The Janus Man

Fifty-Four

From his own room Tweed asked Newman to come and see him immediately. He had hardly put down the receiver when the phone rang. It was Captain Palmer of Norwegian Intelligence, a very apologetic Palmer.

`I am covered with shame and confusion, Tweed. And I am so sorry not to have contacted you earlier.'

`What's gone wrong, Georg?'

`We have lost the Nordsee. That is not entirely accurate. The Coastguard never even found the cruiser. It has been quartering a vast area – continuing after dark. What will you think of us?'

`The same high opinion as before. And now it doesn't make any difference. I know exactly where it's heading for. My apologies to the Coastguard for wasting their time.'

`You have time for dinner with me tomorrow night?' `Next time, yes. I'm leaving almost at once. My thanks.'

Newman arrived as he broke the connection, waited for a few seconds, then began dialling Park Crescent. Newman stood by the curtained window while Tweed gave Monica very precise instructions, then paused as Newman gestured. He told Monica Newman wanted a word and collected his shaving gear from the bathroom while Newman carried on a brief conversation which he couldn't hear.

`We're leaving immediately,' he said as he emerged from the bathroom and Newman put down the phone. 'You're ready? Good. Butler and Nield are escorting Diana. They should be in the lobby waiting. We pay the bill, we leave.'

`Where for?'

`Fornebu.'

The lights were on inside the pilot's cabin aboard the Sea King as Tweed bent over the chart with Casey. Newman looked over his shoulder while Butler and Nield fussed over Diana, settling her in her seat in the passenger compartment.

`You think you can spot the Nordsee at night?' Tweed asked.

`Only if I have some idea where to look. We are equipped with the most sophisticated night-seeing devices – which is why the RAF kicked up such a fuss about my borrowing their machine. You must have gone up to PM level,' Casey joked.

Which was exactly the level Tweed had invoked, but he was careful not to confirm the fact. He took the blue crayon Casey was holding and made a neat cross.

`That is the airfield where you land. Time it so we get there close to dawn if you can.' He made another neat cross. 'And that is the point the Nordsee is heading for. You know where she was late this afternoon. What course would you follow?'

He handed the crayon back, Casey studied the chart for a few moments and then carefully marked a course. He shrugged his broad shoulders as he straightened up.

`That's only a rough idea. And we shall arrive there long before a power cruiser can make it.'

`All the better. I need to be there ahead of her.'

`And,' Casey decided, `if we are to make your landfall at dawn, there should be no problem. If necessary, I can land at Esbjerg in Western Denmark to lose a little time, to refuel. We'll see how we go. Take off now?'

`The moment you're ready.'

Tweed was sitting alongside Newman, two rows behind Diana who sat with Butler. He woke with a start, realized he had dozed off. Rubbing his eyes, he stared in surprise out of the window. The first light of dawn was breaking. The Sea King was flying remarkably smoothly. Tweed put on his headset so he could talk with Newman who was wearing his.

'He must be very close. Shouldn't we go up and see Casey?'

'I just did that a few minutes ago. Another twenty minutes yet. No hurry. What happened between you and Diana? She hasn't looked round once.'

'I told you – I was going to grill her. Naturally, she didn't like it. She won't forgive me. All part of the job.'

`Pity. You two looked as though…'

`Drop the subject. Wilson is beckoning to us. We'd better get along there.'

He took off the headset and followed Newman. The vibrations of the rotors drummed in his ears, trembled under his feet. The pilot's view was spectacular. The North Sea was like a sheet of glass, deep purple glass. Ahead the coast of Norfolk curved in a great sweep towards the Wash.

'We're ten minutes from Langham Airfield,' Casey informed him, tut that isn't why I called you. There's a power cruiser ahead which exactly fits your description.'

'That's impossible. He could never have got here as early as this.'

'It has a different name though.' Casey had handed over control to Wilson and he gave Tweed a large pair of very high-powered binoculars. 'See for yourself.'

Tweed stared through the lenses at the white cruiser heading in towards the Wash. He passed them to Newman and grunted. 'The clever sod. He fooled us. He never was aboard the Nordsee. One of his men was at the helm – probably that thug who was chief of security at his mansion. He had another cruiser tucked away in one of those marinas, a third vessel. He must have seen Casey's chopper flying over Travemunde and it alerted him. My guess is he left Travemunde hours earlier. Must have done to get here by now.'

