master. Stern was already disrobing. 'It's too risky,' he objected.
'Let's have that jacket, Professor,' said Stern. 'I must wear something
Ilse can recognize immediately.'
Hauer wanted to argue, but he could think of no better plan. He watched
enviously as the Israeli prepared to slip into the very center of his
metaphorical spider's web.
As Stern stripped, Professor Natterman leaned over and whispered in his
ear. 'Remember what we talked about on the plane, Jonas? About the man
with one eye? About Hess-' Stern gently but firmly shoved Natterman
away. Naked to the waist, he handed his pistol to Gadi, then turned to
Hauer and smiled.
'Sorry, Captain,' he said. 'You're just too young for the job.'
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
337 Pm. Van der Wan Straat, Pretoria Yuri Borodin wiped his neck and
forehead with a silk handkerchief.
It was beastly hot in the van, with the oppressive closeness of
impending rain, and it stank. The van's engine was not running, so
there was no air conditioning. Borodin looked up. Five fleshy faces
stared dumbly back at him. Gorilles. That's what Borodin called them.
Embassy gorillas.
They were the KGB muscle available at every Russian embassy in the
world, and everywhere in the world they looked the same. Off-the-rack
suits, pomaded hair, big faces, big fists, and most of them smelled.
Of course there were no Russian embassies in South Africa, but there was
an illegal residency in Johannesburg. And the gorillas from the
residency had the same aroma, a cloying mix of body odor and aftershave.
'Crack a window,' said Borodin.
The driver did.
'Gentlemen, Captain Dieter Hauer is in the hotel on my right, the Protea
Hof. With him are some scruffy fellows who look suspiciously like
Jews.' Borodin clucked his tongue. 'Germans and Jews ... an often
explosive combination.'
One of the gorillas chuckled appreciatively. Ah, Borodin thought, a
rudimentary sense of humor 'Across the street in the Stanley House,' he
went on, 'we have our restless Germqn Kripo detective. He's big, but he
shouldn't be much trouble. Two of you should be enough for him.
When he's dead, leave his ID but take his money.' Borodin took a
Heckler and Koch MP-5 submachine gun from a leather attache case. 'The
rest of us will take room 604.' He singled out the leanest of the
gorillas. 'You know the window?'
The lean man lifted a Dragunov sniper rifle from his lap and zipped it
into a soft case. 'Sixth floor,' he said, 'third window from the left.'
Borodin screwed a long silencer onto the muzzle of his MP-5.
'Let's go.'
3.-42 Pm. Room 604: The Protea Hof Hotel, Pretoria
Jonas Stern would have verbally crucified Gadi and his men for their
laxness, but had they not been so attuned to Stern's absence, they might
have defended themselves better. When the telephone rang, everyone
turned toward it thinking it was Stern. Hauer turned from the window,
Natterman from one of the beds, Yosef from the space between the other
bed and the bathroom wall, and most importantly, Aaron from the foyer.
No one heard the key gurning soffly in the door.
Closest to the phone, Gadi Ah@ams snatched it up and said, 'Hello?
Hello? Uncle Jonas?'
In that instant of shared bewilderment, a rifle slug shattered the hotel
room window, missing Hauer by a centimeter.
Everyone whirled toward the crashing sound. A half second later one of
Borodin's gorillas charged through the foyer and bowled Aaron Haber over
like a child. Hauer looked wildly. His Walther lay on the bed six feet
away. He started to dive for it; then thii second gorilla came through
the door with his pistol aimed at Hauer's chest. Standing open mouthed
with the telephone to his ear, Gadi Abrar also was trapped in the
newcomer's line of fire.
Only Yosef Shamir moved to counterattack, Yosef who died. He had been
toying with Hans's crossbow in the narrow slot between the bed and the
bath when the Russians burst in. With lightning speed he dropped the
bow, drew his silenced .22 and fired three shots in rapid succession as
the second gorilla emerged from the foyer and barreled past him.
All three bullets embedded themselves high in the Russian's broad back.
He went down on top of his compadre who was wrestling with Aaron on the
floor. The .22 caliber slugs only slowed the Russian giant, but that
slowness saved his life. As Yosef stepped forward to finish him off,
Yuri Borodin somersaulted through the foyer and shot the young Israeli
through the throat.
By the time Gadi got his hand on Hauer's Walther, Borodin was covering
the entire room. Faced with the deadly MP-5 submachine gun, Hauer,
Gadi, and Aaron realized the futility of further resistance.
They slowly raised their hands, their eyes locked on Yosef's convulsing
body.
It took the young commando forty seconds to die, and no one spoke while
he did it. They had all seen death be@ -ore, and knowing that no help
would be called sed a solemn silence on both attackers and hostages.
Professor Natterman was the first to make a sound, chattering 'Why?
Why?' to everyone and no one at the same time.
@'You,' said Borodin, pointing his weapon at Hauer. Close the- drapes.'
Hauer didn't move.
Borodin checked his watch. 'Close the drapes within five seconds or you
will be shot by my sniper. Everyone against the window.'
Hauer obeyed. Gadi and Aaron backed against the closed drapes and stood
beside Hauer. The gorilla that Yosef had shot was straining without
success to reach the wounds on his back, and moaning like a dying ox.
Borodin ordered the .. gorilla to take him into the bathroom and see to
the wounds; then he casually seated himself on the bed nearest Hauer.
Natterman sat gibbering on the bed opposite , but the immaculately
dressed Russian took no notice-took out a cigarette and lit it with
great deliberation.
'Gentlemen,''he said in English, 'I have come for the papers found at
Spandau Prison. Which one of you has them?' 'None of us,' Hauer
replied in the same language.
