Алистер Маклин - Red Alert

‘It’s all collapsing around you and there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it,’ Sabrina said with a satisfied smile. ‘You might as well give up now, Tony, you know you’re finished. Nobody likes a failure, not even the Red Brigades.’

‘ Stazitta !’ Ubrino shouted, pulling the Beretta from his belt.

‘Leave her,’ Calvieri hissed and pushed the barrel of the gun towards the carpet. ‘We need her in order to get out of here.’

‘They could be stalling for time.’

Calvieri shook his head. ‘Then they would have postponed the press conference. No, they don’t intend to give in to our demands. That much is obvious.’

‘Then press the button.’

Calvieri took the transmitter from his pocket and stared at it in the palm of his hand.

‘The vial’s already been removed for analysis. What’s the use of blowing up an empty metal cylinder?’

‘You only have their word for it. What if they’re calling your bluff? Press the button. We have nothing left to lose. Press it.’

‘No!’ Calvieri yelled, his eyes blazing. ‘You’ve been working with Zocchi for too long. Even if the vial is still inside the metal cylinder, what can we hope to achieve by killing millions of innocent people? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.’

Ubrino looked at Sabrina.

‘She was right. You never intended to push it, did you?’

‘Never,’ Calvieri replied defiantly. ‘But they didn’t know that. If they had they wouldn’t have agreed to our demands in the first place. It was psychological pressure. Can’t you see that?’

‘I believed in you, Tony. And this is how you repay my trust.’ Ubrino levelled the Beretta at Calvieri. ‘Give me the transmitter.’

‘You’ll have to kill me first,’ Calvieri said in a challenging voice. ‘And you can’t do that, can you? You need me to get you out of here. You don’t have the brains to do it by yourself.’

Ubrino thought for a few moments, then shoved the Beretta back into his belt.

‘When this is over…’

‘Then you’ll kill me, sure,’ Calvieri replied with an indifferent shrug, reaching for the telephone to call Philpott.

‘What did he say, sir?’ Whitlock asked after Philpott had replaced the receiver.

‘He wants a helicopter ready in twenty minutes to fly them out. They’re taking Sabrina as a hostage.’ Philpott turned to Paluzzi. ‘I want you and your men to clear the helipad. Only our helicopter must be there.’ He gestured to Vlok. ‘Dieter, I want you to go with them to make sure it all runs smoothly.’

Vlok agreed, then hurried out with Paluzzi and his men.

‘Sergei, I want you and Mike to check the fifth floor. There shouldn’t be anybody there, but it’s best to be sure.’

Kolchinsky and Graham left the room.

Philpott turned to Kuhlmann.

‘Reinhardt, I want you to commandeer one of the lifts then put a guard on each floor to make sure that Calvieri and Ubrino have safe passage to the helipad.’

‘I’ll see to it,’ Kuhlmann said and went immediately to carry out the instruction.

‘Which leaves me,’ Whitlock said suspiciously. ‘What do you want me to do?’

‘Ever wanted to become a helicopter pilot?’

The telephone rang. Calvieri answered it.

‘You’re three minutes late.’

‘You made the conditions, not me,’ Philpott replied.

‘Is the helicopter ready?’

‘It’s ready.’

‘And the lift?’

‘It’s been stopped on the fifth floor, as requested.’

‘You make any move against us–’

‘You’ll kill Sabrina, you told me that before,’ Philpott cut in.

‘As long as we understand each other. She’ll be released, unharmed, once we reach our final destination. I’ll call you at the hotel tomorrow morning to tell you where to find her. Until then, ciao .’ Calvieri replaced the receiver and turned to Ubrino. ‘Bring her.’

‘Why don’t you bring her?’ Ubrino retorted.

‘Why don’t I just bring myself?’ Sabrina said, getting to her feet.

Ubrino grabbed her arm and pressed the Beretta against the side of her neck. Calvieri unlocked the door and eased it open. He then took hold of Sabrina’s other arm and they led her out into the deserted corridor.

All the doors were closed. The lift stood open at the end of the corridor. The silence was eerie. Ubrino dug his fingers into Sabrina’s arm and guided her towards the lift. Calvieri kept his eyes on the doors behind them, his Beretta at the ready. Not that he thought Philpott would try anything. There was a touching loyalty amongst his kind. A loyalty that was foreign to someone like Calvieri. His loyalty lay with the cause, not with its protagonists. He glanced at Ubrino.

Zocchi’s militancy had obviously rubbed off on him over the past few years. Ubrino had suddenly become a dangerous liability. He would kill him the moment they were airborne. He couldn’t afford to take any chances. But for the moment he needed Ubrino. Just as Ubrino needed him. A temporary bond was all that remained of a once close friendship.

Ubrino led Sabrina into the lift, the Beretta still pressed firmly against the side of her neck. Calvieri backed into the lift after them and closed the doors.

Whitlock sat behind the controls of the Lynx helicopter, Emile’s peaked cap tugged over his head. He looked across at the lift doors. Where were they?

He thought about the briefing in Vlok’s office. Philpott’s instructions had been simple. Rescue Sabrina, unharmed. It meant he would have to kill at least one of them. Perhaps both. Ubrino was certainly the more dangerous of the two. A psychotic killer. Calvieri was less of a threat. Although he was always armed, he had never been known to use his gun. He left the killings to his Brigatisti. Whitlock touched the Browning in his belt and looked slowly around the deserted helipad. The landing lights were on as the darkness descended across Berne. He shivered in the light wind which had sprung up in the last hour and absently adjusted his cap as he turned his attention back to the lift doors. Where were they?

The doors suddenly parted and Calvieri stepped out tentatively on to the helipad. He looked around slowly, then indicated for Ubrino to follow him. Ubrino emerged on to the helipad, Sabrina held tightly against him. Whitlock bit his lip anxiously. It was going to be a difficult shot. A mistake could cost Sabrina her life. That seemed to give him renewed confidence in himself.

Calvieri pointed to the rotors and turned his finger round in the air, indicating that he wanted Whitlock to start the engine. Whitlock remembered what Emile had shown him and pressed the starter switch. They were now less than ten yards away from the helicopter. He palmed the Browning from his belt. His hands were sweating. Calvieri reached the open door first and peered into the cabin. Satisfied it was empty, he clambered inside. Ubrino led Sabrina to the door and Calvieri grabbed her arm to help her up. Ubrino glanced around furtively, then gripped the door but as he pulled himself up Sabrina lashed out with her foot, catching him on the side of the head. He fell heavily on to the helipad, the Beretta spinning from his hand. Whitlock instinctively swung his Browning on Calvieri, then noticed out of the corner of his eye that Ubrino had got to his feet and was making for his fallen Beretta. For a split second Whitlock was caught in a dilemma. Then Sabrina shoulder-charged Calvieri, slamming him against the cabin wall. He grunted in pain and the Beretta slipped from his grasp. Whitlock kicked open the passenger door and shot Ubrino as he was aiming the Beretta at Sabrina’s back. The bullet struck Ubrino in the head and he was dead before he hit the ground. Whitlock turned the Browning on Calvieri, giving Sabrina the chance to kick the Beretta out on to the helipad.