The Savage Gorge

TWENTY

They had finished a large well-cooked breakfast, seated round an oblong table with a well-scrubbed surface covered with a thick white cloth. All was peace and quiet.

It was daylight, another brilliant day. The sun shone on the calm sea, creating sparkling reflections like a spread of diamonds. Only Tweed sat very still looking serious. Ben spoke to him.

'You'll have to drive back along the same road you came in on. There's another track to the west I drive over on my Land Rover for food and supplies. No use to you – it ends at a large village. So you have to use the way you came in on, no matter where you're heading for.'

'London, straight to Finden Square,' Tweed said grimly.

Paula stared at him. By the tone of his voice she knew they had reached their first climax. It was a development she had seen before. Tweed had turned aggressive, in an attacking mood. The initiative had passed into his hands.

'The point I'm making,' Ben growled, 'was you drive back at a slow pace until you've passed the turn-off to that airfield. It is essential.'

'Why?' demanded Marler.

'If you listen you'll know why,' Ben growled again. 'My side of that high ridge to the east of here is solid, has stood like that since Stonehenge. The other side of the ridge is unstable. It's shale and one day immense tons will sweep down the ridge as a minor avalanche. Probably only stop when it's heaped up across the road or the barren fields beyond. Police put up warning signs but some crazy kids pulled the signs down then dumped them into the sea. In any case, that road only leads to a deserted beach unless you turn off to come to me.'

'Sounds a potential hazard,' Tweed commented.

'Not if you crawl, ' warned Ben, 'until the airfield turn-off. Funny thing is, the fifty yards of ground at the top of the summit is hard immovable rock. But you crawl^ he repeated.

'Heard you the first time, Ben,' Marler said off handedly.

'And I heard you coming in that Maserati,' Ben snapped.

They all stood up, gathered round Ben, thanked him for all his help. Tweed put a hand on his shoul der.

'Sorry it was such a murderous nerve-racking trip. We are all so grateful.'

'Get off! The sea has its moods and I knows 'em.'

They travelled as they had come. Paula jumped into the passenger seat of the Maserati as Marler slipped in behind the wheel. Harry sat alongside Tweed, who took the wheel of the Audi, his mobile in one hand. They took off along the same road, which rounded the end of the ridge for a short distance with the sea close to their right, then descended for minutes onto the road below the ridge Ben had warned them about. Paula found an irresistible urge to look up to the summit. She was relieved that Marler was holding his speed to 25 m.p.h. or less. Then she stared, used her binoculars.

'There's someone on the hard rock at the top, looked like one of these North Africans. Dark face, cloth wrapped round his forehead.. .'

She heard a distant cracking sound, then another further along. At that moment the mobile buzzed. Marler snatched it up. He listened for a moment. His reply bothered Paula.

'OK, Harry. Thought so. I'm ramming my foot down. Could be a close-run thing for us…

'Neville Guile's gangsters are on the hard rock up there. They're throwing grenades to start the shale moving. It is. They're going to crush us before we reach safety!'

As he spoke he pressed his foot hard on the accel erator. They were racing as though at Le Mans. Glancing in the rear-view mirror Paula saw Tweed was only yards behind them, moving at the same manic speed. They swung round narrow bends, recovered, sped on.

Horrified, she gazed at the mountainous slope of the ridge. The whole surface was on the move. The shale had gathered into incredibly fast-moving waves, riding higher and higher as it thundered down the slope, sending down a thunderous roar, now over six feet high along the whole unstable slope. She gazed ahead and the turn-off to the airfield seemed miles ahead. They weren't going to make it. They'd end up buried in the pulverized metal of their vehicles.

She glanced at Marler. His expression was calm, concentrated. Ahead was a long straight stretch of road. Marler pressed his foot down hard. They were travelling at well over ninety miles an hour. She checked the rear-view mirror. The Audi was hurtling forward at the same speed. She forced herself to look at the rapidly advancing wall. It seemed almost on top of them, a mixture of large rocks 'cemented' together with the bloody shale. And still the turn-off to the airfield, to safety, seemed miles away. Paula had never been so frightened but she compelled herself to conceal her fear as the thunder of the landslide became almost deafening.

To take her mind off the hideous approaching land slide, Paula looked to her right. She had the same impression of the 'scenery' as she had when they had driven to Seaward Cove. Many areas of Somerset and Devon were delightful and beautiful. This was not one of them.

This was a desert of rock and derelict fields, so barren and with nothing green anywhere that she was vaguely reminded of the Mojave Desert in America. No hotels, not even a house. She looked away, checked the landslide.

It was close to overwhelming the road. Marler glanced at her with a dry smile.

'OK, Paula?'

She managed to wink at him. He grinned back, swiftly stared back at the straight road. His foot was still pressed fully down and the car shuddered under the pressure. Looking again in the rear-view mirror she saw Tweed waving to her with a wide smile. He looked so cool and calm.

Ahead of them a large round rock rolled across the road. It told her the avalanche was nearly on top of them. Then she leaned forward, tense. They had nearly reached the turn-off to the airfield. She couldn't believe it. As they swept past it she checked the rear-view mirror once more, scared for Tweed. She sagged as she saw the Audi pass the turn-off.

Looking back behind the Audi she saw no sign of the road – only the seven-foot-high tumble of rock and shale that covered it. The tension slowly drained out of her as Marler slowed to a normal speed.

'Where to next?' she wondered, trying to recall something said earlier. Park Crescent would be my choice, she thought.