by Nick Carter
A heavy iron bar rested against a rack inches from my hand. I grabbed it, bashed the nearest guard with a sweeping blow and let the momentum carry me forward to smash it against the second one. The other two whirled in surprise. I drove the iron into the first one's stomach, feeling the rip of cartilage and muscle. The second of the two was reaching into his pocket. He never made it. I tapped his jaw with the length of iron and he went down atop his friend. What the hell, I said. My cover would be shot the moment Ben Mussaf arrived anyway. I unstrapped Lisa, eased her to the ground to let her gather some strength back.
"Hold still," I said, slipping the jersey over her head. She looked up, recognition dawning in her eyes.
"Nick!" she gasped, immediately clutching the jersey to her breasts.
"Never mind the modesty," I said gruffly. "Besides, it's too late. Just get your things on." I let her dress while I tossed off the burnoose and the robe. The damned thing was a pain in the ass to me. It interfered with my freedom of action. I grabbed Lisa and headed up the stairs, detouring at the entrance to the wine cellar.
"In here," I said. It was as good a place as any to hole up. They'd be searching for us soon enough, I knew. We sat in a corner, in the deepest of the shadows, the huge wine casks looming up all around us.
"My stomach," Lisa groaned. "It'll never be the same again."
"Yes, it will," I grunted. "They were only starting on you. I stepped in, because I saw you were not up to taking any more. You know, if I get you out of this place alive, I'm coming back and kick you around Kaiserlautern Strasse. What a damn fool stunt to pull. What the hell got into you?"
"I'm sorry," she said contritely. "I've made it worse for you, haven't I? I wanted to see if I could help you. I had the feeling something dangerous was happening."
She sobbed and I put my arm around her. She snuggled up to me at once. "Can you ever forgive me?" she asked humbly.
"I may not have to," I answered. "If I can't come up with a way to get you out of here, I may have to leave you sitting right here until I can get back."
I suddenly slapped my leg in anger. We were sitting here when there was the rear entrance, the way I'd come in to the castle earlier. Lisa's hand in mine, I hurried past the wine kegs to the two oak doors. I was glad that my normal caution asserted itself and I opened the door only a crack. It was enough for me to see that the rear of the castle was lined with guards, some seated on hand dollies, others leaning on four-wheel flatbed handcarts. They were obviously marking time, waiting for something, but they effectively prevented that way out. We returned to the corner and sat down. She came up against me at once, her body soft and sweet in my arms.
My eyes wandered up and down the rows of kegs as I tried to figure another way of getting Lisa out. Suddenly it exploded in me. I knew what had been bothering me about this damned wine cellar.
"This is a phony wine cellar, Lisa," I announced calmly.
"You sure?" she asked, sitting up and peering into the darkness.
"I'd bet on it," I said. "I knew something was wrong, but I couldn't put my finger on it till just now. Look at the top of each cask, where the bung — the stopper — is. You see that every one of the bungs is at the top of the cask."
Lisa nodded. "In any wine cellar that is a real, working wine cellar," I went on, "some of the wine has been racked, which means drawn off into clean, sulphured casks. This is done three times. With the third racking, the cask is stored on its side so that the bung will be completely covered with wine. This prevents any air seeping into the cask. Not a one of these casks is racked with the bung on the side of the cask."
I moved beside the nearest row of casks. I tapped the front part, ran my fingers across the top and onto the bottom end. I heard the faint, dense sound of wine inside. I knelt down and felt along the underside of the casks. My fingers quickly found the thin ridge in the wood and I traced it around to form a square about two by two feet. I pressed up on the square of wood until it gave way at one end to hang down. Reaching up into the hole, from which no wine poured forth, my hands felt the touch of burlap covering an oblong, hard object. I had found where the gold was kept. Each cask had a false, hollowed-out underside.
