The Power Read Free Page A

could shake the world, shatter Europe to its foundations, destroy any influence Britain has internationally. I'm running scared, Bob - scared as a rabbit with the ferrets inches from its tail.'
    Dyson took a cigarette from a gold case and Newman tried an experiment: he used his own lighter to ignite the cigarette. Dyson couldn't hold the tip still, his hand trembling like a leaf in the wind. Reluctantly, Newman decided he was not putting on another of his chameleon- like acts.
    'If we agree to keep this stuff we have to know where to get in touch with you,' he said. 'Otherwise, forget it.'
    Newman had noticed something when Dyson had extracted the two canisters inside his case. Rammed in on top of some clothes which looked new - and American in style - was a film camera with a coiled hanging strap.
    'I've got to rush now,' Dyson protested, lifting his case off the table.
    'I said, how do we get in touch with you? Where will you be staying?'
    'Contact that Swiss banker you introduced me to. Julius Amberg in Zurich. Look, I'm going to miss my plane ...'
    'Then shove off.'
    Monica escorted him to the door, nodded to George to unlock the front door. Dyson disappeared like the wind.
    'I'm taking these canisters straight down to the explosives boffins in the Engine Room for testing,' Monica said the moment she came back.
    'Wise precaution,' Newman agreed. 'Then what?'
    'Put them in Tweed's safe until he gets back...'
    The driver behind the wheel of the grey Volvo, still parked within sight of the building where Dyson emerged, signal led to the driver of another car, a silver Renault, parked behind him, by stroking a hand over his head. 'Volvo' picked up his mobile phone as Dyson stepped inside a taxi he'd hailed, dialled.
    'Jerry here again.'
    'Developments?' Norton's gravelly voice demanded.
    'Subject called at a soft-porn shop in Soho. Came out, took another taxi to a Park Crescent building. Went...'
    'Park Crescent? God Almighty, not there! Number of the building?'
    'General & Cumbria Assurance.' The driver gave him the number. He had strolled round the crescent and back to his car while Dyson was inside. 'When Dyson left the Renault took over—'
    'General & Cumbria.' Norton had interrupted him, sounded to be thinking aloud. 'I know what that place is. What was Dyson carrying - when he left?'
    'Just his bag...'
    'He must have left them there for safe keeping.' The voice became even grimmer. 'We'll have to take out the whole building. You'll be needed to prepare the vehicle -and the explosives. The job must be done in the next forty-eight hours. Get back to headquarters...'

     
    PART ONE
    The Massacre

    1

     
    Two days later Paula Grey was following the other guests into the large dining-room of Tresillian Manor for lunch. The Elizabethan gem was located on an isolated stretch of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. She had been staying with friends in Sherborne when the call from Tweed came through early in the morning.
    'Paula, a strange emergency has arisen. I'm just back from Paris and I had a call from Julius Amberg, the Swiss banker. He sounded frightened. He's flown over here from Zurich to a friend's house on Bodmin Moor ...'
    He had given her careful directions where to turn off the A30, which spanned the moor. She had said she would drive there at once.
    ''I'll be there in time for lunch,' Tweed had continued. 'I am bringing a heavy bodyguard - Butler, Nield and Cardon. Armed. Which is what Amberg begged me to do.'
    'What on earth for?'she had asked.
    'He wouldn't say on the phone. He was calling from Tresillian Manor. Apparently he flew from Zurich to London Airport this morning, called me here at Park Crescent before I'd arrived. He then caught a Brymon Airways flight to Newquay Airport and called me again from Bodmin Moor. He has his own team of guards with him but doesn't have that much confidence in them. He spoke as though in fear of his life. That isn't like Amberg. We'll all meet up at the manor...'
    It had been a