Angel Rising, page 26
part #6 of Anna Fehrbach Series
There was a brief silence. Then Riddick asked, ‘And only you know the exact location of this stuff, ma’am?’
‘That’s why I’m here, Sergeant.’
He peered at the map. ‘But it’s not marked.’
‘It’s in my head.’
Riddick and Harris exchanged glances.
‘Relax,’ Clive said. ‘The Countess has a photographic memory.’
‘As well as . . . you’re saying she’s a raving genius.’
‘Why, yes,’ Anna agreed, modestly. ‘I am a raving genius. Or so they tell me.’
‘The point is,’ Joe put in, ‘that without her we’re not going to get anywhere. You guys need to remember that.’ He prodded the map. ‘What’s this area here, a couple of miles this side of Eisenach? Looks kind of bleak.’
‘Those were once salt mines,’ Anna said, and glanced at Clive, but his face remained expressionless. ‘They’re no longer worked. I think either the RAF or you people brought the whole mountain down in a raid.’
‘Boy, those guys sure were meatheads,’ Maynard commented. ‘Loosing a load of bombs on a load of salt.’
‘Yes,’ Joe said thoughtfully.
‘A lot of wars have been fought over the rights to gather salt,’ Clive pointed out.
‘Now,’ Anna said. ‘Transport. I reckon we should have retrieved the bullion in about six hours. Allowing two extra, if we start at six we’ll be ready to move by two. By then you, Maynard, will have secured us a truck. Your best bet is Eisenach. How good is your German?’
‘Like a native, ma’am.’
‘That’s why I chose him,’ Joe pointed out.
‘Right. Now he should have some papers?’
‘I prepared them,’ Joe said. ‘Gottfried Ehrmann, from Dresden.’
‘Gottfried?’
‘It’s a good old German name.’
Too good, she thought. It brought back too many memories. But she said, ‘Then it should do. So, we will wear the Russian uniforms, and you, Sergeant Maynard will be a German civilian, under arrest. Now, gentlemen, please listen very carefully. If we are challenged on the way in, leave the talking to me.’
‘But you’re a woman,’ Harris objected. ‘Won’t they smell a rat?’
‘There are quite a few women in the Red Army. We will have been on a secret mission into the American sector, and are now on our way back with our prisoner, Gottfried Ehrmann. Maynard will accompany us until dawn – there will be a curfew – and then he will make his way into Eisenach. You are looking for work. You spend the day in Eisenach, sizing up the situation, and tomorrow night you will make your play. Don’t move before midnight; it is only five miles from the city to where we will be.’ She prodded the map. ‘You’ll take this road; it runs beside the river. One of us will be on the road to stop you.’ She looked around their faces. ‘Any questions? Then let’s get changed and get started. Captain Roberts, where are these Russian uniforms?’
The fit was not very good, but they wore them over their own clothes, and Anna was able to tuck her hair out of sight beneath her steel helmet, while the tightly laced boots provided support for her ankle. ‘You are the prettiest damned soldier I ever did see,’ Joe observed.
‘Do you know, the last time I had to wear male uniform, our friend Edert said the same thing. Captain, we’ll be back just before dawn the day after tomorrow, driving a Red Army truck.’
‘We’ll be waiting for you, ma’am.’
The Goal
‘Report,’ Litovsky said.
The MGB colonel cleared his throat. ‘The woman identified as possibly the Countess von Widerstand left her hotel in Geneva yesterday morning at zero eight thirty. She was accompanied by five men, and a considerable amount of equipment, some of which was identified as what appeared to be gas cylinders, and rubber suits. They were driving in a truck with US Army markings.’
‘Yesterday morning,’ Litovsky commented. ‘Go on.’
‘They drove north, crossed the border at Basle, and entered the US sector. It was not possible for our surveillance team to follow them further.’
‘What? You mean you have lost them?’
‘As I say, Comrade Commissar, it was not possible to follow them further without being discovered.’
