The Apocalypse Watch (96 page)

“
Halt!
” cried the voice of a silhouetted figure emerging on the first landing.

“We are a special force from Berlin!” exclaimed Dietz, sotto voce in German as he raced up the staircase.

“
Was ist los?
” The guard raised his weapon as the commando fired two silenced rounds in rapid succession, and without breaking his stride reached the fallen patrol, dragging him to the steps and rolling him down the staircase.

The library door opened, revealing a tall man in a dark suit, a long cigarette holder in his left hand. “What is the racket?” he asked in German. Latham yanked the garrote from his belt, instantly arcing it over the head of Monluc’s aide, twisting it and pivoting the man’s body so that he was behind the Nazi. He loosened the leather strap and spoke.

“You do exactly what I tell you to do or I roll the straps and you’re dead!”

“
Amerikaner!
” choked the neo, dropping his holder. “
You
are the one who is
dead
!”

“
Oberst
Klaus Wachner,” said Witkowski, approaching the aide and staring at his contorted face. “The stories of your obscene security appear to be true,” he continued in harsh German. “Berlin—even
Bonn
—knows about
them! We penetrated your measures, and if we could, our enemies can do so also!”

“You’re insane, a
traitor
. The man choking me is an American!”

“A prized soldier of the Fourth Reich,
mein Herr
. A Sonnenkind!”

“
Ach! Nein!
”

“
Doch
. You will follow his orders or I will let him have his way with you. He loathes incompetence.” Witkowski nodded for Latham to further unloosen the straps of the garrote.

“
Danke
,” coughed Monluc’s aide, grabbing his throat.

“
Two
,” said Drew, nodding at the second Etranger agent. “Take over this clown! Go up the backstairs; they’re through those other rooms—”

“I know where they are, monsieur,” the Frenchman broke in. “I simply do not know
who
is there.”

“I’ll go with him,” said Dietz. “I speak the language and my semi’s in front of us both.”

“Put it on rapid-fire,” ordered Latham.

“It’s on it, Cons-Op.”

“According to the plans,” continued Drew, “there’s a walled corridor around the entire floor. Once you’re up there, bring him around to the center.”

“
Unless
we’re all in trouble,” countered the commando.

“What do you mean, Captain?”

“You don’t know what’s up those staircases any more than I do. Say you catch total fire, one of us has to blow the place apart. I shove this bastard’s hand into a door slot, open it, and throw in grenades.”

“You can’t
do
that, and that’s an
order
!”

“It’s standard, Cons-Op. We don’t risk our lives to come up with zero!”

“We’ve got to get whatever’s up there, goddammit, we can’t blow it apart! Before I do that, I’ll radio the assault unit down the road.”

“There won’t be time, for Christ’s sake! The neos will do it
themselves
!”

“
Stop
, both of you!” cried Elyse. “I offered you the two
of us and that offer remains. Adrienne will precede your captain and the Nazi on the backstairs, and I shall climb in front of you, monsieur. The patrols will hesitate to shoot either of us, for there are constant assignations between men and women here.”

“
Berchtesgaden
,” said Witkowski quietly. “An alpine whorehouse run by a
Führer
who claimed to be purer than a newborn lamb.… She’s right,
chłopak
. The sight of the girls gives us the split-second advantage, front and back.
Take
it.”

“Okay!… Let’s go, and I hope to hell I’m giving the right order.”

“You don’t have a choice, young man,” said the colonel softly. “You’re the leader, and like all leaders, you listen to your staff, evaluate, and make your own decision. It’s not easy.”

“Cut the military bullshit, Stanley, I’d rather play hockey.”

Elyse, in her diaphanous white gown, started regally up the circular staircase; Drew, the colonel, and Etranger One followed ten steps behind her in the shadows.

“
Liebling!
” whispered a guard in the hallway beyond the landing, his voice exuberant. “You got rid of that drunk from Paris, no?”

“
Ja, Liebste
, I came only for you. I am so bored.”

“All is quiet, come with me—
ach
, who are
they? Behind
you!”

Etranger One fired a single silenced shot. The guard collapsed on the railing, fell over it, and plummeted down to the marble floor below.

