The Ruby Ray Mystery Page 8

  “You make sense as always,ol ’ buddy.” Scotty turned the car expertly and headed back toward the paved road. “We still have no idea what Keller is up to, but at least we know his destination.If this is his destination.”

  “It is,” Rick said. He could not prove that Keller was at trail’s end, but he felt certain of it.

  “Company ahead,” Scotty announced.

  A huge car blocked the road ahead. Rick recognized it as an American Packard, a car that hadn’t been manufactured for many years. There was a man waiting by it. As they approached, he waved his hand, flagging them down.

  “We’d better get out and flank him,” Scotty said.“Just in case.”

  Scotty nosed the Mercedes right up to the man before stopping. He opened his door and got out as Rick followed suit on the other side. They came around to the front of the roadster, getting the man between them.

  Rick doubted that this tactic would do much good if it came to a fight. The man was about six feet six inches in height, and probably weighed close to three hundred pounds, none of it fat. He was hat-less, with sandy blond hair and a red complexion. He had a tough face, but a pleasant grin. The grin was turned on as he waited for the boys.

  “Can we help you, sir?” Rick asked politely.

  “Possibly.I was wondering if you expect to see very much ofSwitzerland just by trailing Dr. Keller.”

  Rick knew that their faces had registered surprise at the direct approach, but maybe the expressions would be misinterpreted as bewilderment. “We’re tourists,” he

  explained.“Students.”

  The big man leaned against the side of his ancient Packard and grinned. “No doubt,” he said. “At your ages most boys are students, eh? But do tourist-students cover so much ground? I think not.”

  “What do you mean-cover so much ground?” Scotty demanded.

  The man waved a hand the size of a ham. “Let us not play games, young gentlemen. It is better to be direct, eh?”

  “Are you a friend of this Dr. Keller?” Rick demanded.

  “No. I do not have that honor.” The man had an accent Rick could not place.

  “Who is Dr. Keller?” Scotty demanded.

  “Please do not try to play with me. Listen, if you please. Yesterday you were inParis .

  So was Dr. Keller. He and a companion took the train toBerne ; we watched him go aboard. We also watched you go aboard. Or, let me be precise. One of you was already aboard, and the other went around the wrong side of the train and got aboard, eh? I do not know which one. The descriptions were not so complete.”

  Rick listened with mixed apprehension and astonishment. He had been so certain they were unobserved! But this man had the facts. He demanded, “How do you know all this?”

  The big man smiled. “You are surprised, eh? You did very well, I must say. Only the fact that one of you came around the train the wrong way attracted our attention to you. I

  suppose you had been following Keller even before that, perhaps even fromCopenhagen ?”

  Rick asked bluntly, “Was one of your contacts injured inBerne ?”

  Bushy eyebrows went up. “Injured? No.”

  His voice had the ring of truth. Of course the big man might be lying, but Rick didn’t think so. He shot out, “Then you had a man knocked out atDijon .”

  The big man shook his head. “We had no man atDijon . It was not necessary. We knew Keller was heading forBerne . Why should we have a man atDijon ?”

  “You had no one on the train?” Scotty demanded.

  “No one.But I can see from your questions that someone did. Obviously Keller’s friends had additional men covering him. It must have been those you saw.”

  Rick didn’t press the point. His mind raced. Blue Beret and Leather Cap must have been connected somehow. If they were not part of this man’s gang, that left only one possibility he knew of. He asked, “Did your man inParis sell many pretzels?”

  The big man chuckled. “Wait until I tell him he was spotted by two boys I He will be mortified. Frankly, I don’t think he sold a single pretzel.”

  “Let me understand this,” Rick requested. “The pretzel man saw Keller off on the train, and spotted us, then reported to you without following any farther?”

  “Precisely.”

  “You received the report inBerne ?”

  “No.Enough of this. I will tell you exactly. I received the report inZurich , and alerted my people inBerne . It was not necessary for them to follow Keller because we knew where he would be taken. This morning my people observed him leaving the apartment.

