by Nick Carter
"Like hell I did," I protested. "You came snooping around after me and got yourself into it."
She smiled. "A minor technical point," she said. She reached up and unlatched the wrist irons. The fear and resignation had gone and her eyes were cool and assured once again. I remarked on the change.
"I was afraid and hurt and feeling guilty, I guess," she said. "Now I'm just mad."
"Where'd you get your clothes?"
"Where they left them on the grass," she answered. "When I saw I wasn't going to make it past the guards, I hid in the woods, nearly froze to death, and then went back up the lawn and found my clothes. I only slipped on my blouse and slacks."
She needn't have told me. I had already noticed the outline of her lovely breasts pressed against the clinging material, the small, pointed tips clearly delineated. They were two of the best reasons I knew for getting us both out of there alive and in one piece.
"I passed the landing," she said as I stood up. "They haven't started to transfer the gold yet. Ben Mussaf's men are still guarding the barges."
"How many?" I asked. "Or didn't you notice a little item like that?"
"I counted six," she snapped out, "three on each barge."
"Good girl," I said. "Well make a spy out of you yet.
"Do you know that I still don't know what this is all about?" she said, following me up the stairs. "Except for what I've picked up, you haven't explained anything to me."
"I'll give you the whole picture when we get out of here," I said. "That's a promise. And if we don't get out, you won't need to wonder about it."
The bit with the eagles had triggered my mind into using Dreissig's own tricks against him. So the barges full of gold were still at the landing; I was sure that the gold was disguised as something else, masquerading as some other kind of shipment. A thought was rapidly forming in my mind, one that would not only hurt the bastards, but make recovery an impossibility. I paused as we reached the main hallway and removed another piece of ancient weaponry from the wall, this time taking down a heavy, sharp-bladed battle-ax. I needed something quiet and efficient, and the battle-ax would do perfectly. Since my experience with the efficiency of the morning star, I was developing a respect and a fondness for these medieval weapons. We crept to the front gate this time, as I remembered that the rear doors to the wine cellar had been blocked off by guards preparing to move the gold. They were no doubt still there. Only one white-shirted guard stood at the main gate. I crept up and tapped him gently with the flat of the battle-ax. We dumped him into the dry ditch of the moat, after I appropriated a handsome dagger from his belt. As we hurried down toward the landing, I realized that Dreissig's force had been reduced by a sizable number through my own efforts. I always took pride in a job well done. He had fewer men, and he had obviously decided to position most of them at the outer edges of the grounds to prevent Lisa's slipping through. I still moved cautiously though. I could smell success within reach and I didn't want it to go sour now. The barges were tied end to end to the flat landing dock. I could see four of the Arabs pacing the barges. The other two were probably lying down somewhere on the boats.
"On your stomach," I said to Lisa. "We've got to get as close as we can before moving in." It was a dark night, for which I was grateful. With Lisa beside me, we crawled forward, inching along slowly to avoid making any noise. When we were a few feet from the landing, I handed her the battle-ax.
"You take this and cut the lines tying the barges to the dock. Don't pay any attention to what I'm doing. You just cut those hawsers and set the barges free."
I waited till the nearest Arab turned his back and began his patrol toward the stern of the barge. I made it in one leap, landing silently on the balls of my feet. The dagger I'd taken from the guard was in my hand when I hit the deck of the barge. I took the first Arab swiftly and quietly, lowering him to the deck. The second one had just turned and seen me when the blade flew through the air to land in his chest. He staggered, trying to pull the metal out of his chest with both hands. I was beside him before he dropped and eased him to the deck as I retrieved the dagger. The third one was, as I'd figured, fast asleep on the transom of the barge. I made sure he stayed asleep.
I heard the thump of the battle-ax cutting into the taut hawser, felt the barge move as the rope parted. The three Arabs on the next barge had heard it, too, and had whirled. I flipped the dagger again… a long throw, and though I wasn't that used to the knife, I gave it everything I had. Once more it struck deeply and accurately. I saw the Arab pitch forward. The other two men were leaping off the barge and starting to race up the hill toward the castle. I made no move to stop them; I jumped off the barge as the second hawser parted and she immediately began to swing out from the landing. Lisa had cut through the first hawser holding the second barge when I took the battle-ax from her and parted the remaining hawser with one angry swing.
