The Power (59 page)

Thank you very much. Your service is really excellent.'
He looked round the table. 'Jennie disappeared. I can't
find her anywhere.'

'She was sitting at this table a while ago,' Tweed
informed him. 'You dropped her off in the fog,
apparently.'

'At her own request,' Gaunt barked back defensively.

'She then left us to go to her room to take a shower,' Tweed continued, ignoring Gaunt's rudeness.

'But I hammered on her door before I came in here.
There was no reply. Her door was locked. I pressed my
ear to it, couldn't hear a shower running. In any case,
she'd have wrapped something round her and come to see
who it was. Like most women' - he glanced at Paula and
Eve - 'present company excepted. Like many women
she's always curious. I'd stake my reputation she's not in
her room.'

'What reputation is that?' Eve snapped at him.

Tweed rose from the table. Newman and Paula stood
up almost at the same time. They'd had enough of Gaunt. Tweed nodded to Eve and Gaunt, led the way out by the
short cut and through the restaurant. Paula noticed there
were several groups of Americans at different tables,
none of whom she liked the look of. Tweed was hurrying into the reception area which had a minute sitting area off
to one side. Philip Cardon sat reading a paperback. No
one was present behind the reception counter.

'I had an early lunch,' Cardon explained. 'Since then
I've sat here keeping an eye open. No less than fifteen
Americans have arrived, booked in. Most are stuffing
their stomachs in that restaurant.'

'Have you seen Jennie Blade?'

'No.'

So Gaunt was right, Tweed thought grimly. Jennie had
disappeared.

36

Tweed stood quite still in the lobby. The only people in the place besides himself were Paula, Newman and Car-don. They all kept quiet - they knew Tweed was thinking
furiously. He turned round once to gaze at the deserted
reception area, the closed door behind it. He turned back
to
Cardon.

'Philip,' he said in a low voice, 'you counted fifteen Americans arriving. Did they see you?'

'Of course not.' Cardon was incredulous at the idea. He
raised his book to above eye level, completely concealing
his face. 'Can you see me?'

'No. Where are Butler and Nield?'

'Here.' Cardon handed Tweed a piece of paper with the
names of the two men, their room numbers. 'Like me
they had an early meal. They're up in their rooms now.'
He checked his watch. 'Harry is due down to relieve me in
five minutes. We worked out a roster to keep an eye on
who comes and goes out of this place.'

'I see. They're both on the first floor? Good. Now, I
want you to think hard. Did some of the Americans arrive
here recently?'

'Yes, they did. They turned up in batches.'

'So at times there was a lot of movement here in this
lobby. You were concentrating on concealing yourself -at the same time as you checked people arriving. You
might have seen a woman with long blonde hair without
really registering the fact.' Tweed gave a brief description
of how Jennie had been dressed. 'Think hard. Did a
woman like that walk
out
of the hotel?'

'Half a mo! - now I come to think of it a woman like
that came out of the dining-room exit just as you did. Fifteen minutes ago - roughly. She entered the lift. That
was the last I saw of her.'

'Did all the Americans go straight into the restaurant?
All fifteen of them?'

'Yes, to stan with. Come to think of it two of them, ugly-looking types, came out of the restaurant almost on the heels of Jennie Blade. They must have taken the lift immediately after she'd gone up.'

'Thank you. Stay here.' Tweed turned to Newman and
Paula. 'We must hurry, but first I need to collect
something.'

He lifted the flap at the end of the reception counter,
slipped behind it, grabbed hold of the master key hanging
from a hook apart from the other room keys. He ran
across to the lift, went inside as soon as the doors opened and pressed the button for the first floor as soon as Paula
and Newman were inside.

'What are you up to?' Paula asked.

'First we get hold of Butler and Nield, with their hand
guns. You may need yours. No shooting unless it's the
only way ...'
.

Paula was still puzzled until Tweed had collected Nield
and Butler, had explained the situation.

'We'll check this floor first

Tweed began to walk up to each room door, pressing
his ear close to the wooden panel. He had acute hearing and soon moved on to the next door. It was outside the third door he tried that he froze, ear pressed hard against the panel. Voices inside. One with an American accent.

'Look, do you smoke? You don't? Well, honey, you're
going to when I press this lighted cigarette into your face,
then lower down. What man will ever look at you
again. ..'

'No, you bastards—'

The woman's voice was cut off with a scream. Tweed
inserted the master key quietly, turned it noiselessly, took
hold of the handle, glanced at Butler who stood with a Walther in his hand. Tweed nodded, turned the handle. Standing aside, he threw the door wide open.

Butler, Walther gripped in both hands, charged into the room in a crouch, prepared to drop to the floor, gun
swinging in an arc. Behind him Newman followed with
Nield. Tweed removed the key, stepped in after them,
inserted the key back into the lock and turned it to the
locked position.

