Deadlock

The banker walked past the ground floor restaurant of the Hotel Cravat, disappearing inside the main entrance. Butler arrived as he left the reception counter and entered a waiting elevator.

The lobby was medium-sized, had a sitting area from where the two elevators and the staircase could be observed. Butler settled into an armchair, took out his newspaper and saw by the lights over the elevator that Brand had alighted on the first floor. A rendezvous?

He checked the layout of the place as he slowly turned the pages of the paper. Almost opposite the staircase was the entrance to the downstairs restaurant from the hotel. On his way down rue Chimay Butler had noted there was a separate entrance to that restaurant direct from the street. Obviously a place used by the locals as well as guests. He crossed his legs and prepared to wait. Butler, a patient man, was good at waiting.

'Something damned peculiar going on,' commented Newman.

'What is that?' asked Benoit.

Tweed had led the way to the canteen at Findel Airport and the three men were sitting at a table by themselves, the only customers in the whole place.

The Zurcher Kredit Bank – the consignee for that huge transport aircraft – is one of the two Swiss banks a load of bullion was stolen from a few months ago,' Tweed explained.

'Of course! I should have remembered. I don't understand.'

'Neither do I,' Newman agreed, 'but we are on to something. No doubt about that. Just what, I'm not sure.'

'We may be on to the smooth Colonel Romer, the director of the Zurcher Kredit I saw in Basle. I never could understand that bank raid business.'

'Understand what?' Benoit enquired.

'How any gang could take out ten million in bullion from two banks in the centre of Basle and move the loot. Eventually I suspected one of Haber's barges might have been used to spirit it away. That would mean only a short journey for the trucks used to transport the bullion – down to the Rhine. But still it seemed tricky – unless it was achieved with the help of an insider. And now I think we'd better move fast – with the aid of your Alouette once more, Benoit. Back to Brussels. From there I can call Arthur Beck, chief of the Swiss Federal Police, and warn him about Colonel Romer. I think Klein's operation is just about to start.'

'And the target?' queried Newman.

'Wish to God I knew.'

'What about Harry Butler?'

'I arranged with him while we were flying here that he caught a train back to Brussels – or drove there. Depends whether he finds anything at the Banque Sambre. I wonder how Harry is getting on? Still, he's quite capable of running his own show.' He drank the last of his coffee, stood up.

'Can we get moving?'

'The Alouette is at your disposal,' responded Benoit.

'Beautiful weather this, sir,' the concierge remarked to Butler as he stood by the door. He was a friendly soul who obviously liked a chat, a short man with an ample stomach.

'It is, indeed,' replied Butler.

A girl in her early thirties with raven black hair came in from the street, rushed up to the empty counter and stared round. The concierge walked over and asked if he could help.

'I've come to see Mr Max Volpe. He's expecting me.'

'Let me just call his room first…'

Butler studied the girl while the concierge used the phone. She wore long black pants, a white shirt under her black jacket and a man's bow tie. Her whole style of dress was mannish, which Butler disliked. The concierge said something to her after replacing the receiver and she hurried inside an empty elevator. Butler noticed she got off at the first floor as the concierge came back.

'Funny way for a girl to dress,' Butler went on in English.

'I don't fancy the type much myself, sir – between you and me. She's from the Banque Sambre. I've seen her there when I've been in to make payments. I gather she's personal assistant to Mr Brand.'

'Really?' said Butler as though the remark meant nothing.

'What is it?' Brand asked testily as Klein locked the bedroom door. This time he was going to assert himself. 'I do know what I'm doing.'

'Just what are you doing here?'

Klein had removed the spectacles before opening the door and the pipe was inside his pocket. His voice was cold, his tone clipped when he asked the question in English. He stared at the banker.

The eyes again worried Brand. He felt his assertive manner slipping. Klein had addressed him like the chairman of the board questioning a director's ability.

'I came here specially to check the arrangements for movement of the bullion from Frankfurt. The Deutsche Bank is getting restless. They want to know details of the collateral to safeguard the bullion.'

'I thought you were going to form a consortium of bankers to guarantee that. And to contribute a small fraction yourself?'

'It's proved more difficult than I expected…'

'Because you can't produce your own contribution. You gamble it all away at Monte. And you're paying interest on loans out of capital – just like that swindler, the Swede Kreuger, did in the 1930s.'

'How did you know that?' Brand's face was ashen.

'I check out the people I deal with – before I deal with them. No more chatter. What is the position now?'

'The Deutsche Bank is holding the bullion for ten more days. How close is the operation?'

Transport arrangements?' Klein demanded curtly, ignoring the question.

The Hercules machine is reserved for our use. What about the air crew?'

'They will be taken over when the aircraft is in mid-air on its way to Findel – by my own air crew.'

Klein thought it unwise to tell Brand the original crew would be shot out of hand, the bodies dumped in the Atlantic. A bit too strong for the Englishman's nerves.

'I'll want to see you again quickly in Brussels,' he went on. 'How long are you hanging about here?'

'I fly back to Brussels aboard my executive jet later this afternoon…'

'See you stay at the Avenue Louise until I contact you. Better push off now – you have that heavy engagement book to deal with.'

'No one else knows about those loans?' Brand asked as he moved towards the door.

'Of course not. And no one knows you're using capital to send money to your wife in New York. The Belgian woman who thinks it's interest, that you're a whizz kid banker. The woman who is hopping in and out of bed with all and sundry. As you well know.'

He locked the door when Brand had left. No point in telling him Klein had used him to obtain the bullion – after using him to sell the earlier consignments from the Swiss robberies – because he knew Brand was in a financial mess.

Terror and money were the two factors which influenced men. It was a favourite maxim of Klein's. Carrot and stick, as the English put it. There was a knock on the door. He opened it and a girl wearing a peculiar black outfit stood outside.

'I met Mr Brand on his way out. He said I should come to see you.'

'Come inside.' He locked the door again, saw her expression, shook his head. 'Your virginity is safe. Now, listen. Take this case down to the restaurant at street level. Give it to the head waitress. Tell her to keep it until I come down for a meal. Then go back to the bank. Clear?'

'Yes. I mention your name?'

'Why not? It's on the label.'

Alone once more, Klein put on his glasses, clenched the pipe stern between Ins teeth, took the black beret from a drawer and rammed it on his head. He checked his watch.

Timing perfect. He'd worked it all out standing in the Place de la Gare, He would arrive at Findel, buy his ticket and board the flight for Brussels.

Something funny was going on. Seated in the lobby Butler finished off the glass of beer the concierge had brought him from the restaurant and checked over the sequence of events he had witnessed.