"Manfred, there has to be half a million francs here..."
"Very close. Take them and put them into a safety deposit- not at the bank where you work. Call a cab. Don"t walk through the streets with that - not even in Basle..."
I can"t take this." She grasped his hand and he saw she was close to tears. "I"m not interested - you"re the only one I"m interested in."
"So, bank it for both of us. Under your own name. Under no circ.u.mstances under my name," he warned.
"Manfred.." She eased herself into his lap. "Who are you frightened of? Did you steal this money?"
"No!" He became vehement to convince her. "It was given to me for services rendered. Now they no longer need me. They may regard me as a menace because of what I know. I shouldn"t stay here much longer..."
"Stay as long as you like. Who are these people?"
"One person in particular. Someone who wields enormous power. Someone who may be able to use even the police to do his bidding."
"The Swiss police?" Her tone was incredulous. "You look so tired, so worn. You"re over-estimating this person"s power. If it will make you feel any better I will put that case in a safety deposit - providing you keep the key..."
"All right." He knew it was the only condition under which she"d agree to do what he asked. They"d find some place inside the apartment to hide the key. "You"d better hurry. You"ll be late for work," he told her.
She hugged him as though she"d never let go. He almost had tears in his own eyes. So decent, so nice. If only he"d met her years ago ..."
Inside their bedroom at the Penta Hotel, situated amid the vast enclave of Heathrow Airport, Newman checked his watch again. Nancy had gone out hours ago on her own - she knew how he hated shopping expeditions. They still had plenty of time to catch Swissair Flight SR 837 which departed 19.00 hours and reached Geneva 21.30 hours local time. The door opened and she caught him looking at his watch.
"I"ve been hours, I know," she said cheerfully. "Think we were going to miss our flight? Have I enjoyed myself..."
"You"ve probably bought up half Fortnum"s..."
"Just about. It"s a marvellous shop - and they"ll post off purchases anywhere in the world." She looked at him coyly as she hung up her sheepskin in the wardrobe. "I"m not showing you the bills. G.o.d, I love London ..."
"Then why don"t we settle down here?"
"Robert, don"t start that again. And you"ve been out. Your coat is on a different hanger..."
"For a breath of fresh air. Tinged with petrol fumes. You"re cut out to be a detective."
"Doctors have to be observant, darling." She looked at the bed. "Do we eat now - or later?"
"Later. We have things to do." He wrapped his arms round her slim waist. "Afterwards we"ll just have a drink. Dinner on the plane. Swissair food is highly edible ..."
Belted in his seat aboard an earlier Swissair flight, Lee Foley glanced out of the window as the aircraft left Heathrow behind and broke through the overcast into a sunlit world. He was sitting at the rear of the first-cla.s.s section.
Foley had reserved this particular seat because it was a good viewing point to observe his fellow-pa.s.sengers. Unlike them, he had refused any food or drink when the steward came to put a cloth on his fold-out table.
"Nothing," he said abruptly.
"We have a very nice meal as you can see from the menu, sir."
"Take the menu, keep the meal..."
"Something to drink then, sir?"
"I said nothing."
It was still daylight when the aircraft made its descent over the Jura Mountains, heading for Cointrin Airport. Foley watched the view as the plane banked and noted Lac de Joux, nestled inside the Juras, was frozen solid. At least, he. a.s.sumed this must be the case - the lake was mantled in snow, as were the mountains. He was the first pa.s.senger to leave the plane after it landed and he carried his only luggage.
Foley always travelled light. Hanging around a carousel, waiting for your bag to appear on the moving belt, gave watchers the opportunity to observe your arrival. Foley always regarded terminals as dangerous points of entry. He showed his pa.s.sport to the Swiss official seated inside his gla.s.s box, watching him out of the corner of his eye. The pa.s.sport was returned and, so far as Foley could tell, no interest had been aroused.
