Part 44 (2/2)

'Keep going,' Tweed ordered. 'What I can't understand is that we've pa.s.sed the Hollental. The base has to be somewhere else. Kurt Schwarz missed something. At least, I think he did.' He took out the little black notebook they had found behind the loose brick when Irina had been rescued in Basel. 'Paula, let me borrow your torch.'

'What's worrying you?' she asked.

'Kurt wrote down H011ental on one page, then that was followed by a blank page. I don't understand it.'

'The explanation could be very simple,' said Paula, handing him her torch. 'I've done it myself. Turned over two pages without realizing it, leaving one page blank.'

'I hope you're right. Let me check what's on the following page. I see. Just one word. Schluchsee Schluchsee. Sounds like a lake.'

'Give me back my torch. I want to check the map.'

She studied the map, looked quickly at the screen with the red light showing Ronstadt's convoy ahead of them. She watched the light for a few minutes. Then she spoke rapidly.

'We were moving south-east through the Hollental. Now we're heading east towards t.i.tisee, which has a smaller lake and is a famous resort. But soon there's a big junction which turns us south-west and soon runs alongside Lake t.i.tisee 'Which we don't want,' Tweed protested.

'If you'd just let me finish; Paula snapped. 'There is a Schluchsee, a much bigger lake, and it looks remote. After pa.s.sing Lake t.i.tisee we come to another junction on the way to Feldberg.'

'Highest point in the Black Forest,' said Tweed. 'About four thousand five hundred feet high. Sorry,' he concluded.

'I can do without any more interruptions until I've finished. At the junction we turn left and then we're heading due south-east - straight for Schluchsee.'

'If the blue light on Marler's screen which is us vanishes, he will never follow such a complicated route,' Newman objected.

'We'll have to take that risk,' Tweed repeated.

'I don't like it. I should slow down, give Marler time to catch up with us,' Newman insisted.

'I'm not going to keep giving the same order,' Tweed told him. 'Your job is to keep Ronstadt in sight. That's a direct order.'

'Might be a good idea if we all calmed down a bit,' Keith Kent suggested.

'You're right,' Tweed agreed. 'Tension will get us nowhere.'

'So,' said Paula, 'let's all relax - including you, Tweed.'

'We're losing Tweed,' said Marler, driving his Audi at speed. 'The blue light is fading. We'll just have to go faster.'

And end up going off the road,' Nield warned.

'I don't think so,' Marler drawled. 'I used to be a racing driver.'

'But this isn't Le Mans,' Nield remarked as Marler accelerated even more. 'Strange that we've left the Hollental behind. I thought that's where their base was. And you're not flying a plane, Marler.'

'And there could be ice under this snow,' called out Butler, which was the first time Nield could recall him ever showing nervousness.

'I'm not going to let Tweed down,' Marler informed them. 'Did you,' he began, changing the subject, 'notice that amazing complex of buildings in the Hollental - the Hofgut Sternen?'

'Wouldn't have minded stopping there for a bite to eat,' Butler remarked. 'Place was enormous and a blaze of lights.'

'I was surprised to see a number of parked cars,' Nield replied. 'And I caught sight of people eating in a pretty good-looking restaurant.'

'Germans,' Marler said, 'coming from not too far away. The cars had skis attached to their roofs. A few hoping to take advantage of the falls of snow.'

There was silence for a while. Marler refused to moderate his speed. To their left a dense forest of firs stretched endlessly up a slope. Still no other traffic on the road. Thank heavens for small mercies, Nield thought.

'Tweed's blue light is growing stronger,' Marler said suddenly. 'We're catching him up. Half a mo' - he's changed direction. He's going due south-west now.'

'We're coining up to a junction,' Nield told him.

Like Paula, he had a map open on his lap. He had been studying it with a small torch. He stared fixedly ahead for signs of a turn.

'Newman's now heading for the Feldberg,' he announced. 'That is the highest point in the whole of the Black Forest.'

'Deeper snow up there,' Butler commented, half to himself.

'Slow down, for G.o.d's sake,' Nield pleaded.

Marler, content now that he was much closer to the other Audi, reduced his breakneck pace. Nield leaned forward even more, stretching his seat belt.

'Turn here. We're on our way to t.i.tisee.'

Marler obeyed his instructions. He pressed his foot down again. A short while later on their right they had glimpses of Lake t.i.tisee, gleaming in the moonlight and utterly deserted. Close to the far sh.o.r.e Nield caught sight of colonies of holiday cabins. Marler checked the blue light again.

'Now Newman's turned due south-east,' he remarked.

'He's not heading for the Feldberg,' Nield reported after checking his map. 'There's another junction ahead. He appears to be heading instead for a big lake, Schluchsee. I wonder why?'

'Still no sign of Marler,' Newman commented to Paula. 'The red light which is Ronstadt flashed once,' she warned. 'So we must be closing on him.'

'Drop back a bit, then, Tweed ordered. 'But don't lose him.'

'I've got it - do two things at once,' Newman cracked back at him.

But he did slow down. Everyone in the car noticed that now they had begun to descend and kept on doing so. Paula checked her map again.

'Soon the road zigzags a lot,' she warned.

'Well, I have slowed down,' Newman rea.s.sured her. 'Good job you did.'

As she spoke Newman was guiding the car round a steep bend and then immediately afterwards he was swinging round another. By his side Paula was staring through the windscreen, hoping to catch sight of the mysterious lake. The atmosphere inside the car was now far more relaxed, Tweed was thinking. Which he welcomed. Lord knew what was facing them ahead, if they were able to track Ronstadt'to his base.

'I can see something now.'

As Paula spoke Newman stopped the car. The red light on his screen was flas.h.i.+ng madly. He had almost overtaken Ronstadt's convoy. Paula raised a small pair of high-powered night binoculars she'd had looped round her neck. She thought she had never seen anywhere so lonely and forbidding.

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