soft pillows that dwarfed his body, his wizened face sunk in the billowing silk as if he were in a casket. And that face.
The closer one looked, the more hypnotic it became.
The sunken cheeks, the deep-set eyeballs! Both skeletal with age The short mustache beneath the nostrils, now snow white but clipped precisely; the pale face, easily remembered as having been flushed with oratorical rage-it was all there! Even the famous twitch in the right eye that had developed after the assassination attempt at Wolfsschanze. All there! It was the aged face of Adolf Hitler!
"Jesus Christ!" whispered Witkowski.
"Is it possible?"
"It's not impossible, Stanley. It would answer a lot of questions that have been asked for over fifty years. Especially two: Who really were the charred bodies in that bunker pit, and how did the rumor start that the FiMrer had made it to an airport disguised as an old woman? I mean how, why? .. . No time now, Stosh, we've got to secure this pharaoh's tomb before it becomes one."
"Call in the French unit."
"Not until we make sure nothing here can self-destruct. Because if there is anything here, it's in these rooms.. .. We'll pull our pharaoh's four other aides out."
"How do you propose to do that, chlopak?"
"One customer at a time, Colonel. The doors have knobs and you can bet your ass they're not locked on the inside. Not in the Fourth Reich, where privacy is hardly a priority in the upper ranks, specifically as Monluc-or whoever he is-is surrounded by them."
"Good point," admitted Witkowski, "you're growing
up, lad, getting pretty damn smart."
"I'll treasure that comment." Latham silently signaled for Dietz and the French agents to join him and the colonel by the steel door.
He whispered his instructions and the three men went to work as a team. One by one the doors were opened and closed, the beams of dull blue penlights crisscrossing one another while the doors were being closed. When the- last of the eight had been visited, Captain Dietz reported to Drew.
"None of those mothers will move for a couple of hours."
"You're sure of that? Are they tied securely, no glass or knives or razors around?"
"They're tied all right, Cons-Op. but we really didn't have to."
"What do you mean?"
The commando removed a hypodermic needle and,a vial of liquid from his pocket.
"About a quarter of an inch apiece, right, Colonel?"
"What?"
"Well, you can't think of everything, cb1opak. It was just a backup.. .. Into the left-arm arteries, correct, Captain?"
"Yes, sir. Number Two squeezed 'em so I couldn't miss."
"You're very big with surprises, Stanley. Anything else you haven't told me?"
"I'd have to think about it."
"Please, forget it," whispered Latham, turning to the commando.
"What was in the other three rooms?"
"The one nearest the bed is the biggest bathroom you've ever seen, chrome bars everywhere so the old guy can get around. The other two are actually one room. The wall's been taken down, and it's loaded with computer stuff."
"Bingo," said Drew.
"Now all we need is an expert with that equipment."
"I thought we had one. Her name's Karin, in case you've forgotten."
"My God, you're right! Now, listen to me, Dietz. You, our Colonel Great Spy here, and E-One and E-Two, stay on both sides of old Monluc's bed-"
"You say he's Monluc," interrupted Dietz, "but I say he's somebody else, and I don't even want to think about it!"
"Then don't. just flank him and if he wakes up, don't let him touch anything. Not a button, a switch, a wire he might pull out, anything! We've got to invade those computers and learn whatever's there."
"Why not use the colonel's magic needle, Cons-Op?"
"What .. . [email protected] -"Instead of a quarter of an inch, maybe an inch."
"I don't know, Captain," said Witkowski, "I'm not a doctor. At his age, that stuff might not be exactly restorative."
"So we go back to a quarter, what's the difference?"
"Not a bad idea," whispered Drew.
"If you can do it."
"Hey, that Number Two's a whiz with the veins. I think he must have been a medic."
"All Foreign Legionnaires have medic training," explained the colonel.
"What are you going to do, Mr. Cons-Op?"
"What you want me to do. I'm closing that steel door and calling in the assault unit. Then I'll reach Karin and our lieutenant and tell them to follow." Latham pulled out his radio, switched military frequencies, and ordered the French Etranger unit to blow out the front gates and use its loudspeaker equipment before attacking the chateau. He switched back to the promontory.