Part 43 (2/2)

'I agree your strategy,' said Tweed.

'Then I'm off to the killing ground, as they say. The Black Forest.'

Marler reached up. Paula heard the magnetic clamps of the gizmo attach to the roof of their car. Marler ran off to where his white Audi was parked. Nield was already waiting in the front pa.s.senger seat. Butler sat hunched in the rear. Then Marler ran back to Newman's car.

'I forgot,' he told Newman through the window which had been lowered again. 'When that red light starts flas.h.i.+ng you're almost on top of Ronstadt. Now I really must get moving..

'Paula,' said Tweed, 'sometimes Marler does have a grisly way of putting things.'

'You're referring to his use of the phrase ”killing ground”,' she replied. 'I don't care. I was thinking of poor Guy. I want to send the lot of them to where he's gone.'

They left Freiburg behind more quickly than Paula had expected. Soon they were driving over thick snow. As darkness fell the moon had risen, casting its vaporous glow over the lonely countryside. They entered a world of steep rolling hills covered with dense ma.s.ses of fir trees, marshalled trunk to trunk like an invading army about to overwhelm them. Their branches and foliage, holding the snow, glittered like Christmas trees in the moonlight.

'You see now,' Tweed said to Paula, 'why I said it can be very beautiful. Are you listening to me?'

She was staring at the red light on the glowing screen. Her expression was almost brooding as though her thoughts were miles away., She shook her head; looked at Tweed.

'Sorry, I didn't catch what you said.'

'Doesn't matter. What were you pondering?'

'A lot of things. For one, why didn't the manager of the Colombi warn us Ronstadt had checked out? Especially after Kuhlmann had spoken to him.'

'Could be he was away from the hotel at the time. Or, if he was there, he might not have wanted to report the movements of one guest to another. If that was the case, I don't blame him. He has the reputation of the hotel to think of.'

'I was also wondering about the three thugs who travelled with Ronstadt. We never saw them while we were there.'

'He probably confined them to their rooms.'

'I do remember what you said now.' She looked out of the window. 'It is beautiful - but also sinister. And we haven't seen any traffic since we started out. Except for Marler's rear lights in the distance.'

'Something's coming towards us now in the opposite direction,' Newman remarked.

'What on earth is it, Bob?'

'Giant snowplough, clearing the snow. You have to give it to the Germans. They don't waste any time keeping the highways clear.'

'It's the first one we've seen,' she objected.

'Not surprising. It's out of season. Tourists - the skiing type - don't expect snow here as late as this. It's a really huge machine.'

'Bob, slow down,' Tweed ordered.

'Marler didn't.'

'I said slow down until we've pa.s.sed it. Ronstadt is capable of any trickery.'

Tweed had lowered his window. He had his Walther in his hand. Paula automatically picked up the machine- pistol, laid it on her lap. The machine came closer, Newman had obeyed Tweed's command to slow down. Paula took a firmer grip on her weapon. The snowplough was moving very slowly and now the driver was visible. He appeared to be operating his machine innocently. Newman slowed down even more, cruising across the snow.

'Can you see anyone else other than the driver?' Tweed asked.

'Not from where I'm sitting,' Newman replied.

Paula gently pushed Tweed back against his seat. She elevated her machine-pistol, aiming it through the open window. It had been so warm in the car before the window was lowered she had begun to feel sleepy. Now, with the ice-cold air pouring in, she was totally alert.

The rumble of the big snowplough was very loud as it came on, much closer, spewing great quant.i.ties of snow off the highway. Just before it drew level the driver took off his peaked cap, waved it to them, then proceeded past them as Paula swiftly dropped her weapon out of sight. She let out her breath.

'Now we can relax.'

'No, we can't,' Tweed warned. 'Somewhere ahead I antic.i.p.ate a major attack. So stay at the ready.'

Newman increased speed - the gap between his and Marler's car had grown. Tweed closed the window and Paula started gazing out. Here and there she saw an isolated house made of wood, standing well back from the road, with welcoming lights. The houses had very steep roofs, presumably to slough off an acc.u.mulation of heavy snow.

In the distance was a sweeping panorama of far-off summits, white with snow, of deep valleys inside which she saw tiny colonies of houses huddled at the bottom. One panorama succeeded another and in the moonlight it looked like paradise.

'It's so peaceful,' she commented.

'It is, so far,' Tweed warned.

'The red light is growing fainter,' called out Newman. 'Same direction, but for some reason Ronstadt has speeded up.'

'So has Marler,' Keith Kent said, speaking for the first time.

'I'm doing the same,' Newman replied as he accelerated.

'We're getting close to the Hollental,' Paula announced after checking her map with the aid of her torch. 'Very close, I'd say.'

A few minutes later they entered a vast gorge. On both sides steep rugged slopes closed in on the highway. Paula felt a return of a sense of tension. The slopes, almost vertical in places, seemed to hem in the car. And now their height hid the moon, still s.h.i.+ning on the upper slopes, but plunging the gorge into deepest shadow. No more cosy little houses with their welcoming lights. Just the dark remote gorge, cutting off all contact with the outside world.

'I wonder how Marler's getting on?' Newman speculated. 'For some reason he's slowed down again.'

'Keep a close eye on the heights,' Marler said to Nield. 'I am doing just that.'

'If they're up there they have to have found somewhere they could drive up, I don't think they'd go in for any mountaineering if they could help it. In any case they'd have to park the car on the highway.'

'Why are we going so slowly?' Butler called out from the back.

'So we can see if they have turned off,' Marler told him.

He had his lights on full beam, so he could look as far ahead as possible. Glancing up, he detected enormous snow-covered boulders poised high above them. Not a sight he welcomed. He checked his screen. The red light, which was Ronstadt's car, was fainter, telling him the American had increased his speed considerably. Why?

He leaned forward, staring at the precipitous slope to his left. Could he be wrong? He drove on, still staring hard. Then he saw it wasn't his imagination. Ahead, climbing up the slope to his left, he made out the double tracks of a car's wheels, deep ruts in the otherwise virgin snow. He increased his speed.

'Hold on to your seat belts. We're going up that slope. That's where they are. Lord knows how high above us.'

<script>