Rhinoceros (72 page)

CHAPTER 45

They were leaving Berg Island. Stepping out of the elevator, the one with the shaft which ascended vertically
through rock, Lisa led the way with Nield by her side.
She turned right, away from the path leading to the quay where the steamer berthed. The footpath wended its way
round the base of the mountain wall to the north side of the
island. It was a long walk to where the Gulfstream aircraft
waited on the runway.

The others followed in couples. The last two, trailing
behind the rest, were Tweed and Milo. Ahead of them
Harry had glanced briefly at where Rondel had plunged into the sea. No sign of anything. Rondel had come into
the world, had gone out of it.

'For a long time,' Milo said to Tweed, 'I regarded
Blondel as my eventual successor, almost as a son. Now,
one day, it will be Lisa who takes over the Zurcher Kredit.'

'I'd say she's more than capable of doing that,' Tweed
remarked.

'My late wife, her mother, was a brilliant woman. Rarely
is an offspring blessed with the intellectual gifts of her
mother. In this case it happened.'

'And in the meantime . . .'

'I must call Danzer,' Milo interrupted. He took out his
mobile phone, then smiled. 'What am I
doing? All mobile
systems have also been destroyed. No bad thing. People so often used them for useless chatter.'

He hurled the mobile into the sea, watched as it vanished
under the surface.

'And in the meantime,' Tweed began again, 'what will you do?'

'Devote myself to checking all the records in my different branches. With the aid of Lisa. I'd taken the precaution
of duplicating the details on card-index systems, as we used
to do. The computers will be useless from now on.'

'So we go back to the year 1900, a more peaceful
world.'

'Yes. And I
am
Rhinoceros. Doubtless you had guessed
that.'

'I wasn't sure,' Tweed said. 'The conversation we had
in the garden of the mansion near Blankenese made me more sure.'

'The name "Rhinoceros", which certain powerful inter
national people call me, originates with the Frankenheim
Dynasty I inherited from that last childless head. He had plaques of the head of a rhinoceros fitted to the
walls inside the main banking halls. Perhaps childishly, I never disclaimed the name. It continued the Frankenheim
Dynasty under a new banner when I seized control of the
Zurcher Kredit Bank.'

'There is a curious telescopic electronic system at Eagle's
Nest in Sussex.'

'I dealt with that. I sent Danzer to that house when
Rondel was here. Danzer, an engineer, told me when he returned that the system to neutralize mine wouldn't have
worked, but he dismantled it.'

'This struggle has been quite a saga,' Tweed com
mented.

'With unfortunate casualties. I will tell you now I was the
one who first hired the late Mark Wendover, poor chap.'

'Why?'

'To infiltrate him inside your team.'

'To spy on me?' Tweed asked with a smile.

'To confirm finally to me that you were a man of
complete integrity. Which he did - before a villain ended
his life.'

'Oskar Vernon?' Tweed asked in a strange tone of
voice.

'No. We must go back to Gavin Thunder, a ruthless man
with an insatiable appetite for power. Dictatorial power.'

'So Mark Wenodver reported back to you where I
was. And then Lisa took over reporting my movements
to you?'

'Correct. She did a wonderful job. For most of the time
I knew where you were — as you made your odyssey to find
out the truth. Which you did admirably and with great courage.'

'Only part of my job. And Trent is an assumed name
for Lisa?' Tweed asked.

'No. When she decided she wanted to be educated in
Britain, she changed her surname. Inspired by a classic
mystery novel,
Trent's Last Case
by E.G. Bentley.

'And how did you come to choose Wendover?' Tweed mused.

'My contacts in the States told me he had left the
CIA because he disliked some of their methods. He then
established the most effective agency in America. Mark Wendover also had a great reputation for
honesty,
a rare virtue in this troubled world. Incidentally, the Gulfstream
can fly you anywhere. Hamburg? London?'

I'd appreciate it if the pilot would fly us to Hamburg. We can then catch a commercial flight to Heathrow.'

'I'll let him know.' Milo reached a hand towards his
pocket and then laughed. 'It will take all of us a little while to learn to live without those wretched mobile phones. But
the pilot and air crew are waiting and you simply give them
your instructions.'

'What about the hired rioters who are waiting in large numbers all over the place to create chaos?'

'They will go on waiting until they get tired and disperse.
The man in Seattle, called Ponytail, I understand, will have
fled from his Internet screen, leaving behind the messages
which will never be sent.'

