Cover the front of the hotel. Michaelis, same for you, but get in your van and cover the back.' I reversed out of the hotel car park and drove a little way up Kallgatan and parked where I could see the front entrance of the hotel. When I switched back to Brent he was saying '.
.. looks pretty shattered and Benson is talking to him urgently. I think he's having a hard job keeping control. You'd think it would be the other way round because Benson is only Ashton's servant. Anyway, that's what it looks like from here-Ashton wants to make a break and Benson is stopping him. Larry isn't doing much-just eating his breakfast-but every now and then he looks across at Ashton and smiles.
I don't think Ashton can take much more of it. I'll have to stop now because Michaelis is leaving and I'll look bloody funny talking to myself.' He stopped speaking and the transmission hum ceased. I keyed my transmitter. 'Larry, when Ashton and Benson leave follow them from behind with Brent.' I saw Henty come out of the hotel and walk across the street. Michaelis came next and walked around to the car park where he disappeared from sight. Ten minutes later Ashton and Benson appeared, each carrying a bag. They stepped out on to the pavement and Ashton looked up and down the street uncertainly. He said something to Benson who shook his head, and it looked as though there was a difference of opinion. Behind them Larry appeared in the hotel entrance. I said, 'Larry, go and talk to Ashton. Ask him to follow you. If he agrees, take him to the van and put him in the back.' 'And Benson?' 'Him, too-if possible.' Ashton became aware that Larry was watching him and pulled at Benson's arm. Benson nodded and they began to walk away but stopped at Larry's call. Larry hurried over to them and began talking and, as he did so, Brent came out and stood close to them. I heard the one-way conversation. Larry talked fast in Russian and twice Asht on nodded, but Benson made interjections, each time accompanied by a headshake, and tried to get Ashton away. At last he succeeded and the pair of them walked off, leaving Larry flat. They were coming straight towards me so I ducked out of sight. While I was down on the car floor I spoke to Larry. 'What happened?' 'Ashton nearly came, but Benson wouldn't have it. He spoiled it.' 'Did Benson speak Russian?' 'No, English; but he understood my Russian well enough.' 'Where are they now?' 'Going up the street-about thirty yards past your car.' I emerged from hiding and looked in the mirror. Ashton and Benson were walking away quickly in the direction of the railway station. After that it all became a little sick because we literally herded them out of town. They found the railway station blocked by Brent, and when they tried to duck back to the town centre they were confronted by Larry and Henty. They soon became aware they had a quartet of opponents and, twist and turn as they might, they found themselves being driven to the edge of town. And all the time I orchestrated the bizarre dance, manipulating them like puppets. I didn't like myself at all. At last we got to the main Stockholm-Eskilstuna road and they plunged across, Benson nearly being hit by a speeding car which went by with a wailing blast of horn.
There were no more streets or houses on the other side-just an infinity of pine trees. I had Michaelis go back and pick up the van, and sent the other three into the forest while I parked my car before following. It seemed as though the chase was nearly over-you can't be more private than in a Swedish forest. They made better time over rough country than I would have expected of two elderly men. Ashton had already proved his fitness to me, but I hadn't expected Benson to have the stamina because he was a few years older than Ashton. Once in the trees you couldn't see far and they kept foxing us by changing direction. Twice we lost them; the first time we picked them up by sheer luck, and the second time, by finding their abandoned bags. And all the time I was leading from the rear, directing the operation by radio. We had gone perhaps three kilometres into the forest and the going was becoming rougher. Where the ground was not slippery with snow and ice it was even more slippery with pine needles. The ground rose and fell, not much but enough to take your breath away on the uphill slopes. I paused at the top of one such slope just as Brent said in my ear, 'What the hell was that?' 'What?' 'Listen!' I listened, trying to control my heavy breathing, and heard a rattle of shots in the distance. They seemed to come from somewhere ahead, deeper in the forest. 'Someone hunting,' said Larry. Brent said incredulously, 'With a machinegun!' 'Quiet!' I said. 'Is Ashton spotted?' 'I'm standing looking into a little valley,' said Henty.
'Very few trees. I can see both Ashton and Benson-they're about four hundred yards away.' 'That's all very well, but where the hell are you?' 'Just keep coming ahead,' said Henty. 'It's a long valley-you can't miss it.' 'Everybody move,' I said. Again came the sound of firing, this time a sporadic rattling of badly-spaced single shots.
Certainly not a machinegun as Brent had suggested. It could have been the shootout at the OK Corral, and I wondered what was happening.
Hunters certainly didn't pop off like that. I pressed on and presently came to a crest where I looked down into the valley. Henty was right; it was relatively treeless and the snow was thicker. In the distance I saw Ashton and Benson moving very slowly; perhaps they were hampered by the snow, but I thought the chase was telling on them. Henty was at the valley bottom below me, and Brent and Larry were together, bounding down the hillside, closing in on our quarry from an angle.
Again came firing and, by God, this time it was machinegun fire, and from more than one machinegun. Then there came some deeper coughs, followed by thumping explosions. In the distance, not too far ahead, I saw a haze of smoke drifting above the trees on the far side of the valley. Henty had stopped. He looked back at me and waved, and said over the radio, 'I know what it is. This is an army exercise area.