"Halt!" roared the neo patrol on the right, whipping his pistol out of its holster and aiming at the call girl's head.
"What are you doing up here? It is forbidden for anyone to come up these stairs!"
"Then you had better check with Herr What's-hisnarxie in the library. He called me away from the new man from Paris and ordered me to be here as soon as I could disengage myself. What more can I say?"
"Was ist los?" yelled the guard in the rear bench, rising and rushing forward between the two men.
"Who are you?" he shouted.
"We are first names only, you know that," replied the courtesan angrily.
"I am Elyse, and I will not tolerate your discourtesy! I was instructed by that ghoul of a man in the library to come here, and, like you, I follow orders!" Suddenly Elyse sprang away from the line of fire and shouted, "Now!"
The repeated spits of muted explosions filled the upper regions of the chateau as the three guards fell. The assault team, led by Drew, raced up the stairs, checking each body for signs of deadly life. Satisfied, they waited, their backs against the inner wall.
"Get out of here!" ordered Latham, addressing the white gowned Elyse, who had crawled up the steps to the archway.
"You've got your freedom, lady, if I have to blow up the Quai d'Orsay to get it. ""MerO monsieur. Your French improves with every hour."
"Go back to the kitchen," said Witkowski.
"Tell them funny stories about us, and keep everyone calm."
"It is not a problem, mon coloneL I will sit on a table and raise my skirt. They will be calm on the outside, preoccupied on the inside.. .. Au revoir."
"As your capitaine said, it is definitely an unfair world," mumbled Etranger One as Elyse disappeared.
"Where are they?" said Drew.
"They should be here by now!"
On the narrow backstairs, Etranger Two, harnmerlocking General Monluc's aide, the garrote in place, propelled him up the staircase after Dietz and the child prostitute. They came to a stop.
"Bist Dues Adrienne?" said the quiet voice on the third floor.
"What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to see you, Manfried," whined the girl.
"Everyone is so mean to me and I knew you were here."
"How could you know that, Liebste? The posts are secret."
"The aides talk when they have too many schnapps."
"They will be disciplined for it, my lovely little girl. Come up here, there is a soft rug and we will make use of it. Did I tell you that your breasts grow more beautiful each time you come here?"
"Kill him!" screamed Adrienne, flattening herself against the wall of the staircase.
Two muted gunshots and the guard named Manfried fell. The garrote tightened, they proceeded to the last and final floor. At first sight the approach -appeared to be insurmountable. Around the corner of the staircase there was a ten-foot archway, a single guard stationed in the center, another behind him, dozing on a bench.
"Do you know him?" whispered Dietz in French into Adrienne's, ear.
"Non, monsieur. He is new. I have seen him, that is all."
"Do you know if he's German or French?"
"Most definitely German, sir. Almost all of the guards are German, but many speak French, the more educated ones."
"I'm going to do something that may shock you, but I want you to stay calm and quiet, do you understand me?"
"What will you do?"
"There'll be a big, bright fire, but it won't last long, it was the colonel's idea."
"Le colonel?"
"The big fellow who speaks German."
"Oh, oui! What is it?"
"It's called a flare," said Dietz, pulling out a short cardboard covered tube from his right pocket and lighting the fuse with a cupped match. He peered around the corner banister, paused, his eyes on the fuse, then heaved it up the narrow steps past the guard's body. Stunned, the neo Nazi whipped around at the sound of the flare passing him and hitting the floor; before he could adjust, the blinding explosion of a thousand white-hot sparks penetrated his eyes and his flesh. He screamed as the dozing guard behind lurched to his feet in consternation, his figure outlined beyond the moving sheets of flame. In panic, he fired repeatedly with his semiautomatic, the' bullets filling the narrow staircase. The girl, Adrienne, yelled in pain; she had been hit in the leg. Dietz pulled her back as Monluc's aide, held firmly by Etranger Two, released all breath sharply, his head failing forward; he had been shot in the skull. The commando angled his weapon around