Jennie was sprawled back in an armchair, ankles bound with rope, her wrists pinioned behind her. The blouse was
pulled down, exposing her breasts. A cloth gag had slipped from her mouth. One tall lanky American was standing behind her, holding her head back with a hand round
her throat. A
shorter stocky American stood stooped
over her, holding a lighted cigarette close to her cheek.

Butler was on his feet in a flash. He brought the muzzle
of his Walther down hard on the stocky American's nose.
His target screamed with pain, dropped the cigarette.
Tweed picked it up off the carpet.

At the same moment Newman reached the lanky
American who reacted more quickly. He'd let go of Jen
nie, his hand had slid inside his jacket. Newman's left arm
coiled round his neck from behind, squeezed his Adam's apple. The hard nails of his right hand dug into the back of the American's. There was a grunt of agony, a Luger
dropped to the floor. Nield kicked the American's feet
from under him and he sagged, gasping for breath.

Tweed had picked up the Luger as the stocky man had one hand over his damaged nose while his other hand fumbled inside his jacket. Tweed rammed the muzzle of
the Luger into his abdomen, shook his head. The
fumbling hand emerged empty. Tweed used his left hand
to explore under the thug's armpit, gripped the butt of a
weapon in a shoulder holster, withdrew it. Another
Luger.

Everything had happened in a matter of seconds. The stocky man began to swear, using filthy words. Paula hit him across the mouth with her Browning, breaking teeth. He spat out blood.

'Mind your language,' she told him. 'There are ladies present, Any more of that and you know something?
All
your teeth will go.'

The stocky man glared at her with hatred as he took out
a handkerchief, emptied two teeth and blood into it. He
saw the expression in her eyes and looked away hastily.

By now Butler and Nield had the lanky American
sprawled on the floor, face down. Butler checked him for
weapons, found nothing more. As Newman administered
the same treatment to the stocky man Tweed and Paula
tended to Jennie. Butler handed Paula his clasp knife.
She used it to remove the ropes round the victim's ankles and wrists while Tweed untied the gag. He could see no
signs of burns on her.

'I'm going to ask you a silly question,' Tweed said and smiled. 'How are you feeling?'

'OK.' Jennie rubbed each wrist in turn. 'The fat one is
Eddie, the tall one Hank.' She stood up and Paula stood
close, ready to grab her, but she seemed quite steady. 'Do
me a favour,' she requested. 'Get Eddie on his feet, two
of you hold his arms tight.'

Puzzled, Butler went over to help Newman when
Tweed had nodded to them. They hauled Eddie upright, held him tight by each arm. Paula had pulled up Jennie's blouse so she was decent. Her feet were clad in walking
shoes. She walked forward slowly until she was within a
few feet of the stocky man.

'Eddie is the sadist. Eddie enjoys his work.'

She picked up the burning cigarette Tweed had perched
in the lip of a clean ashtray. Flicking off the end of the
ash, she faced the stocky man.

'Eddie likes giving people a bad time,
revels
in it.'

'Look, lady ...' Eddie began.

Jennie stabbed the burning cigarette towards his face
and he flinched. Tweed frowned, came close to her and
whispered.

'Don't burn him. It would take you down to his level.
And I won't permit it.'

She shook her head to indicate that wasn't what she had
in mind. Her eyes were blazing at the stocky man, who
was sweating profusely.

'Spread your feet, Eddie,' Jennie ordered. 'Or you get
this cigarette smeared down your face.'

Eddie, mystified and frightened at the same time,
stretched out his feet. Jennie moved. Her right leg arched
up with all her strength. Paula was startled by the mus
cular power she displayed, then recalled she was a horse
rider. She kicked her target in the groin. He groaned, gulped, gasped, bent over. Released by Newman and
Butler, Eddie crouched on the floor, hands clasped to
where her foot had contacted him.

'I like to settle my accounts,' Jennie said. 'Can we get
out of here?'she asked Tweed.

'Of course. Now
. . .'

As soon as she was inside his room she sank into a chair
and broke down, sobbing endlessly.

'I've got a message for you to take back to your boss,'
Newman told Hank and Eddie. 'You never come back here again. If I ever see either of your faces one more
time you'll never leave Alsace alive. Get out
. . .'

Newman was controlling a pent-up fury. Butler opened
the door of the room and Hank walked out, one hand
nursing his injured Adam's apple. Eddie had trouble
making his exit. Stooped over, he duck-waddled into the
corridor. Butler closed the door and with Nield they began
a quick search of the room. The most valuable treasure
they found was an Uzi sub-machine-gun with plenty of ammo. They took these items with them.