Deadlock Read Online Free PDF Page B

Squad first.'
    There are procedures . . .'
    'Bypass them. Then get moving.' Tweed paused for a few seconds. 'If this is a bomb, if it detonates, if it kills, imagine what the press reports will do to Anglo-American relations. And I wouldn't want to be in your shoes ...'
    He slammed down the phone, insisted on paying the stunned woman who owned the house, thanked her and ran out to check that the danger zone was sealed off.
    It was. He found Paula had alerted the local police who had acted quickly. Improvised barriers had been erected, lengths of rope closing off both ends of the front. Uniformed constables stood well back, guarding the barriers. A woman ran out of a house in the main street.
    'You lookin' for Paula? You Mr Tweed?'
    'Yes to both questions . . .'
    'She's in the car park - where you left your lovely Mercedes. Is it a bomb?'
    'Quite possibly . . .'
    Terrorist swine. They should castrate them.'
    She ran back into the house and Tweed knew she'd be on the phone, reporting the news to her friends. Which had been his intention. He glanced back along the front which looked strangely deserted.
    A black-headed gull swooped silently over the front, then glided out over the marshes as though it sensed danger from the unaccustomed hush. The thought crossed his mind that, unlike the white-headed variety, the black-heads rarely uttered nerve-racking screeches. He walked to the car park situated on a slope rising up from the street. Paula, standing by the 280E, ran towards him.
    'Are you OK?'
    'Sweating like a bull. You did a magnificent job. God! That carrier bag by my car . . .'
    'Mine. Or rather that lady's - the one you were talking to. She's a friend. You had no breakfast. Fancy a thermos full of hot coffee and some ham sandwiches? She's a nice old thing, she made them for you
    'For us. Let's sit in the back of the car. Nothing more we can do except wait.'
    'Wait for what?' Paula settled herself in the back of the car, sank her teeth into the sandwich Tweed gave her and ate ravenously.
    'Bomb Squad. They'll come down this road. Either from Lakenheath or Heathrow.'
    She drank more coffee. 'God, I'm thirsty.'
    'Dehydration. Delayed shock.' He drank coffee from the chinaware mug she handed him. 'Me, too. I'm parched as the Sahara. Did that woman volunteer the breakfast?'
    'Actually, no. I asked her.'
    'You really are a practical girl,' he commented. 'And I noticed how you kept your cool back at the house. Good for you.'
    'Did you read the card attached to that plastic bag on my doorstep?'
    'No.'
    'It said, For Paula. With love . In strange handwriting.'

    4

    The Heathrow Bomb Squad arrived first. Tweed climbed out of the Mercedes as the two police cars he'd arranged to wait at Langham airfield drove past the car park. He ran, catching them up as they stopped a few yards behind the rope barrier. A three-pipper in Army uniform alighted, carrying a large box, followed by a sergeant and a corporal.
    'Captain Nicholls?' Tweed panted.
    The officer, tall and unsmiling and with alert grey eyes turned round. He looked Tweed up and down. 'Yes,' he replied in a clipped tone. 'What is it?'
    'I'm Tweed.' He showed his Special Branch folder produced in the documents section in the Park Crescent basement. 'I called you on the phone. I'll show you exactly where it is . . .'
    'Any idea how long the thing's been sitting there?'
    'It could have been parked on the doorstep any time after ten last night. There's a plant sticking out. A large plastic bag.' They were walking side by side and the Captain grasped Tweed's arm as they reached the rope.
    'No need for you to proceed any further, sir. If you'd just locate it . . .'
    'Come to the other end of the rope.' Tweed pointed. 'It is parked on a doorstep exactly opposite that lamp-post. The whole immediate area has been evacuated.'
    'Then I'd go back and stay in your car, sir. Our job now.'
    'I'd appreciate a report on what you find.' Tweed paused. 'Good luck.'
    Nicholls stared hard at Tweed. A