Ник Картер - Assassin - Code Name Vulture

“Hold it or I’ll kill Gruber,” I threatened to the other gunmen. I had let Hugo, the stiletto, slip into my hand and now held it tight against Gruber’s throat. I could hear a loud yell of excitement from the gate guard behind me.

The tall thin man stopped his draw, but the stocky one had his revolver already out and had Zach beat. Kneeling low beside the sedan, Erika was bringing the snub-nosed revolver from her purse. The stocky gunman fired and hit Zach in the chest. Zach spun around in a tight circle and hit hard against the back fender of the car.

Erika aimed and fired the Belgian snub-nose, and the stocky gunman grabbed at his abdomen and screamed. His revolver went off twice more into the dirt as he pitched sideways onto his shoulder to the ground.

Gruber gained confidence from all this and, while my attention was diverted, grabbed at my knife arm and managed to pry it away from his throat. In the same movement he kicked backwards at my left leg and connected on my calf and shin. I grunted and my hold on him weakened. Then he was sliding from my grasp, twisting the knife arm as he went Hugo slipped from me as we both fell to the ground beside the car.

Seeing all this, the tall man hit the ground as he drew his weapon. Erika fired at him, but the shot went wild. He returned the fire and dented metal on the car beside her shoulder. I saw that she was in trouble. I slugged Gruber and he fell on his back away from me. Grabbing the stiletto from the dirt behind us, I hurled it in an underhand motion toward the tall man as he aimed at Erika again. The stiletto hit him in the chest, thudding into him almost silently. His eyes went big and the gun went off and dug up dirt between us. He fell down, grabbing at the hilt of the knife.

I could hear the gate being opened behind us as Gruber’s hands clawed at my face. I hit him hard again and heard bone snap in his jaw. My other fist rammed into his face and broke his nose. He fell unconscious underneath me.

“Look out!” Zach’s weak voice came to us. I turned and saw that the shot had not killed him. He was struggling to his feet and looking toward the gate.

“Get down!” I ordered Erika, who was very near me beside the black sedan.

The guard aimed the submachine gun our way. Zach got up and pointed his weapon at the man, but the guard beat him. A fusillade of shots clattered from the automatic gun, digging up dirt beyond Zach and then hitting him in the chest before they began careening off the metal of the car. Erika and I kept low as Zach hit the dust on his back, dead.

I rolled over twice to the end of the car, to a position up under the front bumper, pulling out my Luger as I went. When I got there, the guard was just starting to rake back the other way with the gun. I fired three quick shots at him, bracing my gun hand with the other. The slugs from the Luger struck the fence in back of him, the guard’s groin, and his chest, in that order. The automatic weapon blasted at the cobalt sky as he pitched backwards into the dust. Then, suddenly, there was silence in the compound.

I lay there getting my breath. In the jungle somewhere a bird shrieked its outrage at the noise we had made. I was covered with dust and dirt. I rose slowly and helped Erika to her feet. She was gazing at Zach bewilderedly; her face was white.

I turned to Gruber and saw that he was coming around. I bent down and slapped him a few times, and he gazed up at me drunkenly. He groaned. I stuck the Luger into his face. “How many men in the house guarding Minourkos?” I demanded.

He tried to speak but found it difficult with a dislocated jaw. “I... an’t—”

I stuck the Luger up under his chin. “How many?”

Weakly he held up two fingers. I turned to Erika. “Stay here and watch him.”

She nodded numbly.

I went to the entrance of the house. The wide, arched doorway was open. I stepped into a large entrance foyer just in time to run head-on into a dark-faced man with an automatic in his fist I fired my Luger, and it roared in the hall. The man smashed up against the wall beside him. He then fell in a cumbersome heap across a small table, demolishing it as he hit the floor.

The man had come from a long corridor to my left. I went down the hallway quickly but cautiously. I couldn’t delay in finding Minourkos, or he would surely be dead when I finally did. It might be that they had already killed him.

The doors off the corridor, which I presumed were bedrooms, were all open except one at the end. I heard a small sound inside as I stopped in front of it. Taking a deep breath, I stepped back and kicked the door savagely. It crashed inward, and I went through the opening.

A very skinny, ugly man stood over Minourkos, who was bound to a straight-back chair, aiming a gun at his head. His finger on the trigger, he whirled to face me when the door crashed open. He fired first, but wildly, and the slug chewed up wood in the door casing beside me. I fired the Luger and hit him in the chest. He spun off his feet and dropped to the floor. But he hadn’t lost his gun. He aimed at me again. I beat him that time and hit him in the face, the slug blowing the side of his head away.

Minourkos stared at his dead captor with a dazed expression as I holstered my Luger. Slowly he looked over at me.

“Nikkor Minourkos?” I asked.

“Yes,” he answered quietly. “Who are—”

“We have come to free you, Mr. Minourkos,” I said.

He let out a shaky breath. “Thank God. He was going to—”

“I know.” I untied him and he rose from the chair, rubbing his wrists.

“Are you all right?” I asked, concerned.

“Yes, I will be fine.” He shook his head and muttered something in Greek. “I can’t believe it is really over.”

“Well, most of it is.”

I was starting to ask him to tell his story when I heard the shot from the compound. I remembered Erika out there with the German. I turned and rushed into the hall. “Erika!”

In a moment she answered me. “I’m all right” Before I could move toward the front foyer, she suddenly rounded the corner and walked casually toward me, stuffing the Belgian revolver into her purse.

“What the hell happened?” I asked.

“Gruber met an untimely demise.” Her eyes avoided mine.

“You shot him?” I asked, almost unbelievably.

“He started mumbling with his dislocated jaw. When I asked him what he was saying, he called me a dirty Jew and said I should have been with the others he saw die at Dachau. He did not think Jews should be allowed to live in the same world with people like himself. So I sent him to another world. I hope it is warm enough for him down there.”

Finally the green eyes looked up into mine, defiantly, daring me to say something. I remembered that relatives of her parents had been put to death by the Nazis at Buchenwald. Somehow I could think of nothing to say in defense of Heinz Gruber.

“Come on in and meet Mr. Minourkos,” I said.

We went into the room, and Erika stared at the corpse on the floor. Minourkos was leaning against a nearby wall. He straightened when he saw Erika.

“Miss Erika Nystrom,” I introduced them. “Of Israeli intelligence.”

Minourkos’ eyes narrowed. He looked over at me. “And you?”

“The name is Carter. Nick Carter. I’m employed by the US government in the same capacity as Miss Nystrom. We came here to free you and to get Adrian Stavros.”

Minourkos moved away from the wall. “I see. Well, Mr. Carter, the first thing I want as a free man is contact with the authorities.” His tone had taken on that of a business tycoon speaking to his subordinates. “Then I will deal with Adrian Stavros in my own way.”

“Mr. Minourkos,” I said slowly, “there is absolutely no reason for you to do anything at this point. All that can result is a bundle of red tape and delay. I would prefer that you let us handle it.”