'We're ten minutes from Langham Airfield,' Casey informed him, tut that isn't why I called you. There's a power cruiser ahead which exactly fits your description.'
'That's impossible. He could never have got here as early as this.'
'It has a different name though.' Casey had handed over control to Wilson and he gave Tweed a large pair of very high-powered binoculars. 'See for yourself.'
Tweed stared through the lenses at the white cruiser heading in towards the Wash. He passed them to Newman and grunted. 'The clever sod. He fooled us. He never was aboard the Nordsee. One of his men was at the helm – probably that thug who was chief of security at his mansion. He had another cruiser tucked away in one of those marinas, a third vessel. He must have seen Casey's chopper flying over Travemunde and it alerted him. My guess is he left Travemunde hours earlier. Must have done to get here by now.'
'We could be just too late,' Newman commented.
'I'll have to drive like hell,' Tweed replied. 'Just so long as Monica has done her stuff.'
`This is some kind of private airfield at Langham?' Casey asked.
`Yes. Used to be an RAF station during the war. I hear that sometimes Prince Philip uses it – for flying in to Sandringham. I know the place. It's a bit disused.'
`Better get back to your seats,' Casey advised. 'And I'll take over now,' he told Wilson.
`Will the man in that cruiser wonder about us?' Tweed asked.
`Doubt it. I've just seen two more choppers. They supply the oil rigs. Part of the scenery round here.'
Tweed stirred restlessly in his seat, peering out of the window. He caught one glimpse of the cruiser, heading direct inside the Wash, leaving behind an arrow of wake on the sea. The purple was changing to blue. The machine tilted and he lost sight of the vessel.
`What did you talk to Monica about on the phone back at the Grand just before we left my room?' he asked.
`Nothing much. I wanted her to get me something. It's been a long trail,' Newman remarked.
`Full circle – back to East Anglia.'
They were across the coast now. The machine descended and turned rapidly. Tweed clasped his hands to keep them still. The Sea King dropped vertically. Beyond the window the ground came up to meet them. Newman leaned across Tweed to look out.
Disused. Langham Airfield was certainly that. He could see grass growing up through a concrete runway. The machine landed, the rotor beat slowed.
Tweed was the first to alight. Newman followed and was surprised at the size of the airfield. It was wide open country. From beyond a distant hedge he heard another sound as the rotors ceased turning. A gobbling noise. Must be a turkey farm nearby.
`We're very close to Blakeney,' Casey called down. 'A nice little resort.'
`Thanks for the ride.'
Newman ran after Tweed, who was heading for a group of three cars parked on the edge of the field. A Ford Cortina, a Volvo, a Fiat. Monica climbed out from the Cortina as Tweed arrived. The air was crisp and fresh off the sea and she was muffled in a scarf and a camel-hair coat.
`The Cortina is yours. Keys in the ignition,' she told Tweed.
`Are you all right?'
`Yes. Take Diana back into town. Drop her at Newman's flat.' He turned as Newman arrived. 'I forgot. Diana has been using your flat. Hope you don't mind?'
`Charge you a stiff rent.'
`I have to do this one on my own, Bob. Who needs the Volvo?' he asked Monica.
`Bob asked me to have it here on the phone from Oslo. Monty the guard and George the doorman drove two of the vehicles. I left them at a crossroads nearby. Thought you might not want them to see you.'
`I'm leaving now.' Tweed climbed behind the wheel of the Cortina. 'What's the Volvo for, Bob?'
`Me. Maybe I've had enough. Time for a holiday.'
He had a strange smile on his face as he waved Tweed off and turned to the Volvo. Monica opened the rear door, showed him two petrol cans with screw caps stacked on the floor. To keep them stable she'd packed foam rubber between and around them.
`That's what you asked for. Each one is almost full. Not for me to reason why – there are garages everywhere if you need to tank up..
Tweed took a country road, the B1388, to Little Walsingham, turned along the B1105, and at Fakenham joined the A148 for King's Lynn. He pressed his foot down, trying to gauge how long it would take the power cruiser to make landfall. It was going to be a close run thing.
His face had a set expression. He knew if he thought about
' it he'd feel very tired. The fresh East Anglian air blowing in through the window was sharpening him up. How the hell am I going to manage it? he kept asking himself. There was hardly any other traffic on the road. He had the world almost to himself. He overtook a large furniture van. Smithers of Edmonton. He wondered about that van.
Approaching King's Lynn, he turned on to a side road which would avoid getting tangled in the one-way maze. He crossed the bridge over the slow-flowing Ouse just south of the town.
Ahead stretched the flatlands of the Wash. A thin veil of mist hovered on the horizon. He had moved on to the A17 now. He began to. keep a careful lookout for the side turning to Hawkswood Farm, the remote house perched near the edge of the Wash.
Near Sutton Bridge he swung off the A17 on to a turn-off towards Gedney Drove End. He was now driving along a very minor road, elevated above the surrounding countryside but with an excellent tarred surface. He stopped for a moment, reached for the Tupperware canister of water Monica had shoved into one of the pockets facing the rear seats. He prised off the lid and drank greedily. His mouth was dry – dry with fear. Through the window came the faint sound of the whispering grasses swaying gently in the fields below.
He clamped down the lid, shoved the canister back inside the pocket and drove on. As far as he could see there was no sign of life. Not a human being, not another vehicle. In the distance he could see the long single-storey building which was Hawkswood Farm. Again no sign of life. No smoke from the chimney. No car parked in the driveway:
Tweed pulled in at the entrance to the track leading to the dyke. Switching off, he pocketed the keys, got out and began walking rapidly towards the farm. The breeze flapped his trousers. Somewhere behind him he heard the purr of a car's engine in the distance. He ignored it, concentrating all his attention on the farm.
He opened the picket gate carefully so it wouldn't squeak. His rubber-soled shoes made no sound as he walked up the path. He tried the handle of the front door. Locked. He took out his bank cheque card, eased the plastic sheet between door jamb and lock, heard it click.
He turned the handle again carefully, pushed the door open slowly, listened. Taking a few paces into the living-room, he stopped. On a side table stood a large and heavy glass mortar and pestle. The noise of gushing water came from the half- closed kitchen door. He took several cautious paces forward, peered through the gap between the door and the wall on the hinged side. He blinked at the macabre sight.
Standing with his back to Tweed, in front of the sink, a man was shaving. He had removed the right-hand side of his black beard, exposing a long scar where Sue Templeton must have clawed at him. He was about to lather the other side. He turned off the tap. He reached up with his shaving brush and paused. Tweed never knew what alerted him. He dropped the razor, reached inside an open drawer, grabbed a broad-bladed knife and swung round. He had taken two or three paces towards the living-room when Tweed began to run, snatching up the heavy glass pestle.
He ran out of the front door, down the path and turned on to the road in the direction where he had left the car. Behind him feet pounded on the road. Tweed ran full tilt, the pestle grasped in his right hand like a relay runner's baton. His pursuer was gaining on him. He increased speed. The fresh air he gulped into his lungs helped. He reached the track which led to the dyke, turned down it. Beside his Cortina a Volvo was parked. He ran on down the track.