'Put them in their places,' ordered Kaas.
He watched as Adam and Billie were manhandled towards the lecterns and placed behind them. They found themselves facing the room, as if they were the speakers and the dummies the audience.
'Enjoy the game,' said Kaas, and signalled his men to leave the room.
Fuck you, Curly Top. Adam knew what was coming next. After all, this whole thing had started with the SAS. 'Keep still,' he hissed at Billie.
The lights went down, the whole scene was in semi-darkness.
'Whatever happens, keep absolutely still.'
'What's going to happen?' she asked as Kaas closed the door behind him.
'Nothing. As long as you keep absolutely still.'
'But…'
'Think about something. Anything that takes your mind off where we are.'
'What…'
'Think thirsty, Billie. Think about how much you want a drink. And don't think about anything else.' He hoped she'd do as he told her. He also hoped they weren't going to go further than he expected, that one of them wasn't a real target. If they were, then he didn't want Billie to see the danger that could end her life.
Nothing happened, there was just silence and her nervous breathing.
'Why sh…?' She broke the silence.
'Think thirsty. Nothing else.'
Listen out, Marcus. Listen out for the bastards.
It was nearly another full minute before he heard the shuffling from behind the seats on the right.
They're not that good, Marcus. Bloody amateurs. Which is what makes this thing so dangerous.
'Think thirsty. Shut your eyes and ignore everything,' he whispered urgently to Billie. 'For Christ sake, don't move. Whatever happens.'
The shuffling continued. Spread out now, from behind the centre and left hand seats.
I hope they know what they're doing, Marcus. I hope they know that they're only trying to scare us.
The stun grenade exploded from the left, ripping brilliant light and deafening sound into the chamber.
'Do as I said,' Adam shouted across to Billie. In the brightness he saw the shock on her face, but was relieved to see that she had her eyes tightly closed, her head angled downwards.
There was a second grenade from the right, and as it exploded, four men burst through the doors at the top of the stands, their Heckler and Koch HK54 submachine guns aimed and blazing at their intended targets. This time the targets were three dummies on the right hand seats and two on the left. The third targets were the two dummies at the table immediately behind the lecterns.
One of the attackers rushed at the lecterns and opened fire at short range at the two targets, the blast of repeating gunfire deafening. Adam, accepting finally that they were not the targets, looked back at Billie. Her eyes were still clamped shut, her lips moving fast as if in silent prayer. Bless you, darling. We'll be all right. Think ahead, Marcus, think about how we're going to get out of here. This little performance is for show. Nothing else.
He watched the gunman turn his HK 54 onto the dummies and blast them to smithereens. Then the gunman threw something at Adam, something sharp that stuck into his flesh just above his heart. Before Adam could react, a final stun grenade went off, blinding him with its nearness.
When Adam opened his eyes, the gunmen had gone, the stage was empty except for the wafts of drifting smoke and the disinterest of the lifeless dummies in this terrible rehearsal for death.
'Okay,' he said to Billie. 'It's all right now. It's all right.'
She opened her eyes and looked around. That's when she screamed. 'You're bleeding.'
He looked down at his chest. The gunman had thrown a dart at him, with some sort of plastic sac attached to it, which had been filled with red liquid. It had spread across his chest. 'I'm all right. It's only red ink.' He pulled the small dart from his chest as he replied and held it up to her, showed her it was harmless.
'Why? What's going on?'
'Softening tactics. To scare you.'
'They did that.'
'Take it for what it was. Just to scare you.'
'I love you.'
'I love you, too.' He heard the main door open and the overhead lights snapped on. 'Believe it, we're going to get out. When I say jump, jump.'
Before she could answer, Kaas had entered with three of his men, weapons pointed at Adam and Billie.
'Cool, eh, Englishman?' sneered Kaas as he reached the couple. 'Our tricks don't impress you.'
'Like your toys, do yo…'
Kaas lashed out hitting Adam on the chest and sending him sprawling backwards against the table. 'I talk. Not you,' he shrieked. He signaled his men to grab Adam and pull him to his feet. Then he stood before Adam, his gun at his victim's throat, his voice shaking with rage. 'You've only lasted this long because of them. They won't let me go further. But even they will get impatient. All this here…', he waved his revolver round the room, '…is only a rehearsal. They'll get impatient because they need the answers before this game becomes real. Then I'll do things my way. But…' he shrugged, 'we have to leave today. So we must learn to speak faster. Eh. The Tiergarten won't wait forever?' He jabbed the gun barrel into Adam's stomach, forcing him to double forward in pain. 'Bring him next door. Both of them. Let's beat the crap out of them.'
Kaas swung round and went up the banking, followed by the others who dragged Adam and Billie along.
When they got to the door, Adam stumbled and fell. As his two manhandlers tripped and tried to grab him again, Adam pulled the sliver of long wood from his trouser leg and drove it up into the heart of the first storm trooper and killing him instantly. The wood snapped and the trooper staggered backwards and fell against Kaas, forcing him to the ground. Before any of the other storm troopers could react, Adam had chopped Billie's escort to the ground and kicked a third with his outstep, breaking his shin bone as he did. Then he grabbed her and pushed her through the door. As the others were reaching for their weapons, slow to react in their confusion, and Kaas was trying to lift himself out from under the dead storm trooper Adam pulled the lever of the Halon fire extinguisher.
The Halon gas, a bromotrifluoromethane, superpressurised to 360 PSI at 70 degrees F with dry nitrogen gas, exploded out of the canisters that were fitted in the ceiling and instantly sucked out all the oxygen from the air. It was what they were designed to do in case of fire; simply suck out all the oxygen from the area. As Adam raced through the door and closed it behind him, he saw those left in the room gasping for breath. As he shut the door, he flicked the latch on it and locked them into the airlessness he had created. It wouldn't kill them, but it would certainly slow them down.
The firing range was empty; Kaas had cleared the area while he went about his awful business. Adam couldn't see any weapons lying around, so he took Billie's arm and pulled her towards the exit door. He opened it carefully, but there were two armed Stermabeitalung there. They swung round, surprised at seeing him, and drew their sub machine guns level. He slammed the door before they could fire and bolted it. Then he led Billie back into the room. There was a small basin on the side-wall, and Billie broke from him, rushed over to it and frantically started to drink from the tap.