Kingdom of Darkness (30 page)

28

Nina looked up as the cell door swung open, revealing four men waiting outside.

Four men dressed in full Waffen-SS uniforms.

Zane drew in a sharp breath at the sight, and she felt a chill of disbelieving fear. These were not costumes; they were
real
. The Nazis were supposed to be dead and gone, as much a part of history as Alexander the Great. Yet they had survived, trapdoor spiders patiently waiting in their remote hiding hole, ready to re-emerge as cruel and evil as ever . . .

All carried sub-machine guns. The leader jabbed his weapon at the prisoners. ‘Stand up. Now.’

‘
Fick dich ins Knie
,’ Zane told them with a defiant snarl. The lead Nazi’s lip curled in anger – then he clubbed the Israeli with his gun. Two of his companions joined in, the fourth man pointing his weapon at Nina to deter her from interfering.

‘Leave him alone, you bastards!’ she yelled. They ignored her, each man getting in one final blow on the Mossad agent before he was hauled up and his hands cuffed behind his back.

‘It is time,’ intoned the leader. ‘Move.’ He and another man dragged Zane out as the remaining pair secured Nina’s hands, then took her by both arms and followed.

The concrete jail’s outer door was opened – and she heard men chanting in unison as an amplified voice echoed above the noise, ranting in German.

Kroll
. The Nazi leader had started his rally, working his troops into a frenzy of hatred. She felt sick. This was not a decades-old recording. This was happening
now
.

To her.

The soldiers took their prisoners through the heart of the Enklave to an open area under piercing floodlights. Ranks of uniformed men stood on each side as Nina and Zane were brought towards a stage at the opposite end.

On it sat the Nazi leaders, looking down upon their followers as if on thrones. Schneider. Gausmann. Walther. Rasche. And standing upon a rostrum at the centre of the stage, his bloated body squeezed into a black SS uniform, was Kroll, one hand repeatedly stabbing the air to emphasise his words. The crowd roared a horrifying response to each proclamation: ‘
Sieg heil! Sieg heil! Heil Hitler!
’

Nina glanced fearfully at the audience. Faces twisted in loathing turned towards the two captives. The Nazi rank-and-file ranged in age from their teens to their fifties; the water in the pithos had not been shared. She saw only one hard-faced woman amongst the men, as caught up in the mania as her male companions. Arms stretched aloft in rigid salutes. ‘
Heil Hitler! Heil Hitler!
’

But the crowd was not the most terrifying aspect of the rally. Nina stiffened in fear as she was forced ever closer to the two gallows. A tall wooden stool stood before each, nooses dangling above them.

Kroll’s gaze turned to the new arrivals. ‘And now here are the spies,’ he barked, switching seamlessly to English. None of the audience had any difficulty understanding him; the change was to terrorise the prisoners. ‘This agent of the Jewish Mossad is the reason we must act now to protect our future. Where there is one rat, more will soon follow, so we must leave before they find us – but this rat will not live to see that happen!’

‘
Sieg heil! Sieg heil!
’ Men on each side screamed and jeered at Zane.

‘And with the Mossad agent is an American puppet of the Zionists,’ Kroll continued, ‘an official of the United Nations!’ Boos and abuse came from the crowd. ‘She was given the chance to renounce her allegiance and serve the New Reich, but she refused – so now she will pay the price!’

Nina and Zane were taken past the front row of baying Nazis to the gallows. There they were separated and hauled to the stools. The Israeli tried to break loose, but was beaten to his knees. Kroll glowered down at them. ‘This is the fate of all enemies of the Reich,’ he intoned, his voice echoing from loudspeakers around the square. ‘All those who oppose us will die!
Der Henker wird nun seinen Platz einnehmen
.’

His reversion to German startled Nina, but his instruction soon became clear. Gausmann stood and descended to the twin gallows. White gloves covered his hands. He was not just the Enklave’s chief torturer; he was also its executioner.

‘No,’ gasped Nina, shrinking back. Her guards gripped harder, holding her in place. Gausmann went to Zane first, pushing the noose over his head and pulling it chokingly tight around his neck before turning to Nina. ‘Get back! Get the fuck back!’ she yelled, kicking at him. She caught him on the shin; he flinched, then punched her in the stomach. She doubled over before being yanked upright by the soldiers. ‘
Schlampe
,’ the German hissed as he forced the noose into place and tugged it hard.

