out Brandt’s orders to the fullest possible extent. If nothing else, setting the villa on
fire should provide a useful distraction when they made their escape. Shrugging, he picked up the heavy petrol can again and continued sloshing the flam-mable liquid across the carpet, drapes, and desk as he backed out through the open door and into the upstairs corridor. He had already thoroughly drenched Kessler’s corpse with petrol. A single match would set the whole room ablaze.
Striding upward through the darkness on cat-quiet feet, Randi Russell reached the top of the servants’ staircase. She went prone on a small landing and peered down the barrel of her submachine gun, poised and ready to open fire. The door out into the main second floor corridor was just ahead of her. It was closed, but light glimmered faintly through a narrow gap at the bottom.
Randi frowned. Some of the upstairs lights were still on. That was bad. It meant that once she went through that door, she would be out in the open, lit up and left without any real cover?a sitting duck for anyone who happened to be looking in her direction.
A faint smell eddied under the door, growing stronger with every second.
Her nose wrinkled at the familiar, cloying reek. Gasoline fumes? Inside the house? Her eyes widened as understanding dawned. Renke’s men must be planning to burn Kessler’s villa to the ground to cover their tracks!
Frowning, Randi jumped back to her feet. Whatever she was going to do, she had better do now. Her only chance would be to move fast and keep moving. Still holding the MP5SD’s pistol grip with her right hand, she reached out for the doorknob with her left. It turned easily. The latch clicked and the door began slowly swinging open, creaking loudly on hinges that had not been oiled for far too long.
Go! She took a short, sharp breath, kicked the door open all the way, and immediately threw herself out into the hallway. She rolled on her shoulder to get well away from the open door and came up on one knee, already sighting down the long corridor toward the top of the staircase.
There, in the faint glow filtering out into the hall from several of the adjoining rooms, she spotted movement?a squat black shape silhouetted against the deeper black of the unlit foyer. It was a dark-haired man, bulky in body armor, and he was already spinning round to face her. He had a weapon in his hands.
Too late, you son of a bitch, Randi thought icily. She pulled the trigger of her submachine gun, firing a series of rapid, three-round bursts. The MP5SD chattered, bucking hard against her grip as it punched 9mm rounds toward the gunman.
Near misses tore sections of the railing behind him to pieces, sending jagged, flame-bright sparks flying as bullets ripped through brass and shattered marble. Other bullets struck the dangling remains of the ruined chandelier.
More fragments of glass and crystal broke away to smash onto the tile floor far below.
Hit repeatedly by several rounds that splattered across his Kevlar vest with bone-crushing force, the dark- haired gunman stumbled back, hunched over in agony. He crashed into the weakened section of railing and then screamed in sudden terror as it bent and gave way under his weight.
Randi kept shooting, grimly holding the submachine gun on target as it kicked higher with each burst.
With his arms flailing wildly in a vain effort to regain his balance, the wounded man toppled through the gap, hammered backward by more hits on his armor. Still screaming shrilly, he vanished into the darkness. His eerie, horrified wail ended abruptly in a dull, meaty thud.
Breathing out, Randi eased off on the trigger. Her submachine gun fell silent.
“Scheisse!” a voice growled behind her.
Oh, hell.
She twisted in place, urgently trying to bring the MP5SD around far enough to bear on the slender, thin- lipped man she saw framed in the open door to Kessler’s study. Like the others, he wore black clothing and Kevlar armor. His submachine gun, though, was slung across his back, freeing his hands to carry a large, rectangular metal gasoline can. They were less than ten meters apart.
Snarling, the man dropped the can. Gasoline splashed out across his legs and dripped onto the hall carpet as it crashed down. He yanked a Walther semiautomatic pistol out of the holster at his side.
At such close range, the pistol looked enormous. White flame spurted out of its muzzle as the gunman fired.
Randi felt the bullet rip past her head, so close that the hot gases trailing behind it slapped her hard in the face. Her ears rang. The salty-sweet taste of fresh blood filled her mouth. Desperate now, she shot back without aiming, just trying to spray enough rounds in the right direction to drive this new enemy into cover.
One slug hit the gasoline can.
The container rocked under the powerful impact and toppled over. More fuel sprayed high through the air. A spark leaped from the torn metal.
With a soft whoosh, the gasoline ignited. Rivulets of fire raced outward in every direction, feeding on every drop of spilled fuel, setting everything in their wake ablaze.
The thin-lipped man looked down in horror as his gasoline-soaked pants burst into flame. His face twisted in panic as he dropped the Walther to swat wildly at the roaring blaze. But then a mad, inhuman shriek ripped from his throat as the flames seared his fuel-stained hands and flashed up his arms, reaching for his face. In less than a second, he turned into a human torch, wreathed from head-to-foot in fire. Shrieking and screaming in torment, the dying man blindly staggered forward toward her. The flames were consuming him alive.
Sickened, Randi took careful aim and shot him through the head. The burning man tumbled to the floor and lay still. The flames roared higher, spreading up the walls and across the carpet. Thick, choking smoke boiled upward.
Through the open door, she could see Kessler’s study was already fully engulfed in fire. Through the swirling smoke and flame, she could see another blazing corpse ?this one lying twisted near the big antique desk. No doubt that was Kessler himself, she thought darkly, fighting down the urge to be sick.
And with him went the faint, flickering clues she had hoped might lead her to professor Wulf Renke’s new lair.
Abruptly, Randi tossed the submachine gun aside and scrambled to her feet. She needed a closer look at the man she had just killed. She turned and sprinted back down the hall. Without slowing down, she skidded into one of the villa’s guestrooms, snatched a heavy wool blanket off the bed, and dashed back the way she had come.
The flames and smoke were even thicker now.
Still running, Randi draped the blanket over her head, shut her eyes tight, and leaped straight through the curtain of fire. For just a split-second, she felt a wave of intense, scorching heat. Then she landed heavily on the floor and crouched down beside the dead man. Staying low to keep below the dense pall of lung-searing smoke rolling through the hallway, she whipped the heavy blanket off her head and swiftly smothered the flames that were charring his clothing and flesh.
Wincing in pain, she ran her hands over the still-smoldering corpse, ran-sacking pockets and pouches in a desperate hurry. She found what looked like a cell phone, strangely twisted and blackened by the fire, and shoved it into one of her jacket pockets. Then she did the same with a set of scorched papers, a passport, and a wallet.
The flames roared louder. Large flakes of burning paint broke loose from the ceiling and drifted down around her, tumbling end over end in the boiling currents of superheated air. The carpet, walls, and ceiling were a solid sheet of fire.
It was time to leave.
Hurriedly, Randi wrapped the charred wool blanket around her head and shoulders and hands. Coughing now as the raw, acrid smoke bit deep into her lungs, she staggered upright and plunged back into the flames, sprinting fast toward the main staircase.
Again, she felt a wave of intense scorching heat. This time she smelled burning wool. But then, suddenly, she was out of the wall of fire. Frantically, Randi tossed the smoldering blanket aside and threw herself onto the floor, rolling over and over down the hallway while slapping at the smaller flames that were burning through her jeans and jacket.
Once they were snuffed out, she scrambled back to her feet and ran on, racing down the stairs at full speed, leaping down them two and three at a time. Behind her, the fire spread rapidly, growing ever stronger and hotter as it fed on Ulrich Kessler’s expensive antique furniture, his precious books, and all of his priceless works of art.
