The Valhalla Exchange - Jack Higgins [32]
God? Ritter thought. Is he on my side, too? He smiled ironically, tapped Hoffer on the shoulder and moved out. As there was a burst of machine-gun fire, Rattenhuber watched them flatten themselves into the ground. A moment later they were up and running safely into the ruined buildings opposite.
Bormann moved out of the shadows behind him. 'So, they are on their way, Willi.'
'Yes, Reichsleiter.'
Bormann glanced at his watch. 'I can afford to be away from the bunker for perhaps three hours at the most. In any case, you, too, must be back by then to make your own departure on schedule. We must move fast.'
'Yes, Reichsleiter.'
Rattenhuber hurried away into the darkness of the vehicle ramp. A moment later, there was the sound of an engine starting and he drove out of the shadows at the wheel of a field car. There was an MG34 machine gun in the back and Bormann mounted it on the windshield swivel and got in. Rattenhuber put on a steel helmet and offered the Reichsleiter another.
Bormann shook his head. 'If there's a bullet for me that won't save me. I haven't worn one since my field artillery days in 1918. Now, let's get moving. We haven't got time to waste.'
Rattenhuber accelerated away, driving very fast, and they turned out of Hermann-Goringstrasse and moved in the general direction of Potsdamerplatz.
Once past Tiergarten, Ritter and Hoffer moved fast through the blocks of apartment houses. A continuous mortar barrage fell around them, and after a while a squadron of Russian fighter bombers came in low over the rooftops, spraying everything in sight with cannon fire.
They dodged into a doorway beside a sandbagged gun emplacement from which Hitler Youth fired light machine guns ineffectually into the sky.
'My God,' Hoffer said in disgust. 'Children playing soldiers, and for all the good they're doing they might as well be firing Christmas toys.'
'But willing to die, Erich,' Ritter said. 'They still believe.'
He was examining the rough map which Rattenhuber had given him. Hoffer tugged at his sleeve. 'And us, Major. What about us? What in the hell are we doing here? What's the point?'
'Survival, Erich,' Ritter said. 'A game we've been playing for quite some time now, you and I. We might as well see it through. Who knows? It could prove interesting.'
'That's all it's ever been to you, isn't it?' Hoffer said. 'Some kind of black joke. That's why you can only smile with that curl to your lips.'
'And still there when you fold my hands on my chest, Erich,' Ritter told him. 'I promise you. Now let's get moving. We've about a quarter of a mile to go.'
They moved from street to street, from one mortar crater to the next, through the charnel house that was Berlin, passing on the way groups of terrified civilians, mostly women and children and the soldiers of the Volkssturm, mainly tired old men, most of them already walking corpses.
Finally, they reached the East-West Avenue, saw the Victory Column in the distance. There were few people here now and for some reason the bombardment seemed to have faded and the avenue was strangely quiet and deserted.
'Over here,' Ritter said, and darted towards the side-street opposite. The showrooms on the corner were shattered, plate glass windows gaping. The sign above the main entrance said 'Burgdorf Autos'.
Ritter led the way along the pavement and paused outside the garage doors at the rear. They were closed. 'This is it,' he said. There was a judas gate to one side. He turned to Hoffer and grinned lightly. 'I'll lead, you cover.'
Hoffer cocked the Schmeisser and flattened himself against the wall. Ritter tried the handle of the gate gingerly. It opened to his touch. He paused, then shoved the door open and went in fast, going down hard. There was a burst of machine-gun fire, a pause, then Hoffer fired an answering burst round the door.
In the silence as the echoes died Ritter called, 'Friends. We're looking for Obersturmfuhrer Heini Berger.'
It was very quiet, the garage a place of shadows in the evening light. A voice called softly, 'Identify yourselves.'