This United state

24

Paula boarded the tram for the station first, followed by Nield and Butler. Butler chose a seat by himself, as though they didn't know each other, and Nield followed suit. The tram was made up of three green cars, joined to each other. It was only about a quarter full.

Marler was the last to mount the steps. He was checking the other passengers who had been waiting at the stop. They all seemed to be local Swiss, wearing heavy winter clothes. Ahead of him a moon-faced man made his way to the very back of the car. Marler decided to join Paula.,

'What I can't understand,' she said as he settled beside her, 'is why Tweed thought it necessary to give the train details to you. I've got them.'

'He was being clever. When we get to the station you can buy tickets for yourself and Nield. I'll buy them for Butler and myself – in case any of the opposition are watching the Hauptbahnhof. Don't forget it's very close to the Euler.'

'Of course. I must be half asleep. I must get my wits about me.'

`You'll be all right if we run into a spot of trouble.' 'What's in that holdall on your shoulder?'

'A flask of coffee sticking out, oranges and other food. In case we have to picnic.'

'Heaven forbid. In this weather.'

Earlier Paula had stared straight ahead. Marler knew why – they had been passing the scene of the massacre of the Umbrella Men. The tram swayed round corners, climbing all the time. Basel, Paula remembered, sloped down from the station until it reached the Rhine.

They stopped briefly at Bankverein. Looking out of the window she saw the Zurcher Kredit Bank. Then they were moving on.

She glanced back once at the other passengers. They all had a glazed look as they stared out. It must be even colder than they were used to, she thought. She looked again at Marler's canvas holdall.

'Is that all you've got inside there? Food and drink?'

'Well, he drawled, lowering his voice as she had done, 'there is the odd weapon at the bottom, including a. 32 Browning so you won't feel naked.'

'We may have to pass through French Customs. Let's hope you make it.'

'Another reason for separate tickets. If I don't you'll get through – and so will Tweed and Newman.' 'We're nearly there. You do think of everything.' 'I try.'

At the rear of the car the moon-faced man had slipped his phone out of his coat pocket. Well away from any other passengers, he whispered into it. He kept his message brief, then put his instrument away. It was Paula he had recognized – from the careful description Jake had given him.

'Who is it?' Ronstadt rapped out on his mobile.

'Leo Madison here…'

'How goes it, Moonhead?'

'I just said it was Leo here.'

'Heard you, Moonhead. Get to it. Any news from the Three Kings?'

'Paula Grey, Newman, Tweed and some other people are leaving the French station for some burg called St Ursanne. They change on to a local train at a place called Delemont. I bought myself a ticket-'

'Hold it. Where's this friggin' place, St Whatever?' 'Down in the Jura. To the south. French-speaking Switzerland.'

'Got it.' Ronstadt had looked at the map of Switzerland spread out on a table. 'Tear up your ticket.'

'Do what?'

'You heard. On a train – two trains – they'll spot you. Get a cab to the airport. We have a chopper there, as you know. I'm calling the pilot. He'll fly you – he can follow that train, see them change at Delemont. You've got that fancy disguise?'

'With me. The telescopic stick is down my belt, with the dark glasses.'

'Use them when you track them to where they're going. My guess is they're meeting someone. Whoever it is, wipe them out. Got it?'

'The train leaves in five minutes-'

'Moonhead, tear up your friggin' ticket. Get to the airport. Last time you called you said you're on the tram with them. They're smart. They'll spot you. Grab a cab. For the airport. Now!'

'The name is Leo. Next time you call me Moonhead I'll head-butt you in your face. On my way. Airport-'

'You talk to me like that again you won't have any head!'

Ronstadt slammed the phone down. Moonhead had disconnected: 'I am going to kill that guy,' he said to himself. Moonhead was the one member of his team he couldn't tame. Then he remembered it was Moonhead who had once shot a baby in the back of the head. Ronstadt shuddered, called the pilot at the airport.

There was Passport Control before they passed through on to the platform of the French station, but no one behind the Customs counter, which was a relief to Marler. Tweed and Newman arrived to join the others minutes before the train was due to depart. Paula had given them their tickets, then the three of them ran. Nield and Butler had boarded the last coach, which was empty when they entered it. Marler had followed them and was leaning out of the window when Paula and her two companions jumped on to the train.

