Gregor’s men were laying low and the man himself was crouching behind his bullet-proof car with two of his largest bodyguards sticking to his back. So who the hell was attacking us?
And then, high up on the roof of the Manor, I saw movement. Black-garbed figures, armed to their cammed-up teeth. Professionals.
Declan had crabbed himself round into a position where he could look over my shoulder.
“It’s the feckin’ Germans,” he said. He glanced back at Hofmann. “No offence, but it looks like your mates have arrived.”
Hofmann nodded, not looking too surprised about this turn of events. He met my eyes. “Major König,” he said.
If it was indeed the German security services, they’d picked the best spot for an ambush. The flat roof of the Manor offered a superb vantage point over the whole of the rear of the house. We must have all been laid out below them like a map.
I wondered why Gregor hadn’t planted a couple of his own men up there just to hold the ground. Then my eye found Sideburns’s corpse again and realised that probably he had.
From down here I could see along the edge of the parking area. Thinly stretched out to my right were Figgis, Gilby and Todd. They were in good defensive positions, tucked in behind the cars. Providing Jan didn’t have anything larger than the submachine guns they’d used so far, they were safe.
But pinned down.
For Gilby to get either over to Gregor, or to fall back to the woods in the opposite direction involved crossing open ground that was just crying out for the work of a decent sniper. I’d be willing to bet Jan had brought a couple of those with her. There was just too large a gap between the last parked Audi and our position for Gilby to reach us, either.
As for Sean, he wasn’t going anywhere. Hard up against the back end of the Skyline, he had minimal cover, but he was completely stuck or he’d make an easy target.
“Major Gilby!” Jan’s voice rang out above us, strangely unfamiliar and harsh with command now. “We want Ivan Venko. Bring him out and save yourself a lot of trouble. Otherwise, my men will open fire.”
That got Gregor’s attention. He twisted round to stare across at our position. “I want my son!” he roared. “Miss Fox, you gave me your word!”
“Yeah, and I want a brand new FireBlade,” I threw back at Gregor, reckless, flippant. “We can’t always have what we want.”
Ivan tried to wriggle free at his father’s voice. I cursed under my breath and dug my fingers in harder.
Sean twisted round, careful not to expose himself to the snipers. “Charlie,” he called across, “for God’s sake let the Germans have him. You try anything else and they’ll cut you to pieces.”
“I made a promise, Sean,” I said and looked away so I wouldn’t see the pain in his face.
I shuffled backwards, hauling Ivan with me. Ronnie, Craddock and Romundstad were sheltered by the remaining school truck. They managed to duck across to join me behind the wreckage of the Audis and the bike. “Well, Charlie, it looks like you’re the boss,” Craddock said. “What’s the plan?”
I took a deep breath. “We’re going to have to walk Ivan over there,” I said.
“Oh you have to be feckin’ kidding me,” Declan muttered.
“Why not?” Romundstad said, more robust. “This is what we have been training for, is it not?”
Ronnie didn’t answer that one. I couldn’t see this kind of thing being on the syllabus at catering college, but to his credit he didn’t raise an objection.
I glanced at Craddock. After a moment’s hesitation, he nodded. “OK,” he said, “let’s do it. Why not?”
“Michael,” I said. “How many of the men Jan’s got with her will speak English?”
He shrugged. He was still holding onto Heidi, hands automatically smoothing her matted hair. “Most will probably understand a little,” he said, frowning. “Why?”
“In that case, you’re going to have to tell them in German,” I said. “Tell them we’re civilians, we’re unarmed, we’re just pupils here. And keep telling them.”
He nodded, not liking it, but not about to talk me out of it, either. “You do realise,” he said slowly, “that I could just take charge of the boy and save you from making this decision.”
Declan brought his gun up and grinned. “You could try, me old lad,” he said. “In fact, we’ll be sure to tell your boss up there that you did.”
“I should be with you,” he said, but I shook my head.
“You’ve already taken enough risks and I think, once Jan sees whose side you’re on, that might only encourage her to aim for you, don’t you think? Besides, Heidi needs you.” He couldn’t refute that. Indeed, the girl looked permanently attached to the big German. Disengaging her was going to take some time and probably a strong solvent.
We crowded round Ivan.
“Just remember,” I told the boy in a savage whisper. “You try and run for it and there’s a dozen men up there who’ll win a prize for being the first one to shoot you. We’re your only chance, OK?”
“OK,” he said, the single word torn out of him. He would almost rather get himself shot than submit to this indignity, I realised. I tightened my grip and nodded to Hofmann.
He started shouting up to Jan, his voice loud enough to carry to all the men up along the roof line. He told them we were coming out, and who we were, and that she would be murdering unarmed civilians if she ordered her men to open fire.
I looked across to where Major Gilby had crawled to the edge of the last Audi. He met my eyes but didn’t speak. Maybe he just couldn’t bring himself to plead with me. He knew, as well as I did, what had been threatened if we didn’t match Gregor’s half of the bargain. We were risking our lives by this, yes, but even more so if we backed out now.
“Charlie,” Sean said urgently, “for God’s sake don’t do this.”
I swallowed, ignoring him, bearing down on the fear that was threatening to overwhelm me. We dumped our guns and positioned ourselves around Ivan, with Craddock and Romundstad in the front, Ronnie to his left, me to his right, and Declan bringing up the rear. We were so tight in that we could hardly move without standing on each other’s feet.
Then, before any of us could have second thoughts, we stepped out into the open ground.
Above us, Jan was going practically apoplectic, screaming at her men to shoot us, not to let Ivan reach the safety of his father’s limousine. But Hofmann’s words were hitting home. They hesitated.
Jan drew her own gun and started firing down at us, but there’s a limit to what you can hit with a handgun at that sort of distance. Besides, we were keeping too tucked around Ivan for her to have a clear shot at the boy.
Still, it was only a matter of time.
And then Ronnie gave a shrill cry, spun away to the side and dropped. He’d taken a round through his left thigh, just above the knee, but that wasn’t the real problem. The blood was pumping out between his clamped fingers, a thin jet of it, pulsing to the beat of his heart.
Artery.
Ronnie sat up and almost tried to hutch away from the sight of his own blood, as though it was a separate entity that was attacking him and he could somehow escape it.
He was screaming now, in terror as much as pain. He knew as well as the rest of us how little time he’d got. You can’t work with big sharp chef’s knives for a living and not have it hammered into you about the dangers of accidentally slicing your femoral artery. Untreated, he had minutes.
We faltered, our advance stumbling to a halt.
“Close up, for God’s sake,” I hissed.
Declan stared at me with eyes that were wide with shock. “For feck’s sake we can’t just leave him!”