  They also observed you parked parallel on the next street, and watched as you followed when Keller left. Later, one of our people saw Keller’s car coming this way, as expected, with you following some distance behind. Since we knew Keller was coming here, there was no need to trail him, you see? We were interested only in who else might be behind him.”

  “Who else is behind him?” Rick asked quickly.

  “No one.A Peugeot started out, but did not finish the journey. I do not yet know why.

  Do you?”

  Scotty snapped, “Just who are you, and what do you want?”

  The big man waved a hand. “Who I am, personally, is of no importance. But I will tell you this. As you see from our knowledge of your movements, we are well organized and capable. Also, we are the members of a group with one aim in life, and that is to stamp out the menace of Communism. You probably have never heard of us, since we operate quietly. Our organization is called ACTION.”

  “What has Dr. Keller to do with Communism?” Rick demanded.

  The question surprised the big man. “You have been following him, and you do not know?”

  “We’ve been following him,” Rick admitted. “Why, is none of your business. But I doubt very much that Dr. Keller is involved with Communism in any way.”

  The man’s eyes narrowed. “I think you mean that. What would you think if I told you I have positive proof he is helping the Communists?”

  “We’d have to see the proof,” Scotty stated. “But you haven’t said what you want with us.”

  “Very well.I will put the cards on the table. You are Americans, and it is well known that the great majority of Americans, all but a very small group, are strongly anti-Communist. I do not know your interest in this matter, but it is clear you have one. It may be you represent some branch of U.S. Intelligence. No matter. Since you trail Keller, you are not working with him; it may be that you are working against him. At most, you are neutral. I stopped you because I think we might profitably join forces.”

  “Join forces to do what?” Rick asked. He was uneasy because he couldn’t see where all the palaver was leading, and it was disturbing to realize they had been spotted.

  “To act against the Communist menace.That is ACTION’S mission.” The man pointed toward the iron fence. “In there is a dangerous pocket of Communism. We will take action against it, but I have not yet decided how, or when.”

  “Where’s the proof?” Scotty wanted to know.

  “The proof is this: Keller’s companion, the man who drove him here, is the leading Soviet agent in Free Europe. His name is Kratov. You know as well as I that Keller reported to Kratov inParis , and then accompanied him here. You also know that Keller obviously came of his own free will. He was not kidnapped.”

  Rick thought it over. The big man’s statement about Kratov could be checked easily.

  They needed only to get to a phone and call the embassy inBerne . “What you say may be true,” he said. “But that still doesn’t prove Keller is helping the Communists. And the fact that he wasn’t kidnapped doesn’t mean he came of his own free will. They may have some other hold on him.”

  “Possibly, but unlikely.We have found out that your Dr. Keller is here to meet one of the most important Communist scientists in the world.”

  “Who?”Rick demanded.

  “We are not certain. It could be any one of four men. Our information is not ye
t complete. We do know positively, however, that the meeting will take place here.”

  “How do you know?” Scotty asked.

  “The information came from one of our men in theSoviet Union . He is highly placed in the Communist Party there, and he informed us of Keller’s name, and the meeting place.

  He has not yet been able to obtain precise information about which of their scientific chiefs will be involved. You see, I am candid with you. I expect equal candor. Are you Communist sympathizers?”

  Both boys exclaimed, “No!”

  The big man smiled. “That was certainly an honest reaction, and what I expected. Now, who are you?”

  “Perhaps we’ll give you our names when you give us yours,” Rick said evasively. The big man might be candid, but the boy wasn’t happy with the situation.

  “I can find out easily enough,” the man warned.

  “Then do it,” Scotty said tartly.

  “I will. Now, will you join forces with me? Share information fully?”

  Scotty looked at Rick, who shook his head. “No. We won’t join forces with anyone.

  We’re not really in this. In fact, we may be leavingSwitzerland tomorrow or the next day.”

