[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
reversed screws, and nudged gently against the quay. Hawsers were pulled
across and secured fore and aft. The gangways went up, shouted orders and
replies sounded back and forth, and a few minutes later figures began filing
down.
But nothing came from the policemen watching the midships ramp to report
anybody resembling Ashling. Nor from either of the other two ramps, where
crewmen had also started coming off.
"Stop them all at the customs point," Samurai instructed, looking strained.
"I'm going down there myself."
He did so, and observed personally while each of the ten listed passengers
was interviewed by an immigration agent. None of them was Ashling.
"Seal off this whole area," Samurai said. "None of the crew are to be let out
without being checked. He could be disguised."
Everyone who had come ashore was cleared. The -delay was affecting operations
aboard the ship, and the captain was getting annoyed, demanding to know what
in hell was going on. Chame stayed out of it, smoking cigarettes, and seemed
to find it amusing.
"There is no way they could have been tipped off," Samurai fumed. "He must be
here somewhere. Inspector, organize a search of the ship."
But by now Weyel had had enough. "Look, I think it's about time you realized
that you don't have the authority to give orders here," he retorted.
"Just do it, dammit!"
"My instructions were to assist you in apprehending a passenger," Weyel
reminded him. "The passengers have all been accounted for, and the man you're
looking for was not among them. Therefore I have no further obligation. I
suggest you recheck with your sources of information."
Samurai looked across in exasperation to Chame, who was smirking over a
plastic cup of coffee. "Can you explain to this idiot that this is important?"
"You're the hot shit from the top, who knows what's going on. You explain it
to him."
Page 189
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
At that moment, hurrying footsteps sounded from the corridor leading out to
the street entrance. The policemen by the door into the customs hall parted to
let through a man in a raincoat, who came straight over to Weyel.
"What is it, Gustav?" Weyel said, reading the urgency on his face.
"We've just got news from the Harbor Light Bar, sir. The Estonian who calls
himself Nicolaus was seen there within the last hour, accompanied by a man
answering to Ashling's description. They left through the rear entrance when
our men arrived who were sent to check."
Samurai put a hand to his brow. "You mean you didn't have the back of the
place covered?" he grated.
"Let's get over there," Weyel snapped. Chame gulped down the last of his
coffee, crumpled the cup, and tossed it at a bin. Samurai was already
following Weyel out, while the other policemen around the room converged
toward the doorway behind them.
* * *
The Harbor Light Bar was little more than a glorified pub down on the
waterfront, with a couple of drinking lounges, one of which also served as the
restaurant, and a few rooms that were let out upstairs.
"Yes, he left that way, the Estonian," the proprietor confirmed, indicating a
passageway leading to the back of the premises. He nodded and stabbed a finger
up and down on the photograph of Ashling that was lying on the bartop. "The
man who was with him looked like that. They sneaked out with their bags as if
they were in a hurry. It was when your police came in this way and started
asking questions."
"You're sure?" Weyel said, sounding as if he found it hard to believe.
"Of course he's sure," Samurai seethed. "Does he look like one of those
incompetents that you've got working for you?"
"I'd suggest that language like that is hardly likely to prove constructive,"
Weyel said stiffly.
"What kind of language do you expect, Inspector?" Samurai demanded. "Why not
face the facts? Hell, you screwed up."
Weyel wasn't used to having this kind of difference aired in public. "How can
you say that?" he retorted. "We did everything exactly as you specified."
"On the contrary, you did everything wrong. Am I -expected to be everywhere
at once?"
Page 190
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"What else did you want?" Weyel demanded angrily.
Samurai enumerated on his fingers, his eyes blazing. "You let him slip
through somewhere, off the ship. You didn't have this place staked out from
the start, which allowed them to get back here. You sent uniformed men
blundering in the front to alert them. You hadn't secured the rear. Do you
want me to go on? . . . Should I take over running whatever passes for a
training school in this city?"
Weyel colored visibly and whirled upon him, whereupon Chame interjected, "Why
don't we check out the room? It might tell us something."
Which averted a row for the time being. The policemen, Chame and Litherland,
and Samurai followed the proprietor up a flight of stairs behind the living
room, and along a passage adorned with nautical decor and paintings of ships.
The room was a plain but bright and cleanly kept single, with closet doors
open, a half-empty bottle of schnapps left on the vanity, and other signs of
having been hurriedly vacated. There were some oddments of food, discarded
wrappings, and a couple of used bus and train tickets -lying around, but
nothing immediately useful. Litherland touched a fingertip to a trace of white
crystalline powder on the vanity top near the bottle and tested it
experimentally with his tongue. "Salt," he informed the others simply.
Chame, meanwhile, had straightened up from the waste bin, holding an empty,
cylindrical, plastic container.
Samurai took it from him and turned it to show the label. It read "Panacyn,"
and had Ashling's name, along with directions.
"It's his," Samurai announced grimly. "He was here." He held the container
out, as if offering evidence that he was inviting any of the others to
challenge. None of them did.
The implication was clear. Germany was part of the Consolidation, and hence
its security and police forces cooperated closely with U.S. and other Western
agencies, and maintained strict frontier controls. But if Ashling
never-theless managed to cross over into Poland or the states that had once
constituted Czechoslovakia, he would be virtually unstoppable. After half a
century of the delights of communism, those countries took a more relaxed
attitude -toward such matters, making passage onward into the FER little more
than a formality. In fact, some said that Eastern Europe was already as good
as a part of the FER. And once there, in the chaos and anarchy that now
prevailed where tsars and commissars had once ruled, he could vanish without
effort.
Samurai looked from one to another of the faces confronting him, as if
expecting somebody to voice the obvious. They stared back, waiting. "He must
be stopped before he gets out of Hamburg," he said finally.
Page 191
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"Very well. You're the perfectionist. What would you suggest?" Weyel replied,
sounding sarcastic and relishing it.
For once Samurai's resourcefulness failed him. After a final check around the
room, which turned up nothing new, the party went back downstairs and split up
to depart in several vehicles. Weyel accompanied Chame, Litherland, and
Samurai back to the U.S. consulate to make sure that his version of the story
was incorporated into the record there. Samurai said nothing, but sat
glowering with suppressed rage throughout the drive.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]