‘When Comrade Beria learns of this . . .’
The colonel refused to be disconcerted. ‘However, just after dark last night, six men were observed to cross the border into Erfurt, twenty-five miles south-west of Eisenach. As you instructed, the border guards did not interfere with these men, but they were followed, surreptitiously. They were on foot, and continued on foot, but again they were carrying a considerable amount of equipment. In the dark it was difficult to be sure what this was, but some of it was certainly metal, and one of the observers is convinced that they were wearing Russian uniforms. As were your instructions, our people still did not interfere with them. Merely continued to track them from a distance. Now—’
‘Your people are wasting their time, Comrade Colonel,’ Litovsky said. ‘We are looking for five men and a woman, not six men. It is not conceivable that a woman like the countess would hand over the quest for her gold to others. You had better just arrest these people and keep looking.’
‘With respect, Comrade Commissar, is it not possible that the countess is dressed as a man? She would hardly undertake a mission of this sort in a frilly skirt.’
Litovsky regarded him with a frown, and he realized that his sarcasm might have been misplaced. He hurried on. ‘My people continued to follow them. They walked all night, with only short breaks, and when they reached the River Horsel, they followed the bank, as far as these woods. I have marked the place.’ He spread the map in front of his boss, and prodded it. ‘They entered the wood just before daybreak, and are still there. With one exception.’
‘Explain.’
‘One of them detached himself from the others, as they reached the wood, and walked away from them, back in the direction of Eisenach.’
‘One of them. It could have been the countess.’
‘No, sir. It was daylight by now, and my people were able to watch him through binoculars. It was definitely a man.’
‘The countess is supposed to be a tall woman,’ Litovsky pointed out.
‘Yes, sir. But still a woman. This man moved like a man. And besides . . .’ He could not resist another attempt at humour. ‘Did you not tell me that the countess is a beautiful woman? There was nothing beautiful about this man’s face. I specifically asked my sergeant about this.’
Litovsky stroked his chin. ‘If you are right, Malinov, they obviously mean to remain in that wood all day, and then move on when it again gets dark. Although why they should have detached one of their number is a mystery, unless he lost his nerve and pulled out.’
‘I do not think that is the case, sir. The countess’s record does not indicate that she allows people to pull out. And I should add, as it was daylight, it was possible to ascertain that the man who left the group was not wearing Russian uniform, but was dressed as a civilian.’
‘Well, then, what is your theory as to what is going on? You must have a theory. And I must warn you that it had better be right. This business has the personal interest of Commissar Beria.’
‘Well, Comrade Commissar, I believe that they are at their destination, and not just waiting for another night before proceeding.’
‘Your reasons for assuming this?’
‘There are two, sir. One is that if those containers hold oxygen, as, in view of the other gear they have with them seems likely, I estimate that they need to dive to recover the gold, and they are now camped virtually on the banks of the Horsel. The other point is that they can only have sent the sixth man away in order that he can steal some transport. You tell me that they are seeking to recover a large amount of gold bullion. They cannot hope to walk back to the border carrying that kind of weight. And as stealing a car or a truck will necessarily be discovered within a few hours, there would be no point in attempting to do so until they are ready to make their move. In my opinion, that would be tonight.’
Litovsky continued to stroke his chin. ‘That is a very good analysis of the situation, Colonel. What are your dispositions?’
‘There is only one road through the wood. I have twenty men watching the exits, five on the eastern side and fifteen on the west. If they have to move the gold by truck, they have to use the road, and as their aim must be to regain the border just as rapidly as possible, it would seem certain that they will drive west. The other five are just a back-up in case I am wrong. We will be in a position to move in the moment you give the word.’
‘It cannot be until after they recover the gold. As we do not yet know exactly where it is, if you merely kill them it will be lost forever.’
‘But if we manage to take at least one prisoner . . .’
‘Commissar Beria is certain, from what he knows of the countess, that she will have confided the exact location of the bullion to no one.’