"Show-off," she commented. I grinned and we watched the second barge move off to join the first one as it sailed slowly down the river.
"What happens to them?" Lisa asked.
"They're carried downriver by the current and sooner or later they smash into something, a point of land, another dock, a ship, perhaps. But you can be assured that some good burgher will call the river police. When they examine the cargo and find what it really is, they'll have a helluva lot of gold on their hands, maybe a million dollars' worth. Neither Dreissig nor Ben Mussaf can claim it. They'd have an awful lot of embarrassing questions to answer, including smuggling."
Lisa giggled. "Neat," she said.
"Let's get back to the castle," I said. "I've unfinished business."
I only found out later, but things were already jumping at the schloss. The two Arab barge guards had run to Ben Mussaf with their tale of what had happened. Ben Mussaf had sailed into Dreissig.
"You bumbler," he'd screamed at the Great Man. "You utter incompetent. I bring you over a million in gold and you throw it away. How could you permit this to happen? Two agents, a man and a girl, and they disrupt your entire operation."
"The man is a very dangerous agent," Dreissig defended himself.
"He is still only one man," Ben Mussaf thundered. "You are going to lead a campaign against the Israelis? You are going to unify the Arab world behind us? You are going to go down in history as a political and military genius? I don't think so after this. If you can't run this part of your operation any better than this, you aren't the one to lead the Arab world to victory over the Jews."
"You cannot talk to me that way," Dreissig shouted.
"I am withdrawing my part in this whole venture," Ben Mussaf said. "I have no further confidence in your abilities."
"You are not backing out now," Dreissig menaced. "You have plenty more gold."
"And I shall save it for someone more efficient," the Arab answered. Dreissig pushed past Ben Mussaf and called for his guards.
"Arrest him," he said, pointing at Ben Mussaf. "Take him into the tower and keep him locked up there until I give you further orders."
"You are a madman," the Arab cried out as the guards seized him.
"And you are a hostage — my hostage," Dreissig said. "I will hold you as hostage until I receive all the gold I need. You have sons in your country. They will pay. So will your people. Take him away."
When Lisa and I reached the castle, we scrambled into the darkness of the dry moat and found a doorway into the cellar. News of what had happened had already spread like wildfire. The guards spoke openly and excitedly of it and as Lisa and I hid behind a balustrade we heard the news.
"Trouble in the Garden of Eden," I commented. Lisa suppressed a laugh and we slipped out from behind our hiding place and hurried down a corridor. I wanted to get at Dreissig, but I wanted Lisa tucked safely away in some room first. It didn't quite work out that way because of a rat, a real, four-legged rat. He was big and gray and mean looking, and he suddenly ran right across in front of us. Lisa reacted in the way most girls react to rats. She
screamed and realized instantly what she had done. She had done it, all right. It was a sharp, clear scream that echoed through the whole castle. I heard the thunder of footsteps on the way. We couldn't both let ourselves be nabbed again. I dived out the nearest window, caught myself on the ledge and hung there by my fingertips. I could hear them pull Lisa off. I waited as long as my fingertips held out, then pulled myself up and back into the corridor.
I was out after Dreissig, I'd decided once and for all. The man's seizure of Ben Mussaf, after killing the two Arabs, was the convincer. He was not only dangerous, but increasingly unstable. I'd get to Lisa afterwards. As it turned out, I got to her at the same time. I headed for Dreissig's office and was nearly at the closed door when I heard Lisa scream. I hit it on the run and the door flew open to reveal Dreissig pressing the girl down on the couch. He had torn her clothes off and he had her helplessly under him, her hands both held by his own large muscular fingers. As I burst in, he rose up, spun Lisa around in front of him and held her there in shield-like fashion.