Kroll’s voice boomed from the speakers with triumphant fury, whipping the crowd into a frenzy. Gausmann checked the ropes, then signalled to the Nazi leader. ‘Pull them up!’ Kroll ordered.

The lines were raised via pulleys, snapping taut. The noose dug deeply into Nina’s throat. She tried to scream, but it was compressing her windpipe. Pain crackled through her neck as she was hauled upwards. For a terrifying moment she thought her spine would snap under the unsupported weight of her own body . . . but then the two guards took her by the legs, relieving the torment.

But only slightly. She still couldn’t breathe, desperately trying to draw in air as she was lifted to stand upon the high stool. The rope’s pull ceased when her boots touched down on its flat top, leaving her wobbling over five feet off the ground.

Zane was raised into position beside her. The ropes were secured around hooks on the vertical poles. Nina squinted at the crowd through pain-squeezed eyes, a sea of screaming faces and armbands red as blood. ‘
Sieg heil! Sieg heil! Sieg heil!
’ Their animalistic roar was almost physical, threatening to push her from her treacherous footing by sheer volume. She clenched her toes, trying to hold herself steady—

The most frightening realisation of all struck her. The drop was not enough to kill them from the fall alone. A longer plunge would sever the spine, causing near-instant death through shock . . . but this would leave the victims conscious as they slowly strangled, kicking and writhing for the howling crowd’s entertainment.

She looked across at Zane. He glanced back, jaw clenched tight in a refusal to show fear – but she could see it in his eyes.

And he could see it in hers.

Gausmann stepped behind her as the guards retreated. ‘The American will be the first to die,’ Kroll announced with relish. Every muscle in her body quivered as she fought to stay upright. The crowd blurred behind tears, becoming an amorphous mass of hatred and rage. ‘
Drei! Zwei! Eins!
’ The awful roar briefly subsided in anticipation . . .

A flare of light and colour arced in from one side of the square—

Glass smashed – and screams erupted behind Nina as a Molotov cocktail exploded between the four guards, splashing them with liquid fire and setting their clothing and hair aflame.

Gausmann instinctively jumped away as burning petrol sluiced across the space between the stage and the gallows. A second Molotov hurtled over the floodlit parade ground, bursting in the crowd’s front rows. The unity of the chant changed to discordant shrieks of pain and fear as the audience broke ranks and scattered, trying to flee both the blaze and their flaming comrades. The Nazi leaders stampeded for the back of the stage as Eddie rushed into the square, gun in his right hand – and a fire axe in his left.

One of the four men hit by his first bomb had only been caught on the sleeve, managing to tear off his uniform jacket before raising his weapon—

The Englishman’s bullet blew a bloody chunk from his skull. The Nazi fell back into the fire. The other three guards were wreathed in flames, agony as their skin charred and blistered overpowering any thoughts of retaliation.

Eddie angled towards the gallows. Gausmann saw him coming. With no gun of his own, the executioner turned to run – but then lunged back at Nina to kick the stool away—

A gunshot hit him in the chest. He fell between the two scaffolds, one lashing foot missing the stool by barely an inch.

Eddie ran to the gallows. He swung the axe, severing the rope, then spun to catch his wife as she fell. ‘Whoa! Got you.’

‘Eddie, oh my God!’ Nina gasped as he dropped her on to her feet. ‘I thought you were –
look out!
’

An armed Nazi barged through the panicked crowd. His sub-machine gun came up—

Eddie sent the axe whirling across the gap to slam deep into the man’s ribcage. He fell backwards, spewing gore. The other Nazis around him fought even harder to get away, trampling each other as the regimented crowd broke up into a frantic scrum. One of the floodlight towers toppled and fell as men were forced against it, crushing several as it hit the ground, its bulbs exploding in showers of sparks. ‘You thought I was what?’ he asked Nina, about to untie her hands before realising they were handcuffed.

‘I thought you were dead!’

‘So did these arseholes, thank God. Where are the keys?’

Nina nodded towards the smouldering uniform jacket. ‘That guy’s pocket.’

Eddie started for it – then saw that Gausmann was not dead. The executioner’s chest wound was gushing blood, but still he managed to lever himself on to his side . . .

To kick away Zane’s stool.

A round from Eddie’s pistol exploded from the back of Gausmann’s skull – but the Israeli was already falling. He let out a strangled cry—

The rope jerked taut. The drop had been less than a foot, but it was enough to snap the noose tight. Zane’s eyes bulged, and he thrashed helplessly as his throat was crushed by his own weight . . .