'We could be just too late,' Newman commented.

'I'll have to drive like hell,' Tweed replied. 'Just so long as Monica has done her stuff.'

`This is some kind of private airfield at Langham?' Casey asked.

`Yes. Used to be an RAF station during the war. I hear that sometimes Prince Philip uses it – for flying in to Sandringham. I know the place. It's a bit disused.'

`Better get back to your seats,' Casey advised. 'And I'll take over now,' he told Wilson.

`Will the man in that cruiser wonder about us?' Tweed asked.

`Doubt it. I've just seen two more choppers. They supply the oil rigs. Part of the scenery round here.'

Tweed stirred restlessly in his seat, peering out of the window. He caught one glimpse of the cruiser, heading direct inside the Wash, leaving behind an arrow of wake on the sea. The purple was changing to blue. The machine tilted and he lost sight of the vessel.

`What did you talk to Monica about on the phone back at the Grand just before we left my room?' he asked.

`Nothing much. I wanted her to get me something. It's been a long trail,' Newman remarked.

`Full circle – back to East Anglia.'

They were across the coast now. The machine descended and turned rapidly. Tweed clasped his hands to keep them still. The Sea King dropped vertically. Beyond the window the ground came up to meet them. Newman leaned across Tweed to look out.

Disused. Langham Airfield was certainly that. He could see grass growing up through a concrete runway. The machine landed, the rotor beat slowed.

Tweed was the first to alight. Newman followed and was surprised at the size of the airfield. It was wide open country. From beyond a distant hedge he heard another sound as the rotors ceased turning. A gobbling noise. Must be a turkey farm nearby.

`We're very close to Blakeney,' Casey called down. 'A nice little resort.'

`Thanks for the ride.'

Newman ran after Tweed, who was heading for a group of three cars parked on the edge of the field. A Ford Cortina, a Volvo, a Fiat. Monica climbed out from the Cortina as Tweed arrived. The air was crisp and fresh off the sea and she was muffled in a scarf and a camel-hair coat.

`The Cortina is yours. Keys in the ignition,' she told Tweed.

`Are you all right?'

`Yes. Take Diana back into town. Drop her at Newman's flat.' He turned as Newman arrived. 'I forgot. Diana has been using your flat. Hope you don't mind?'

`Charge you a stiff rent.'

`I have to do this one on my own, Bob. Who needs the Volvo?' he asked Monica.

`Bob asked me to have it here on the phone from Oslo. Monty the guard and George the doorman drove two of the vehicles. I left them at a crossroads nearby. Thought you might not want them to see you.'

`I'm leaving now.' Tweed climbed behind the wheel of the Cortina. 'What's the Volvo for, Bob?'

`Me. Maybe I've had enough. Time for a holiday.'

He had a strange smile on his face as he waved Tweed off and turned to the Volvo. Monica opened the rear door, showed him two petrol cans with screw caps stacked on the floor. To keep them stable she'd packed foam rubber between and around them.

`That's what you asked for. Each one is almost full. Not for me to reason why – there are garages everywhere if you need to tank up..

Tweed took a country road, the B1388, to Little Walsingham, turned along the B1105, and at Fakenham joined the A148 for King's Lynn. He pressed his foot down, trying to gauge how long it would take the power cruiser to make landfall. It was going to be a close run thing.

His face had a set expression. He knew if he thought about

' it he'd feel very tired. The fresh East Anglian air blowing in through the window was sharpening him up. How the hell am I going to manage it? he kept asking himself. There was hardly any other traffic on the road. He had the world almost to himself. He overtook a large furniture van. Smithers of Edmonton. He wondered about that van.

Approaching King's Lynn, he turned on to a side road which would avoid getting tangled in the one-way maze. He crossed the bridge over the slow-flowing Ouse just south of the town.

Ahead stretched the flatlands of the Wash. A thin veil of mist hovered on the horizon. He had moved on to the A17 now. He began to. keep a careful lookout for the side turning to Hawkswood Farm, the remote house perched near the edge of the Wash.

