and Anthony really get rid of the guards?"
"That's not the problem .. . sir. Gerry will take the big guy with the flask, and I'll deep-six the scratch merchant. The problem, as I see it, is whether you and the colonel can talk yourselves through the apartment secitrity.1)
"Witkowski was on the phone with a couple of the Deuxieme agents. He says it's.under control."
"How?"
"Two or three names from the Polizei. They'll make calls to the in-house security guard and pave the way. Top secret and all the rest of that mumbo-jumbo."
"The [email protected] works with the Nuremberg police?"
"They may, but that's not what I said. I said 'names," not people.
I presume they'll be important names whether they're real people or not.. .. What the hell, Chris, it's well after midnight, who's going to check? When the Allies stormed Normandy, no one dared wake up Hitler's chief aides, much less the man himself."
"Is the colonel's German really good? I've heard him speak only a little bit of,it."
"He's totally fluent."
"He's got to be authoritative-"
"Can you doubt it? Witkowski doesn't speak, he barks."
"Look-he just struck a cupped match from the bushes on our right flank. Something's happening."
"He and the lieutenant are nearer. Can you see what it is? "
"Yes," replied Captain Dietz, peering through the foliage.
"It's the big Kraut with the juice. Gerry's scrambling around to the far right; he'll take him in the shadows halfway down the building's path."
"Are you fellas always so confident?"
"Why not? It's simply a job and we're trained to do it."
"Has it occurred to you that in hand-to-hand the other guy might be tougher?"
"Oh, sure, that's why we specialize in the dirtiest tricks on record. Don't you? A friend of, mine at the Paris embassy saw you play hockey in Toronto or Manitoba or someplace; he said you were the mother ship of body check techniques."
"This subject is over," ordered Latham.
"What happens if whisky-boy doesn't come back? Will the other guard be waiting for him?"
"They're German, they go by the clock. Any deviation is unacceptable. If one soldier is derelict, another can't be influenced by the dereliction. He continues the march, the watch. There, see!
Gerry's got him."
"What?"
"You weren't looking. Gerry struck a match and arched it to his left. Mission accomplished.. .. Now I'll crawl straight forward while you join the colonel on the flank, Sir."
"Yes, I know that-"
"It'll be a while, maybe as long as twenty minutes or so, but be patient, it will happen."
"From your mouth to God's ear."
"Yeah, Gerry said you'd probably say something like that. See you later, Mr. Cons-Op." The Special Forces captain wormed his way toward the canopied entrance of the condominium complex as Drew crawled between the stalks of the flowers of the English-style garden to the hedgerow where Stanley Witkowski lay prone.
"Those sons of bitches are outstanding!" pronounced the colonel, a pair of infrared binoculars at his eyes.
"They've got ice water in their veins!"
"Well, it's simply a job they're trained to do, and they do it well," said Drew, hugging the ground.
"From your mouth to God's ear, chlopak," erupted Witkowski.
"Here goes the other one .. . hell, they're magnificent! Go for the kill, nothing less!"
"I don't think we want kills, Stanley. We'd rather have captives."
"I'll take either one. I just want to get in there."
"Can we do it?"
"The setup's in place, but we won't know until we try. If there's a problem, we blast ourselves in."
"The guard will alert the police the moment he sees a weapon."
"There are eleven stories, where do they start?"
"Good point. Let's go!"
"Not yet. The captain's target hasn't arrived yet."
"I thought you just said 'here he goes."
"Into position, not for Maggie's drawers."
"For what?"
"It's a marine term. You can't score until the bull's-eye appears."
"Will you please speak English?"
"The second of the two guards hasn't come out."
"Thank you."
Six minutes passed and Witkowski spoke.
"Here he comes, right on schedule. Bless the Ein, Zwei, Drei!" Thirty seconds later a match was struck and thrown to the striker's left.
"He's out," said the colonel.
"Come on, and stand up straight. Remember, you're a member of the Nuremberg police. just stay behind me and don't open your mouth."
"What could I say?
"O, Tannenbaum, mein Tannenbaum'?"
"Here we go." Both men raced across the circular drive, and upon reaching the broad canopy fronting the thick glass doors of the entrance, they stopped. Catching their breath and standing erect, they approached the outside panel that was the intercom to the security desk.
"Guten Abend," said the colonel, continuing in German, "we're the detective detail called in to check the external emergency