Eddie whipped up his gun and shot the rope.

The bullet hit the vibrating line just below the pulley. It snapped, but not fully—

Zane felt the impact. He kicked, hard, and the remaining strands broke. He dropped heavily to the ground.

Shouted orders from the crowd. Eddie saw a tall Nazi in a junior officer’s uniform yelling to his underlings as he stabbed a finger over the dying flames at the Englishman. A counterattack would come at any moment . . .

Another gunshot turned the clock back by several seconds as the officer’s brains splattered over the men behind him. Panic took hold of the mob once more.

Eddie snatched up the jacket, hearing a faint clink of metal. He pulled out a set of keys and ran back to Nina. ‘Here,’ he said, freeing her right wrist. He pushed the keys into her hand. ‘Unlock Jared.’

She hurried to the slumped Israeli as Eddie used a foot to drag two Heckler & Koch MP5 sub-machine guns away from the burning guards. He kicked one to Zane as Nina released him, then collected the other. The weapon was hot from the fire, but not unbearably so. He fired a sweep into the crowd, sending a clutch of Nazis falling, then joined his wife. ‘Can you walk?’ he asked Zane.

The Mossad agent grimaced as he sat up, collecting the MP5. ‘As long as I can shoot, I’ll crawl if I have to.’

‘Running’d be better.’ The initial shock of the assault was fading; though most of the audience had fled the parade ground, he spotted Nazis now running back
into
the square – carrying weapons, metal glinting under the remaining floodlights.

Nina helped Zane stand. The Israeli had also seen the new threat and unleashed two bursts from his own weapon. Screams sounded above the hubbub as four more Nazis were cut down.

‘Come on, this way.’ Eddie pointed towards where he had made his entrance, near the stage. ‘There’s a place we can hide.’

Nina saw another MP5 lying by one of the dead guards. ‘No, we need to find Banna!’ she said as she snatched it up. Eddie’s questioning gaze flicked between her and the gun. ‘If I see Kroll, I’m going to kill him,’ she told him. ‘He murdered Macy.’

‘I know.’ An exchange of grim looks, then they ran down a narrow passage between two buildings. ‘Where’s Banna?’

‘Kroll was forcing him to work at his house.’

‘Well, that’s convenient – we can take out that fat bastard at the same time.’ Eddie looked around the corner. People were still running from the parade ground, but none were close by, the fires and gunshots having deterred anyone from coming in the direction of the stage. He heard the piercing shrill of whistles rising above the confusion – more junior officers trying to regroup their squads. ‘Where’s the house?’

She pointed. ‘Over there.’

Eddie hesitated – it would take them away from the red hut where Roland had told him to hide – but Nina was right: they had to find Banna. ‘Okay, come on.’

They hurried through the settlement. Away from the floodlights, the Enklave was not well lit. Keeping to the shadows, they made their way towards the houses. More whistles screeched behind them. ‘It won’t be long before they come after us,’ Zane warned.

‘Then we’d better be quick,’ Eddie replied as they crossed the railway. ‘Which house?’

Nina pointed at Kroll’s residence. ‘That one.’

Lights were on inside. ‘I’m guessing that Banna’ll be guarded.’ She nodded. ‘Be careful, then. Jared, you ready?’

The battered Israeli held up his MP5. ‘Yeah.’

Eddie was first to the door. He waved for Nina to take cover to one side as Zane readied his weapon, then pushed it open, snapping up his own gun. Nobody was in the hall. ‘Okay, where?’ he whispered.

‘Second door on the left,’ Nina replied.

They entered. Eddie went to the door, about to kick it open . . . when he had another idea and rapped on the wood.

‘What are you doing?’ Zane whispered.

‘Being polite.’

‘But—’

Eddie waved him to silence as a voice came from inside the room. ‘
Ja? Wer ist da?
’

‘
Das Flugzeug ist bereit! Es kann beladen werden
,’ the Englishman replied, to mystification from his companions.

The man inside the room was equally bewildered. ‘
Was?
’ A creak of floorboards from the other side of the door, then it opened—

Eddie punched the surprised soldier hard in the face, sending him to the floor. A kick to the head knocked the Nazi out cold. ‘
Dummkopf
,’ he told the unconscious man as he moved inside. No other guards – but Banna looked up in shock. Several maps of the Middle East and Iran were spread across the table, along with translations of the Greek texts and numerous notes.