The backstairs were dark; the only light, far above, created shadows within darker shadows. The terrified Adrienne climbed step by quiet step up the steep staircase, her body trembling, her wide eyes filled with fear. They reached the second floor.

“
Was ist?
” came the strident voice from above as the sudden glare of a powerful flashlight filled the entire staircase.
“Liebchen?
 … 
Nein!
”

Etranger Two fired; the Nazi guard fell over, his head
caught in the banister. “Go
on
!” ordered Captain Dietz. “Two more floors to go.”

They crawled ahead, the child-whore named Adrienne crying copiously, blowing her nose on the cloth of her blouse.

“It is not that far,
ma chérie
,” whispered Etranger Two gently to the young girl. “You are very brave and we will tell everyone that.”

“Please tell my
father
!” whimpered the young girl. “He
hates
me so!”

“I shall do so myself. For you are a true hero of France.”

“
Am
I?”

“Keep going, child.”

Latham, Etranger One, and the colonel stopped abruptly on the staircase at the sight of Elyse’s hand waving behind her; it was a warning. They stepped back on the descending steps against the dark shadowed wall and waited. A blond guard walked rapidly out on the third floor landing; he was agitated, angry. “Fräulein, have you seen Adrienne?” he asked in German. “She’s not in the room with that pig, Heinemann. He’s not there either, and the door is open.”

“They probably went for a walk, Erich.”

“That Heinemann is an ugly fellow, Elyse!”

“Surely you’re not jealous, my dear. You know what we are, what we do. Only our bodies are involved, not our hearts, our feelings.”

“My God, she’s too
young
!”

“Even I’ve told her that.”

“You know Heinemann is a pervert, don’t you? He demands terrible things.”

“Don’t think about them.”

“I
hate
this place!”

“Why do you stay?”

“I have no choice. My father enrolled me when I was in middle school and I was very impressed. The uniforms, the camaraderie, the fact that we were outcasts together.
They said I was special and selected me to carry the banners at the meetings. They took photographs of me.”

“You can still leave, my friend.”

“No, I cannot. They paid for my years at university and I know too much. They would hunt me down and kill me.”

“
Erich!
” shouted a male voice from a hallway beyond the landing. “
Kommen Sie her!
”

“
Ach
, that one, he’s always yelling. Do this, do that! He doesn’t like me because I went to university and I really don’t think he can read.”

“When I see Adrienne, I’ll tell her you are—concerned. Remember, young man, it is only the body, not the heart.”

“You are a good friend, Fräulein.”

“I hope to be a better one someday.” The guard named Erich ran off the landing as Elyse came down several steps and whispered to the three intruders against the wall. “Don’t kill that one. He could be of use to you.”

“What’s she talking about?” said Drew.

The colonel explained as Elyse continued up the staircase. “She said not to waste him, and she’s right.”

“Why?”

“He wants out of here and he knows a lot. Go
on
!”

The fourth-floor landing was not, to use Witkowski’s words, very encouraging. A large twenty-foot archway was the open space between the wall that wrapped around the entire top floor. Presumably, it was the same for the back staircase. Two guards stood in the frame, another visible behind them, seated on a bench. Again Latham, E-One, and the colonel stayed out of sight as Elyse stepped up into view of the guards.

“
Halt!
” roared the neo patrol on the right, whipping his pistol out of its holster and aiming at the call girl’s head. “What are you
doing
up here? It is forbidden for anyone to come up these stairs!”

“Then you had better check with Herr What’s-his-name in the library. He called me away from the new man from Paris and ordered me to be here as soon as I could disengage myself. What more can I
say
?”

“
Was ist los?
” yelled the guard in the rear bench, rising
and rushing forward between the two men. “Who
are
you?” he shouted.

