'Harry here. Four Land Rovers coming up behind you – packed with armed thugs. They're really moving. Saw Delgado driving the first one
…'
'Thank you. Harry,' Marler's calm voice responded. 'How far back?'
'Could reach you in five minutes. Even less…'
Marler reported Harry's warning to everyone in the car. As he did so, Tweed was studying the topography. To his right the surge of maize. To his left they were close to a rare copse of trees.
'Drive into that copse,' he ordered Newman. 'Leave the car so it can be seen. When we stop everyone dives into that maize field, go deep inside. Three separate sections as we planned…'
Paula checked her hands, found they were dry. Inside she was ice-cold. Newman reached the copse, a small wood, backed the limo into it, leaving its bonnet exposed to view from the autobahn. Doors were flung open. The moment they left the car was like entering an inferno, the sun roasting them as though through a burning glass. At different points they plunged into the maize.
Newman and Marler were on the right flank, facing the autobahn. Tweed and Paula were in the centre. Nield and Lisa, a distance away, were on the left flank, again facing the autobahn. A second before she dived in Paula heard, then saw the helicopter, flying in from the direction of Hamburg.
'There's a chopper,' she shouted.
'It's seen us. It will inform Delgado,' Tweed shouted back so everyone heard him.
They shoved their way in among the maize, the crop almost as tall as they were. The heat was intense. They heard the chopper hovering, trying to detect where they were, Paula guessed. Then she heard the racing engines of the Land Rovers, their sudden braking.
They couldn't see, but Delgado drove his vehicle a fair distance up the autobahn beyond where the other three had parked by the cream Merc. Men piled out of the vehicles, rushed into the maize as they saw movement. Tweed had shaken plants to attract their attention. Twenty men pushed their way into the maize, seeking their targets.
Paula heard the chopper move away to the south. It had done its job, had pinpointed the location of Tweed's small team. But it had left too early. Tweed and his team had pushed well back from the autobahn into the maize until they dropped into a small gulley – probably an irrigation ditch to carry water during the rainy season. It gave them cover.
'Here we stand,' Tweed said.
He had just spoken when two of the attackers appeared almost above them. One was wielding a machete, which he swung in a vicious circle. He almost beheaded his companion when he was shot in the chest by Tweed. Paula fired twice at the other man. Both fell sideways, crashing into maize plants, then lay still. In the distance they heard Delgado's voice screaming.
'Kill. Kill. Kill.'
'All right, if that's the way he wants it,' Tweed said.
To their left, well over, Lisa was wiping her damp hands on her jeans when another attacker with a machete saw her, grinned gleefully, hoisted his wepon. Nield shot him in the throat. He went down.
Delgado's men had moved through the maize more quickly than either Marler or Tweed had expected. Marler realized it would soon be close combat, so something had to be done about it. He stood up after taking the pin out of a grenade from his satchel. Four grim-looking men were advancing shoulder to shoulder, rushing forward to overwhelm their opponents. Marler hurled the first grenade, took the pin out of another, hurled it. Three of the men fell down. The fourth had moved sideways, understanding their mistake. The second grenade landed at his feet. He threw his rifle into the air, dropped.
Marler grabbed two tear-gas canisters, threw both where he saw movement in the maize, then hoisted his Armalite. Two men jumped up as though electrocuted, hands clasping their eyes. Marler took swift aim, shot them both. By the side of Lisa, Nield had dropped his Walther, had grabbed hold of his Uzi. Not a moment too soon. Five men were charging en masse through the maize in a frontal assault. Nield pressed the trigger. A deadly sweep of bullets cut across them, then back again. All five went down, dead as dodos. An eerie silence fell over the battlefield. No sign of movement, no sound. Paula began to stand up and Tweed grabbed her shoulder, hauled her down again. He was sure it wasn't over.
After the four Land Rovers had got well ahead of him, Harry had pressed his foot down. The Mercedes roared up the autobahn. A few minutes later he saw three Land Rovers parked in front of a small wood, heard the sporadic sound of shooting.
He braked, switched off the engine, grasped the Uzi, left the car. Then he went back, climbed on top of the Merc. Well over to the right he saw five men with automatic rifles crouching down as they moved steadily forward. He realized they were outflanking Tweed and his team, were going to come up behind them.
Harry lowered his head, charged through the maize like a mad bull. When he felt he must be close to the five men he nearly fell into a ditch, stood up briefly, saw the back of the five killers as they began to circle. He crept forward swiftly, making as little noise as possible. When he stood up he was within yards of them. One turned round, saw him, raised his rifle. Harry fired non-stop, swinging his weapon in an arc. All five dropped to the earth, all with several bullets in them. Harry walked forward carefully, stared down at the blood-soaked bodies. He had foiled them.
Then he heard sounds from the autobahn, the sounds of running feet. He began rushing back.
Delgado had been careful to stay at the rear, to have his escape vehicle ready, parked further along the autobahn. He reached the road, ran along it, jumped into the Land Rover. He had reached for the ignition when he heard something. Turning round, he saw Barton and Panko about to jump aboard. He waved them away. Then he saw Barton's automatic, aimed at him point-blank. He swore foully but let them join him. Turning the ignition, he pressed his foot down and the vehicle shot forward like a shell from a gun.
Harry reached the road just in time to see them speeding off. Much too fast for him to bother taking a shot at them.
CHAPTER 29
The blue Mercedes was travelling towards Flensburg, a long way north of where the battle in the maize had taken place. The autobahn ahead and behind them was deserted. Butler was in the rear, seated between Nield and Lisa. He held up another sandwich he was about to eat.
'This was a great idea of yours, Lisa. I like to eat regularly when I can.'
'It was a brilliant idea,' Paula called back over her shoulder to Lisa. 'Arranging with the hotel kitchen last night to make up cartons of sandwiches, some fruit and litre bottles of still water.'
'Litres and litres of it,' said Marler, sitting in the front next to Newman who was driving. 'Absolute life-saver in this heat.'
'The chopper's back,' Paula said suddenly. 'It's a fair way off across the fields, doesn't seem interested in us. Looks to be flying on to Flensburg.'
'That's because we're in a blue Merc,' Tweed said. 'Back in Hamburg they got used to us travelling in two cream cars.'
'So you foresaw this might happen,' Paula commented. 'Hence getting one car switched to this blue job.'
'I like to change the image from time to time.'
'Well, at least we can look forward to peace and quiet when we reach Flensburg,' Paula remarked.
'Don't you believe it,' Marler warned. 'You heard Harry describing the three men who escaped in a Land Rover and headed north. You heard Lisa describing Barton and Panko and Harry agreed he'd seen them jump aboard the vehicle. And he also saw Delgado behind the wheel. My guess is those three make a lethal combination.'
'Except,' Newman objected, 'they wouldn't expect us to go on to Flensburg after the job we did. They'd probably think we skedaddled back to Hamburg.'