They had walked a long way along the edge of the
runway with the sea quietly splashing beyond. Now
they were close to the large Gulfstream. At the foot
of the staircase Lisa stood, like an air stewardess, her
flaming red hair cascading down her back, ushering
the team aboard. Nield stood beside her, arms fold
ed.

Before they reached the aircraft Tweed paused and Milo
halted with him. They looked at each other.

'It has been an honour to know you,' said Tweed.

'It is customary where I come from for friends to give
each other a bear hug when they part. But I know English
men do not like it.'

'To hell with British reserve,' Tweed told him.

Milo grasped Tweed, gave him an affectionate bear
hug. As they parted Tweed saw he had tears in his eyes.
Beneath his impassive manner Milo had the warmest human feelings. He dabbed quickly at his eyes, stuffed
the handkerchief out of sight. Tweed hugged Lisa before
he boarded, grasping her with both arms.

'Take care of yourself, Lisa.'

'Sorry I lied about having an English father.'

'I will take you out for the finest meal London can
provide.'

He hurried up the staircase. He did not trust his emotions
sufficiently to look back. The pilot was already revving up
the engines as he sat in the seat waiting for him next to
Paula. The plane was airborne when Tweed looked back at the other passengers.

'Where on earth is Pete Nield?' he asked.

'He's staying for a while,' Paula explained. 'Lisa wants
him to go with her to Stockholm. Sometimes, Tweed, you
really are not very observant when it comes to human
relationships.'

'Oh.' Tweed remained silent as the aircraft took off
smoothly,, then began to climb. 'I'd better tell the pilot
I want him to take us to Hamburg Airport.'

'He already knows. While you were climbing the stair
case Milo signalled to him with his hands, forming a
letter H. And the pilot immediately confirmed over the tannoy that, as instructed, he was flying us to Hamburg Airport.'

'Oh,' said Tweed.

As the plane flew towards the German coast Paula stared
fixedly out of her window. She could see the castle on top
of the mountain, the grove where they had sat talking,
surrounded by palm trees and huge cacti. She felt she was
leaving something behind she would miss.

Epilogue

As Tweed, followed by the rest of his team, entered his
office at Park Crescent, he saw two folded newspapers on his desk. Monica rushed forward to remove one of them.
He sat down in his familiar seat behind his desk, glad to
be home. Then he unfolded the newspaper. The headlines
shrieked at him.

AIR DISASTER

Four World Statesmen Die As Helicopter Crashes
Gavin Thunder Among Casualties
Tragedy On German Island Of Sylt

WORLD COMMUNICATIONS

No Internet. No Phones

'So Danzer planted a bomb. Wiped out the top villains,'
he said as he passed the newspaper to Paula.

'Who is Danzer?' Monica asked.

'Just someone we heard about while we were abroad. I
see your screen has disappeared.'

'It started again - the missiles, the terrible noise. I fled
from the room. When I came back it was still going on so I
pulled the plug. I took a taxi to a firm where I know people.
Couldn't use the phone. It's dead as a dodo. My friends
had experienced the same thing. It's not coming back - the
Internet. Don't know about the phone. So I got George
from downstairs to take the computer away, to dump it.
When he came back he said the dump was piled high with
computers.'

'I'm glad you got out in time. I was worried about you.'

'You knew?'

'I'd heard rumours. Incidentally, Buchanan called me in Hamburg. He found the real Mrs Mordaunt had been called away to a fake emergency. He also told me they
had rounded up the refugees Marler saw in Dorset - they
found them scattered across Dartmoor. Now can I see that
newspaper you snatched off my desk?'

'Prepare yourself for a shock.'

She brought him the other newspaper. She handed it to him, opened at an inside page. He stared at the headline,
dazed, then slowly read the brief text underneath it.

LORD BARFORD COMMITS SUICIDE

The distinguished Brigadier, Lord Barford, was found
dead in his room at the Four Seasons Hotel,
Hamburg. He was found holding in his right hand
the revolver which had fired the fatal shot. No note
has been found to explain why he took his life.

'There's an express letter from him,' Monica said quietly. 'It's addressed to you but, in your
absence, I
took the liberty of opening it. Here it is.'

Tweed, normally a swift reader, read it slowly three times. He looked out of the window as though trying to
see something. He stood up, walked across to Paula's
desk, handed it to her, returned to his own desk, again
stared into the distance. She read it as carefully as Tweed
had.