Eleven Eleven - By Paul Dowswell Page 0,51

I’ll manage,’ said the officer.

Axel pushed the door. It opened. Nothing happened.

The next doors they went through were open, and the lieutenant peered through each one, carefully looking for tripwires. But when they reached the door on the second floor leading up to the attic, it too was closed.

‘I’ll do this one,’ said Rhodes. He opened the door a sliver, so the hasp of the lock rested on the door frame. Then he told Axel to step back against the wall. Grabbing a chair that was sitting incongruously in the middle of this empty room, he stood the other side and swung it with all his might against the door, so it flew open. There was an immediate explosion and splinters and fragments, and a large portion of the door, blew out into the room, shattering some of the windows opposite.

The noise from the blast set Axel’s ears ringing. He peered into the staircase. It was still there. The charge had blown out rather than down. Rhodes was urging him up the stairs, but Axel could still not hear him. He took a deep breath and suddenly his hearing returned.

Down below in the square Axel could hear a commotion. Out of the window he saw some of the men break ranks. Their rebellion spread like wildfire. The whole group took to their heels and ran to the other end of the square.

‘Never mind that. Up to the roof,’ Rhodes said. ‘There’s a skylight up there, we can see down on the eaves easily enough.’ Then he said, ‘Oh, hang on,’ and went over to a shattered window. ‘We’re both all right,’ he called down. Only the sergeant, the colonel and a handful of officers were still there by the railway station. The sergeant was yelling himself hoarse, but the men remained at the far end of the square. The colonel told him to save his breath and dismissed the other officers still there with him.

Axel and the lieutenant hurried up the stairs, hoping the explosion had not made them unsafe. They seemed solid enough. Axel kept wondering if he would be killed at any second by another mine or booby trap left by his comrades.

Like the room downstairs, the attic was empty. Whatever had been kept up here had been taken by the retreating soldiers. ‘Quick, climb on my shoulders,’ said the lieutenant. ‘Have a look through that skylight. See what you can see.’

Rhodes braced himself against the wall and cupped his hands so Axel could climb up. It was an awkward business, but he managed to haul himself up and was just tall enough to be able to peer out of the skylight.

‘I can’t see anything,’ said Axel. He was beginning to sweat, despite the cold. If the building went up, they would be blown apart or buried in rubble. He had survived the war. He didn’t want to die now. ‘Down you come,’ said the lieutenant, and Axel leaped down, landing on the bare wooden floorboards with a loud thump.

Rhodes accepted his observation. ‘There must be something,’ he said. He darted over to the chimney. ‘Maybe it’s up here.’ He took a small pocket torch from his jacket and pointed it up the chimney shaft.

‘A-ha! So there you are,’ he said to himself, and Axel froze. He recognised that tone, even if he didn’t understand the words. He called Axel over, and handed him his torch. ‘Look at that – taped just inside the chimney breast. Standard detonation device. Acid eating through a wire, I imagine. When did you see your fellows up on the roof?’

Axel racked his brains. ‘About three in the morning, I think.’

‘These things usually go off after one or two hours, sometimes six or nine.’ He looked at his watch, then said decisively, ‘Let’s go. It could go off any second.’ Axel didn’t need to be told twice. He ran down the stairs three at a time, the lieutenant right behind him.

Axel burst out of the main entrance to find the colonel and the sergeant standing right outside by the awning. The rest of the soldiers were still at the far side of the square, waiting to see what would happen.

Axel wondered if the colonel felt he had to stay where he had commanded his men to stand. Maybe he was braver than Axel had first thought. Maybe he felt he had to share the danger with this junior officer he had sent into the building. Axel also admired the loyalty of the Sergeant.

Rhodes