‘But if we managed to take the countess herself . . . after all, a woman is hardly likely to take any part in a shoot-out, and once we have her, well . . .’
‘Your mouth is watering,’ Litovsky pointed out. ‘Unfortunately, you are not in possession of all the facts. Do you know how many of our people the countess has personally killed?’
‘A woman has killed our people?’
‘Twenty-five at the last count.’
Malinov stared at him with his mouth open.
‘And even if, by any strange chance, you managed to take her prisoner, well, eleven of those twenty-five had done just that, taken her prisoner. And they still died. In any event, Commissar Beria, who seems to know more about her than any of us, is of the opinion that she would suffer death by torture rather than tell us anything she did not wish us to know.’
‘Twenty-five,’ Malinov muttered. ‘A woman!’
‘Not a woman,’ Litovsky corrected. ‘An angel from the deepest pit of hell.’
Malinov swallowed. ‘What do you want me to do?’
‘You have two objectives. One is to obtain possession of that gold. The other is to obtain possession of the countess. If you can do this and return her to Moscow alive you will be commended. If you cannot, or are in any doubt about it, kill her. However, we will need proof of her death. But obtaining that gold has priority.’
Malinov licked his lips. ‘You said, ‘we’ will require proof. Won’t you be there, sir?’
‘No. I will be in Switzerland, just in case she slips through your fingers.’
Malinov considered this for a few moments. Then he asked, ‘And the man detached to go into Eisenach?’
‘He is under surveillance?’
‘Of course.’
‘Then dispose of him. That will make one less of them, eh?’
*
‘This is all we need,’ Clive remarked, sitting beside Anna and offering her a slice of Spam to put on her biscuit, and watching a drop of water splash on to it.
Anna sat with her back against a tree and her waterproof cape over her head. ‘Can’t be all bad,’ she said. ‘Rain keeps people’s heads down. Just keep thinking, this time tomorrow you’ll be soaking in a hot bath.’
‘Your idea of heaven.’
‘Close.’ She munched her food, thoughtfully.
‘So how are your feet? Mine are never going on a long walk again.’
She smiled. ‘My ankle’s sore. But it’s done its bit. And when we finish this job, you won’t have to, ever again.’
‘If I play my cards right.’
‘There’s always that.’
He finished his own brief meal, looked at the other men. They were sitting, or lying, most already half asleep, so exhausted even the rain wasn’t bothering them. But Anna seemed surprisingly wide awake. Or was it surprising? He couldn’t doubt that she was the toughest of them all, even including the SAS sergeant. And he had known her long enough to understand that when she was in the middle of an assignment her brain turned into an ice-cold computer, impervious to either. Yet he could not stop himself asking, ‘You reckon we’re going to make it?’ And then immediately correcting himself. ‘I’m sorry. That was stupid. If you didn’t think we were going to make it, you wouldn’t be here.’
‘Good thinking.’ She finished her meal in turn, took a sip of water from her canteen, and slipped down the tree, eyes shut.
‘But afterwards . . . Anna, do you trust me?’
Her eyes opened. ‘As much as I trust anybody.’
‘I’ll accept that. Then I just want you to know that no matter what happens, I’m in your corner, now and always.’
She squeezed his hand, her fingers wet with the dripping rain. ‘I’m glad of that. Now get some sleep.’
*
The rain stopped in the middle of the afternoon, the sun came out, and it warmed up, although the wood remained very wet. The men jumped up and down to assist the process. Anna walked through the trees to survey the road, on the other side of which was the river, and the little tributary with the separate copse she had committed to her memory: she was just a few yards away from ten million dollars. Supposing it was still there! But now was not the time for doubts.
She heard the rumble of an engine, and flattened herself against a tree to watch the truck pass by. It was marked with the red star of the Red Army, and contained several men, sitting and chatting, their rifles between their legs. There was nothing unusual in that, certainly this close to the border, but yet she could feel the tension creeping up the backs of her legs. Or maybe it was just the cold; for all her waterproof cape she was wet through.
