The DDI took off the headset and passed it over to the engineer, then went back to his seat, past the rows of media hounds.
What the hell were the two of them up to? Why had they run? Were they going to turn out to be the jokers in the pack, the wild cards that changed the game?
As he stared out of the window, Air Force One crossed into German airspace on its flight from Paris to the new capital of Germany, Berlin.
Ch. 72
'Shoes are too big.'
'So find a cobbler.'
'Got no change to pay him with.' Adam riposted back as he led her through the trees. He was heading towards the main complex; it wasn't where they would expect him to go.
He stopped suddenly and pulled her down into the undergrowth.
'Kind'a sudden, isn't it?' she whispered in his ear.
He shook his head in mock amusement as a group of storm troopers went past, at double march, towards the chalet. When Adam was satisfied they were clear, he rose and, with Billie following, moved towards the complex.
The fog helped; the visibility was down to twenty metres. The sun wasn't going to burn it off; it was too cold and there was too much cloud cover overhead. The damp from the bushes and moisture in the air helped cleanse the rest of the salt from his wounds. It was a cooling sensation and it was a welcome relief from the pain he had endured through the night. When they reached the complex, they found it was packed with storm troopers being marshalled into search parties. There was no way out in that direcvtion.
'Come on,' he said, taking her hand. 'Change of plan.'
He worked his way round the complex and to the north, towards the hangars.
It took twenty minutes, twenty minutes of ducking and diving through the undergrowth before he reached the building he had targetted.
It was the second of the hangars and they went in through a small side door.
'What's this?' asked Billie, looking round the building that was stacked with large wooden crates.
'Our safe house.' He walked deep into the hangar until he found a crate that was big enough for them both. With his gun butt, he levered the top off to reveal army jackets.
'Come the revolution,' she said behind him.
Adam then opened a second crate; this one was also packed with jackets. He swung round and emptied most of the contents from the first crate into the second, packed them down tight and then sealed it up again. He repeated the deed twice more until he had created enough space in the first crate for the two of them. In the third crate he had uncovered army trousers and he picked a pair that were his size. He tried a few more of the smaller cases until he found some khaki shirts, and he chose one of those also.
There was a commotion outside and he slammed the smaller box shut, then signalled Billie to climb into the first of the crates he had opened.
'In there?'
'In!' he snapped.
She climbed in and he followed, slipping the top over them as the door at the end opened and a group of Stermabeitalung entered to search the hangar.
It took five minutes; the searchers were not as diligent as they should have been. In time Adam and Billie were left on their own. After another ten minutes, when Adam had checked that they hadn't left a guard, he settled back into the crate.
'I like this,' she said, snuggling up to him in the cramped area. 'What a way to spend our honeymoon.'
'I know. I really take you to the best places.' He winced in some pain as she squeezed against him, but he said nothing. He wanted her to relax, knew that she was frightened and was trying to lift herself out of her fear. 'You really are incorrigible.'
'How long do we stay here?'
'Until it's dark.'
'That's the rest of the day.'
'Till four. Unless we get a chance before then.'
'Any ideas on how we pass the time?'
'I'm sure we'll think of something.'
She heard him chuckle in the darkness.
'Shouldn't we be thinking about how we get out of here?' he said.
'You know us older women. Once we find something we want…' she trailed off seductively as she spoke. 'Especially if we're going to spend the next eight or nine hours stuck in a small, confined space like this. How's the pain?'
'It'll hold out. You?'
'God knows. Terrified. At least we’re together, even if it's in a shoebox. Wondering what's next.'
All that mattered was that they were together.
And they lay like that, hardly moving, sensing everything, until they allowed their exhaustion to send them into a shallow sleep.
She woke suddenly, her left arm wrapped round his shoulder. She shuddered as she moved it, the pain shooting through it as she tried to slide her arm from under him.
'Pins and needles,' he said.
'Ow,' she complained as the pain refused to go away.
'Keep moving it around. It's the only way.'
'I know, I know.' She did as he told her, but the pain took nearly a full minute before it started to subside. 'What now?' she asked, still pumping her arm up and down.
'How long to go?' she asked eventually.
'Six hours.'
'You didn't sleep, did you, tough guy?'
'No.'
'We can't sit here for six hours.'
'Sat in worst places for longer.' He sensed her brooding and knew that the tension of doing nothing was getting to her. She was beginning to appreciate what funfair duck in a shooting gallery felt like. 'Whatever they're up to, Curly Top said they were leaving today.' It was time to get her grey matter working, switch her thinking away from the trepidation that was churning her stomach.
'Curly Top?'
'Blondie. The chap who enjoyed his work so much.'
'Kaas.'
'That's his name?'
'That's what one of them called him.'
'I missed it.'
'At least I'm good for something. Don't you think they're going to get here and search this place?'
'Probably.'
'So why we staying here till dark?'
'Because they'd find us quicker somewhere else.'
'Whatever it is they're planning, it's obviously very important.'
'Curly Top said the Tiergarten wouldn't wait forever.'
'When?'
'Just before we got away.'
'That's in Berlin.'
'I've heard the name. What is it?'
'A park. Like Central Park. In the middle of Berlin. It doesn't take much to work out that's where they're going.'
They got no further than that, even though Adam made Billie run over what she knew about the Tiergarten. It wasn't much, just that it was a big park and that it had been bombed heavily during the War. She remembered a story that all the trees had been cut down by the Berliners for fuel after the War and that it ran up to where the Wall had cut across the city. She recalled that a vast Japanese Embassy had stood there and that Hitler had held his biggest rallies in the park. There was also a Victory column in the middle that was partly built with canon barrels used during the Franco Prussian War. '1873, if I remember correctly,' she recalled. Then she laughed. 'That's really interesting stuff, isn't it? Some way of getting us out of here.'
The muffled banging in the distance alerted them.
He pulled her to him, then reached down and moved the HK54 into a position where he could use it quickly.
The banging continued, still at a distance. Occasionally, someone would shout, but the words were lost through the thickness of the crate.
'What if they…?' she asked, alarmed as the sounds got closer.
'It's random. They won't have time to search every box. We'll be okay' he comforted her. But the HK54 next to him was armed and ready.
The searchers missed them, left them safe in their bolt-hole. Then the sounds were gone. The hangar returned to silence.