Without wasting a second the mI-5 chief read out the overland directions
to Horn House. Swallow repeated them as they came, her head bobbing
with birdlike impatience, her eyes locked onto Natterman. When Shaw
finished reading the directions, he said, 'I'm modifying your
assignment.
You can still do what you like with Stern, but I need more than the
Spandau papers now. I need Alfred Horn dead. You shouldn't have any
trouble recognizing him. He's an old man, rides in a wheelchair most of
the time. If you kill Alfred Horn, you can name your price.'
Swallow laughed, a dry rattle. Her finger slipped inside the Ingrain's
trigger guard.'As Natterman stared in horror, she reached out casually
and laid the machine pistol against his cheek. Sir Neville Shaw's voice
warbled from the telephone. Swallow drew back her lips, exposing her
teeth like an animal preparing for a kill. Then her head snapped around
toward the foyer. She dropped the telephone and raised the Ingrain.
What is it? Natterman thought wildly. Is someone at the door?
He couldn't hear anything but his hammering heart.
Following Swallow's line of sight, he finally realized what she was
looking at with such alarm. Nothing! Where less than a minute ago the
bullet-riddled body of Aaron Haber had lain against the foyer wall, only
bloodstained wallpaper remained.
Shrieking like a demon, Swallow fired a sustained burst into the foyer,
then adjusted her aim to the bathroom wz The muted barks of the silenced
weapon modulated quickly into loud bangs. Her silencer was burning out.
Natterman threw off the sheets and rolled off the far edge of the bed.
He had been on the floor for less than five seconds when the firing
stopped. What the devil was happening? He raised his head above the
line of the bed.
Swallow was crouched at the end of the bed nearest the foyer, trying
frantically to clear the jammed receiver of her Ingrain. Like a man
rising from the grave, Aaron Haber lurched up from the narrow space
between the bed and the bathroom wall. Natterman's heart leaped with
joy and astonishment. Dark blood covered the young commando's neck and
chest, but his eyes burned wildly. Swaying like a drunken madman, he
steadied his .22 automatic and fired four shots in rapid succession.
Swallow was so desperate to reach the safety of the foyer that she
actually leaped into Aaron's bullets. Two slugs slammed into her left
shoulder, but the others went wild. She staggered into the foyer, spun
around and collapsed. Hoping that the impact of the fall had cleared
her weapon, she scrambled to her knees, @st her Ingrain around the
corner and pulled the trigger.
Aaron fired the instant he saw the gun barrel appear. His bullet tore
the gun from Swallow's hand. It spun through the air and landed against
the wall, too far away for either of them to reach. All Aaron had to do
was step around the corner to finish the woman off. He started forward,
then wobbled to a standstill. Bright blood pumped through his shirt.
Why doesn't she just run? Natterman thought angrily. She has the
information she wantedt And then he knew. Swallow meant to leave no
witnesses behind.
A horrible coughing spasm racked Aaron Haber's body.
He lunged forward, gurgled something in Hebrew, then dropped his pistol
and collapsed at the mouth of the foyer.
Natterman peered around the edge of the bed. The Israeli lay on his
stomach with his head pointed toward the door. Swallow's Ingrain lay at
his feet. Natterman's heart sank. The gun might as well have been ten
kilometers away. But as he jerked his head back behind the bed, he saw
something that stopped the breath in his lungs-Hans's crossbow, loaded
and lying beneath the bed. Yuri Borodin's gorillas had missed it during
their sweep. Natterman lay flat and stretched his arm to its limit ...
Swallow glided soundlessly out of the foyer and bobbed over the wounded
Israeli. A knife flashed in the air. Swallow reached for Aaron's hair,
meaning to jerk up his head and slash his throat, but at the last moment
she leaned toward his feet and grabbed for the Ingrain.
The decision cost her her life. The instant she moved, Aaron flipped
over onto his back and grabbed her by the waist. Unable to reach the
Ingrain, Swallow twisted in his arms and brought the knife down into his
chest. She raised it again for the deathblow, but Natterman struggled
up over the bed, steadied the crossbow, and fired.
The razor-tipped bolt speared through Swallow's breastbone with a
sickening crunch. Sucking for air she no longer needed, she pawed the
air in maniacal fury. Her last cry carried all the atrophied rage and
pain of her unfulfilled quest for vengeance: 'Sterrm!'
Swallow collapsed on top of Aaron, preceding the young commando into
death by only seconds. Natterman stumbled over to the gasping Israeli
and with painful effort shoved Swallow's corpse off his blood-soaked
chest. Aaron strained to raise his head, then fell back and reached up
to Natterman for succor. Natterman knelt over him.
'Lie back,' he said.
'You're safe now.'
A froth of blood bubbled from Aaron's mouth. 'Did I stop her?'
he asked softly. 'She wanted ... Stern.'
Natterman looked over at Swallow. Lying dead with the arrow buried in
her chest, she looked like a locust husk spiked to a display board.
Natterman smiled at the young Israeli. 'You stopped her.'
'Tell ... tell Gadi ... did my duty.' Aaron coughed once more; then he
closed his eyes.
Natterman swallowed hard. This young soldier had given his life for
Jonas Stern. Filled with a gudden rage, Natterman lurched to his feet
and scrambled back to the telephone.
'Who is this?' he shouted. 'Speak!'
'Who is this?' came the wary reply, the British accent clear.
Natterman felt his hands shaking. 'Your assassin is dead!'
he yelled. 'Your secret will be secret no more!'
He threw down the telephone. Moaning in pain, he stripped off his
shirt, picked up Aaron's first-aid bag, and began rummaging through the
drug bottles. He wanted lo anesthetic. He needed to dull the fire of
his wounds, but he could not risk losing consciousness. He had to be
able to board an airplane under his own power. He hated the idea of
leaving Ilse and the others behind, but he suspected that if he did not
