Kingdom of Darkness (33 page)

‘Then bloody hurry up and help me!’ The buckles came free. Eddie pulled the woman upright, getting only a vacant stare in response. ‘Shit, she can’t even walk. We’ll have to carry ’em.’

‘There are three of them and only two of us,’ Zane pointed out as he released the second prisoner.

‘Yeah, I
can
count!’ He lifted the limp woman over his shoulder and headed out as quickly as he could.

Roland emerged from the nursery ahead of him, a crying baby in each arm. A blonde girl of about three followed, only to cower fearfully back from the flames. ‘Get them outside!’ Eddie ordered as the young man hesitated, about to return for her. The Englishman altered course, hopping over the fire to scoop the child up with his free arm. Holding his breath as more smoke swirled around him, he jumped back, now passing through rather than over the growing blaze. ‘You said there were four kids! Where’s the other one?’

Roland coughed violently before replying. ‘Still inside – I could not carry them all!’

Nina ran down the corridor. ‘I’ll get it!’ she cried.

‘No, it’s too dangerous!’ Eddie shouted, but she was already past him. ‘For fuck’s – I mean, flip’s sake,’ he said as the little girl gawped at him. Roland reached the doors; Eddie hurried after him, emerging to find the five
Kindermädchen
waiting. They took the babies with tears of joy and relief. He deposited the girl on the ground, then put the pregnant woman down.

Roland was still coughing, bent almost double. Whatever he had inhaled, Nina had just run straight into it. Eddie took several deep lungfuls of clean air before charging back inside.

The flames were spreading across the passage. Zane came around the corner, carrying the second captive woman. ‘I freed the last one for you!’ the Israeli said as they passed.

Eddie didn’t reply, pausing to squint through the darkening cloud at the nursery door. He heard a baby screaming, but the smoke blocked his view of everything inside – except the shimmering glow of flames. ‘Nina! Get out of there!’

Nina wanted to do exactly that. The nursery was full of acrid black smoke; something made of plastic had caught light. But the baby’s terrified cries forced her deeper into the miasma. Almost blinded, she held her breath and felt her way towards the source of the noise, bumping against cribs before reaching the last occupied one.

The baby squirmed as she picked it up. It weighed at least twelve pounds, probably close to a year old. ‘Okay, I got you,’ she cooed, trying to calm the child as she turned—

A loud crunch of breaking wood – and she jumped back as a flame-wreathed ceiling beam smashed down in front of her. ‘Jesus!’

One end of it had landed on a piece of furniture. The burning beam lay at an angle, too high to climb over and too low to crawl under.

She was trapped—

A shape appeared through the haze behind the barrier – Eddie, carrying another pregnant woman. ‘Nina, get back!’

She jumped away as he kicked the bed supporting the blazing joist. Already damaged by the falling timber, its legs collapsed under the blow. The beam pounded to the floor, spraying out cinders.

But the way out was now clear, if only for a moment as the flames thrashed and wafted in the displaced air. She summoned up her courage, then made a running jump over the obstacle. The fire lashed back up behind her as if realising it was about to lose its prey, scorching her legs, but too late.

‘Come on!’ Eddie gasped. He waited for Nina to pass, then followed her out.

The fire in the corridor had risen higher. Nina shrieked as she jumped through it, flames licking at her bare arms. The rectangle of daylight ahead was almost totally obscured by smoke. She bent down, trying to hold her breath as she raced for the exit. Floorboards cracked underfoot as the blaze ate through them. She almost stumbled, barely staying upright as she sprinted the last few yards—

She burst into the open, choking smoke suddenly replaced by clear air. Eddie was right with her. A moment later, ash and sparks erupted behind them as the ceiling crashed down.

Zane and Roland were waiting with the women at a safe distance. ‘Eddie!’ shouted the Israeli. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Fine – if I was a charcoal briquette,’ Eddie replied, coughing. ‘Did we get ’em all out?’

‘We did,’ said Roland with relief.

The Englishman looked at his wife, and the baby she was holding. ‘You know, that suits you.’ Nina gave him a soot-smudged smile.

One of the women ran to her. She took the baby and clutched it tightly. ‘
Danke
,’ she cried, in tears. ‘Thank you!’

