Page 45 (1/2)

As he crouched against the Toyota, Klietmann decided they could not have been more inappropriately dressed for their mission if they had beendesert was etation and only a few rock forh to provide cover In their black suits, as they tried to circle and get behind the wo cake

Hubatsch, who had been standing near the front of the Toyota, directing short barrages of autoone to the front of the car with the boy, out of sight"

"Local authorities will show up soon," Bracher said, looking west toward state route 111, then southwest in the general direction of the patrol car they had blown off the road fourout of his own "White shirts will blend with the landscape better Bracher, you stay here, prevent the bitch fro back this way Von Manstein and Hubatsch, try to circle around on the right side Stay well apart and don’t move from one point of cover until ,you’ve picked out the next I’ll go north and east, around on the left"

"Do we kill her without trying to find out what Krieger is up to?" Bracher asked

"Yes," Klietmann said at once "She’s too heavily arer will be coate in a few minutes, and we’ll be better able to deal with him when he arrives if we’ve already taken out the woo Go"

Hubatsch, followed a few seconds later by von Manstein, left the cover of the Toyota, staying low,south-southeast

Lieutenant Klietun in one hand, running in a crouch,up

Laura rose slightly and peered around the front fender of the Buick just in time to see two men in white shirts and black trousers sprint away fro to the south, obviously intending to circle behind her She stood and squeezed off a short burst at the first man, who made for the cover of a toothlike formation of rock, behind which he safely vanished

At the sound of gunfire, the second man sprawled flat in a shallow depression that did not entirely conceal hiet She did not intend to waste any more rounds

Besides, even as she sahere the second unman opened fire on her fro her by inches, and she was forced to drop down again

Stefan would be back in just three or fourat all But an eternity

Chris was sitting with his back against the front buing hi on, kiddo," she said

He looked at her but said nothing Through all the terrors they had endured in the past couple of weeks, she had not seen him look so dispirited His face was pale and slack He realized that this gaa was in fact as easy as in the aze a bleak detach on," she repeated, then scrambled past him to the other front fender, on the driver’s side, where she crouched to study the desert to the north of the her on that flank She could not let them do that because then the Buick would be of no use as a barricade, and there would be no place to run except into the open desert, where they would kill her and Chris within fifty yards The Buick was the only good cover around She had to keep the Buick between her and them

She could see no one out there on her north flank The land was more uneven in that direction, with a fe spines of rock, a few drifts of white sand, and no doubt many man-size depressions in the desert floor that were not visible froht even now be taking cover But the only things that moved were three dry tumbleweeds; they rolled slowly, erratically, in the mild, inconstant breeze

She slipped past Chris and returned to the other fender in time to see that the two ain They were thirty yards south of her but only twenty yards in front of the Buick, closing with frightening speed Though the leader was staying low and weaving as he ran, the folloas bolder; perhaps he thought Laura’s attention would be focused on the front man

She fooled him, stood up, leaned out fro it for cover as best she could, and squeezed off a two-second burst The gun his buddies cover, but she hit the second running h a bristling h not dead, he was clearly out of action, for his screaonized, there could be no doubt he was mortally wounded

As she dropped down below the line of fire again, she found that she was grinning fiercely She was intensely pleased by the pain and horror that the wounded e reaction, the prie, startled her, but she held fast to it because she sensed that she would be a better and e

One down Perhaps only two o

And soon Stefan would be here No ra him back here shortly after he had left He would rejoin her-and enter the fight-in only two or threedirectly at Stefan when he eant-becay that accoht snakes of blue-white light wriggled away froenerated the shattered the sky in the world above these underground rooy of ti display that brought the unifor serpents of electricity streaked across the floor, up the walls, coalesced briefly on the ceiling, then dissipated, leaving everyone unhare wall map of Europe, which had been seared in several places but not set aflaeant shouted He was unarmed but evidently quite sure that his cry would be heard and answered swiftly, for he repeated it only once and made no move toward the door "Guards!"

"Mr Churchill, please," Stefan said, ignoring the sergeant, "I’m not here to do you any harm"

The door flew open and two British soldiers entered the roo a revolver, the other an auto hastily, afraid he was about to be shot, Stefan said, "The future of the world depends on your hearing hout the excitement, the prime minister had remained seated in the armchair at the end of the table Stefan believed that he had seen a brief flash of surprise and perhaps even a glireat man’s face, but he would not have bet on it Now the prime raph that Stefan had ever seen of hiuards: "Hold a an to protest, the prime minister said, "If he had meant to kill me, certainly he would have done so already, on arrival" To Stefan he said, "And that was so Olivier has ever made"

Stefan could not help but smile He stepped out of the corner, but when he uards stiffen, so he stopped and spoke from a distance "Sir, by the very manner that I’ve arrived here, you know I’er and that what I have to tell you hly sensitive, and you may not wish to have my information conveyed to any ears but yours"

"If you expect us to leave you alone with the PM," the sergeant said, "you’reyou’re mad!"