He walked through the green Customs exit into the public concourse beyond. For strangers there was a clear sign pointing to TAXIS, but Foley automatically turned in the right direction. He was familiar with Cointrin.
The chill air had hit him like a knife thrust when he came down the mobile staircase from the aircraft. It hit him again when he emerged from the building and walked to the first cab. He waited until he was settled in the rear seat with the door closed before he gave the instruction to the driver.
"Hotel des Bergues..."
Foley"s wariness about terminals was closer to the mark than he realized when he walked swiftly across the concourse without turning his head. Looking back drew attention to yourself - betrayed nervousness. So he had not seen a small, gnome-like figure huddled against a wall with an unlit cigarette between his thin lips.
Julius Nagy had straightened briefly when he saw Foley, then he took out a bookmatch and pretended to light the cigarette without doing so - Nagy didn"t smoke. His tiny, bird-like eyes sparkled with satisfaction as he watched the American pa.s.s beyond the automatic exit doors. His neat feet trotted inside the nearest phone box and closed the door.
Nagy, who had escaped from Hungary in 1956 when Soviet troops invaded his country, was fifty-two years old. Streaks of dark-oily hair peeped from under the Tyrolean-style hat he wore well pulled down. His skin was wrinkled like a walnut, his long nose pinched at the nostrils.
He dialled the number he knew by heart. Nagy had a phenomenal memory for three things - people"s faces, their names, and phone numbers. When the police headquarters operator answered he gave his name, asked to be put through immediately, please, to Chief Inspector Tripet. Yes, he was well-known to Tripet and he was in a hurry.
"Tripet speaking. Who is this?"
The voice, remote, careful, had spoken in French. Nagy could picture the Sfiret6 man sitting in his second-floor office inside the seven-storey building facing the Public Library at 24 Boulevard Carl-Vogt, at the foot of the Old City.
"Nagy here. Didn"t they tell you?"
"Christian name?"
"Oh, for G.o.d"s sake. Julius. Julius Nagy. I"ve got some information. It"s worth a hundred francs..
"Perhaps..."
"Someone who just came in from London off the flight at Cointrin. A hundred francs I want - or I"ll dry up..."
"And who is this expensive someone?" asked Tripet in a bored tone of voice.
"Lee Foley, CIA man..."
"I"ll meet you at the usual place. Exactly one hour from now. Eighteen hundred hours. I want to talk to you about this - see your face when I do. If it isn"t genuine you"re off the payroll for all time..."
Nagy heard the click and realized Tripet had broken the connection. He was puzzled. Had he asked too little? Was the information pure gold? On the other hand Tripet had sounded as though he were rebuking the little man. Nagy shrugged, left the booth, saw the airport bus for town was about to leave and started running.
At 24 Bd Carl-Vogt, Tripet, a thin-faced, serious-looking man in his late thirties, a man who had risen quickly in his chosen profession, hoped he had bluffed Nagy as his agile fingers dialled the Berne number.
"Arthur Beck, please, a.s.sistant to the Chief of Federal Police," he requested crisply when the operator at the Taubenhalde came on the line. "This is Chief Inspector Tripet, Surete, Geneva..."
"One moment, sir..."
Beck came to the phone quickly after first dismissing from his tenth floor office his secretary, a fifty-five-year-old spinster not unlike Tweed"s Monica. Settling himself comfortably in his chair, Beck spoke with calm amiability.
"Well, Leon, and how are things in Geneva? Snowing?"
"Not quite. Arthur, you asked me to report if any odd people turned up on my patch. Would Lee Foley, CIA operative, qualify?"
"Yes." Beck gripped the receiver a shade more firmly. "Tell me about it." He reached for pad and pencil.
"He may have just come in on a Swissair flight from London. I have a report from Cointrin.
"A report from who?" The pencil poised.
