“Clear,” answered Ben, checking his victims at the other end of the hall. There were five more dead near him. At Ben’s end the Germans sandbagged the corner before the door to the elevator. Ben kept one eye on the elevator should it suddenly open and more troops poured out.
“Tim, over here. I found an elevator,” called Ben. Tim sprinted down the hall to meet Ben. They looked at the elevator lights and saw it was operational as it moved from floor to floor. It seemed to be locked out of this floor, though. Suddenly Ben and Tim were startled by a crackling message from a radio on one of the Germans’ bodies.
“Komandozentrale. Bericht… ” Then there was static and silence. It took ten seconds until the second call came in.
“Komandozentrale. Nochmals. Wiederholen. Bericht… ”
“Sounds like company’s coming again,” said Ben. “Let’s get ready for ‘em.” Ben and Tim raced down the hall and dragged sandbags down, placing them against the elevator door. After about four trips they had a sizable wall built. Still watching the elevator lights, they waited. Every now and then they heard a few shots outside. Tecal and his men were doing a great job out in the jungle, Ben surmised.
“If the elevator comes, let’s cover both sides and lob in a grenade as soon as the door opens. They’ll first see the sandbags before us,” explained Ben. Tim nodded in agreement and pulled out two grenades and sat them on top of the sandbag wall. Tim was on the left and Ben was on the right of the elevator doors. They knew other Germans would come soon. Since no one answered the report calls, reinforcements were surely on their way. They waited.
Their wait was not long. Only two minutes passed when Ben saw the light outside the elevator light up for their floor.
“Heads up, here they come!” Tim picked up the grenades and pulled the pin, still holding the spoons of each. As the door opened the Germans inside began shooting. The door was not open a foot when Tim tossed the two grenades into the elevator.
“Granate!” someone screamed from within the elevator. But it was too late. The grenades rolled around at the Germans’ feet while some were still firing; others were on their knees scrambling for the grenades. The two explosions were deafening. The elevator door was completely torn off, making a scrambled mess of the men inside. When Tim peered in, there was nothing left in one piece. He couldn’t even count how many men were inside.
“That’s a damned mess,” he said to Ben. “But I doubt they will be able to use this elevator again.” Ben’s eyes widened.
“Okay. There has to be a stairway on this floor. Let’s find it!” Both men had forgotten about a stairway, a back door to the floor. Tim hustled down the hall opposite the elevator. Ben took off back toward the hatch. It was Tim who noticed a large door with a wire reinforced window.
“Here!” yelled Tim. Just as he called to Ben, he noticed movement behind the door. He stepped back and fired a burst into the door. Ben rounded the corner, not knowing what to expect. “They’re in the stairwell,” yelled Tim, moving away from the door. “I fired through the door and got a few of them but I don’t know how many are left.
“My guess is too damn many,” said Ben calmly. “They probably sent a force up the stairs at the same time they sent these guys up the elevator. They figured they would hit us from both ways. We foiled that plot.”
There was gunfire in the stairwell. The bullets slammed through the door and ricocheted off of the white painted concrete walls, sending lead bits and concrete chips flying in all directions. Tim was sitting in a doorway a few feet away from the stairway door leaning back into the door.
“Damn! “Tim screamed as he grabbed his head. “I’m hit.”
Ben looked over to see a rivulet of blood coming down the left side of Tim’s face. “How bad?” he asked. Tim realized he was bleeding but strangely it did not hurt.
“Must be a graze. I’m bleeding like a stuck pig but I seem to be okay.”
Tim raised his weapon and returned fire at the stairway door, riddling it again. He wiped more blood from his face and sat there. Ben moved down the hall on the other side beside the stairway door. He pulled out a grenade and placed it on the floor beside him. Tim looked at him puzzled.
“You gonna throw that thing at a closed door?” Tim asked loudly.
“Hell, no,” answered Ben. “It’s just in case we need some help,” he said smiling.
The firing stopped.
“Watch the door. They may have grenades too, you know,” warned Tim. He was still wiping blood from his face. Ben acknowledged with a nod. Suddenly there was a noise behind them. Ben turned and aimed to see Tecal peering around the corner.
“Mr. Ben!” called Tecal. “Mr. Ben, we have to go. Go now. Many, many Germans coming. My man see two trucks filled with men with guns.”
“Damn,” said Ben turning to Tim. “You hear that? Think you can make a run for it?”
“Yeah, we better vamoose,” answered Tim, holding a handkerchief to his head near the left side of his hairline. “We’ve done all we can here. Let’s go.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
Hugo had held the far superior force at bay for a while now. There was a lull in the fighting as both sides took a breath and recalculated their actions. After Dane went down the stairs, Hugo was inundated with troops coming from both directions. He barricaded himself in a technical services area, sealed with the exception of the doorway he guarded. He kept one eye on the hallway and one on the stairwell across the hall. He looked out again and drew no fire.
“Okay, Hugo. It’s time to get the hell out of here,” he said to himself as he rose and checked his silenced MP-5. With that thought, Hugo burst from the room and threw himself across the hall into the stairway door. This time the door flew open and Hugo rolled into the stairwell. Immediately gunfire erupted from below. Hugo hugged the wall and climbed the stairs to the next floor. At the door he looked through the small wire-reinforced window and saw normal looking people walking by: normal by way of not having guns in their hands. He could also hear an audible alarm on this floor. He pressed his face against the glass and took another look. He saw a few folks dressed in gray coveralls, some in white technician coats hurrying down the hall.
By now he hoped Dane had found Dana and Randall. If not, then they probably wouldn’t find them at all. Hugo placed this in the back of his mind as he cracked open the door and stepped out into the hall, aiming his MP-5 submachine gun right and left down the hall. Personnel scrambled in all directions. Hugo was a bit puzzled. These were definitely not soldiers. They looked like normal workers. He decided to go to his right for no particular reason. He had a map inside his vest but this was not the time to sit down and read it. He needed to move and move fast.
As folks ran about, Hugo double-timed down the hall until he found another set of stairs. He ducked in the stairwell and leaned against the wall. He could still hear the alarm outside in the hall. Hugo wished someone would shut that thing down. The noise was driving him crazy. He pulled his map and took a quick look at what was on this floor. Mostly, there were science labs for the most part. That explained the folks in white coats. He ran his finger along the central hallway looking for an alternate way out when he ran across an interesting area on the map, Main Power Generation. Bingo, he thought. What’s the best way to cause total confusion underground? Turn out the friggin’ lights!
Hugo smiled to himself. He had a flashlight but he bet none of the others down here had one. He remembered seeing emergency lights, though. They operated on battery power in each unit so it would not be totally dark. But still it would screw with folks’ minds down here and that’s all he needed. He could create a bit of confusion and may be able to get out alive.