He circled behind his desk, picked up a letter opener and moved out to the center of the room. I was expecting his next move and was prepared for it. With a sudden motion, he flung Lisa at me, expecting I'd automatically move to catch her and be off balance. Instead, I side-stepped, caught Lisa by one arm and using the principles of centrifugal force, sent her sailing back onto the couch. Dreissig's lunge with the letter opener found me in position. I ducked under it, caught his arm and twisted. He screamed and dropped the weapon as he sailed into the wall. As he bounced off the wall I caught him with a hard right. It sent him crashing out into the hallway. I was after him at once, but he scrambled to his feet and backed toward one wall where a collection of long polearms was mounted. I saw what he was about to do and dove at him, catching him around the knees. He brought both hands down hard on the back of my head, and I saw skyrockets. He kicked himself loose as I fell face forward on the stones, and I heard the sound of his taking down one of the long polearms. I did a quick roll as he brought the blade of the long halberd crashing down on the stones. I scrambled to my feet and ducked another vicious slash of the halberd. He had the long pole thrust under one arm now and he waited for his chance to drive it into me. I moved back against the stone wall and let him think he had me in position. He lunged and I twisted my body around as the halberd tore at my shirt. This time I grabbed the long pole as it bounced from the stones, twisted and tore it out of Dreissig's grasp. It was too unwieldy to swing around. I let it drop and went after him.
His lips were tight and snarling as he drove a hard right at me. I parried it, tried a left and found he could box. But the last thing I wanted was a time-consuming boxing contest. I was surprised some of his boys hadn't shown up already. I weaved and came up under his guard with a sharp left to the point of the rib cage. I saw him wince and dip his left side. I grabbed his left arm, avoiding a vicious right, and using close-combat techniques, sent him crashing to the floor. He lay there, unmoving. I went over and moved his head from side to side. There was nothing broken, but he was out cold. I looked up to see Lisa at the doorway. She had thrown her clothes on. As I looked at her, I saw her eyes widen, saw the warning form on her lips. I knew there was no room to turn around. I dropped forward in a crouch as Dreissig's blow whistled over my head. As it was, the momentum carried him into me and I fell forward, twisting as I did so to land on my back. Dreissig, I saw, was very much conscious. The bastard had played possum on me. He dived at me and I met him with a sharp kick. I felt the crunch of his chest bone as my foot landed and he fell backwards. I was on my feet and after him, and this time there'd be no more tricks. I caught him with a right that spun him around. He tried to cover up, but a left straightened him out and another right landed flush on his jaw. I felt the jawbone crack. He fell back heavily and lay there, his face twisted in pain, small bubbles forming on his lips. I reached down and picked him up by the shirt. The long pole came up with his body and I saw what had happened. He had fallen onto the sharp edge of the halberd. The blade had gone half through his body between his shoulder blades. Heinrich Dreissig was dead. The phoenix of Nazism had died with him.
I was still thinking about why none of Dreissig's guards had shown up to help him when I smelled the acrid odor of fire. I looked at Lisa. Her eyes were wide. Down the corridor, black smoke was beginning to billow up from below. I ran to the top of the stone stairs and saw the flames raging below on the main floor. Old tables, chairs and other furniture had been piled up to get the fire going. The dry tapestries and banners on the walls were beginning to catch fire. The construction of the old castle would create a terrific updraft in no time at all. The heat and smoke would rush up into every corner and crevice. Now I understood why none of his boys had shown. He'd instructed them all to set the place on fire.
I'd been right in my original fears about him emulating his idol with the Götterdämmerung bit. I'd put it aside and forgotten about it, unfortunately. Yet even now it didn't seem quite right. He had decided to hold Ben Mussaf as a hostage for continued gold shipments. Why throw it all away in a blaze of glory? I went back to Lisa.
"Did Dreissig say anything to you when he brought you up here?" I asked. "Anything that might be important?"
"He said he was going to rape me before getting out of here," she answered.
"Before getting out of here," I repeated. "That doesn't sound like he intended to go up in flames himself. Was there anything else?"
