Colin Forbes - By Stealth

`We'll overwhelm the thugs,' he promised.

Nielsen came back into the office as Tweed put down the phone. He suggested similar action to be taken at the right moment. Extracting one of Cardon's map prints, he showed the Dane the cross marked on the coast of Jutland.

`That's the place.'

`I know it. A settlement of twenty-eight new bungalows built behind the dunes. There's some mystery about it – a holding company based in Luxemburg financed this odd development. It is rumoured a European conglomerate will be using it for a holiday-cum-training course for executives. The bungalows have been furnished and waiting for occupation for some time.' couldn't get permission to use the SAS, Lars. So you'll not have to argue the point with your Minister.'

`We do have our own elite anti-terrorist squad. We haven't advertised the fact. They are at your disposal.'

`Could you move them at once to Esbjerg? And let me know how I can get in touch with their leader?'

`Anton Norlin. A very tough character. I will airlift them to a military training camp just south of Esbjerg. Here is the phone number. Ask for Norlin, use your own name.'

Tweed tucked the folded piece of paper inside his wallet, stood up, stretched the aches out of his arms. He shook hands with Nielsen.

`I can't thank you enough…'

`Don't try.'

`So now we'll drive to the d'Angleterre. There may be a few interesting people waiting for us when we arrive…'

Paula braced herself for the worst. Dr Hyde had arrived in the basement room with Ilena. Both wore white coats and Hyde carried a large old-fashioned doctor's bag. He placed it on the table as Ilena pulled down Paula's left sleeve over her arm.

`What are you doing now?' Paula snapped.

Hyde turned slowly round, smiled, exposing his teeth. He pushed his rimless glasses further up his hooked nose and smiled again. It was like the smile of a crocodile which has spotted its prey.

`Just relax, please. Let Ilena do her work.'

The Slav-faced woman was unbuttoning Paula's blouse, pulling it down to reveal her bare shoulders and forearm. Her thick fingers removed the shoulder strap, dropping her slip. Paula was revolted by the touch of Ilena's clumsy, ugly fingers.

Hyde took out a thick roll of cloth, unfastened the knot, opened the roll, and laid it on the scrubbed table. He laid out a row of gleaming scalpels, lovingly felt them with his hands protected with surgical gloves. Paula was chilled with fear. Hyde looked round at her again.

`The tools of my profession. You have nothing to worry about. I am one of the most skilled surgeons in the world.'

`You're going to carve me up, you swine!' Paula spat out.

`Now that is not polite.' A flash of venom appeared for a second in his soulless eyes. 'It is really most important that you relax. Of course, you will be given an anaesthetic. You will feel no pain.'

`You will when my friends catch up with you,' she flashed back. 'You'll wish you'd never been bloody born.'

`Dear me, the patient is so agitated. Ilena, are you satisfied you know what you have to do?'

`I am very OK. I know the work I do.'

`So, when we operate everything will go smoothly,' remarked Hyde.

Ilena was lifting her shoulder strap back into place, then she buttoned up the blouse and roughly lifted the sleeve back up over the forearm and shoulder from Paula's hand pinioned by the leather strap. Standing up, she stared down at Paula, her trunk-like arms akimbo.

Hyde was replacing the scalpels neatly across the cloth and rolling it up with care. Refastening the knot, he slipped the heavy roll back inside his bag. Turning round, he gave Paula an even more ghastly smile.

`That was merely a rehearsal. I said you had nothing to worry about. You must learn to trust me, to have confidence in my abilities. Give her some more soup for lunch, Ilena. We must keep up her strength.'

Followed by Ilena, Hyde climbed the stairs, opened the door and disappeared. As usual, Ilena slammed the door shut. Paula heard the key turn in the lock. Her reaction was a mixture of relief and murderous fury.

A rehearsal! The sadistic bastard. She was bathed from head to toe in sweat. She'd have given anything for a bath, a change of clothes. As sweat dripped off her she suddenly thought the liquid might help.

Once again she began slowly twisting her damp wrists under the straps. They felt looser. Careful not to hurry, she went on working her wrists from side to side. Then she relaxed her fingers and pulled her arm upwards. This time her hand came half-free from the strap. Only the width of her knuckles held her prisoner. She began again, working her wrists from side to side.

`Are we getting anywhere at all tracing this Johnny Clausen?' Marler asked Butler.

They were standing on the south-eastern outskirts of Tinglev. The countryside was level with monotonous fields and a track leading across them away from the town. Marler's Mercedes was parked by the roadside behind the Volvo Butler had hired in Esbjerg.

`I've found out where Johnny lives. In a small cul-de- sac not far from here,' Butler replied. 'He's out on a job with his car, taking a passenger to Bolderslev – that's a short distance north of here. I'll be waiting for him when he gets back.'

`You have to make him talk,' Marler insisted. 'How are you going to go about it? Every minute counts.'

`In the back of my car on the floor is a long loop of rope. Bought it from a ship's chandler. Follow me..

He led Marler along the track. No one else was about. A few cows grazed in a nearby field. The track curved behind a large clump of trees and the landscape changed. Marler stared at a treacherous-looking stretch of marshland. Dark water stood still amid large tufts of acid-green, grass. Under the water he detected a bed of slime and mud.

`Johnny Clausen must talk,' Marler emphasized. 'Must tell us where he took Dr Hyde.'

`Leave it to me. Johnny will talk,' Butler said. 'I guarantee it.'

Pete Nield climbed out of his own hired Volvo. Carrying a photo of Dr Hyde, he walked into a small bar furnished with dark oak. The counter, the ceiling beams, the woodblock floor all oak. No one else was in the place as he approached the barman, ordered a glass of Coke.

`I'm looking for a friend who was supposed to be staying round here,' he began and smiled. 'I owe him some money. Here's a picture I once took of him. Have you by any chance seen someone like this recently?'

He placed the photo on the scrupulously clean bar-top. It was the tenth place Nield had visited that day up and down the coast and inland. The florid-faced barman, polishing a glass which was already gleaming, stared at the photo for longer than Nield would have expected. Then he looked up at his customer.

`Did you say this man was a friend?'

Sensitive to people's reactions, Nield heard alarm bells ringing. He fingered his trim moustache.

`I was being polite. Frankly I don't much like him. So that is another reason I want to pay back the loan with interest. Then I'm rid of him.'

`He was in here yesterday. He had three double gins. I had one other customer, a young attractive girl. He was making suggestions to her she didn't like. When he asked for another double gin I told him he'd had enough. He swore at me before he staggered out to his car.'

`To his Volvo?' Nield suggested.

'No. It was a blue Fiat. I went to the door to watch him drive off. The Fiat seemed to be a drunk as he was.' `He is staying here in Tonder?'

`No idea. Never seen him before. Never want to see him again. I spent twelve months in London once serving behind bars – and never saw such an unpleasant type.'

Nield thanked the barman and went out. He sat behind the wheel of his Volvo, drumming his fingers on the rim.