Ghosts of War (10 page)

I
reached the sill of the ancient window, the glass open wide, strong seams of iron between the opaque panes. A foot-long hunk of granite extended out, giving me purchase. I pulled myself up and swung inside, dropping lightly to the ground. We were in a room with velvet ropes on the doors, the interior full of archaic renaissance furniture and massive murals on the walls. I saw Jennifer crouched to the left of the window, her job pretty much done. All she had to do was wait; then, after all of us had escaped, she'd drop the ladder and free-climb back down.

The two Israelis were near the door, listening and looking like bank robbers with the balaclavas over their heads.

Jennifer smiled at me, pumped with adrenaline after the climb. I grinned back and patted her Lycra-covered thigh, whispering, “Hero of the day again.”

She said, “It was easy.”

I turned serious. “This goes south, you get the hell out of here. Don't wait on me or anyone else. Get out and down.”

Her smile faded and I said, “Shoshana's not nearly as confident as you thought. I don't know what they know, but they've lied to us from the start. Just get out.”

She nodded, then said, “What about you?”

“I'll pull my security position, but trust me, if this thing goes sideways, I'm right behind you.”

She nodded again, saying, “See you in a few. Don't do anything stupid.”

This time I was the one who leaned in. I pecked her on the cheek and said, “Too fucking late for that.”

I duckwalked toward the door, sliding my balaclava over my head and seeing Shoshana staring at me again. I reached her and whispered, “What now?”

“You kissed her.”

“No, I didn't. I was whispering in her ear about what a pain in the ass you are. I didn't want you to hear.”

Aaron chuckled and said, “Okay, we're going down one floor. Everyone remembers the floor plan, right?”

Shoshana and I nodded. He said, “We get down there, and Pike provides security to our rear. Shoshana and I will access the door. There are four security guards on this floor, but only one on the trunks in the admin area. We reduce him as a threat, then pop the locks to the door and get the Torah. We come right back to you, and we're out of here.”

I said, “Sounds good. Let's get it done.”

He nodded and slipped out the door, Shoshana right behind him, moving down a wide hallway lined with portraits of old dead guys. I brought up the rear, feeling naked without a firearm, but understanding the fact that if I had it, I'd probably use it. And I could handle anyone who showed up.

We kept to the wall, sliding against it to a large staircase. Aaron slipped down it, the carpet muffling his steps, reaching the next floor. We paused at the base, and Aaron whispered, “Left.” He pointed at the wall across from the staircase, a point where I could dominate anyone coming and going, and said, “You, there. Shoshana, on me.”

I slipped across the hall, taking up a position in the shadows, the winding staircase in front, the opening to the castle lobby on my left. I watched them slink down the same hallway we'd entered earlier in the day, then pulled out my lead-filled sap.

Anyone entered, and I had to take them out, but not permanently
harm them, which wasn't exactly a perfect science. And because we had luggage that had been X-rayed every step of the way, Aaron hadn't even brought a Taser. I only had my hands and a lead-filled weapon from a bad mafia movie.

I sat still, breathing through my nose and constantly scanning left and right, waiting on their return. I expected to hear shuffling footsteps. What I got was a gunshot, loud and echoing down the hallway. Then two more.

Shit
.
What happened to no guards being armed?

I slid toward the hallway, my head swiveling behind me, keeping the entrance in sight. Keeping my ability to provide security for any follow-on force. I ducked around the edge and saw six men in castle security uniforms dragging two trunks, two other men on the floor, both with their necks bent at unnatural angles. Behind a pillar next to the wall were the Israelis, trapped in the hallway.

A man advanced, pistol held with both hands, blasting away at the pillar they were hiding behind. Closing in close enough to ensure no escape. I reacted without thought, springing up and racing into the hall.

The man saw me coming and rotated his weapon toward me, causing me to instinctively slide low on the marble, regretting my choice. Before he could squeeze the trigger, Aaron leapt from behind his cover, snatching the man's gun arm and rotating it in a circle like a pretzel. The bone snapped, causing the man to scream, and Aaron flipped him on his back and hammered his face with a straight punch. The other men started firing and Aaron flopped back behind the pillar.

