As the anthem came to an end, the Führer nodded to her secretary and her entourage left the room. The remainder of the department heads turned to each other, congratulating themselves on a job well done. While Maas was all smiles and shaking hands outwardly, his thoughts were on the Americans.
By now Maas was obsessed to know answers. He wanted to stand up in this meeting next week and report the most formidable threat to the Fortress and the movement was crushed. But first he must determine what to do about the American rescuers that he knew were coming. As long as they thought he had the two Americans, he knew others would come and seek their release. Maas was determined to kill them all.
After the meeting Maas returned to his office. He checked for any reports that were placed since he was in that ridiculous meeting. There were none. He picked up the phone and called Oberleutnant Grübner. Grübner answered the phone on the first ring.
“Yes, sir,” snapped Grübner, recognizing the extension number on the phone. Grübner was scared to death of Maas. He saw him operate for many years. One thing Grübner was very certain of, do not get on his bad side. Maas loved to simply place someone in a jail cell and leave them there until they died: no food, no water. Sure it took a while but Maas felt this was a good way to inflict the maximum amount of pain and suffering on his enemies. And one thing Maas surely loved was inflicting pain and suffering.
“Any news from our patrols?” asked Maas without any niceties such as “good day”. His abruptness startled Grübner for a second. It was meant to startle him.
“Ah, no, sir, we do not have any adverse reports from the patrols or the sensors. I am checking personally with the team leaders every thirty minutes. I also deployed several long-range patrols a full ten kilometers from our normal security perimeter especially in the areas from which the intruders came. Our security cloak is very well in place.”
“That is very good for your sake, Grübner,” growled Maas. “Both the Führer and I are holding you personally responsible for our protection from these intruders. They will return, I guarantee you. And when they do, I expect you to handle them quickly, quietly and effectively. Do you understand, Oberleutnant?”
“Absolutely, sir,” answered Grübner as he wiped a small rivulet of sweat from his brow. “I will handle it.”
“See that you do,” snapped Maas as he hung up the phone. He sat back and looked at the large map on his wall. He stood, walked over to the map, reached down and picked up a red push pin placing it on the map at the site of the hatchway where the intruders had gained access. He stepped back and surveyed the land around the hatch. This area was close to several native trails that crossed through the area.
He wondered to himself about the capabilities of the intruders. Would they come back the same way? That would be foolish in his mind. But that was also the only reasonable way into the Fortress area due to the close proximity of the native trails. His hunch was the intruders knew only those trails and that entrance to the Fortress. For that reason they would try to gain entrance there again. But the big question was when. Several days had elapsed with no reports of the intruders. That worried him. They were long overdue in his mind. He would have struck earlier. Where were they?
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Hugo heard the man first. The Nazi made little noise but it was enough for Hugo to hear. Now he was in Hugo’s sights. The man never saw Hugo step out of the underbrush.
Hugo’s knife silently sliced through the trachea and jugular vein until it ended its work near the earlobe of the Nazi. The man’s eyes bulged as he felt an intense stinging sensation, then a flow of warm liquid down his chest. Suddenly it became very hard to breathe. The Nazi tried to look back at his attacker but Hugo’s hold was strong. His hand clasped over the Nazi’s mouth and pulled back his head, further opening the crimson chasm in his neck. Blood was pouring from the gaping wound. A strange lightheaded feeling came over the Nazi. He knew his life was coming to an end but there was no real pain. The Nazi’s eyes looked toward the heavens as darkness closed his view, first around the edges of his field of vision, then closing from all sides like the iris of a camera. Once darkness was complete, there was one less person on this planet earth.
Hugo eased him to the ground and wiped his knife on the man’s trousers. He grabbed the Nazi by the epaulets on his fatigues and pulled his body under two huge ferns. The man’s gun was tossed under an outgrowth of underbrush behind the ferns. Hugo returned to the killing area and carefully spread leaves over the pool of blood. He wanted to ensure that anyone coming this way would not find the body or see the blood unless they looked really hard. Hugo whispered the all clear to Dane, who silently appeared beside Hugo. It looked like the small animals and the bugs of the jungle were in for a nice meal.
Dane and Hugo made good time prior to this situation even though Hugo played it safe on point. The two moved through the jungle like leopards. Fast but extremely dangerous.
Within minutes Hugo heard the movement of a second man. He froze like a Louisiana birddog. Dane froze as well.
Then Dane heard it. There was a slight rustling in the jungle. Not a natural sound but a distinct staccato that gave away the Nazi walking through the jungle. Without hesitation Hugo quickly flanked the man and was on him in an instant. There was no noise, hardly even a sound. But the man was dead none the less.
Hugo made a name for himself in the Middle East as a tracker and a cold-blooded killer. That was his alter ego. Once he switched into his military mode, Hugo was extremely dangerous. Some in his SEAL unit likened him to a cobra, silent and deadly. He could stalk anyone and still stay concealed. When the time came to take out his prey, he struck with incredible precision and fury. There was no wounded left when Hugo attacked, just bodies or nothing if the need be. He was the kind of weapon one needed in this jungle pursuit.
Dane and Hugo came across their first patrol sentry about ten kilometers from the Fortress. Dane was right. The Nazis expected them and expanded their defenses in order to meet the two as far from the Fortress as possible.
Since they split from the others, Dane and Hugo’s path tracked due north. Dane plotted the northern approach to the Fortress with their target being the helicopter port where they first witnessed the black helicopter taking off nearly a week ago. The Nazis had no clue he and Hugo knew of the heliport entrance to the Fortress. Dane hoped the Nazis were counting on a return visit to the hidden hatch Dane and Hugo used earlier. Ben and his team were headed to that hatch to create a diversion.
Hugo turned to Dane and flashed a nasty grin. “That’s two down… ”
Dane returned the grin with a thumbs-up. Hugo turned back north and vanished into the jungle. Dane followed keeping a reasonable distance behind. Less than three klicks later, Dane smelled smoke. He froze and called Hugo on his comm unit.
“Smoke, off to the left,” he whispered into the tiny microphone. Before he could finish the call, Hugo was already on it. He spotted a small group of men under a tree huddled in a makeshift topless bunker dug into the ground just in front and under some large ferns. They were hidden very well, almost too well. If they had not smelled the cigarette smoke, neither Dane nor Hugo may have seen these guys until they were on top of them. Hugo moved closer from the right and Dane moved in from the left. There were three Nazis dressed in black fatigues. Two were down in the bunker while one was watching for movement as he knelt behind a screen of palm fronds to the right of the bunker.