“We are first names only, you know that,” replied the courtesan angrily. “I am Elyse, and I will not tolerate your discourtesy! I was instructed by that ghoul of a man in the library to come here, and, like you, I follow orders!” Suddenly Elyse sprang away from the line of fire and shouted, “
Now!
”

The repeated spits of muted explosions filled the upper regions of the château as the three guards fell. The assault team, led by Drew, raced up the stairs, checking each body for signs of deadly life. Satisfied, they waited, their backs against the inner wall. “Get out of here!” ordered Latham, addressing the white-gowned Elyse, who had crawled up the steps to the archway. “You’ve got your freedom, lady, if I have to blow up the Quai d’Orsay to get it.”

“
Merci
, monsieur. Your French improves with every hour.”

“Go back to the kitchen,” said Witkowski. “Tell them funny stories about us, and keep everyone calm.”

“It is not a problem,
mon colonel
. I will sit on a table and raise my skirt. They will be calm on the outside, preoccupied on the inside … 
Au revoir
.”

“As your
capitaine
said, it is definitely an unfair world,” mumbled Etranger One as Elyse disappeared.

“Where
are
they?” said Drew. “They should
be
here by now!”

On the narrow backstairs, Etranger Two, hammerlocking General Monluc’s aide, the garrote in place, propelled him up the staircase after Dietz and the child prostitute. They came to a stop.

“
Bist Du es
, Adrienne?” said the quiet voice on the third floor. “What are you
doing
here?”

“I wanted to see you, Manfried,” whined the girl. “Everyone is so mean to me and I knew you were here.”

“How could you know that,
Liebste
? The posts are secret.”

“The aides talk when they have too many schnapps.”

“They will be disciplined for it, my lovely little girl. Come up here, there is a soft rug and we will make use of it. Did I tell you that your breasts grow more beautiful each time you come here?”

“
Kill
him!” screamed Adrienne, flattening herself against the wall of the staircase.

Two muted gunshots and the guard named Manfried fell. The garrote tightened, they proceeded to the last and final floor. At first sight the approach appeared to be insurmountable. Around the corner of the staircase there was a ten-foot archway, a single guard stationed in the center, another behind him, dozing on a bench.

“Do you
know
him?” whispered Dietz in French into Adrienne’s ear.

“
Non
, monsieur. He is new. I have seen him, that is all.”

“Do you know if he’s German or French?”

“Most definitely German, sir. Almost all of the guards are German, but many speak French, the more educated ones.”

“I’m going to do something that may shock you, but I want you to stay calm and quiet, do you understand me?”

“What will you
do
?”

“There’ll be a big, bright fire, but it won’t last long, it was the colonel’s idea.”

“
Le colonel?
”

“The big fellow who speaks German.”

“Oh,
oui
! What is it?”

“It’s called a flare,” said Dietz, pulling out a short cardboard-covered tube from his right pocket and lighting the fuse with a cupped match. He peered around the corner banister, paused, his eyes on the fuse, then heaved it up the narrow steps past the guard’s body. Stunned, the neo-Nazi whipped around at the sound of the flare passing him and hitting the floor; before he could adjust, the blinding explosion of a thousand white-hot sparks penetrated his eyes and his flesh. He screamed as the dozing guard behind lurched to his feet in consternation, his figure outlined beyond the moving sheets of flame. In panic, he fired repeatedly with his semiautomatic, the bullets filling
the narrow staircase. The girl, Adrienne, yelled in pain; she had been hit in the leg. Dietz pulled her back as Monluc’s aide, held firmly by Etranger Two, released all breath sharply, his head falling forward; he had been shot in the skull. The commando angled his weapon around the banister, his gun on rapid-fire, spraying the opening. The second guard spun around in circles, finally collapsing on the flare itself. Swirling black smoke was everywhere as Dietz grabbed the young girl by the legs, carrying her up the steps cradle-fashion.

“Bring that son of a bitch up here!” he ordered Etranger Two in French.

“
Il est mort, mon capitaine
.”

“I don’t give a damn about his future, I just want his hand, and not too cold either!”

In the fourth-floor corridor, the backstairs detail raced to their left, Dietz throwing Adrienne over his shoulder, the French commando dragging the Nazi at his side. Six seconds later they came to the central archway that broke the wall. Latham, Witkowski, and Etranger One were waiting. Dietz gently lowered the girl to the floor; mercifully, she was unconscious.