"A small-time informer we call The Mongrel, sometimes The Scrounger. He"ll burrow in any filthy trash-can to make himself a few francs. But he"s very reliable. If Foley interests you I"m meeting Julius Nagy, The Mongrel, shortly outside. Can you give me a description of Foley so I can test Nagy"s story?"
"Foley is a man you can"t miss " Beck gave from memory a detailed description of the American, including the fact that he spoke in a gravelly voice. "That should be enough, Leon, you would agree? Good. When you"ve seen The Mongrel, I would appreciate another call from you. I"ll wait in my office..."
Tripet went off the line quickly, an action Beck, who couldn"t stand people who wasted time, appreciated. Then he sat in his chair, twiddling the pencil while he thought.
They were beginning to come in, as he had antic.i.p.ated. The crisis was growing. There would be others on the way, he suspected. He had been warned about the rumours circulating among various foreign emba.s.sies. Beck, forty years old in May, was a stockily-built man with a thick head of unruly brown hair and a small brown moustache. His grey eyes had a glint of humour, a trait which often saved his sanity when the pressure was on.
He reflected that he had never known greater pressure. Thank G.o.d his chief had given him extraordinary powers to take any action he thought fit. If what he suspected was true - and he hoped with all his Catholic soul he was wrong - then he was going to need those powers. Sometimes when he thought of what he might be up against he winced. Beck, however, was a loner. If necessary I"ll fight the whole b.l.o.o.d.y system If necessary I"ll fight the whole b.l.o.o.d.y system he said to himself. He would not be defeated by Operation Terminal. he said to himself. He would not be defeated by Operation Terminal.
Unlocking a drawer while he waited for Tripet to call him back, he took out a file with the tab, Cla.s.sification One Cla.s.sification One, on the front of the folder. He turned to the first page inside and looked at the heading typed at the head of the script. Case of Hannah Stuart, American citizen. Klinik Bern Case of Hannah Stuart, American citizen. Klinik Bern.
Nine.
Geneva, 13 February 1984. -3?. "On duty" again at Cointrin , Julius Nagy could hardly believe his eyes. This was Jackpot Day. After meeting Chief Inspector Tripet, who had asked for a detailed description of Lee Foley, who had been sufficiently satisfied with the information to pay him his one hundred francs, Nagy had returned to meet the last flights into the airport despite the bitter cold.
Flight SR 837 - again from London - had disgorged its pa.s.sengers when Nagy spotted a famous face emerging from the Customs exit. Robert Newman had a woman with him and this time Nagy followed his quarry outside. He was just behind the Englishman when he heard him instructing the driver of the cab.
"Please take us to the Hotel des Bergues," Newman had said in French.
Nagy had decided to invest twenty or so of the francs received from Tripet to check Newman"s real destination. They were tricky, these foreign correspondents. He wouldn"t put it past Newman to change the destination once they were clear of the airport. As he summoned the next cab Nagy glanced over his shoulder and saw Newman, on the verge of stepping inside the rear of his cab, staring hard at him. He swore inwardly and dived inside the back of his own cab.
"Follow my friend in that cab ahead," he told the driver.
"If you say so..."
His driver showed a little discretion, keeping another vehicle between himself and Newman"s. It was only a ten- minute ride - including the final three-sided tour round the hotel to reach the main entrance because of the one-way system.
He watched the porter from the Hotel des Bergues taking their luggage and told his driver to move on and drop him round the corner. Paying off the cabbie, he hurried to the nearest phone box, frozen by the bitter wind blowing along the lake and the Rh6ne which the des Bergues overlooked. He called Pierre Jaccard, senior reporter on the Journal de Geneve Journal de Geneve. His initial reception was even more hostile than had been Tripet"s.
"What are you trying to peddle this time, Nagy?"
"There are plenty of people in the market for this one," Nagy said aggressively, deliberately adopting a different approach. You had to know your potential clients. "You have, I presume, heard of the Kruger Affair - the German traitor who extracted information from the giant computer at Dusseldorf ?"