Near Sutton Bridge he swung off the A17 on to a turn-off towards Gedney Drove End. He was now driving along a very minor road, elevated above the surrounding countryside but with an excellent tarred surface. He stopped for a moment, reached for the Tupperware canister of water Monica had shoved into one of the pockets facing the rear seats. He prised off the lid and drank greedily. His mouth was dry – dry with fear. Through the window came the faint sound of the whispering grasses swaying gently in the fields below.

He clamped down the lid, shoved the canister back inside the pocket and drove on. As far as he could see there was no sign of life. Not a human being, not another vehicle. In the distance he could see the long single-storey building which was Hawkswood Farm. Again no sign of life. No smoke from the chimney. No car parked in the driveway:

Tweed pulled in at the entrance to the track leading to the dyke. Switching off, he pocketed the keys, got out and began walking rapidly towards the farm. The breeze flapped his trousers. Somewhere behind him he heard the purr of a car's engine in the distance. He ignored it, concentrating all his attention on the farm.

He opened the picket gate carefully so it wouldn't squeak. His rubber-soled shoes made no sound as he walked up the path. He tried the handle of the front door. Locked. He took out his bank cheque card, eased the plastic sheet between door jamb and lock, heard it click.

He turned the handle again carefully, pushed the door open slowly, listened. Taking a few paces into the living-room, he stopped. On a side table stood a large and heavy glass mortar and pestle. The noise of gushing water came from the half- closed kitchen door. He took several cautious paces forward, peered through the gap between the door and the wall on the hinged side. He blinked at the macabre sight.

Standing with his back to Tweed, in front of the sink, a man was shaving. He had removed the right-hand side of his black beard, exposing a long scar where Sue Templeton must have clawed at him. He was about to lather the other side. He turned off the tap. He reached up with his shaving brush and paused. Tweed never knew what alerted him. He dropped the razor, reached inside an open drawer, grabbed a broad-bladed knife and swung round. He had taken two or three paces towards the living-room when Tweed began to run, snatching up the heavy glass pestle.

He ran out of the front door, down the path and turned on to the road in the direction where he had left the car. Behind him feet pounded on the road. Tweed ran full tilt, the pestle grasped in his right hand like a relay runner's baton. His pursuer was gaining on him. He increased speed. The fresh air he gulped into his lungs helped. He reached the track which led to the dyke, turned down it. Beside his Cortina a Volvo was parked. He ran on down the track.

The dangerous stretch came when he arrived at the end of the track, climbed the little rise and went down the other side. He began to run along the narrow path leading to the dyke, which rose like a frozen green wave in the distance. Tweed only caught a glimpse of it. He had walked this way before, knew the risk. Behind him he heard the steady pounding of other feet. He kept his head down, placing his feet carefully, avoiding the hard tufts of grass which could bring him sprawling in a second. He'd never climb to his feet again.

He was getting out of breath, keeping his mouth closed as he evaded the treacherous tufts. Then he got his second wind. He increased speed a little, aware that the gap was still closing between himself and the man behind him. He was sweating like a bull with the effort. Sweat ran down his forehead, dribbled from his armpits. He reached the foot of the great dyke.

He scrambled up the inner side, reached the top, slithered down the far side. The vast expanse of the Wash spread away before him, well beyond the marshlands and the creeks. He had a brief view of a power cruiser moored to the landing-stage which had been reinforced with fresh timber. He was very close to the area he remembered, the patches of sand, the sinister acid green grass which seemed to float on top of the ooze. He turned at bay, breathing hard.

A man was charging down the outer side of the dyke, the ugly-looking knife grasped in his right hand. Still a macabre sight, half a black beard remaining on the left-hand side of his face, Hugh Grey stopped, eyes glaring wildly. Not really sane.

He moved towards Tweed, expecting him to turn away, to try and run. Tweed did the unexpected. He moved in close, brought the pestle down savagely on the wrist of the hand holding the knife. Grey dropped it, looked surprised and in that moment of indecision Tweed moved again. Grey was standing with his back to the marshy verge. Tweed lifted both fists, hammered them with all his strength into Grey's solar plexus. Again the look of surprise. He toppled backwards after stumbling a few paces. He sprawled across the surface of the ooze. He tried to sit up. His feet and legs began sinking first, disappearing rapidly. The ooze sucked him deeper. He was only half in view, from the waist up.

