Free The Power by Colin Forbes

came back for a moment on foot. Full of apologies. He forgot to mention that Monica took a call from Cord Dillon earlier in the afternoon before the fireworks display. Dillon is some where in London.'
    Tweed stared. Cord Dillon was Deputy Director of the CIA. A very tough, able man - what was he doing in London at a time like this?
    'Dillon wants to talk to you urgently.' He handed Tweed a folded piece of paper. 'Newman gave me that to hand on to you. The number of some London phone box. You can reach Dillon between 9.30 a.m. and 10 a.m. at that number tomorrow morning. Monica said it sounded as though he was keeping under cover. Wouldn't say where he was staying.'
    'Let's get back to the Metropole . ..'

Tweed walked beside Paula, told her the gist of his talk with Howard. They turned up St Edmund's Lane. Butler was following several paces behind them, reeling as though he was drunk. His right hand gripped the Walther inside his windcheater as they plodded uphill and took the long way back, ignoring the short cut to the hotel. Paula was relieved: the path which turned off the lane was a tunnel of eerie darkness.
    'What on earth is going on?' she asked. 'That business about not being able to reach the PM. I'm scared.'
    'With good reason. Interesting that Washington busi ness - and now Dillon turns up out of the blue. My thoughts are turning towards America.'
    'Why America? Because of Dillon's arrival?'
    'Not entirely. Something rather more sinister.'
    'Sorry. Perhaps I'm being rather thick. Probably fatigue. And I do want to drive with Bob Newman back to Bodmin Moor tomorrow to talk again to Celia Yeo. What is it about the States which has suddenly grabbed your attention?'
    'America,' Tweed repeated, half to himself, 'where there is so much money and power. '
    'Power?' Paula queried.
    'Work it out for yourself.'

     
    7

     
    Feeling dopey when she woke the following morning in her double bedroom, Paula bathed, dressed for the moor, fixed her face in two minutes and only then pulled back the curtains. She stared at the view in disbelief. Something very weird had happened overnight. The River Camel had disappeared!
    She stared at the vast bed of sand, rippled in places, stretching from shore to shore. When she phoned Tweed
    he said he was just ready for breakfast, so why didn't she come down to the suite?
    She was closing her door when another door opened and Pete Nield appeared. He fingered his moustache and grinned.
    'Good morning. Just checking to make sure you're not wandering off on your own.'
    'Makes me feel like a ruddy prisoner,' she mocked him. She liked Pete. 'I'm on my way to Tweed's suite. Come and join us.'
    'What on earth has happened?' she asked as Tweed unlocked his door and ushered her inside. She went over to his extensive bay window which gave a better view. 'The river has vanished.'
    'Leaving behind a vast sandbank,' he explained as he joined her. 'There's a very high tidal rise and fall here. The tide is out now.' He pointed to his left through a side window. 'That rocky cliff protruding at the edge of the town blots out a view of the open sea. Straight across from us is Porthilly Cove. No water there at all at the moment. There is a narrow channel which remains along the shore of that weird village over there.'
    'Where is that?'
    'Place called Rock. A small ferry shuttles back and forth between Padstow and Rock. At low tide - now - the ferry departs from a small cove at the base of the rocky cliff. When the tide rises it departs from the harbour.'
    'What a strange place. This is my idea of Cornwall.'
    She gazed to her left, beyond Rock towards the invisible Atlantic. The far shore was forbidding. Climbing up steeply was a wilderness of boulders, scrub and heathland. A sterile, inhospitable area. Yet further in past Rock there were green hill slopes undulating against the horizon as the sun shone out of a clear blue sky.
    'You haven't heard that tape on the recorder I had hidden in my pocket when I talked