Jack Higgins: Midnight Never Comes

Chavasse moved quickly, the gun coming up and a machine pistol stuttered, bullets spraying the wall beside him, a splinter cutting his cheek.

'All right, sport, let's have it!' Donner called and he moved out of the shadows beside the tower, pushing Asta in front of him.

Remembering von Bayern, Chavasse threw down his revolver and waited as they mounted the battlements. Asta ran forward and he slipped an arm about her shoulders.

'Very touching,' Donner said bitterly.

'You've had it, Donner,' Chavasse said. 'Everything's gone up in smoke. When I left Fhada, Murdoch was even calling in that trawler of yours and there was quite a reception committee waiting.'

Something glowed in Donner's eyes. 'I've still got you, sport. You and her, and that's all that matters in the final analysis.' He laughed harshly. 'You think your boyfriend's pretty hot stuff, don't you, Asta? Well, let's see just how good he is.' He turned to Stavrou who had moved to meet them and said quickly in Russian, 'Break his back for me.'

The great arms swung and Chavasse twisted to duck beneath them and ran for the ramparts. Steiner sprawled face down across his machine pistol. Chavasse tugged at it desperately and as it came free, swung to meet Stavrou who came on like a charging bull.

There was no time to fire. Chavasse swerved and as Stavrou plunged past, smashed him across the back of the skull with the machine pistol. Stavrou cried out in agony and staggered towards the dark line of the wall. He fell to one knee, stood up and turned blindly.

It was the final chance and Chavasse took it, jumping high in the air to deliver that most feared of all karate blows, the flying front kick, full in Stavrou's face. He cried out sharply and catapulted back over the wall, down to the rocks below.

Chavasse landed badly on the flagstones, the fall jarring him painfully. As Asta screamed, he turned, pushing himself up on one knee, knowing he was too late, aware only of Donner's face as the machine pistol was raised.

'One moment, Herr Donner!' von Bayern called from the courtyard.

Donner swung in surprise and the German fired three times very fast. The first bullet caught Donner in the shoulder spinning him round, the other two hammered against the wall. He dropped the machine pistol, pushed himself away from the wall with a violent shove and went over the edge into the courtyard.

Chavasse picked himself up and moved to Steiner who groaned and sat up, a dazed expression on his face. 'What happened?'

'A thunderbolt called von Bayern descended, that's what happened,' Chavasse told him.

Asta was at his side and he slipped an arm about her and sagged down on one of the cannon as von Bayern mounted the steps and walked along the ramparts to join them.

In the strange bronze light, he looked indomitable and ageless, the eternal soldier and he leaned on the wall beside them and smiled.

'So, my dear Paul, we live to enjoy our Oktoberfest after all?'

Chavasse took a deep, shuddering breath. He was alive, that was all that mattered and he held Asta close, the scent of her warm in his nostrils as the sun finally dipped beyond the mountains and night fell.