I scrambled in beside him and said, “What the hell is going on? There's a damn army here.”

He said, “I don't know. We saw the dead guys in the hallway, then the door burst open before we could retreat and those assholes came out shooting. They're getting away with the Torah.”

I peeked around the pillar, drawing rounds from the remaining men and snapped back. I said, “It's gone. Let's get the fuck out of here.”

Shoshana said, “That isn't happening. No way.”

I heard a guy shouting orders, and it wasn't in Polish. It was some weird language that I didn't immediately recognize. Shoshana did, though. She listened to the commands being given, and glared at Aaron with fire. She said, “We're
not
leaving without the Torah.”

Before I could reason with her, she sprang up, running toward the men in a zigzag pattern, the hallway stretching out in a funnel of death.

One trunk was being dragged into an elevator, the other right behind it. Aaron shouted at her to stop, and the men began shooting. Shoshana was miraculously missed with the first salvo. She realized her stupidity and slammed behind the next pillar in the hallway, this one much closer to the enemy, the angle leaving her dangerously exposed.

Aaron grabbed the pistol from the man he'd killed and rolled into the open on his chest, blazing away at the group and drawing their fire off Shoshana.

Aaron got off four rounds, dropping one man, but then he was hit, causing a sharp scream. I leapt out and grabbed his leg, pulling him back behind the cover of the pillar and seeing blood on his shoulder.

Jesus Christ.

This entire mission had gone to complete shit.

I grabbed the pistol from his hand, checked the chamber for a round, then rotated around the pillar. I shouted, “Shoshana! Back here. I'll cover.”

I pumped two rounds down the hallway, hitting one man in the gut, and then my weapon locked open, the magazine empty. The man I'd hit fell into the elevator and the other men slapped against the wall, then realized I was empty. I dove back behind the pillar as they
returned fire my way. The elevator doors closed, and two men remained. They saw their opening and charged Shoshana, trying to get an angle around her pillar.

I heard a noise behind me, and whirled, ready to kill. Jennifer appeared, sliding down the wall at a rapid pace. Ignoring my order to get the hell out at the first sign of trouble.

I locked eyes with her and shouted, “You got Aaron!”

Nothing more.

The two men down the hall closed within striking distance, and Shoshana had a choice: die curled in a ball, or attack. She chose the latter.

She leapt on the closest man like a lion on a gazelle. As weak as his firearms skills were, his hand-to-hand ability was far worse. He was no match for her. The second man danced around the two, frantically looking for a shot, but unsure if he could hit whom he needed to.

Giving me time enough to reach him.

H
e heard me coming at the last second and rotated with his weapon. I'd never had the chance to use a superman punch, feeling such a thing was ridiculous, but it worked here. I launched myself in the air and cocked my arm. I saw the barrel turn and my fist exploded out with over two hundred pounds of muscle and pure adrenaline behind it. His head snapped back like it had been hit with a cinder block, and he dropped.

I landed on his body, got my footing, then turned to the other fight. Shoshana had her man on the ground, legs wrapped around his waist and his head trapped in her arms. I leapt up to help her, and she jerked harshly. I heard the
snap
, his body going limp, giving up everything in a final tribute to her prowess.

I grabbed her shoulder, and she whirled, swinging a fist. I slapped it aside and said, “It's me! Stop it, it's me!”

At that point, Shoshana did something weird. She pulled up the dead man's sleeve, exposing a tattoo, then cursed. She stood, enraged, and said, “We need to get the Torah from those fucks.”

I said, “Aaron's hit. Let's get out of here.”

The words were like dropping ice in boiling water, cutting her anger. She sprang upright and said, “What? Where?”

I turned back to the hallway, pointing at Jennifer putting pressure on Aaron's wound. Shoshana gasped and started to move toward them when the second elevator dinged. The doors opened and two men spilled out, within a foot of us. Both hesitant and confused.

