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.