"Well, when he was… when he was…"
"Knock off the modesty routine," I yelled at her.
"When he was on top of me," she blurted out, "he said he'd like to take me with him, but I'd be in the way. He said he'd have enough trouble with the Arab and his pets."
It was beginning to make more sense now. Dreissig figured the whole routine here had been overexposed. Too many mistakes, too many of his bully-boys in on it, too many possibilities of being in danger from Ben Mussaf's faithful. He was going to shoot the whole works up and let it appear that he'd gone up with it. But actually, he was planning to get out with Ben Mussaf as hostage and start operations from someplace else. I heard Lisa cough, and felt the sharp stinging in my lungs, too. The castle was rapidly filling up with the deadly smoke and fumes. The lung-searing blasts of heat would be coming up soon. If Dreissig was planning a getaway he had to have some way already figured out.
"Stay here, keep the door closed," I told Lisa. "I'm going to get Ben Mussaf."
I tied a handkerchief around my face and made my way through the smoke to the stairs. It was very heavy there and I felt my lungs swelling. The heat was almost intolerable as I climbed up the steps. It hadn't reached up to the tower as thickly yet, but it was simply a matter of time. I found the door to the cell and peered through the slotted opening. Ben Mussaf was inside, looking very worried. I slid the bolt open and he rushed out.
"Dreissig's dead, and this place is about to become a gigantic oven," I told him. "Unless I can find a way out, we're going to be well done. Follow me."
Ben Mussaf nodded and his eyes were a mixture of gratitude and apprehension. In only a few moments the smoke had grown still denser and the heat had gone up in intensity. I fought my way back down the stairs, groping along the corridor, back to the room where Lisa waited. She had kept the door closed and inside the smoke, while curling around the edges, was not yet intolerable. We could breathe and talk at least. But every moment was bringing a horrible death closer.
"Dreissig intended to get out," I said. "There must be a secret passageway someplace."
"It could be any place!" Lisa exclaimed. "To search for it in this smoke is impossible. Besides, how would we even know where to begin to look?"
"You're right, it could be any place, but I don't think it is," I said between coughs. "You said he intended to take Ben Mussaf and his pets. That means he was probably going to pick them up on the way. Come on… we've one chance and nothing to lose by taking it."
I led the way, dropping to my
knees to crawl along the floor. It wasn't a great improvement, but it did make a difference as the smoke sought to rise upwards at all times. But the stones were getting blisteringly hot. I figured we had maybe two or three minutes to find a way out of this place or else. I managed to feel my way to the first room where most of the eagles were kept and I was encouraged to see the door tightly shut. We opened it and fell gasping into the still relatively breathable air inside the closed room. The side walls were obstructed by old cages and crates and training equipment, but the wall at the far end was clear. A series of wooden panels designed beneath a mantle adorned the smooth surface. I gestured to it. "Start pressing everything you can," I ordered.
Ben Mussaf and Lisa followed me in pushing and pressing against the wall. Suddenly, as Lisa pressed upon a panel in the lower corner, the wall moved and swung open. I led the way down the narrow passageway. Even in the winding, steep tunnel, the walls were hot. The passageway was half-ramp and half-steps, winding and twisting. Finally I saw a narrow doorway ahead. I felt it first, laying my hands upon it to test its temperature. For all I knew the passageway could open out into a wildly blazing room. Dreissig would have been out long before this, I reminded everyone. But the door was relatively cool. I pushed and stumbled out into what seemed to be a woodshed. Another door beckoned, and I pushed it open to feel the cool fresh air of the night. We stepped out, and I saw that the passageway had led us underground and out to the little woodshed a hundred yards or so from the castle.
I felt Lisa's hand creep into mine as we turned to look up at the great castle. It was ablaze with tongues of flame leaping out of the center, running along the battlements and flickering out of windows. It looked as though a medieval army had lain siege to it and, in a way, there was truth to it. An army of medieval ideas had lain siege to it, discredited ideas about superior peoples and racial myths, about inherited guilt and collective enmities.