'That was a near-run thing,' Paula commented as the train moved off.

'As Wellington said about Waterloo,' Tweed replied.

Marler had continued leaning out of the window until the train was clear of the platform. As he sat down Tweed asked him what he had been looking for.

'I memorized the faces of all the passengers on the tram which brought us here. None of them has boarded this train.'

'So we've given them the slip,' said Paula.

We hope we've given them the slip,' Tweed corrected her.

'You're never sure of anything,' she chided.

'Which is why I'm still alive.'

'Let's be positive,' she responded. 'How did you get on with Beck?'

'We made a lot of arrangements. We have to be back at police headquarters before four this afternoon. Beck was very helpful.'

We should just make it, with a bit of luck,' she said after consulting a timetable.

'From the station at St Ursanne it's a good ten-minute walk down to the village.'

'Then we'll make it, with a lot of luck. I sense you're very anxious to meet this Juliette Leroy at the Hotel d'Or.'

'I have great faith in Kurt Schwarz.'

'What was the outcome of your talk to Beck?'

'A very important decision concerning that barge, the Minotaur. I learned from Beck the vessel isn't used for transporting cargo any more. Some Swiss entrepreneur has converted it to a floating hotel for business conventions. It has conference rooms, a bar, a restaurant and all modern communication facilities. Today an American called Davidson phoned the owner, hired the Minotaur for a week.'

'Davidson?'

'I think Mr Davidson is really Jake Ronstadt. Beck has laid plans to follow the vessel, to board it from police launches, then to arrest everyone on board for interrogation. He's going to use the dead Umbrella Men as a lever.'

'How?' she wondered.

'They were all carrying guns. They were all staying at the Euler. That's enough for starters. He thinks he'll find the people at that meeting are also carrying weapons.'

'Pity we aren't going to see it happening.'

'We are. He's loaning us an unmarked launch. I asked him to let me have a loudhailer, which he did. I dashed back to the hotel with it, left it in my room before Bob and I raced up to the station in a taxi.'

'What do you want with a loudhailer?'

'Might come in useful…'

Tweed lapsed into a brooding silence and Paula looked out of the window. They had left Basel behind and it was a bright sunny day with a crystal-clear sky. She felt relieved to be away from the city. She liked Basel, had loved it the last time she had been there with Tweed, but this time she was depressed by the grim ancient buildings looming over her everywhere, like being inside a sinister fortress.

She decided her reaction was partly due to the weather – and to the events which had occurred there. The Umbrella Men, then Nield's description of the last- minute rescue of Irina, of the ghastly ape man who had come so close to torturing Irina. The train entered a deep gorge. On either side rose sheer walls of jagged limestone. Peering out, her face close to the window, she could just see the crests, tipped with snow. It was so warm inside the train they had all taken off outer clothes.

'We're in the Jura Mountains,' Tweed remarked. 'Nothing like the enormous heights of the Bernese Oberland but I'm fond of the Jura. You don't feel a million tons of rock is going to fall on you.'

The train emerged from the gorge and open fields stretched away into the distance. Here and there was an isolated wooden farmhouse, sometimes with a ramp at its side leading up to a storage barn attached to the house. They were seeing the Switzerland so liked by more sophisticated tourists.

'Looks like we got clean away from Ronstadt and his thugs,' remarked Newman.

'There aren't any on the train,' Mader agreed.

'I feel safe,' said Paula. 'At peace with the world. The sun is wonderful.'

She had just spoken when sHe saw the helicopter, flying on a course parallel to the train, about a quarter of a mile away. She stared at it, all her misgivings returning. Tweed caught her change of expression.

'It's probably just a traffic helicopter. The Swiss use them a lot.'

'That reminds me,' Paula told him. 'I forgot to tell you that when I was driving to the Bunker on Romney Marsh I heard a chopper. It was flying straight towards me. I was still some distance from the Bunker when I saw an open barn by the roadside. The chopper was temporarily hidden in a cloud so I drove inside the barn out of sight. I had to wait a while. The chopper came closer, sounded to be circling above the barn. Then it went away and I didn't see it again. I drove on to the Bunker.'