Shoshana went into combat mode, snatching the pistol from the
unconscious man at her feet and smashing the closest guy in the skull with the barrel. He staggered into the wall, holding his head, and she sprang back for a shot. The second man jumped like he'd been hit with an electric current, and she began to squeeze. In the span of a microsecond, I realized they held no weapons.

They're the real castle security.

I slapped her gun arm and the round went harmlessly over their heads. I spun her away, then lashed out with my boot, catching the first guy full on in the face as he was crouched over in pain, snapping his head back into the wall and laying him out. The second had his radio up, screaming into it. I swept his legs out from under him, then hammered his temple. His body went limp.

I checked that they were both breathing, then turned to Shoshana. “Get ahold of yourself. These men aren't the bad guys. No killing.”

She looked like she wanted to gut me, and I saw the third elevator rising, one floor away.

Holy shit.

Jennifer had Aaron on his feet, and he appeared to be okay. I shouted, “Jennifer, can you get him down?”

Aaron's arm around her shoulders, staggering the way we'd come, she said, “Yeah. If you keep them off me.”

I heard the elevator ding and looked at Shoshana. There was only one way Jennifer could get him out, and that was if we were the ones being chased.

I said, “We need to be the rabbit.”

She understood and nodded. The doors opened and two more unarmed men spilled out. I waved my arms and shouted, then took off running, Shoshana right behind me. They followed, yelling into a radio.

We fled down the hallway, then hit the staircase, sprinting upward. We took two turns, then exploded out onto another ornate floor, the men trying hard to reach us. Thank God they were old and out of
shape. I started to go right and Shoshana grabbed my arm, saying, “Left. We go left.”

I followed her, hearing the men pounding up the stairs. I said, “What are we doing now?”

She said, “Follow me. We need to do some cat and mouse, but I know how to get out of here.”

We ran down yet another huge hallway, then darted into a small room with a shallow stairwell. Literally, a closet with a three-foot-wide stairwell leading up. She started climbing and I said, “How did you know about this?”

“I memorized the floor plan. Shush and follow.”

I did.

We entered a balcony overlooking some sort of amphitheater and she cut right, opening a small door that looked more like an access panel. We crawled through and I found we'd returned to the main hallways of the castle, but I'll be damned if I knew on what floor. She ran down the marble until she reached a bookshelf, then stopped, breathing heavily.

She said, “If they catch Aaron because you made me flee, I'll kill you.”

I said, “If they put Jennifer in jail because we helped you with this stupid plan, I'll beat you to it.”

She looked up at me, and I felt the weird glow. She pulled the bookshelf out, exposing an unfinished shaft leading down, ironworks and studs from years ago threaded into the rock. I was astounded. I said, “Where does this go?”

“It's an old elevator shaft built by the Nazis. Never finished. It goes into the tunnels of Project Riese. We'll escape below the castle.”

I said, “That's pure magic. I'll never question you again.”

She looked at me with a mixture of sadness and pride and said, “You should have questioned. I was wrong about this one. Completely wrong.”

I said, “We don't have time for self-pity. Get your ass in there.”

She shimmied onto the iron and began climbing down. I followed, pulling the bookshelf back as far as I could, but forced to leave a gap. I heard men shouting in the hallway and continued down, turning on my headlamp to see, but afraid they'd catch the glow. We sank lower and lower, slowly picking our way down and hearing the shouting from above, but nobody checked behind the bookshelf.

After ten minutes of climbing, we hit the bottom, a rough square with a placard outside it, describing why the shaft had been built. Shoshana held a finger to her lips, then exited, going left into a tunnel underneath the castle. We walked for about forty meters, then hit a junction with an unlocked iron gate. She opened it, and we were now in a much bigger tunnel, with placards every ten feet and pictures hanging on the wall.

She said, “We're back in the museum. This exits on the south side.”

I said, “You are a damn genius.”

She said, “Not yet. We aren't out.”