Greg Iles - The Spandau Phoenix

The young Israeli ran straight to the corpses.

As

recogni them." "

"Look, said General Steyn, pointing to the rectangular black shield

blocking the main elevator. "That must be the way to the gun tower."

"And the bomb," Gadi murmured.

Two CT soldiers aimed their shotguns at the shield.

"Captain!" called a voice from the shadows to their right.

Hauer felt his heart thump. Peering across the great entrance hall, he

spied a figure against the darkness of a corridor to his right. It was

Hans.

"Gadi!" called a hoarse voice.

"Uncle? Where are you?"

Stern stepped into the brighter light of the reception hall.

Hans and Ilse stood in the shadows behind him.

"Jonas!" bellowed General Steyn. "You've got some bloody explaining to

do!"

Gadi started across the floor, but Stern signaled him to hold back.

Hauer watched in puzzlement as Hans slipped out of the corridor and

raced around the edge of the great hall like a runner circling a track.

When he skidded to a stop, Hauer drew back in shock. Hans's hair, face,

and clothing were covered with blood. He looked like he,had dived on a

grenade.

'Hans! What happened? Were you shot?"

"No time to explain!" Only the whites of Hans's eyes showed through the

blood. "We're dead unless we can get through those shields. We've got

a plan, but I can't explain it now. I want you to find two rooms with

windows facing the inner part of the house. There are cameras in some

rooms, not in others. Find a room without a camera. If my plan works,

the shields should come down for a few moments-just long enough for you

to get through. Skirt the wall when you go-there's a camera by that

elevator."

Hans squeezed Hauer's arm hard; then he sprinted back toward Stern.

Hauer looked questioningly@ at Gadi. The young Israeli shrugged and

started toward the hallway on their left. Hauer and the South Africans

followed.

High in the turret, Pieter Smuts watched Major Karami's commandos charge

across the bowl. In a matter of minutes Hauer and his men would be

slaughtered. Smuts smiled. His protective shields probably had claw

marks on them by now.

It was a pity about Linah, of course, but servants were replaceable.

"Pieter!" Hess cried.

When Smuts whirled, he saw his horrified master pointing at one of the

closed-circuit TV monitors. Ilse Apfel filled the screen. Her face and

clothing were smeared with blood, and she held an Uzi submachine gun in

her hands. She screamed silently at the monitor for help. Then she

turned away from the camera and fired a burst from the Uzi.

"That's the elevator camera!" Hess cried. "Open the audio link!"

Instantly the sound of gunfire filled the turret. Ilse turned back

toward the camera and screamed. "In the name of God, help us!

They're going to kill us! Herr Horn, please! My husband is wounded!"

At that moment Hans staggered backward into the camera's field of view

and fired a burst from an Uzi he had seized from a dead Libyan.

He too was covered in blood.

Both the blood and the Uzis had been provided by Major Karami's dead

assassins. Hans and Ilse had rolled in the bloody pools of the

reception hall until they looked like walking casualties.

"For God's sake, Pieter!" Hess pleaded. "Those are Germans down

there!"

Smuts shook his head angrily. "We can't risk it, sir. Hauer and his

men could already be inside the house."

"Can you drop only the elevator shield?"

"No, sir. It's all or none. That's the way they're designed."

"Then drop them all for five seconds!"

Smuts clenched his fists. Like most Germans, his master could be

infuriatingly sentimental. In the same way a man who sent millions to

the ovens could love dogs, Smuts thought. For the first time since he

began serving Hess, the Afrikaner felt mutiny in his heart. "I think

it's a trick, sir! I see no Arabs!"

Ilse whirled back to the camera, her blue eyes wild with terror.

"In the name of God, Herr Horn, save me! Save my baby!

Hess's knuckles went white on the arms of his wheelchair.

"I don't see Hauer anywhere," he said quietly, his eyes scanning the

other monitors.

"Not all the bedrooms have cameras!"

Hess's face contorted with rage. "Those are Germans dying down there,

Pieter! She saved my life last night "But-"

"Do it!"

The Afrikaner slammed his right fist down on the console.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Gadi swung himself through the bedroom window even before the black

shield had fully retracted. Hauer leaped after him and landed on the

cobblestones of a small courtyard. To his right he saw the South

African CT troops helping General Steyn to his feet.

"We've got to find my uncle!" Gadi cried.

General Steyn pointed to a large wooden door across the courtyard and

gave a circular flick of his wrist. The shotgun-armed CT troops blew

the hinges off the door. Silently they sprinted through the opening and

somersaulted into defensive positions, the others close behind them.

Hauer was the last man through. Just before he stepped over the

threshold, he realized that the firing outside the house had stopped.

He puzzled over this for a moment, then forgot it as he followed Gadi

and the South Africans down a short corridor and into a huge, windowless

room. Several large crates were stacked in the middle of the floor. A

forklift had been parked in front of a door in the far wall.

Suddenly, from a hallway to Hauer's right, Stern and Ilse came running

into the room. Sensing danger, Hauer waved them back, but before he

could call out, two men wearing Wehrtnacht gray uniforms rose up from

behind the forklift and opened fire with automatic weapons,.

Stern dived to the floor, pulling Ilse down with him. Gadi returned

fire. As the bullets flew, Hans came pelting out of the corridor,

skidded, then backpedaled into the hall.

"Ilse!" he shouted. "Crawl back here!"

Ilse looked back, but Stern had thrown himself on top of her.

Hauer and General Steyn scrambled back into the hall behind them.

The South African CT troops reacted differently. The highly trained

commandos considered their

ia

Kevlar body armor an offensive weapon. While one soldier fired covering

bursts, the other loaded a tear-gas canister into his shotgun and fired

at the forklift. Stinging vapor fogged the far side of the room.

Without even waiting to hear a cough the South Africans charged, firing

as they ran.

"Clear! Clear!" came a shout in Afrikaans.

"That's it!" said General Steyn. "Let's go!"

At the forklift, Hauer hugged Hans and Ilse fiercely, but there was no

time to speak. At their feet lay the bodies of Smuts's men, cut to

pieces by the South African commandos. The CT troops had already

secured the stairwell beyond the door. The steel steps led both up and

down. Leaning out over the rail, Hauer looked up and counted six

flights of stairs that ended on a wide landing three floors above.

Below, the stairs disappeared into darkness.

"The bomb's downstairs," said Stern. "A hundred meters down.

That's our objective."

"But the enemy's up there," Hauer argued, pointing with his sniper

rifle.

"They don't matter," said Stern. "He doesn't matter."

"Who?" asked General Steyn. "Horn?"

Hauer cut his eyes at Stern. "If we don't neutralize that tower, we

won't be able to do a damned thing about your bomb even if we find it."

Stern laughed softly. "How long do you think those shields will hold