‘I’d say “my pleasure”, but, well,’ Nina replied breathlessly, before going to her husband. He put down the last rescuee, the others hurrying to check that she was all right. ‘Eddie! Thank God.’

‘You okay?’ he asked.

‘I’m gonna need a couple of gallons of witch hazel,’ she said, her arms reddened and sore. ‘And now I know what it’s like to be a sixty-a-day smoker. But yeah, it won’t be smoke inhalation that kills me.’ She touched her side, feeling the eitr infection through her grubby clothing.

‘We can’t waste any more time,’ said Zane. ‘We’ve got to stop the Nazis.’

‘How are we gonna catch them?’ Nina asked wearily. ‘Eddie blew up all their trucks.’

‘I’ve got an idea,’ Eddie said. ‘Roland, will this lot be okay?’

‘Yes, I think so,’ the youth replied.

‘Good. You need to go down to the town – there’s a cop called Miranda, tell him what’s happened and get him to bring in the feds, and Interpol. They’ll want to go through this place.’

‘What’s left of it,’ said Nina, taking in the burning buildings.

Roland nodded. ‘What are you going to do?’

Eddie gave him a tired grin. ‘Catch a train. Nina, Jared, come on.’

‘Where are we going?’ Nina asked as they started back through the Enklave.

‘The railway. There was a brake van on one of the sidings – a caboose, I think you call ’em. They’d use it to slow down the train when they took whatever they mined here down the hill. Hopefully it’ll still slow
us
down if we can get it moving.’

They reached the tracks, passing the line of rusting ore trucks to find the little wagon standing alone on a spur. It was barely more than a wooden box on wheels, short verandas overhanging each end. The glass in the windows had long since broken, leaving it largely open to the elements. Eddie hopped up to find that the interior was as functional as the outside, a bench beside a corroded iron pedestal. A large metal wheel was mounted flat at its top. ‘Okay, I’m guessing this is the brake,’ he said, straining to turn it. There was a shrill of metal, and the van shuddered as long-locked brake shoes were released.

Zane regarded him dubiously. ‘What
exactly
are you planning, Eddie?’

The Englishman looked down the track. ‘The plain’s on a slope. Once we get this thing rolling, it should free-wheel after the train – all we’ve got to do is slow it down on the curves so it doesn’t fly off the track.’ He saw the Israeli’s increasingly sceptical expression. ‘It’s either that or
run
after the fucking train. And from the way you were limping, that’s probably not what you want to do.’

Nina was equally uncertain. ‘Are you sure this’ll work?’

‘It’s our only chance of rescuing Banna and getting that fish.’ He jumped back down and went to the van’s rear. ‘We need to push it.’

He leaned against the chassis beside the coupler and braced his feet against a sleeper. A metallic groan came from the wheels. ‘It probably hasn’t been moved in years,’ said Nina as she joined him.

‘Shame we don’t have a bucket of WD-40,’ he replied. ‘Okay, get ready – and
push
!’

She added her weight to his. Another moan as rusty parts scraped against each other, but this time the van shifted, inching down the narrow track. ‘That’s it!’ Eddie grunted. ‘Jared, give us a hand!’

Zane reluctantly took up position beside them. With all three of them driving it on, the brake van gradually picked up speed. The noise from the axles faded as the surface layer of rust on the wheel bearings was ground away. Eddie glanced around the side of the wagon. ‘Points coming up,’ he warned as it trundled towards an intersection. ‘Once we’re through ’em, it should be clear to go.’

The van rocked alarmingly, wheels screeching as it crossed on to the main line. Nina cringed at the noise, but kept pushing. ‘Whoa, it’s rolling!’ she said as she realised her effort was now more about keeping up with the caboose than forcing it onwards.

‘Get on, quick!’ Eddie hopped aboard, then pulled Nina on to the rear veranda.

Zane swung himself up. ‘Will it go fast enough to catch them?’

‘It’d better,’ Eddie replied as the brake van rumbled down the line. ‘’Cause after everything they’ve done, I’m not letting those bastards get away.’

30

Nina looked ahead. The train was out of sight, but a drifting line of smoke revealed its position over the crest of the hill. ‘They must be a mile ahead of us by now. We’ll never catch up!’