I had just replaced the square of wood when we heard the sounds of voices and feet running up and down the stone steps outside. They had discovered the guards and Lisa's disappearance. The Arab's robes in a pile completed the picture for them. I'd hoped they would leave searching the wine cellar for the very end, or perhaps not at all, but as luck would have it they burst in almost at once. Flashlights probed the darkness, sweeping toward the corner where we huddled. That time was at hand, either fight or give up. As the latter one never appealed to me without trying the first, I pegged two shots at the flashlights, heard the gasps and saw the lights swing up into the air in a crazy pattern.
"Stay close to me, honey," I called to Lisa. "We're going to make a run for it."
We emerged onto the stone stairway as two more guards came rushing down. Wilhelmina barked again, twice, and they toppled down the steps. We were out on the main floor and I ducked behind a corner, pulling Lisa in with me, as a half-dozen of the white-shirted men raced by to fan out into various parts of the castle. I waited a moment, then raced out, heading for the main gate. All I wanted to do was get Lisa on her way down to the car. We never made it. A horde of them met us as they came rushing in from outside. I dropped two more and turned and ran back into the castle proper.
The walls of the main corridor were hung with various kinds of medieval battle implements. I jumped up and yanked down a vicious item called by the incongruous name of morning star. It consisted of a spiked steel ball at the end of a long chain that was attached to a pole. Lisa had flattened herself against the wall as the horde charged me. I swung the medieval weapon with all my might. The spiked steel ball whirled in an arc and I saw at least four of them go down, blood spurting from gaping wounds. I kept the spiked ball swinging as I moved forward. Three more went down. The damned tiring was positively great. A pair of hands grabbed at me from behind. Other arms tackled my legs. I staggered, intent on keeping the morning star whirling. More of them were there now, but staying at a respectful distance. I flung the damned thing at them and turned my attention to the three clinging to me. I detached one with a hard right and I was working on the second one clinging to my legs when something hard exploded against the back of my head. The stone walls turned to rubber. Another blow crashed against my temple and I felt myself going down, my ribs hurting from kicks and blows. A curtain of darkness came down over me.
When I woke, the lights were bright and I heard the hum of voices all around me. My wrists seemed terribly heavy and I focused on them to see the steel shackles encircling them. Hands pulled me to my feet roughly. The haze cleared and I first saw Lisa standing beside me, also shackled. Then I saw Dreissig, still impeccably dressed, standing beside a shorter man, expensively robed. Ben Mussaf had arrived and his entourage of aides was standing behind him. Dreissig was pridefully explaining how they had seized us. I noticed an Arab next to Ben Mussaf holding two cages, each containing a hooded falcon.
"They will make an excellent test for us tomorrow, no, Your Excellency?" Dreissig addressed the Arab. Ben Mussaf nodded, his face without change of expression, his eyes as sharp and piercing as those of his falcon. I had the distinct impression that Ben Mussaf was not at all happy at finding Dreissig's hideaway had been penetrated by outsiders.
"These are the only two?" he asked, glancing sharply up at Dreissig.
"We've searched the grounds thoroughly," Dreissig answered. "The American has been a thorn in our side for days. He is a famous agent of their organization AXE."
Ben Mussaf grunted and Dreissig ordered the guards to take us downstairs. As we were pulled away, I heard Ben Mussaf tell Dreissig that his men would be with the gold on the barges until it was safely unloaded. Lisa and I were shackled to wall irons in the torture chamber and left. I glanced over at her.
"You know
what I think?" I asked her. "I think Aunt Anna isn't going shopping today."
She bit her lip and her eyes were dark with concern.
"What are they going to do with us?" she asked.
"I don't know," I answered honestly. "Whatever it is, you can be sure you won't like it. Get some sleep."
"Sleep?" she cried out, incredulous. "You're joking. How could you?"
"Easy. Just watch." I closed my eyes, put my head back against the wall and was asleep in moments. I'd learned, years ago, in many kinds of places and situations, that there was a time for sleeping and a time for fighting. They were equally important and I'd learned to make the best of both.
