`You nearly killed me. Another few seconds and I'd have gone under that bloody swamp.'
`You would,' Butler assured him. Normally laconic, he was speaking fast. He moved closer, touched the side of the Dane's head with the muzzle of the Walther. Clausen froze. Butler's next words were delivered in a grim tone.
`One more thing. You don't tell anyone about what happened here. Not anyone. Not for three weeks. We have reliable informants in the area. I hear you've dropped one wrong word and I'll be back. You'll get a bullet in the back of the neck.'
`The money-' Clausen began.
`Oh, you get that at the end of the three weeks. If you are still alive. When we've gone, wait five minutes, then drive home. Those clothes are a lousy fit. And you've still got mud on your face, neck, and God knows where else. Your story is you were out here with a girl. You were drunk, fell into the marsh. This will back up your story.'
Butler produced the bottle of gin he'd used earlier on himself. He poured a small quantity down the front of Clausen's outsize windcheater. `And, Johnny, don't have second thoughts,' Butler warned menacingly. 'They could be the last ones you ever have…'
He agreed to follow Marler back off the track, got behind the wheel of his own Volvo, drove slowly as Marler reversed on to the road. They were approaching the outskirts of Tonder when Marler signalled to park at the roadside while they were still in open country.
Butler left his car, joined Marler in the front passenger seat. Marler had driven fast and now he spoke fast.
`Let me look at that map you marked with a cross where your Johnny dropped Dr Hyde. I only peeked over your shoulder.'
`This is interesting,' he commented. 'I drove through Hojer and turned north. Then I turned west at an intersection in the wilderness. Johnny dropped Hyde close to that some intersection. I couldn't find anything. We'll drive back to my lodging house at 'Fonder – in case there's a message. I just hope Paula is still all right…'
47
`She is asleep, Ilena. That is helpful. We can make our final preparations now.'
`You want bowl of hot water?'
`Not yet.' Hyde sounded testy. will tell you what is required when it is required. Clean this floor again with that vacuum cleaner. Sand has penetrated from outside.'
Paula, stretched out on the couch, had her eyes shut but was wide awake. She compelled her whole body to remain relaxed, to give no indication that she was fully conscious. Listening but not seeing was a horrible experience. Her imagination worked overtime.
She heard the purr of the vacuum cleaner as Ilena obeyed Hyde's instruction. She heard the familiar snap as he opened his bag. A minute or so later there was a tinkle. He was carefully laying out his scalpels in the correct sequence.
She'd had her eyes wide open just before the sound of the key being inserted in the door behind the wooden platform at the top of the steps. The platform had a single wooden rail, thigh high to guard against someone falling over the edge.
It was still daylight but the light was fading. The wind was still blowing and as Hyde continued arranging his instruments there was a banging sound. The shutter had come loose again. They had switched on the fluorescent strip when they entered – and this made keeping her closed eyes still more difficult. Hyde swore foully.
`You stupid cow! You still haven't fixed that damned shutter. Do I have to do everything for myself?'
Obviously, Paula thought vaguely, Hyde had forgotten that Starmberg was the one who had most recently attended to the closing of the shutter. As the vacuum went on purring she heard the scape of the chair across the floor. Hyde was about to stand on it to fasten it once more.
`Your clumsy fingers!' Hyde railed as Paula heard again the chair creaking, protesting under the weight of a human being standing on it. Human being? she thought. That was a misnomer if ever there was one – Hyde was a monster.
There was another bang as Hyde pulled the shutter closed, then the scraping of metal as he struggled with the catch. Hearing – not seeing – was becoming unbearable. Paula gritted her teeth, heard the chair being pushed back into its position against the wall.
The purring of the vacuum cleaner stopped. There was a forbidding silence. She might have been alone for a few brief seconds. Then Hyde spoke.
'Take that thing away. Prepare the bowl of hot water. It must be boiling hot for sterilization of my instruments.'
The heavy clump of Ilena's elephantine footsteps mounting the stairs. The door opening, closing again. She was now alone with Hyde. Thin talon-like fingers grasped her by one arm, shook her vigorously. She opened her eyes slowly. Dr Hyde was smiling down at her.
`As you will see, Miss Grey, the operating table is ready. Now there is nothing to worry about. I am going to give you an injection which will put you to sleep. Then I will move you on to the table…'
With Butler following close behind in his own Volvo, Marler had driven at speed to 'Fonder. The sky was a sea of grey clouds scudding above him in the wind. He arrived, driving slowly now, in the cobbled street where his lodging house was situated.
To his surprise he saw a grey BMW parked on the opposite side of the street facing his temporary home. Then he saw Newman, smoking a cigarette, striding up and down with obvious impatience. Second surprise. As he parked, Newman opened the passenger seat door and sat beside him.
`Don't turn off the engine,' Newman snapped. `If you say so,' Marler replied calmly.
`Have you got a lead to where they're holding Paula?' Newman demanded.
Butler had left his own car, was leaning outside the open window, listening.
`Not yet,' Marler admitted reluctantly. 'But we have some sort of a lead as to where that cab driver dropped Dr Hyde,' he added quickly.
Newman's manner and expression was bleak. He seemed on the verge of explosion point.
`Far from here? Tell me quickly.'
Tersely, Marler recalled the information Butler had extracted from Johnny Clausen. He also explained how he knew the area from his drive beyond Hoger the previous night. Butler produced his map, showed Newman the cross marking the point where Clausen had dropped Hyde.
`Leave your car here,' Newman ordered Marler. 'We'll drive there in my BMW.' He looked at Butler. 'You keep up with us in your Volvo. Come on! Every minute could count.' He paused, half-way out of the car. 'Are you both armed?'
`I am,' Butler said. 'Walther.' He patted his hip.
`And that hold-all on the floor in the back contains my Armalite,' Marler informed him.
`Bring it with you. And better switch off your engine…'
Marler sat beside Newman as they accelerated once outside Tonder. Newman gestured with his head towards the windscreen, which was smeared with gritty sand.
`Tonder is a gem. Coming down the coast road through the South Jutland area is pure hell. God, what a wasteland! Like Macbeth's blasted heath. Miserable scrubland. Nothing but sand and weedy tufts of grass. Then the wind blows up the blasted sand all the time. It's a nightmare.'
`I have found Dr Wand's colony of twenty-eight new bungalows, all furnished and waiting for occupation. In a remote spot close to the sea, hidden behind sand dunes. And it is in the area marked on one of those maps brought back from Lop Nor by Cardon. Where is Cardon? And Tweed?' Marler asked.
`Cardon is doing his own thing. Tweed stopped off at some closely guarded military encampment south of Esbjerg. He thinks Stealth is due tonight. But Paula is our priority.'
`Agreed.'
Marler kept quiet for a while, sensing Newman's mood of fury and frustration. It was Newman who broke the silence when they were north of Hoger, approaching the intersection where Marler had turned west heading straight for the sea.
`You must have driven around a lot – searching. Sure that you haven't seen a likely place where they might be holding Paula? Something odd that caught your attention?'