‘We will,’ said Eddie. Expansion gaps between each section of the old rails made a loud
ka-clack!
as the brake van’s wheels passed over them – and the time between each noise was gradually shrinking. The truck was already at running pace. ‘I doubt that train gets much above twenty on the straights, and it’ll have to slow down even more on the curves.’

‘And what about when
we
go around the curves?’ Zane asked, eyeing the brake wheel.

‘Well, we’ll figure that out at the first one, won’t we?’ He joined Nina, looking down the line.

‘So when we catch up with them – assuming we even stay on the track – then what?’ she asked.

‘If we can match speeds without being seen, this thing should automatically hook on to the back of the train.’ He pointed at the coupler. ‘Then I can climb aboard and go along the roof to get Banna and that fish.’

‘And if they see us?’

‘Plan B.’

‘Which is?’

‘Buggered if I know. But it’ll probably involve shooting.’ He watched the empty farmland roll past. ‘Ay up. We’re definitely getting faster.’ Twenty miles per hour, he estimated, and the wheels’ metallic chatter was becoming more frantic.

The track curved away to the right, heading for the first hairpin at the top of the long descent to the plain. The Nazis’ train was indeed only crawling, the stem of the wafting smoke plume moving slowly across the plateau’s edge to their left. Eddie thought back to his ascent with Julieta. ‘You know something? If they’re going that slow, we can get
ahead
of them.’

‘How?’ Zane asked.

‘They’re still only on the first leg of the track. If someone jumps off, they can run down the hill and get in front of them on the second one. Maybe chuck a big rock on the track and try to derail them.’

‘By “someone”, you mean you, right?’ Nina said dubiously.

‘Jared’s leg’s pretty knackered, so yeah. Unless you want to?’

‘That would be a big no, but I don’t want you to do it either.’

‘We’ve got to stop that train somehow.’

Zane limped to the front of the wagon. ‘He’s right. And even if he can’t do it at the first turn, he can still go down to one below and try again. Better decide soon, though,’ he added. The van was still gaining speed, the first hairpin coming into view ahead.

‘Slow us down,’ Eddie decided, pointing at the wheel. ‘I’ll jump as we go around the corner. Soon as you’re clear, take off the brake and let it free-wheel until you come to the next turn. You should catch up with the train pretty fast.’ He checked his MP5, finding it almost empty. ‘Jared, top up with this,’ he said, tossing the magazine to the Israeli. Dropping the empty sub-machine gun, he secured his pistol inside his jacket and took up position, ready to leap off.

‘Eddie, this is crazy,’ Nina protested.

‘No change there, then.’ The brake van was now doing over twenty-five miles per hour, the ground blurring below. ‘Okay, Jared, you ready?’

The Mossad agent finished reloading and went to the brake. ‘When you are.’

‘All right, start slowing us down. Not too much, though – you need enough speed when you come out of the bend to keep going.’

Nina went to her husband. ‘Eddie.’

‘What?’

‘Don’t die. Please. I can’t lose anyone else.’

He turned away from the approaching curve to meet her eyes, then kissed her. ‘You’re stuck with me until the end,’ he promised.

‘I’d better be,’ she replied, managing a faint smile.

‘We’re almost there – get ready,’ Zane warned. Nina withdrew, holding a handrail as Eddie prepared to jump. ‘Okay . . . I’m slowing us down.’ He turned the brake wheel.

Nothing happened.

Nina looked at him with concern. ‘Any time you like. Although preferably now.’

He spun it through another two turns. ‘It’s not working!’

The wagon went faster as the slope steepened. ‘Shit!’ Eddie cried. ‘We’re
all
gonna have to jump—’

‘No, wait!’ The Israeli kept spinning the wheel – and finally felt resistance. The van juddered as the rusty brake shoes scraped the wheel rims.

Eddie flinched as sparks sprayed out below him – then cringed at an ear-splitting screech of metal. ‘Jesus Christ!’

Nina braced herself against the side wall so she could clap both hands to her ears. ‘So much for the element of surprise!’

Gripping the brake with both hands, Zane had no way to muffle the noise. All he could do was grimace as he pulled harder. The van didn’t slow, but the noise became even louder.