I woke with the dawn and smiled. Lisa was still asleep alongside me. As I'd expected, exhaustion had taken over eventually. The morning wore on and no one came down. It was nearly midday when Lisa awoke. The other prisoner, still stark naked, lay chained across the room, stirring occasionally, but otherwise silent and unmoving. Except for a quiet good morning, Lisa was silent and her eyes showed her fear. She would glance at me, trying to muster her cool, contained composure, but it wasn't successful.
Midday passed on into the afternoon and still we were left alone. I was beginning to hope that perhaps something had gone wrong when I heard the white-shirted guards approaching. They unshackled Lisa first, then me and then the small naked man across the room. We were marched up the stairs and out into the late afternoon sun. A half-dozen additional men joined us as we were marched up into the hills and through a woodland path to emerge on a broad, gently sloping expanse of beautifully trimmed lawn. I saw the cluster of figures at the top of the slope. Dreissig was there, wearing riding britches, and Ben Mussaf in his robes. Three Arabs stood behind them, each one holding a golden eagle on his wrist. I was getting very uneasy. I knew damned well they hadn't brought us out here for a friendly exhibition of bird watching and I was so right.
"Sorry we had to keep you waiting," Dreissig said with sadistic unctuousness to his smile. "But His Excellency and I changed our schedule and had our planning session during the day instead of at night."
"I thought maybe you were busy counting your gold," I answered blandly. Dreissig smiled the charmingly evil smile again.
"No, that will be done tonight, I'm afraid," he said. "The barges did not arrive till nearly dawn and as the unloading process is a lengthy one we decided to wait till night and make certain we were not observed by river traffic."
"I fear you will not be around, either, to observe," Ben Mussaf said, extending an arm to let the handler transfer one of the eagles to his wrist. "These magnificent hunters are the latest and most successful in an interesting experiment. They have been especially trained to hunt not birds, but man. I introduced Herr Dreissig to the sport of falconry and he interested me in this variation, golden eagles as natural dive bombers, capable of picking out and destroying a courier or fleeing prisoner with ease. It's a fantastic innovation. The golden eagle, as you know, is a born hunter and killer. He will often attack anything that moves so it was not a question of developing an instinct, but specializing it."
"As we are sportsmen," Dreissig cut in, "we are giving each of you a sporting chance at your freedom." He pointed to a thicket of woods at the bottom of the green slope, some 500 yards away. "If you can reach those trees alive," he said, "you will be allowed your freedom."
I smiled wryly. Having seen both falcons and eagles in action, I knew what kind of odds he was giving us. Ben Mussaf raised his arm, the hooded eagle moved, sensing the moment that was about to approach. The little man, still stark naked, was shoved out in front. I saw Lisa's eyes fill with pity and concern.
"Go, pig!" Dreissig yelled, giving the small nude figure a shove. The man glanced back, his eyes suddenly coming alive, and he began to run with a desperate speed.
"Unstrike the hood!" Ben Mussaf ordered the handler who immediately pulled the drawstrings open at the back of the eagle's hood. With a flick of his hand, Ben Mussaf snatched the hood from the eagle, lifted his arm and the eagle soared into the air. I watched the eagle wheel slowly in the air, executing a wide circle, and then start its swooping dive. The little man was halfway down the hill and I felt Lisa's hand pressing into my arm. "He's going to make it!" she whispered excitedly. I didn't say anything. The horrible truth would be spread out there before her eyes in seconds. I watched the eagle hurtling down with bullet-like speed. As the great golden wings neared the man, they spread out flat and leveled off to brake and come down with talons extended. I saw the vicious talons swipe across the man's head, saw the gusher of blood that erupted. We could hear his scream of pain easily, as he clutched both hands to his head, stumbled, fell and rolled over. He got up and started running again, but the eagle had turned at the end of its swoop and came soaring past to strike again, talons ripping deep into his arms. As the great bird rose up into the air, it pulled one of his arms up, half-lifting the man from the ground. This time the eagle dived directly without executing its long swoop. Once again the vicious talons sunk into face and neck, ripping and tearing. Shrieking in agony, the little man dropped to the ground. The eagle came down again, a whirling mass of wings and feathers, striking deeply now with its hooked beak, tearing at the flesh of the man's stomach. It was a sickening sight as the great hawk, in a frenzy of killing, continued to strike at the naked body until it was a lifeless mass of torn and shredded flesh. Finally, Ben Mussaf blew a high-pitched, shrill whistle, the eagle paused, looked up and finally returned, landing on his wrist with bloodied talons and beak. I looked at Lisa. She had buried her face in her hands. The handler hooded the eagle at once and went off back to the castle.