She turned, and found Joe behind her. ‘You reckon that’s a problem?’ he asked.
‘Routine.’
‘Don’t you ever feel fear, or even apprehension?’
‘I can’t afford to, when I’m working. Neither can you, Joe, when you’re working with me.’
‘I guess not. Anna . . . I never had the chance to tell you what a fuck-up I feel at losing you that day in Brazil.’
‘One of those things.’
‘Then you forgive me?’
‘No. But it’s history.’
He brooded for a few moments, then asked. ‘You reckon Maynard got into Eisenach?’
‘That comes under the heading of fear and apprehension, Joe. If he didn’t, we may have a problem.’
‘Which you are confident you can solve?’
‘I’ll work on it, when the time comes. If the time comes. But you chose him.’
‘Yeah. He’s as good as we have. Anna . . . shit, there are so many things I want to say to you.’
She squeezed his hand, and led him back through the trees. ‘I would save them, until we’re on the other side of this hump.’
*
Harris and Riddick had already tested their underwater lamps, before it grew dark, as Anna had not wanted any passers-by or Russian patrols noticing flashing lights in the wood. Now, as the evening drew in, they became restless, walking to and fro. Anna reckoned neither Clive nor Joe were much less nervous; none of them had her experience at clandestine operations.
The time certainly dragged, as she waited for complete darkness before moving. At seven she called them together. ‘The location is marked by two isolated trees on the edge of the copse. It is only a couple of hundred yards from where we now are. At that place the river is about eight feet deep, and there is a layer of soft mud over the bottom. When I was here last year I tested it with the branch of a tree, and it was about eighteen inches thick, over a fairly firm bottom. The ingots will be in that mud, but they should be close together as they were all dropped from the same spot. Questions?’
No one seemed to have any.
‘Joe, you will be with me on the bank to stack them as they are brought up. Clive, I want you to act as lookout. There may be some traffic from time to time, but this is a lonely spot. And as long as no one shows any sign of stopping, ignore it.’
‘And you’re expecting Maynard about two.’
‘Not before then. He’s not supposed to make his play until after midnight. Now, weapons. Clive, you’ll take one of the tommies. We’ll keep the other five. Check anything else you happen to have.’ She took her Luger from the shoulder bag and placed it in the deep pocket of her uniform; the two spare magazines she put in the other pocket; as she had not relished the idea of walking twenty miles with the Walther rubbing into her groin she had left it at the US camp. ‘All set? Then let’s move.’
The two divers picked up their gear and she led them across the deserted road. It was now utterly dark and quiet, save for the whisper of the river moving slowly by. She took them through the copse to the marker trees. ‘There you go.’
Harris and Riddick pulled on their wet suits, then strapped on their lungs and spat into their goggles.
‘Happy hunting,’ Anna said. ‘Clive.’
He nodded, and receded into the darkness to wait by the road. The two divers were ready, and now they went in. A moment later their lights became visible as they began to search the bottom of the stream.
‘What happens if it isn’t there?’ Joe asked, standing beside her on the bank.
‘Joe,’ she said, ‘I put it there. Only just over a year ago.’
But she couldn’t resist a prickling feeling as the minutes ticked by and she watched the lights moving to and fro, distorted by the water, but seeming to cover an increasingly wide area. Then Riddick’s head broke the surface and he took off his mask. ‘It sure is mucky down here, ma’am,’ he remarked.
‘Have you found anything?’
‘How about this?’ He held up, in both hands, an oblong object. It looked like solid mud, but then he moved it to and fro in the water and suddenly it gleamed in the darkness.
‘Oh!’ Without meaning to, she hugged Joe.
‘Are there any more?’ he asked.
Harris also surfaced, carrying an ingot. ‘A whole lot.’
They handed up the gold, and then crawled out of the water to sit on the bank and take off their lungs.
‘Ah . . . what about the rest?’ Anna asked, her stomach tying itself in knots.