‘Too fast, too fast!’ Eddie shouted over the piercing cacophony. ‘It’ll fly off the track!’ The first turn was approaching, the ground beyond falling away.

Zane hauled on the wheel with his full weight. The corroded brakes finally bit – and he staggered as the wagon abruptly slowed. Nina shrieked as the deceleration threw her forward. Eddie clung on, more sparks spitting at his boots.

Centrifugal force suddenly caught everyone as the van swung around the hairpin bend – too fast – and started to tip over, top-heavy on the narrow track . . .

Zane kept up the pressure. The brakes clamped more tightly – and the caboose jolted back upright as it sloughed off more speed around the turn. Nina could see the back end of the train in the distance as it rounded the second reverse.

Eddie jumped—

He landed on his feet – and immediately wished he hadn’t.

The hillside below the track was much steeper than he had expected. ‘Whoa, shit,
shit
!’ he yelped as he ran headlong down it. If he tried to stop, he would fall and tumble down the hillside, with a good chance of seriously injuring himself by smacking into a rock or tree. He had to find a shallower gradient to slow down safely . . .

But the slope only got steeper. The railway’s next leg came into view below – and he realised with horror that it had been cut into the hillside. He was approaching a near-vertical drop of around fifteen feet. Whether he ran or rolled, he would hurtle right over it—

A small stand of shrubs and trees off to the left overhung the cutting. Eddie angled towards them, boots skidding on the gritty topsoil as he fought to stay upright. The bushes might be strong enough to catch him.

Might
be. But he was out of options.

He careered towards the vegetation. Get ready, and
drop
—

He deliberately fell on to his left side. Even prepared, the impact still hurt as he bounced off the ground and was pitched down the slope like a barrel. Through the crazy blur of his vision he saw the bushes rushing at him.

Eddie closed his eyes, arms up to shield his head—

He hit the first bush – and it disintegrated in an explosion of dry wood, not slowing him in the slightest.

The one below it fared no better, ripping from the ground as he grabbed at it, but it did at least arrest his roll. He slithered downhill on his back, the cutting looming below as he whipped under a tree at its edge . . .

He stamped both feet down as hard as he could – and launched himself into the air as the ground fell away.

Branches lashed at him. A thicker bough hit his chest; winded, he clutched his arms tightly around it. A moment’s dizziness as he was whiplashed back and forth, then he came to rest, entangled in the foliage with broken twigs digging painfully into his flesh. The railway line was directly below his precarious position.

He clung on, catching his breath – then looked up in alarm at the sound of gunfire.

The shriek of brakes had drawn the attention of everyone in the lead carriage. ‘What was that?’ Kroll demanded, looking back up the hillside.

‘There,’ snapped Rasche, pointing. The train had just negotiated the second hairpin – but the Nazis saw the loose wagon coming down the first long leg of track above them.

‘It’ll crash into us!’ said Schneider as the brake van picked up speed.

‘No,’ said Kroll. ‘Someone’s aboard it.’ He turned to Banna, who was seated between his guards at the front of the compartment. ‘Your friends are trying to rescue you,’ he said in English. The Egyptian’s momentary relief vanished as he added: ‘They won’t reach us. Walther!’

‘Sir!’ said the huge man.

‘Tell the men to shoot at that wagon as it goes past. I want everyone aboard it
dead
!’

‘Jared, they know we’re here,’ Nina warned. The train had exited the loop and was now coming back down the leg of track below – and she saw Walther lean from the first coach to bellow orders at those in the wagons behind him. Men with sub-machine guns appeared in the open doors. ‘Shit, they’re going to shoot at us!’

‘Get behind the brake wheel and stay low,’ ordered Zane, hurrying to the front. ‘They’re aiming up at us – the floor should give you some protection.’

She took his advice. ‘So what are you doing?’

‘Shooting first!’ He lined up his weapon on the approaching train – and opened fire, sending a sweeping spray of bullets along its side.

Windows in the carriage shattered, splinters flying from the flanks of the wooden wagons behind it. One Nazi was hit in the chest and fell backwards amongst his fellows, another toppling out with a scream. The steep slope threw him back under the wheels, spraying the two rearmost trucks with blood.

