The Valhalla Exchange - Jack Higgins [45]
Several men cried out and reached for weapons and Berger and Hoffer both fired at the same moment, dropping four men between them.
Ritter said to Hoffer, 'All right - collect their weapons and hold them here until we're ready to go.'
One of the Einsatzgruppen took an involuntary step forward. 'But Sturmbannfuhrer. Without weapons we shall be totally unable to defend ourselves, and the Russians -'
'Can have you,' Ritter said, and he walked outside, followed by Strasser.
Frankel walked to meet them. 'It's worked quite well. We've managed to get about fifteen gallons of aviation fuel out of the Junkers. Mixed with petrol from the trucks, it means we can give you full tanks.'
'How long?' Strasser asked. 'Before we're ready to go?'
'Five or ten minutes.'
Ritter offered the young Luftwaffe lieutenant a cigarette. 'I'm sorry we can't take you with us, you and your men. We leave you in a bad situation.'
'The moment you've gone, I'm going to go out there and ask for terms,' Frankel said. 'I can't see much point in any other course of action, not at this stage.'
'Perhaps you're right,' Ritter said. 'And I'd keep those bastards back there in the mess hall under lock and key until the Russians get here, if I were you. It might help.'
A sergeant hurried towards them and saluted. 'The Storch's all ready to go now, Herr Leutnant.'
There was some movement out there in the darkness beyond the perimeter, the sound of an engine starting up. Ritter turned and shouted, 'Berger - Erich! Let's get out of here. It looks as if the Russians are starting to move in.'
He ran back towards the hangar, followed by Strasser. As they scrambled up into the cabin of the Storch, Hoffer and Berger arrived. Berger didn't even bother to strap himself in. He got the door closed and started the engines instantly so that the Storch was moving down the runway and turning into the wind in a matter of seconds.
The flames from the burning planes had died down and the field was almost totally dark now. 'If you believe in prayer, then now's the time,' Berger cried and he pushed up the engine revs and took the Storch forward.
They plunged headlong into darkness and Ritter leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes, totally unafraid, consumed only by curiosity to know what it would be like. Was this it? he asked himself. Could this possibly be the final moment after all these years? And then the Storch lifted as Berger pulled back the stick and they climbed up into the darkness.
Ritter turned to find Strasser examining the bullet holes in his coat. 'My thanks, but I hardly expected to see the day when you would lay yourself on the line to defend the rights of Jews.'
'What happens to those girls back there is a matter of complete indifference to me,' Strasser told him. 'You on the other hand, are an essential part of this operation which could well fail without you. That was the only reason I shot that Slavic ape back there.'
'I should be thankful for small mercies, it would seem.'
'No more empty gestures, my dear Ritter, I beg you.'
'Empty?'
'A fair description. I should imagine the Russians will rape those girls with an enthusiasm at least equal to that of Grushetsky and his motley crew, or had you really imagined it would be different?'
Dawn was a gradual affair from about 4.30 as they flew onwards through heavy cloud -at first merely an impression of light, no more than that. Strasser and Hoffer both slept, but Berger seemed as cheerful and relaxed as ever, whistling softly between his teeth.
'You love it,' Ritter said. 'Flying, I mean?'
'More than any woman.' Berger grinned. 'Which is saying a lot. For a long time I worried about what I would do when it was all over - the war, I mean. No more flying, not for the defeated.'
'But now you don't?'
It was a statement as much as a question and caught Berger