Colin Forbes - Double Jeopardy

`But Czechoslovakia has no coastline,' the American protested.

'So when Toiler takes over, the torpedo-boats are sent by road aboard giant trailers and launched into Lake Konstanz. Only a few would be needed to dominate the Rhine delta – even to help a campaign later to seize the Vorarlberg province from Austria…'

'I find this sinister,' O'Meara muttered.

'A typically audacious Manfred plan,' Tweed assured him. 'To detach Bavaria from the rest of the Federal Republic – and then one-third of the land mass of Western Germany is severed from the main bulwark against Soviet Russia. The stakes in Crocodile are enormous …'

'You could be dramatising the situation,' O'Meara suggested.

'No, he isn't,' Howard agreed, to Tweed's surprise. 'If by some twist of political events Bavaria were detached from the Federal Republic the Soviets have conquered western Europe. It is a scenario we have feared for years – not that I dreamt Bavaria would be the key the Kremlin would turn to unlock Western Europe…'

`This crap about a Soviet Republic in 1919…' O'Meara broke in aggressively.

'Is history,' Howard confirmed. 'It existed for a short time. Now I want to know the source of your information,' he told Tweed firmly.

'Werner Hagen, the recently deceased nephew of Reinhard Dietrich. What neither of you know,' he continued pokerfaced, 'is that he also revealed that the assassin is one of the four security chiefs attached to the train…'

Howard recovered from the shock first. His expression froze and he walked round the side of the desk to stare down at Tweed. His tone was clipped.

'For this I will have you thrown out of the Service.'

'If I'm wrong, you might manage it,' Tweed agreed. 'But if I am right you will have questions to answer at the highest level

'The guy's crazy!' O'Meara burst out. 'First he gets involved in the Clint Loomis killing. Now he comes across with this lunatic accusation…'

'Alain Flandres is taking it very seriously,' Tweed' bserved. 'I met him in Paris only yesterday

'You did what!'

Howard was almost apoplectic. He thrust both hands inside his jacket pockets to regain control. Tweed gazed back at Howard over the rims of his glasses as his chief spoke with great deliberation.

'You have no authority to involve yourself in any way in the security of the Summit Express. You have grossly exceeded your brief and will be held answerable for this dereliction of duty

'Washington will hear of this, buddy,' snapped O'Meara. 'They will be interested to hear a senior British agent has made this accusation about their security chief…'

'I said one of the four security chiefs,' Tweed reminded him.

`There are precedents. Remember Chancellor Willy Brandt's closest aide, Guenter Guillaume, turned out to be a Soviet plant – which destroyed Brandt. Now I believe they have planted someone else.' He looked at Howard. 'The assassin could have been recruited many years ago. I rather think he was. You had better be extremely careful from the moment you board that train tonight…'

Tuesday June 2

Name: Alain Dominique Flandres. Nationality: French. Date of birth: January 18 1928. Place of birth: Strasbourg.

Tweed, alone again in his office with McNeil, studied the file she had handed him. Alain's personal description followed – his height, weight, colour of eyes, colour of hair. It matched the file's subject. He settled himself more comfortably in his chair to peruse the life history.

Career record: Escaped to England, April 1944. Commissioned as lieutenant in Free French Forces. Appointed to Military Intelligence due to fluency in German. At war's end transferred to staff of Gen. Dumas for French occupation of Vorarlberg and the Tyrol. Demobilised and returned to France, May 1953. Immediately joined Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire. Transferred to Secret Service in charge of special unit guarding President, July 1980.

Tweed finished reading the file and drank more tea while he ran over the details again. 'What about his marital status?' he asked.

McNeil replied from memory. 'He married Lucille Durand, daughter of a textile manufacturer from Lille in…'

`That's enough,' Tweed interjected. 'What about the dirt?' he enquired with an expression of distaste. 'The yellow sheet – an appropriate colour for the things we record about people's lives. But sometimes that's where the clue lies…'

`Seven different mistresses so far…' McNeil was consulting a yellow flimsy. 'You want the erotic details?'

`No. Were all his women French?'

'The names look French to me. Who next?'

`O'Meara,' Tweed hunched forward in the chair, his eyes screwed up in concentration. 'This file will be meagre, I presume?'

'Here it is.' She handed him a slim dossier. 'And, as you say, meagre…'

Name: Timothy Patrick O'Meara. Nationality: American. Date of birth: August 3193o. Place of birth: New York City.

Career record: Served with Cryptoanalysis Section, CIA, Langley, 1960-1965. Assigned other duties, 1965-1972. Served with West Berlin station under Controller, Clint Loomis, 1972-1974. A two-man unit; other member (junior) Lou Carson. While in Berlin had affair with 18-year old German girl, Klara Beck. On return to US promoted to Assistant Director of Operations, Langley. Transferred to Secret Service on…

Tweed stopped reading. 'He's married?' he enquired.

`Yes.' McNeil produced another yellow flimsy. 'He did rather well. Nancy Margaret Chase, educated Vassar and all that implies. Daughter of a powerful Philadelphia banker. What they call "the quiet money".'

`His first and only wife?'

'Yes. The yellow sheet hints his father-in-law's connections with the White House helped his rapid rise. O'Meara carries lots of clout. His next move may be to stand for the Senate…'

The yellow sheet says that?'

'No, McNeil says that. And you still haven't explained why you lit fires under Howard and O'Meara this morning…'

Just trying to arrange the key pieces on the board prior to the opening moves in the game. Again, I'm fighting Manfred long-distance – and already the bastard is breathing down my neck.'

`And your rogue piece- Martel? I wonder what he's up to?'

'I'm going to pay a call on Reinhard Dietrich at his schloss,' Martel informed Stoller, who greeted him with apologies on his return to police headquarters in Munich.

`You are completely mad,' the German protested.

`There's something very peculiar going on,' Martel continued. 'I suspect that- unknown to Dietrich – Erwin Vinz is operating a secret cell inside Delta, a cell controlled directly by the East Germans, which means ultimately by the Soviets. Dietrich is being manipulated, conned – and I think I can raise doubts in his mind. That could upset the whole Crocodile apple cart at the last moment – and with the Summit Express leaving Paris tonight this is the last moment…'

The tall German wandered over to the window with an expressionless face. 'What makes you come up with this bizarre theory – what is it based on?'

`Four attempts on my life so far, for God's sake. In Zurich, two in St. Gallen and one off Lindau. In every damned instance the killers wore Delta symbols – the worst type of publicity for Dietrich's movement. They even left a badge under Warner's dead body – because that didn't get there by accident.'

`How are you going to handle it?' Stoller enquired.

`I have phoned Dietrich who apparently had just returned to the schloss. I'm going as a foreign correspondent. Dietrich wallows in publicity…'

`And what paper are your pretending to represent?'

The Times of London. I always carry credentials confirming my status as a reporter. I have one for Die Welt…'

'In your own name?'