Zane kept firing as the train passed below, a third man falling as a wound burst open in his abdomen – but then a hollow clack came from his MP5 as the magazine ran dry. ‘Down!’

Nina dropped flat, the Israeli hunching beside her as automatic weapons opened up. Bullets ripped through the old wooden walls, flinders stabbing at the pair. The heavy steel chassis clanged as rounds struck it hammer blows from below. Then the gunfire tapered off, a few final shots hitting the rear of the van before it rolled beyond the Nazis’ firing angle.

Nina’s relief was short-lived as Zane saw the turn coming up ahead. ‘
Harah!
’ he gasped. ‘The brake!’

They both leapt up and grabbed the wheel, forcing it around. Another hideous shriek assaulted their ears. The van slowed as it reached the tight bend, but barely enough. Even braced, Zane still struggled to stay standing, while Nina would have been thrown against the wall if not for her white-knuckled grip on the brake as the wagon hurtled around the hairpin.

A harsh clatter over the metallic squeal – then a loud bang as something hit the van’s underside before bouncing away down the hillside. ‘That was one of the brakes,’ said Zane, still holding the wheel in place.

Nina tried to push it back. ‘Let go – we’ve got to catch up!’ They had come around on to the second leg of the descent, the train pulling away from them farther down the track.

A disbelieving look. ‘We might not be able to stop.’

‘The brakes are still working!’ That she had to shout over the shrill was proof enough. ‘Come on, speed us up!’

Zane reluctantly released the wheel. The noise stopped, and the brake van ran freely once more. The Israeli swapped his empty MP5 for Nina’s, while she went to the front, watching as the distance to the train began to shrink.

Eddie finally extricated himself from the tangle of branches. He checked that he still had his gun, then prepared to drop. The shooting had stopped; all he could hear now was the clank and huff of the train.

Which was getting louder, and louder—

He looked up the track – and saw the locomotive coming right at him.

If he stayed in the tree, he would be blasted by superheated steam. But if he fell to the track, he wouldn’t have time to scramble clear before the train mowed him down . . .

He kept hold for a couple more seconds, then dropped—

He landed with a heavy clang on the front footplate, just above the cowcatcher. He grabbed the boiler for support, immediately regretting it as the hot metal scalded his hands. Yelping, he let go and twisted to grip the footplate’s edge.

The heat radiating from the smokebox was almost unbearable. He leaned over until he could peer around the blocky water tank on the boiler’s side. The line’s gentle curve revealed the single passenger carriage and six wagons trailing the engine.

Some distance behind, he saw the brake van rolling in pursuit. But the Nazis had also spotted it. Walther shouted orders from the carriage, the commands relayed back along each wagon until they reached the second-to-last car. A man in its open door waved to signal understanding, then he and another Nazi started to clamber back along the side of the truck.

Eddie realised what they were doing. The last wagon contained heavy equipment – and heavy
weapons
.

He tugged a sleeve over his palm before taking hold of the edge of the smokebox and reaching with his other hand for the water tank. Grimacing at the heat, he manoeuvred himself around the front of the boiler.

The footplate above the wheels was only narrow, the overhanging tank making it all the harder for him to maintain a toehold as he shuffled sideways. Machinery pounded beneath him, jets of steam hissing from the cylinder and the valve gear slicing back and forth just below his feet. The poor condition of the track amplified the locomotive’s rocking motion – a particularly severe jolt made him slip, the toe of one boot skipping off a wheel before he jerked it away. One second later, and the connecting rod would have sliced his foot off.

Heart pounding, he continued onwards. Movement through the grubby round window in the cab’s face – the fireman’s head swinging repeatedly in and out of view as he shovelled coal into the furnace.

The two Nazis reached the ammo wagon, one hanging from a railing as he fumbled to release the door’s catch. The brake van was still steadily closing. Eddie glimpsed a pale face inside it: Nina.

The threat to her life spurred him on. He changed tack, pressing both hands flat on the top of the tank and taking all his weight on his arms as he swung himself along the footplate. Walther leaned from the first carriage again, barely twenty feet away, but he was looking rearwards. The ammo truck’s door finally opened. The first Nazi ducked inside, his companion clambering along the wagon’s flank to follow him.