The Valhalla Exchange - Jack Higgins [58]
Schneider went out and Hesser sat there, hand flat on the table, a slight frown on his face. Now that the moment had come he felt curiously deflated, but then that was only to be expected. The end of something, after all, and what did he have to show for it? One arm, one eye. But there was still Gerda - and the children - and it was over now. Soon he could go home. When he got up and reached for his cap and belt he was actually smiling.
As the ambulance came out of the last bend and Schloss Arlberg loomed above them, Finebaum leaned out of the cab and looked up at the pointed roofs of the towers in awe.
'Hey, I seen this place before. The moat, the drawbridge - everything. The Prisoner of Zenda. Ronald Coleman swam across and some dame helped him in through the window.'
'That was Hollywood, this is for real, man,' Hoover said. 'This place was built to stand a siege. Those walls must be ten feet thick.'
'They're hospitable enough, that's for sure,' Howard said. 'They've left the gate open for us. Straight in, Harry, nice and slow, and let's see what we've got here.'
Hoover dropped into bottom gear and they trundled across the drawbridge. The ironbound gates stood open and they moved on through the darkness of the entrance tunnel and emerged into the great inner courtyard.
The garrison was drawn up in a single line, all eighteen of them, Colonel Hesser at the front. General Canning, Colonel Birr, Claire and Madame Chevalier stood together at the top of the steps leading up to the main entrance.
The ambulance rolled to a halt and Howard got out. Hesser called his men to attention and saluted politely. 'My name is Hesser - Oberstleutnant, 42nd Panzer Grenadiers, at present in command of this establishment. And you, sir?'
'Captain John H. Howard, 2nd Ranger Battalion, United States Army.'
Hesser turned and called, 'General Canning - Colonel Birr. Will you join me, please?'
They came down the steps and crossed the yard. It was snowing quite hard now. Howard saluted and Canning held out his hand. 'We're certainly pleased to see you, son, believe me.'
'Our pleasure, General.'
Hesser said, 'Then, in the presence of these officers as witnesses, I formally surrender this establishment, Captain Howard.' He saluted, turned and said to Schneider, 'Have the men lay down their arms.'
There was a flurry of movement. Within a matter of seconds, the men were back in line, their rifles standing in three triangular stacks before them.
Hesser saluted again. 'Very well, Captain,' he said. 'What are your orders?'
Sorsa headed the German column in one of the armoured half-tracks, Ritter and Hoffer, Strasser and Earl Jackson next in line in their field car, the rest of the Finns trailing behind.
Just after noon they emerged from a side-road to join the road from Innsbruck to Arlberg, the road along which the ambulance had passed a short time before. As they reached the crest of the hill above the village, Sorsa signalled a halt. Ritter, Strasser and Jackson got out of the field car and went to join him.
'What is it?' Ritter demanded.
'Something's passed along this road very recently. Heavy vehicle. See the tyre marks. It stopped here before starting down to the village.'
There was fresh oil on the snow. Ritter looked down the hill. 'So this is Arlberg?'
'Quiet little place, isn't it?' Earl Jackson said. 'They're certainly out of the way down there.'
Ritter held out his hand for Sorsa's field-glasses and trained them on the turrets of Schloss Arlberg peeping above the crest of the far ridge. He handed them back to Strasser. 'Nothing worth seeing. The vehicle which has preceded us could be anything, but under the circumstances, I think we should press on.'
'I agree,' Strasser said, and for the first time seemed less calm than usual, filled with a kind of nervous excitement. 'Let's get there as fast as possible and get things sewn up. We've come too far for