That's a hell of a soldier you've got there. A hell of a soldier... No, I want to thank you. And him. If I hear any more I'll be in touch. Goodbye.' The general replaced the receiver and leaned back into his chair. 'A hell of a soldier,' he repeated.
'Yes, sir,' the majors chorused.
7
'Take that road,' Bolan pointed.
'That's not a road,' Tanya complained. 'It's matted grass.'
'Take it.' She did. 'Where are we going?'
'It's your country,' he grinned. 'I thought you'd know.'
'I'm not familiar with this area.'
'Me neither, but I know this is the right way.'
'How do you know?'
'Because it's taking us away from them.'
He hooked a thumb over his shoulder.
Tanya didn't smile. 'That was a remarkable escape we made'
'Nothing that a dozen trained soldiers couldn't have done,' he muttered. 'You people still interested in this space gun here?'
She shrugged. 'We might be for a few hundred deutsche marks. But what will you do now?'
Mack Bolan was of the opinion that the playacting that she was an ignorant party to should be played for real, real soon, with her as target. But that would be too hasty. The charade must continue, at the risk of being discovered, or even, at any moment, of one of those soldier boys, civilians too, falling for it enough to shoot to kill. Until then, roles must be played out.
'Oh, hell, don't worry about ole Edsel Grendal. I've been taking care of myself for a long time,' he said. 'I'll be back in business within a couple of weeks.'
'How? Now that you are out of the army, your supply line has disappeared.'
'You think I'm the only one in this army who's been boosting goods? I know at least three others, including a colonel over in Wurtzberg. After the smoke clears, I'll be back again as a middle man between the sellers and the buyers. Taking my cut from both. Less work, less risk.'
'What will you do in the meantime?'
'Well, first thing we do is ditch this jeep. If you have a couple of hundred marks cash, you can take this gun with you right now. Or we can meet sometime next week. Either way we have to split up now. They're looking for a couple, remember.'
'True. But one phone call to my comrades and I will be underground within the hour.'
'Congratulations.'
'I can arrange transportation for you also, if you wish.'
Bolan hesitated, as if thinking it over. 'I don't know,' he said. 'I appreciate your offer, but there are more people looking for you guys than there are looking for me.'
'You must make up your own mind. However, I should tell you that our people are in need of a weapons expert, and you have demonstrated your worthiness in that area. You are also available, I would guess, considering recent events... You are an outlaw, like I am. And you are an extraordinary fighting man. I think we would be able to hide you out until how did you put it? the smoke blows up.'
'Smoke clears,' he corrected her. 'And what do you want in exchange? This H and K?'
She smiled thinly. 'For now, Sergeant. For now.'
'You've got yourself a deal, I guess. Nothing to lose.' The big man leaned back in the seat.
Nothing to lose.
Except life.
The kidnapped athletes awaited rescue.
Life was more precious by the minute. He would surely not lose it to a hotheaded girl terrorist in the cobblestoned theater of Europe's current crisis. It was a crisis based on a very simple problem. If modern terrorism is not fought and fought hard people in the dwindling democratic and non-communist world will not have to wait for The Bomb.
They will be blasted and ripped into submission on a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly basis. The problem being how to make the punishment fit that crime.
The premise is agreed some murders are so horrendous that the most practical solution is to execute the perpetrators. Such murders are murders of perversion involving torture, sex slayings, contract killings, terrorist killings.
Why keep such people alive and in a cage for the rest of their lives or, worse, to be released when a mere two-thirds of their sentence is done? But the difficulty arises when it is felt, especially in the older cultures, that the means of execution are barbaric. Hanging is horrible and unpleasant for those who have to do it, order it, witness it. The answer, for Europe, is The Executioner. The Executioner will not miss his shot to give a lady terrorist a better chance in the courts, to keep his hands clean of death. He could never fear death so much that he would sacrifice the possibiliy of a stronger, truer life. No, he would value life, every minute of it, even as his Sergeant Grendal character tipped the play deeper toward death, finally to slip totally into hell and bring all the other evil parts sliding down with him to the darkest depth.
The role was his key to life. And death. The Morganslicht death.
8
A rifle butt thumped against the door.
'They are almost here,' the voice croaked. Hermann saw the car. It is about a kilometer away.'
'Danke,' Thomas Morganslicht said, throwing off the blanket and staggering out of bed.
He pulled on a thick turtleneck sweater, jeans, hiking boots. The cabins were without any heat, except for the flickering fireplaces.
He tugged the red knit cap over his shiny black hair, pulling it back on his head to allow the sharp point of his widow's peak to show. He liked the way its dagger appearance seemed to startle his men, almost intimidated them. As their leader, he desired every advantage over them he could get. Morganslicht snatched up his gun and shoulder holster, shrugging into them as he walked out of the cabin. Several of his men stood around outside his door, their weapons in hand as they waited for the approaching Saab. The cool sun was peering over the tops of the snowcovered mountain peaks. The men kept moving, rocking back and forth, their breath steaming from mouths and nostrils.
'What time is it, Hermann?'
'Almost six-thirty.'
'They must be very tired after their escape, and then driving all night.' His voice was more amused than sympathetic. 'And how are the prisoners doing?'
'Cold, but otherwise functioning normally,' replied Herimann. 'They no longer bother to complain.'
Thomas grinned. 'Good. I thought Rudi would convince them to accept their situation.'
The giant called Rudi Blau turned his sixfoot bulk toward them and chuckled damply through massive yellowing teeth. Bundled up in a long black tilde coat and fur-lined hat, he looked like a mutant bear that had inadvertently stumbled into civilization. His eyes were small, too small even to determine their exact color, but his head was a huge round melon. In his right hand he carried a hunk of firewood. He used it to persuade the prisoners, to keep quiet.
If need be he would persuade them into unconsciousness.
Thomas Morganslicht and his guards watched the car puffing up the snow-covered road, its exhaust