  The big man contemplated them, his face expressionless. Finally he nodded.“As you will. But let me warn you. You are either anti-Communist or pro-Communist. You cannot take a stand somewhere in the middle, not where ACTION is concerned. If you will not help us, do not dare to hinder us. There is only one way to eliminate the Communist menace, and that is to be as ruthless as the Communists are. Do you understand me?”

  “Perfectly,” Rick said. He could sense the fanaticism behind the statement. “Now, may we pass?”

  “Yes. If you change your mind and decide to cooperate, call this number inZurich .” He scribbled a phone number on the page of a notebook and tore it out. “Just remember.

  You are for us, if only to the extent of not hindering, or you are against us-in which case you will have to take the consequences. They may not be pleasant. Is that clear?”

  It was.

  CHAPTER XII

  Zurich

  “Wheels within wheels,” Rick said. He scowled at the road ahead. “We need some advice, and we need it badly.”

  Scotty agreed. “The best advice would be to go back toCopenhagen . We’re up to our hips in some kind of mess, but I can’t really see what kind.”

  “Maybe the embassy can shed some light.How much longer toZurich?”

  “You’ve got the map. How far is it?”

  “Another ten miles, more or less.”

  The boys fell silent. The big man had released them readily enough. How much of what he had said could they believe?

  Rick ticked off the points in his mind. He could easily believe there was an anti-

  Communist organization called ACTION, and that it had sympathizers and helpers all overEurope , and even behind the Iron Curtain. He could also believe that the man called Kratov, Felt Hat, was a Communist agent. The big man would not have made a

  statement like that if it could not be verified easily.

  How about Keller’s meeting a top Soviet scientist?

  Rick puzzled over that point. There had been Soviet scientists at the meeting inCopenhagen . There were Soviet scientists at just about all international scientific meetings. Why would Keller have to go to a remote place inSwitzerland when the meeting could have taken place in his hotel room atCopenhagen ?

  Rick knew he was up against a dead end on that point. He didn’t have enough information to guess intelligently. But the fact that a suspected woman agent had moved in with Keller’s family lent credence to the statement that Keller was involved with the Communists.

  He reviewed the activities of the past two days. Apparently Pretzels, representing ACTION, had spotted him going down the wrong side of the train, and had kept an eye on him until he saw the two boys get together. Rick could see how that had been done. If Pretzels had followed him down the wrong side of the train, he could simply have looked through the carriage windows. The two boys had been watching the side on which passengers were boarding. They hadn’t guarded the other side. He made a mental note not to get caught that way again. His motto would be to keep an eye out behind.

  Pretzels had then phoned their descriptions to the big man, along with whatever information he had collected on Keller. If ACTION knew that Keller’s meeting was to take place in the Alpine foothills, they would also know that a train toBerne was one way of reaching the rendezvous. In effect, Pretzels had just seen Keller off. Rick wondered why Keller had not simply changed planes atOrly and flown intoZurich .

  There could be two reasons, he decided. Either Kratov had wanted to take him by land as a simple way of seeing whether they were followed, or a direct flight would have gotten him there too early.

  Scotty said, “You’re pretty deep in thought,ol ’ buddy. Want to share the brainstorms?”

  Rick did so, and added, “At least we know now who some of the groups are. There’s JANIG-that’s just us, unless Steve had some other troops we don’t know about working on this-and there’s ACTION. Of course there is also the Keller group. Maybe we ought to call that one the Keller Commies.”

  Scotty shot a glance at him. “Your tone of voice is bitter. Don’t jump to conclusions,

  Rick. Maybe Keller is clean as a whistle. We still don’t have enough information to make sense out of this. Now, who’s the fourth group?”

  Rick shrugged. “Blue Beret and Leather Cap. It’s a hard-luck group, whatever it is. You knock out Blue Beret, then Leather Cap gets his skull fractured in an alley.”

