Colin Forbes - The Janus Man

Wolf rose from his chair, replaced his glasses and glared at the Russian. They were on the verge of a major confrontation. Lysenko rumbled on, refusing to give an inch. He hammered his clenched fist on the desk.

`Balkan is in the area. Contact him. Ask him to investigate these killings with all energy. Any development, report to me in Moscow. Understood?'

'If you insist…'

'I don't insist. It is an order.'

`And am I permitted to tell you my next move?'

`Hurry up.' Lysenko checked his watch. 'I shall be late for my flight to Moscow.'

`I have already sent the instruction to Munzel, who has, for a short while, gone underground…'

`What instruction? I said. I was in a hurry.'

`He is to kill Newman, Tweed's protector. Then kill Tweed. Both at the same time if possible. Both will appear to have been accidents. A mutual accident…'

`Get Balkan to check those blonde murders,' Lysenko said and left the room.

The taxi transporting Tweed and Newman pulled up outside Lubeck-Sud police HQ. Tweed had phoned Kuhlmann before they left the Jensen and the man from Wiesbaden was waiting in the entrance hall.

The scrambler phone is ready for your use,' Kuhlmann said as they ascended in the elevator. 'Newman and I will wait in the canteen as before.'

Tweed entered the same bleak room, locked the door and sat at the desk. He thought for a moment, then lifted the receiver and dialled Monica's number at Park Crescent. She answered almost immediately.

`Hadrian here, Monica. Any developments? This is a safe phone – as far as any instrument is these days.'

`Nothing to report. Except an absence of calls from anyone. I find that strange, a bit nerve-wracking. It's good to hear your voice.'

`I agree it's abnormal. But it might fit in with a theory I'm developing – so don't worry,' he reassured her.

`Any instructions?'

`Yes. I'm coming back – but no one must know. And this is priority one – contact all four sector chiefs. Order them to return to London base. They must be available by nine in the morning the day after tomorrow.'

`All four? There could be problems…'

`I said priority one. They must be found, they must arrive.' `They will be. Take care…'

He replaced the receiver. Before leaving the room he took a deep breath, aware that his expression could be grim. He strolled into the canteen, sat down at the table where Newman and Kuhlmann were talking over coffee.

`Satisfactory?' Kuhlmann enquired.

'Up to a point. We'd better get going. And thank you for the use of the phone…'

`Kuhlmann has something to tell you,' Newman interjected. `Oh, yes?'

`Dr Berlin returned to his mansion as soon as the search had been completed. That was after all of us had left. I heard on the phone from the local Travemunde police station.'

`Are you going to interview him?'

`No authority. I can't go back. The warrant was to search the premises and grounds, note down all the guests' names. We did find one interesting item. High-powered transceiver hidden behind a bookcase in the library. Range would permit messages to and from Kaliningrad. That happens. to be a major Soviet communications centre.'

`Illegal? You said it was hidden,' Tweed commented.

`Not at all. And Danny Warning, that toad of a security chief, said it was expensive equipment – so it had to be concealed from burglars.' He lit a cigar. 'I don't like that Warning. I can't do anything more.'

`Can you do anything about Kurt Franck?' Tweed asked.

`If I could find him – which I can't – negative. Neither of you made a positive identification. He checked out of the Movenpick, drove off in his hired BMW. Vanishing trick. See you.'

Waiting outside in the night, which was warm and humid, for their cab, Tweed stared into the darkness. He spoke suddenly.

`Guard Diana well, Bob. She could be the key to this mysterious business – the murders of Fergusson and Palewska in Hamburg, the enigma of Dr Berlin. And something much bigger.'

`Since you keep on about my guarding her you wouldn't care to tell me why?'

`She could be a witness,' Tweed said. 'The witness…'

The following morning, his bag packed, Tweed phoned Kuhlmann at police HQ. The German came on the line and sounded impatient.

`I'm throwing out a dragnet across North Germany – looking for Franck. What is it?'

`I just wondered whether there were any developments on the Dr Berlin front.'

`You psychic? He's disappeared again. Early this morning. I had him tracked to Lubeck airfield – that's close to the border. He was flown off in a light aircraft. The flight plan filed was for Hamburg and Hanover…'

`Thank you. I won't hold you up any longer.'

Tweed replaced the receiver, looked at Newman sitting in one of his bedroom chairs and clapped his hands together.

`You look pleased with yourself,' Newman commented.

`Not really. Kuhlmann tells me Dr Berlin has flown off from Lubeck – from that airfield I spotted on the map. We must visit it when I get back. What are you going to do today?'

`Diana is restless, edgy. She wants us to go out to Travemunde. Which suits me. I want to have a word with that chap, Ben – Ann Grayle's friend – on his own…'

`Don't forget. No one must know I've left Germany.'

`You're pretty conspicuous in that safari jacket. I'll come with you to the station. Diana will wait till I get back. So stop fussing.'

At the Hauptbahnhof Tweed joined a small queue for tickets. A plump individual walked up behind him and also stood waiting. Newman, pretending to look at a paperback, tried to recall where he had seen the man before.

Tweed bought a one-way first class ticket to Bonn and hurried to his platform, carrying his white suitcase. Newman continued watching as the plump man bought his own ticket, then made for a phone booth.

Inside the booth he dialled the number of Martin Vollmer's apartment in Altona. Vollmer came on the line at once.

`Gustav here,' the plump man said in a throaty voice. 'Tweed is leaving Lubeck by train. Bought a one-way ticket for Bonn.' He described how Tweed was dressed.

`I'll report to Balkan. I'll also check at Hamburg. Just to make sure…'

Newman followed the plump man who shoved his ticket inside a pocket. He walked outside the Hauptbahnhof, climbed behind the wheel of a parked BMW and drove off. He remembered now where he had seen him. He was one of Danny Warning's guards who had patrolled the grounds at the party.

The wires began humming again.

`Tweed is coming to Bonn… to Bonn… Bonn.

Aboard the Hamburg Express, Tweed found an empty compartment on the train which was very quiet. He took his large white case, bought the previous day in Lubeck, with him to the lavatory and locked the door. Unfastening the white case he took out the smaller blue one and opened that. He performed the athletic process of changing into a dark blue business suit.

Then he put the safari jacket and the tropical drill slacks inside the white case and closed it.

Opening the door, he glanced along the deserted corridor, opened the window of the exit door and waited. The train reached a point where it travelled along an embankment. At the bottom a tangle of high weeds grew; beyond the empty fields stretched away. Perching the case on the edge of the window, he gave a great heave. The case shot out, landed amid the weeds. He closed the window, went back to the lavatory for his blue case and returned to his compartment.

Hamburg Hauptbahnhof. Martin Vollmer stood on the same bridge overlooking the platforms where he had weeks earlier watched as Tweed and Newman boarded the Copenhagen Express. His lips moved in tune with his thoughts.

`Safari jacket, TD trousers, white case…'

He was watching the platform as the train came in from Lubeck. A handful of passengers trailed off the coaches and wandered to the staircase. Vollmer shook his head as the express moved off again, then walked to the nearest phone booth and dialled a number.