Games of State - Tom Clancy [154]
They hesitated.
"My legs aren't moving," Stoll said.
"Make them," Hood said as he rose, followed by Nancy and very reluctantly by Stoll.
"Here I thought we were the good guys," Stoll said. "Do we raise our hands or just walk? What do we do?"
"Try and calm down," Hood said as they made their way between the banks of computers.
"Why do people always say that?" Stoll asked. "If I could, I would."
Nancy said, "Matt, now you're getting on my nerves. Can it."
He did, and they walked the rest of the way in silence.
Hood watched the New Jacobin who had spoken, the man closest to the door. He had a thick black beard and mustache and was dressed in a gray sweatshirt, jeans, and boots. An assault rifle was tucked under his arm. He looked like he wouldn't hesitate to use it.
The three were quiet until they walked through the doorway. Hood saw Hausen facing a brick wall, his hands pressed against it, his legs spread. One of the men was pointing a pistol up against the base of his skull.
"Oh, shit," Stoll said as he entered the small, dark corridor.
The three Americans were grabbed by two men each and pushed against the wall. Guns were placed against the backs of their heads. Hood moved his head slightly so he could see the man in charge. The New Jacobin was cool, standing sideways so he could see his prisoners and also look into the room.
Beside him, Nancy was trembling slightly. To her right, Stoll was trembling even more. He was looking down the corridor as though weighing an escape.
"We have a search warrant," Stoll said softly. "I thought this was all legal."
The leader barked, "Tais-toi."
"I'm not a commando," Stoll said. "None of us is. I'm just a computer guy!"
"Quiet!"
Stoll's mouth closed audibly.
The New Jacobin leader studied them for a moment and then turned back to the doorway. He shouted for the last man to come out.
Ballon yelled back in French, "When you let the others go, I'll come out."
"No," said the New Jacobin. "You come out first."
Ballon didn't answer this time. Clearly, he intended to leave the next move up to the enemy. And the next move was for the leader to nod toward Hausen. The New Jacobin standing behind the German grabbed his hair. Nancy screamed as the man walked him toward the door. Hood wondered if they were even going to give Ballon the chance to come out, or if they were just going to shoot the German and throw his body in and threaten to throw someone else in text.
A gunshot popped from somewhere in the darkness, toward the door which led to the main corridor. It took a moment of searching before Hood could see that with all the shouting and shuffling, no one had heard Ballon's men remove the ornate knob from the door. They had a clear shot at everyone in this corridor.
The man holding Hausen had fallen. He was squeezing his right thigh and crying. Hausen seized on the moment of confusion to run toward the door, in the direction from which the shot had come. None of the New Jacobins fired. Obviously, they feared being cut down if they did.
Hausen opened the door and disappeared. There was no one on the other side. They must have seen him coming and taken cover.
Hood didn't move. Though the man behind him was looking away, he still felt the pressure of the front sight and muzzle on the top of his neck.
Perspiration trickled down his armpits and along the sides of his chest. His palms grew clammy against the cold brick wall and he promised himself that if he survived this he'd not only hug each member of his family for a good long time, but also Mike Rodgers. The man had spent his life surviving situations like these. Hood's respect for him suddenly grew very, very deep.
As he was thinking that, his hands began to vibrate.
No, Hood thought. Not just my hands. The old bricks themselves were beginning to tremble. Then the sky outside the barred windows brightened. The air itself seemed to rattle. And the New Jacobin leader shouted for his men to finish the job and leave.
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
Thursday, 11:15 P.M.,
Wunstorf, Germany
The footsteps were