"A marvelous exhibition," Dreissig said admiringly. "The girl is next. Take her clothes off." Lisa stood still for the indignity with resignation. I knew what would happen. She would have no more chance than the little man had. That lovely body would be nothing more than a blood-streaked, torn carcass in minutes from now. The only thing that could prevent it was to do away with the eagles and I had no chance of doing that. But as the thought flashed through my mind, I realized that while I couldn't do away with them, they could do away with each other. They were kept hooded till the moment of release because they would tear each other to bits at the first chance. Lisa was naked now, and Dreissig, Ben Mussaf and everyone else were busy taking in her loveliness.
"It seems a pity," the Arab suggested.
"Yes, but she will pay for the death of our Helga," Dreissig said. "An eye for an eye, your Excellency."
No one was watching me and I'd moved backwards behind the handlers holding the two eagles. I watched Dreissig grab Lisa and send her stumbling forward. "Run," he shouted. "Run, you little bitch." Lisa took off, her lovely, lithe figure a gorgeous wraith racing across the grass. Ben Mussaf reached back to receive the second of the eagles when I whisked the hoods from both eagles with one motion and gave a yell. With a flapping of wings, both birds shot into the air, circled in their wide arc and went at each other. They collided in mid-air with a shower of feathers and blood. Separating for an instant, they attacked again, talons and beaks clawing and tearing at each other in fury. They rose and fell together, swooped apart for an instant and returned to the attack. Blood flew through the air. It was deadly savagery, almost too fast for the eye to follow. Suddenly, in mid air, there was a particularly violent shudder and it was over. They plummeted to the ground, victor hardly more alive than vanquished. Dreissig and Ben Mussaf had been as transfixed by the spectacle as I was, but now their eyes turned to me in fury. I glanced beyond them. Lisa was out of sight in the woods.
"Go after her," Dreissig ordered six of his men. "Bring her back."
"You promised her freedom if she could reach the woods," I protested. "You haven't any morality, have you?"
Dreissig, his handsome face now contorted in fury, slapped me across the face. It was open handed, but it made my head snap. He was a strong sonofabitch. If he expected me to react with respectful fear he made a mistake. I let him have
one right in the pit of his stomach. He doubled over, clutching his hands to his midsection and dropped to his knees. Four guards grabbed me before I had a chance to give him another one in the head.
"Take him away," Ben Mussaf ordered the guards as he helped Dreissig to his feet. I went with them quietly. They took me back to the dungeon and snapped the wrist locks on me again. It was dark within an hour and I was still alone. As time went on I began to grow optimistic. They hadn't found Lisa. Maybe she got away. I wouldn't permit myself the luxury of optimism until the night wore on, but finally I began to relax. Now all I had to do was worry about getting myself out of here, getting to Dreissig and doing a wrecking job on his schemes. That was all… only that wasn't all.
IX
I had been listening for the sounds of Dreissig's men moving the gold shipment into the wine cellar. They'd be using the rear entranceway, but the cellar wasn't that far from the torture chamber. I would be able to hear. But they hadn't started yet, apparently. At least my straining ears hadn't picked up anything. It was as silent as death in the cavernous room, and I immediately tensed as my ears picked up the faint sounds of footsteps creeping toward me. I peered through the dim flicker of the torchlight and suddenly saw the flash of red.
"Not again!" I exclaimed. "What the hell are you doing back here?"
"I couldn't make it out by myself," Lisa said. "They had the outer grounds tightly sealed with patrols so I came back here for your help. You got me into this, now you can get me out."