'You are wise to take precautions,' Tweed assured her. 'The Bunker has become our main operational centre. Before we left I sent down more personnel. There's only a skeleton staff left at Park Crescent. Howard agreed it was a good idea. He'll keep in touch with the Bunker.'

'Pretty drastic,' Paula commented. 'Why did you do it?'

'I think you all realize now we're up against the most powerful state on earth. America has limitless resources, vast sums of money. It took me a while to grasp that it was really planning on taking over Britain. The idea seemed so momentous. I'm convinced now – after my dinner with Morgenstern and after reading that file Pete and Harry grabbed from the Embassy in Grosvenor Square. We can only stop them by superior cunning and a certain amount of luck. Don't look so serious, Paula. We're coming into Delemont, where we change trains. You're really going to like St Ursanne.'

Aboard the helicopter Leo Madison – or Moonhead, as Ronstadt sneeringly called him – grasped hold of the powerful binoculars hanging from a strap round his neck. He glanced at the pilot in the seat next to him.

'From now on we must change our flying tactics. Don't want to make the targets suspicious. Train's comin' in to Delemont. Can you hold us still while I check the platforms?'

The pilot slowed the machine, hovered. Through his binoculars Leo clearly saw Paula Grey, Tweed and Newman alight. Two more men appeared to be with them but they were strangers to him. In the lenses he could see the faces of the trio he recognized. He saw them hurry across the platform, climb aboard a smaller train. He lowered his binoculars, waited until the little train started moving.

'Now you follow that little job. But do change your angle of flight.'

Again they had a coach to themselves. As the small train moved on into open country Paula had her eyes glued to the window. The scenery was superb, with large fields showing a froth of green sweeping up the slopes of high, hump-backed hills. She was looking out at a panorama as far as the eye could see – with here and there a lonely village of wooden houses clustered together and the tiny spire of a church. The helicopter had disappeared.

'You see,' Newman reassured her, 'that machine in the sky has gone.'

The next moment they entered a long tunnel. The wheels of the train made a quiet drumming sound. The lights had come on, Paula relaxed, looking forward to seeing the village Tweed had recalled with such enthusiasm. Her eyes closed and she almost fell asleep. Suddenly they emerged from the tunnel. She was alert instantly.

In the near distance the hills were higher, the slopes steeper. There were no villages anywhere. She saw a car driving along a road which seemed to follow the railway. They were climbing.

'It's back,' she said.

'What is?' Marler asked.

'The chopper. Can't you hear the beat-beat of its engine? I think it's flying directly above the train.'

'And I think you're right,' Marler agreed.

'I don't honestly see how they could have known where we are going,' Nield interjected.

'Pete has a point,' Tweed agreed.

He was anxious to reassure Paula. But he didn't believe what he said. He was beginning to think that it had been a good idea of Marler's to distribute weapons from his canvas satchel earlier. A chopper near Romney Marsh. Now another one out in the wilds of the Jura. The Americans, as he'd pointed out earlier, certainly had unlimited resources. He checked his watch. They were almost arriving at St Ursanne.

'We'll soon be there,' Tweed said. 'A good job it's such a perfect day. As I mentioned earlier, we have a good ten-minute trot along a road before we reach the village. Maybe fifteen minutes…'

The helicopter swung away from the train after climbing directly above it. By this tactic the pilot hoped the targets aboard the train would not think he had been following them. A minute before giving the pilot his instructions Leo had focused his binoculars on the small station – just one platform – the train was nearing. The signboard read St Ursanne.

'Let's get clear away from the train,' he began. 'See that small village in the distance?'

'Got it.'

'I want you to land me as close to it as you can – within close' walking distance of the place. You should be able to drop me somewhere. Then wait until J return to take me back to Basel.'

'Will do.'

The chopper was already climbing vertically. The pilot became aware that his passenger was wriggling around a lot, that he had removed his safety belt. He had no time to look at him as he concentrated on his manoeuvre, then high in the sky swung away from the railway. Now he was searching for a landing point. He saw one at the edge of the village.

'Here we go.'

'Try and land before the train stops at the station. I'll tell you when.'

'Will do.'

It was then that he glanced at his passenger and had a shock. He would never have recognized the man seated next to him as Leo.