Rhinoceros (64 page)

Newman crouched by the inner end of the sandpile.
He had the stock of his rifle jammed into his shoulder. Bullets from Moke's fusillade were hammering into the far side of the sandpile. The sand was so dense none of
them penetrated to where Lisa crouched.

Newman aimed his rifle at the jeep's driver. In his cave,
Marler had the driver's head in his
crosshairs. Inside his
cave, Tweed was standing up, Walther gripped in both
hands, aiming at the driver's chest. All three men fired at
the same moment.

Newman's bullet hit the driver in the chest. Marler's
bullet slammed into his head. Tweed's bullet tore through
his throat. Brad collapsed, fell sideways on top of Stu.
The rifle Stu had been firing left his hands, fell out of the jeep. Stu fought to take control. He heaved against Brad's
corpse, saw to his horror that Brad's foot was jammed
down hard against the accelerator.

The jeep went wild, began zigzagging across the floor of
the quarry at top speed. Stu couldn't reach the wheel. Then
it headed straight for the blue Merc. Tweed held his breath. If their car was smashed up they would be marooned in the
middle of nowhere. If they survived and started walking,
the sun would scorch them to cinders.

The jeep continued its mad zig-zagging. Almost making a
tour of the amphitheatre. Then it zigzagged back towards their Mercedes. At the last moment it changed direction,
skimming past the car, speeding now towards the rear wall
of the sand quarry. Stu, hanging on to the windscreen,
was horrified to see the quarry wall rushing towards them.
The front half of the jeep slammed into the wall with
tremendous impact. It stopped with the bonnet and the front seats buried deep inside the wall. Sand cascaded
down on it. The motionless vehicle looked as though it had been sandblasted.

They were all staring at the phenomenon when Miller
reached the summit. He was holding his automatic rifle
ready for firing. From his dominant position he could look
down and see all his enemies. He saw Tweed, decided to
make him his first target.
Kill the leader and the rest lose their nerve.
He took careful aim.

Only Marler was not completely distracted by the weird
end of the jeep. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted
movement at the summit. A giant of a man with white
hair, his rifle aimed across the other side of the quarry. He raised his Armalite, had the giant's chest in his cross-hairs,
pressed the trigger. The bullet hit Miller in the chest. His
flak jacket took the shock, largely absorbed it. The impact
made Miller stagger, really bruised his ribs. He still gripped
his rifle. The blow would have made most men fall down.
He took two paces forward to the edge of the quarry, aimed
again at Tweed.

Marler blinked.

Flak jacket,
he said to himself.

He raised the Armalite slightly. In the cross-hairs he
saw the giant's face. He squeezed the trigger. The bullet
crushed the lower half of the face, blew it away. Miller fell
forward over the edge, dropped head first a hundred feet.
His body thudded on the quarry floor, lay still.

Harry was still alert. Moke was still firing through the
entrance from the field opposite. Harry laid down a hail
of fire on the road, then swiftly raised it a fraction. Moke saw what was coming, jumped up to run, took a volley of bullets, dropped. Suddenly there was total silence. Unlike
the others, Harry had counted casualties. Five men had
come to kill them. Two had been obliterated in the jeep,
now half buried inside the cliff. Marler had shot the giant
who had appeared on the summit. Harry himself had shot
the man in the field who had fired non-stop through the
entrance. That made four. Where was the fifth man?

While Miller had rushed up his slope to the summit after
his failed attempt to kill Paula, Alan had been making his
way up the far side more cautiously. There were rocks
and some stones scattered in the grass. Alan wasn't sure
of the precise position of the machine-gunner, so had been careful so far.

Harry was still very alert. In the heavy silence he heard
the rattle of a stone falling behind him. Holding his Uzi
at the ready, he stood up, facing the other way. Alan was yards away from him, standing up to get a better view, his
rifle pointed at the figure which had suddenly risen up.
Harry gave him a short burst. Alan, already dead, toppled over backwards, rolled down the slope to the
bottom, lay motionless.

Paula's head and shoulders appeared over the rim of the
quarry. She called down and her words echoed all round
the amphitheatre.

'Hello, all of you. Is it safe to come down?' she enquired
cheerfully.

Tweed felt relief surge through his whole body.

CHAPTER 38

They were driving along country lanes with Newman
behind the wheel. Behind him Tweed was checking the
map, navigating. Paula would have given anything for a shower. Her body was bathed all over in perspiration. She
looked back at Lisa, smiled and worked her fingers over
her damp hand.

'Me too,' said Lisa. 'But one day we're bound to reach
civilization.'

'Let it be today . . .'

Before they had left the quarry Tweed and Marler had checked all the bodies. It had proved to be a formality.
They'd had no alternative but to leave them where they
lay. Ahead of them Harry was riding his motorcycle,
hardly in sight. When they had parked the Mercedes
under the cliff Harry had hidden his machine behind
the car.

