cannon fire. It sank.
"That's hardball," said Latham to Karin and their three colleagues as they sat on the banks of the Rhine.
"I say we go back to that dock, wait and see who else arrives, and find out how hard," said Witkowski.
hey removed the scuba equipment from their backs, leaving the black wet suits and coarse rubber foot Tcoverings intact. Assorted weapons and miniaturized walkie-talkies were taken out of Captain Dietz's waterproof duffel bag and distributed. The semi-commando unit then crawled along the riverbank to within sight of the dock with the dull yellow Jight. Slowly, at approximately ten-minute intervals, the small, sleek boats drifted into the slips from various directions until the majority were filled. Suddenly, the yellow light was extinguished.
"I think the class is assembled," whispered Latham to Witkowski.
Karin was on the colonel's left, the two cornniandos on Drew's right.
"Gerry and I will reconnoiter," said Dietz as he and the lieutenant elbowed forward, the blades of their long knives erratically reflecting the moonlight.
"I'll go with you," said Latham.
"That's definitely not a good idea sit," protested Anthony.
"We work better alone-sir."
"Cut the 'sit' crap, please. I'm not army, but I'm running this operation."
"What he means, Mr. Cons-Op," explained the captain, "is that he and I have signals we recognize when we've studied an area. Like the low rustle of a breeze through the trees, or the gulp of a frog, anything that's indigenous."
"You're kidding."
"Not for a second," replied the lieutenant, "It's basic to the work."
"Also," continued Dietz, "if this estate here is what all the reports suggest, there'll be patrols roaming around."
"Like Traupman's place?" Witkowski interjected.
"That was chocolate cake, sir-I'd studied it before."
"All right, go ahead," said Drew.
"Leave your radios on transmit and call us when we can move forward-and be careful."
"That's even more basic to the work," said Anthony, glancing hesitantly over at Karin de Vries, and lowering his whisper to the point where Latham could barely hear him.
"Our orders in Nuremberg were to immobilize, not neutralize. From what we saw that chopper do out there on the river, I don't think that rule can apply here."
"It doesn't, Lieutenant. This is the core of the Nazi movement, so consider yourself at war. If it's at all possible, we have to learn who's in there, that's the most important thing we can do. So if you have to use those knives, use them well."
The following minutes were akin to the sound track of some ghoulish film noir, the images far more powerful, for they were imagined, not seen. Karin and Witkowski kept a single radio between them, Drew held his in front of his eyes. What all three heard caused each to wince, the colonel less so than Latham and De Vries. As the two commandos crept forward through the dense, tangled foliage of the riverbank, there were rushes of leaves and footsteps and sudden muted screams cut off by the horrible expulsions of air and liquid, the skewering of blades through flesh. Then more footsteps, racing, growing fainter, coughing grunts accompanied by cracking spits that had to be silenced pistol shots. More running feet, snaps of broken twigs, louder now, the range diminishing. Then silence-total, frightening-suddenly broken by a burst of static and the sound once again of footsteps, but on a hard surface. Karin, Drew, and Witkowski looked at one another, their intense eyes conveying their fears of the worst. Then voices, all speaking German, pleading, supplications -in German! Crashes of metal and glass followed, now accompanied by moans and the exploding cry of a voice in English.
"My God, don't kill me!"
"Christ!" exploded Witkowski.
"They've been captured. You stay here, I'm going after them!"
"Hold it, Stanley," ordered Drew, gripping the colonel's shoulder with the strong hand of a former, younger hockey champion.
"Stay where you are, I mean that!"
"I'll be damned if I will! Those boys are in trouble!"
"If they are, you'll only get killed, and we all had that option, isn't that what you said?"
"This is different! I've got a full automatic with clips enough to fire two hundred rounds."
"I feel the same way you do, Stosh, but that's not why we're here, is it?"
"You big son of a bitch," said the colonel quietly, lowering himself to the ground, "you really could be an officer."
"Not in any army I ever heard of, I can't stand the uniforms."
"All right, chlopak, what do we do?"
"We wait-that's another thing you told me-waiting's the hardest part."
"So it is."
It was not, however, as the breathless voice of Captain Christian Dietz came softly over the