Беар Гриллс - The Hunt [=The Devil's Sanctuary]

Jaeger straightened up. ‘Well they’re not the rules any more. You’re free now. All of you. Go out to the right and down towards the river. Wait there until we’re done, okay.’

Jaeger explained that once he and his team had cleared the entire plant, they’d come back and furnish whatever help they could. For now, though, the workers had to lie low at the riverside.

He paused. ‘But not you, Hing. You’re coming with us.’

So far Jaeger and his team had been clearing lightly defended buildings; ones that Kammler could afford to let fall. But at the laboratory complex they would be assaulting a well-defended target. And there, Jaeger didn’t doubt that Kammler’s gunmen would have been ordered to make a last stand.

He sank back into the cover provided by the thick stone walls of the turbine hall. He, Narov and Hing – the Chinese worker-slave – had joined Raff and Alonzo in preparation for the final assault, though who exactly it would prove final for, he dreaded to think.

The accommodation block had been deserted apart from that roomful of workers. Anyone else with any sense had long fled. Jaeger and Narov had learnt from Hing several key things. One, that he had fired a weapon when he had served in the PLA, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. And two, that he hated Kammler almost as much as they did.

Having been compelled by Jaeger to join them, Hing argued that because he hated Kammler so much and could operate a rifle, it made him useful. More to the point, he knew his way around the plant intimately. It made sense to Jaeger, and so Hing had been included as the fifth member of their team.

Raff and Alonzo had scored six definite kills, plus however many of the enemy their grenade fire might have accounted for. But no one was kidding themselves that this was going to be easy. Time and experience had taught Jaeger the savagery of a cornered dog.

Ahead of them lay an uphill dash across 250 feet of largely open terrain. All around the laboratory the vegetation and natural cover had been bulldozed clear. Any way you tried to approach it, you were an easy target.

The plan was to keep it simple-stupid. One pair would rush the target, as the others lobbed 40mm grenades into it, in an effort to keep the enemy’s heads down. That pair would in turn provide cover for the others to follow, with Hing bringing up the rear.

But they were running short of grenades, and Jaeger could sense the initiative turning in the enemy’s favour. If he’d been Kammler, he’d have done exactly as he had done: drawing his main force back to the lab and waiting for the enemy to come.

To all sides it was a kill zone.

He eyed the others. ‘You ready?’

By way of answer, there was the double clatch-clatch of Raff and Alonzo ratcheting grenades into their launchers. The steely look in their eyes spoke volumes. If Jaeger had to attempt such a suicide run, there was no one better to watch his back. And Narov’s.

He turned to her. ‘Toss for who goes first?’

Narov flashed a thin smile. ‘I am the lady. You should allow me the honour.’

Jaeger grinned. Narov: always at her very best in the midst of a shitfight. He had to admit, it was what he loved about her.

They spent a moment scanning the ground ahead, mapping out the route that would provide the best cover. There were precious few options.

Jaeger was tensing himself for the go when he felt a vibrating in his pocket. No doubt Kammler calling with another sick ultimatum. Well it was too late for that. It was time to end this, one way or the other.

The slight brrrrrr of the Iridium was audible to all. Narov glanced at him. ‘You are not going to answer?’

‘Why? Let’s do this.’

Narov remained inscrutable. ‘Check. You never know.’

Jaeger pulled it out. The caller ID displayed an unrecognised number. Not Kammler. He pressed answer, flicking the satphone onto speaker mode.

‘This is Falk,’ a scared-sounding voice hissed. ‘I know you have no reason, but you have to trust me. My father has your wife and Peter Miles here in his bunker. Underground. He’s kept me locked away ever since I made the calls to you, Irina.’ He paused for breath, then continued. ‘Irina, you can hear me?’

‘Falk, I’m here. Keep talking.’

‘It’s good to hear a friendly voice… This place is like a total fortress. To find a way in you have—’

The voice was cut off by a distant scream of rage and a wild burst of gunfire. The call remained live for a few seconds. In the background, Jaeger could hear Kammler raging.

‘My only son! The heir to the Reich! And you are trying to betray me? Who were you calling? Tell me?’

‘Who would I be calling at a time like this?’ Falk remonstrated. ‘I was searching the internet, trying to work out how to treat the old man’s injuries!’

‘Let the shrivelled bastard die!’ Kammler snarled. ‘Let them both die! And next time, son or no son, those won’t be warning shots. They will be aimed to kill.’

The call died.

For a second, the four of them eyed each other in stunned silence. Right now, right at this pivotal moment, that was the last thing they had been expecting.

It was Jaeger who spoke first. ‘You believe him?’ he demanded of Narov. ‘You believe what he said?’

‘You think that was another bit of theatre? That fear: no one fakes that.’

‘Then he’s in the underground shelter. The one the workers built. That’s where Kammler’s taken them. Got to be.’

Jaeger took a few seconds to explain to Raff and Alonzo what Hing had told them. ‘Doesn’t change shit,’ Raff growled. ‘We still have to take down Kammler’s laboratory.’

‘He’s right,’ Alonzo added. ‘Only one way to do this.’

Jaeger held up a hand for silence. ‘Just one second.’ An idea was crystallising in his mind, one as crazed as it was beautiful. ‘Kammler’s taken himself, my wife and Miles into his bunker. That means that any reason we had not to blow the tungsten bomb has just evaporated. He’s not disabled the device – I’d bet my life on it. Trust me, guys, it’s still there and it’s still live.’

He scanned the faces for a second. Raff and Alonzo looked stunned by his suggestion; Narov transfixed by it.

She reached out and grabbed his arm with a grip like iron. ‘Then what are you waiting for? Blow it. Finish it.’

Jaeger reached into his daysack and pulled out his Thuraya. He glanced at Alonzo and Raff. ‘Guys, I’m making the call. You good?’ They were a team of equals, and he wanted this to be unanimous.

‘I got no way to call it,’ Alonzo objected. ‘I never met this Falk guy. I’ll go with what you say.’

Raff eyed Jaeger, doubt creasing his brow. ‘You know Falk. You know if you can trust him. Plus it’s your wife that may be in that lab, if he’s full of shit.’

Jaeger could sense Raff’s reluctance. He desperately needed his support. Raff was his best friend, godfather to Luke, and he and Ruth had been close. ‘Raff, I’m taking the shot.’

‘Fuck it.’ Raff shrugged. ‘We try to rush that open ground, we’re dead anyway. Blow it.’

Jaeger bent over the Thuraya and typed in a single word in caps: GUNNERSIDE.

In 1942, a team of British and Norwegian commandos had been sent in to occupied Norway on a mission to sabotage Hitler’s nuclear programme. Against impossible odds, they had succeeded. That operation had been code-named Gunnerside.

During his teens, Jaeger had read every book he could get his hands on about those World War II commando missions. It had been the catalyst that had spurred him to undertake Royal Marines selection. He’d never forgotten the Gunnerside story, and it had seemed like the perfect code word to trigger the tungsten device.