, 'Next stop, Travemiinde,' Tweed remarked. 'I'll guide you, Bob, so we bypass Lubeck.'

'And then we have to sit by the river at the cafe described
by Mrs France - with large glasses of water,' said Lisa.

'Will it be Mrs France who comes to meet us?' asked
Marler.

'No,' Tweed replied. 'She said Rondel would be
here . . .'

They had been travelling some distance, had crossed over the autobahn beyond Bad Bramstedt, were again in
lonely countryside, when Tweed suggested to Newman that he pull off the road onto the grass verge.

'I need to stretch my legs,' he explained.' 'Care to join
me for a walk, Paula?'

'I'd love to. I'm going to get cramp if I sit still much
longer . . .'

Newman parked the car and everyone got out, stretched,
walked back and forth near the car - except for Tweed
and Paula. She suspected he wanted to get her on her
own because he had something he wanted to talk about.
They had just started out when Harry came hurtling back
on his machine. He pulled up.

'We're just going for a walk,' Tweed explained.

'You'll be OK the way you're going. I've covered miles and there's nothing. Hardly any traffic, either. Now I'm off
to check no one's creeping up on us behind the car . . .'

'In this mysterious business,' Tweed began, 'no one is
what they seem to be.'

'Most encouraging. Who do you think set those murderous thugs on us? Oskar Vernon?' Harry asked.

'Could be. More likely it emanated from Gavin Thunder - he immerses himself in detail. And I wonder if Danzer is
still hiding out in that windmill near Sylt?'

'Why would he do that?' Paula interjected. 'Who might
not be what they seem to be?'

'Mrs Gina France. I can't get it out of my head that I've
seen her somewhere before,' Tweed mused.

'You did when she arrived at the Four Seasons. You'd
seen her when we were leaving Rondel's mansion. She
came out and gave me those beautiful hydrangeas,' Paula
recalled.

'No. Before that. Earlier. I just can't place it.'

'Well, she did look different at the mansion. Plumper
and muddle-headed. But that could have been the clothes she was wearing. That floral dress. The silly glasses she
had on her nose, that floppy hat. She was transformed
when she came to the hotel, even her personality. Clad
in a flying suit and helmet, wearing huge glasses, her crisp way of speaking.'

'Weird,' said Tweed.

'But she explained,' Paula reminded him. 'She doesn't
like Rondel — so she creates the impression of a disorgan
ized mess when he's about. Doubt if he often visits the bank in Hamburg. I bet when she goes there she's in her
career mode, as they say today. Stupid expression. Comes from America. Now, satisfied?'

'No. I have seen her before those two occasions you
mentioned. The devil of it is I can't pinpoint where,'
Tweed went on.

'I wonder where Oskar is at this moment? "Waiting for
us with a reception committee in Traveműnde? And that
light aircraft has come back. It's over there.'

'No reason to suppose it's the same one.'

'Yes, there is. It has a blue insignia on its tail. So did the light aircraft I saw flying when we were first approaching
Tender to spend the night there. It's sticking to us like glue.
I suppose it couldn't have Barton and Panko on board,'
Paula wondered.

'Rather unlikely. They're probably back in Tonder. If
you remember, after the firefight in the maize field off
the autobahn Harry spotted Barton and Panko climbing aboard the Land Rover Delgado escaped in. We
know Delgado was in Flensburg - Lisa had that ter
rible ordeal with him. And where Delgado was I'm sure Barton and Panko were too. Not flying in some aircraft
following us.'

Paula stopped, stood still, stamped her foot on the road.
She was blazing.

'Every damned theory I come up with you shoot down.'
She slapped his arm. 'What the hell's wrong with you?'

'I'm sorry, but I did have a shock when you shinned up the slope out of our cave. You seemed to be gone for ages. And I heard a grenade explode. What happened up there?' Tweed asked.

'You don't want to know.'

'Yes, I do want to know,' he said quietly. 'So please do
tell me.'

'It was a bit grim.' She paused. She could still see in her
mind's eye the giant aiming his gun at her, the gun with
a muzzle like the mouth of a cannon. So she told him everything. He stood still with her, listening, pursing his
lips as he visualized the ordeal she had experienced. At
the end of her description she broke, her body trembling, and tears appeared in her eyes. She threw her arms round him, hugged him. He hugged her back, stroked her hair. She was talking into his shoulder.

I'm so sorry I blew my top. You're carrying most of the burden. I know you feel so responsible for us all. This whole thing is such a hellish ordeal for you I don't know how you bear it.'

He produced a handkerchief, lifted her chin, dabbed her eyes as he spoke gently.