  “We’ll probably find out that the two lads who got clobbered are innocent members of CIA or military intelligence, or something like that.”

  The thought had occurred to Rick, too, but he had quickly pushed it aside. He didn’t want to think that he and Scotty had been instrumental in knocking aU.S. agent out of the play. “Anyway,” he said, “what would aU.S. agent be doing holding a gun on Keller and Kratov? If he wanted to arrest them, he’d call the local cops. U.S. Intelligence doesn’t go in for kidnapping American citizens, does it?”

  “That’s the best argument against their being any of our boys,” Scotty agreed. “So, what is Group X?”

  “No answers,” Rick said. “Not yet.”

  The Mercedes rolled through the outskirts ofZurich and was caught up in the heavy midtown traffic. They passed the railroad station and in-town airline terminal, then pulled up in front of a hotel called the Suisse, which was French for Swiss.

  Rick looked through the entrance doors. “Not too fancy, but fancy enough. We can get a room, make a phone call to the embassy, then take a shower and eat. Okay?”

  “You’ve read my mind. Here comes a flunky. Let’s turn the car over to him. I don’t feel like contending for a parking space while my stomach’s empty.”

  The uniformed doorman accepted the keys to the car, then ushered the boys to the desk.

  They registered, turned over their passports so the hotel could register them with the police, and followed a bellhop to a room on the third floor.

  It was a pleasant, high-ceilinged room with twin beds, modern furniture, and modem plumbing. The boys tossed their knapsacks on the beds, then Rick put in a call to the U.S. Embassy atBerne .

  When the embassy operator answered, Rick said, “Mr. Owen Stack, please.” After a frustrating ten minutes he hung up. “Nobody home,” Rick reported to Scotty.“But nobody. No Stack, no militaryattache .”

  “We’ll just sit tight until tomorrow,” Scotty said. “Right now I’m going to have a shower. Toss you to see who gets the bathroom first.”

  Rick waved toward the door. “Help yourself.”

  An hour later, changed and refreshed, they emerged from the hotel to the street. Rick looked around him with interest. Except for the obvious age of some buildings,Zurich might have been one of the older sections of a large American city. Most of the buildings were multi
story, but were not, for the most part, more than five or six stories high. Their ornamentation, however, was what Americans would call “Victorian,” with a

  predominant German influence.

  They found a restaurant and went in. They puzzled over the menu. A waiter who spoke English came to their rescue and helped them to order.

  They talked little over dinner. As they finished their coffee, Scotty said softly, “There’s a man across the room who is interested in us, but trying not to show it. He came in right after we did. The waiter tried to seat him near us, but he went over to where he could watch us from a distance.”

  “Which group does he belong to?” Rick asked whimsically.“JANIG?ACTION?The

  Keller Commies? Group X?Or the League of Indignant Old Ladies?Or maybe The

  Friends of Antonio Glockenspiel?”

  “Who is this Antonio Glockenspiel?” Scotty asked.“A well-known member of

  SPICSO?”

  Rick grinned. “I give up. What’s SPICSO?”

  “Spindrift Confusion Society.”

  “And we’re the co-chairmen,” Rick finished.

  Scotty beckoned to the waiter. They paid the bill and rose to leave, noting that the watcher was also paying his bill.

  On impulse, Rick walked over to him. “Why not join us?” he invited cordially. “It’s so difficult trailing someone. If you come with us, it will be much easier.”

  The man blinked. “ Bitte , Mein Herr?”

  “Never mind,” Rick said. He turned and followed Scotty, leaving the man staring after

  him. The boys went out to the street, turned right, and ducked into the nearest doorway.

  In a moment the man from the restaurant hurried past. They fell into step with him.

  “We’re going to our hotel and to bed,” Rick said gently. “It is not necessary to follow us. Just go sit quietly in the lobby. We won’t be down until morning.”

  There was a hint of a twinkle in the man’s eyes. He said again, “ Bitte , Mein Hen?”