He panicked. Placing the flat of both hands on the mud, he tried to stop the suction hauling him down. He screamed obscenities at Tweed, then began pleading for help. Tweed stood without moving, silent, breathing heavily. The hands disappeared. Grey tried to haul them out, couldn't. The mud closed over his forearms. He let out a strange bleating noise. Nothing intelligible. Only his neck and head showed now. He stared at Tweed. He opened his mouth and took in a gulp of mud. The head sank slowly out of sight. There was a brief disturbance. Ripples and bubbles where he had gone down. Then the ooze settled to its normal smooth surface.

Tweed picked up the knife, tossed it into the quagmire. It landed on its point, disappeared in seconds. Tweed looked towards the cruiser and Newman was standing on the deck, watching.

Tweed and Newman were lying down on the landward side of the dyke, peering over the crest at the cruiser. Newman had released the mooring ropes and the vessel was drifting very slowly away from the landing stage as the tide went out.

`So, it was Hugh Grey,' Newman said.

`Yes. Diana told me. How did you get here?'

`Thought you might need a bit of assistance. I drove along the coast road, the A149. I saw you take that side road from Langham Airfield and guessed I wouldn't be far behind.' He held a Verey pistol in his right hand. He extended the index finger of his left hand. 'Taste that.'

`Heroin..

`And that cruiser is stacked to the gunwales with the stuff. A carpenter had even cut out special compartments to store it. It was under the deck planks. Everywhere. And it had much the same equipment as the Nordsee,' he added, raising the Verey pistol. 'You've seen its name?'

`The Seebeck. Dr Berlin – Hugh Grey – did have a third boat hidden away. What are you going to do?'

`I've emptied several of the fuel drums – again, like the Sudwind, it had plenty of spare fuel. I tumbled a couple down the companionway into the main cabin. It's drenched. And you see those two petrol cans perched on top of that locker? One is half-empty – I spilt it around. That is the trigger for my little atom bomb. Five hundred kilos. Regrettably, even in the Drug Squad there could be men who'd sell their souls for the money that lot would bring in. I do wish Gorbachev could see this. Keep your head well down, for God's sake.'

The Seebeck had been caught up in a strong current, was now drifting faster at least thirty feet from the shore. Newman took careful aim with the Verey pistol, his target the cans of petrol. He pulled the trigger.

Nothing much happened. There was a sizzle. Then Vesuvius erupted. A roar like thunder swept out across the Wash. The bow of the vessel headed skywards, trailing a tongue of flame like a Cape Canaveral rocket. It exploded into a thousand pieces. Followed by the main detonation. Tweed guessed the fire had reached the drums toppled into the cabin. Amidships the Seebeck came apart, blasting seawards, scores of fireballs. A plume of black smoke ascended vertically. The relic of the stern crackled. Flames spread round the rim. A third explosion. The stern soared out over the sea, ascending at an angle of about forty-five degrees. It blew up in mid-air. Fragments fell back into the water, hissed, disappeared. For a short time the sea had boiled where the Seebeck had drifted to, then it calmed down. There was a sudden silence. Gulls wheeled away inland. No trace remained of the cruiser.

`Grey went up with that,' Newman said. 'We saw him standing on deck just before the explosion. Technical hitch. They'll never find enough to work out what really happened. And I saw your tussle with Grey. I had my Luger ready. Just in case. You led him here deliberately.'

It was a statement. Tweed nodded, climbed slowly to his feet and brushed rubbish off his suit. 'That had better be what we tell them,' he agreed. 'And yes, I led him here on purpose. A mass murderer, a traitor. He had to disappear. The scandal would have destroyed the Service. We've done the job.'

`I do believe we have.'

'Except for driving back to the farm, making sure there are no traces of the beard he'd half-shaved off in the kitchen – things like that. His problem was he couldn't shave it off in Lubeck, and since he's had no chance until he reached the farm. Too busy steering that cruiser. Must have had stamina – the stamina of a madman. I suppose we'd also better call the police.'