‘And Banna,’ Eddie added. Two soldiers escorted the archaeologist to the train. The Egyptian’s head was low, his attitude of utter defeat clear even at a distance. The Nazis pushed him inside the lead carriage before following their prisoner aboard. ‘They must be about to move out.’
Kroll gestured, and the soldier closed the case and loaded it on to the treasure wagon. Walther rounded a building, a large group of men following him. They assembled beside the train while the hulking German joined Rasche and Kroll. The latter began to shout commands.
‘Ah, Scheiße!’ gasped Roland. The young man scurried over to stare through the gap in the wood. Zane simultaneously reacted with alarm at the Nazi commander’s words.
‘What is it?’ Nina asked.
‘He’s ordering them to burn the place down!’ Zane replied. He listened as Kroll continued. ‘“Leave nothing for the Argentine vultures and the rats of the Mossad…” They’re taking the guns and the gold, and destroying everything else.’
‘They’re not hanging about, either,’ said Eddie. The soldiers were already dispersing. They had been prepared for Kroll’s order, igniting rags in the necks of Molotov cocktails. ‘Shit! I think it’s time to move!’
He had barely finished speaking before a soldier ran to the barn above their hiding place and hurled a blazing bottle inside. It smashed against the rear wall, flames spraying outwards. Light from above suddenly flooded the foundations. Burning fuel dripped through holes in the wooden floor.
More shattering glass and sounds of leaping fire came from outside as the Nazis spread out to obliterate what had been their home. ‘They will see us if we go out there,’ warned Roland.
‘They’ll smell us if we stay in here — we’ll be a fucking barbecue,’ Eddie shot back. He scrambled to the entrance and forced the panel aside. Nobody was in sight. ‘Everyone out!’
The Yorkshireman exited first, then helped Nina through. Roland came next, holding in a yelp as a burning ember dropped on to his neck. Zane was last to leave, bringing up his MP5 as he got to his feet. ‘Where do we go?’
‘Into the garden,’ said Eddie, gesturing at Kroll’s residence. It was already ablaze, flames rising from the ground floor, and the houses of the other Nazi leaders were going the same way. ‘They won’t go back to somewhere they’ve already set alight, and if we stay behind the fence, nobody’ll see us.’ They hurried along the rear of the barn. ‘Plus we can keep an eye on the train from there.’
Roland stared in disbelief as they got a wider view of the Enklave. ‘They are really burning it down,’ he said, dismayed. ‘Everything…’
‘Good riddance,’ said Eddie as he helped Nina into the garden. Zane and Roland climbed after them. ‘I just wish those bastards were still inside.’
Zane moved into the bushes, cautiously peering over the fence at the railway. ‘Eddie, look at this.’
Eddie took in the scene. Against a hellish backdrop of flames and smoke, the Nazi soldiers were returning to the waiting train. Kroll clambered into the first carriage, the elderly vehicle rocking on its twin bogies as his weight unbalanced it. Walther entered after him, leaving Rasche to oversee the troops.
It was the remaining Nazi leader, Schneider, who caught his attention, though. ‘What’s that slimy bastard doing?’ The round-faced SS man was talking to a small group of women — some of whom, Eddie saw, were pregnant. ‘Roland, c’mere. Are they who you told me about?’
The young man joined him. ‘Yes. But I cannot hear what he is saying to them.’
‘Whatever it is, they don’t like it.’ Some of the women reacted with shock and even tears to Schneider’s words, one running to him with her hands clasped together. The oldest of the group, pinch-faced, with her greying hair drawn into a severe bun above her SS uniform, yanked her back, then slapped her across the face. ‘Jesus!’
‘That is Dagmar Metzger — she is the head of the Kindermädchen,’ said Roland.
‘You don’t sound surprised that she’s smacking a pregnant woman around.’
‘She is in charge of discipline in the Kinderhaus. All the children fear her.’ He gave Eddie a somewhat shamefaced look. ‘So do the men who grew up under her.’
The Englishman frowned as Schneider spoke to the now weeping young woman, patting her shoulder… then slipping his fingers through her hair and caressing it. ‘Creepy little shit,’ he muttered.
‘Herr Schneider takes… personal care of all the women in the Enklave,’ said Roland, his dawning dismay suggesting that he had never thought to consider that anything but normal until now.
‘Yeah, I bet he does,’ said the disgusted Nina. Metzger exchanged words with Schneider, then gave him a Nazi salute and snapped orders to the five younger women. All were now crying, the one who had been slapped close to hysteria. The leader of the Kindermädchen ignored their tears, pointing across the Enklave, and they set off with deep reluctance, Metzger practically dragging the weeping woman. ‘Where are they going?’
Roland stared after them. ‘The Kinderhaus is in that direction…’ The sudden horror in his voice drew all eyes to him. ‘No, they would not. They would not!’
‘They wouldn’t what?’ Nina asked.
‘The children — they must still be in the Kinderhaus!’
‘Jesus Christ, they’re going to burn the fucking place down with the kids inside it!’ Eddie realised. ‘That’s why that girl was crying — they’ve just been told to kill their babies!’
Nina stared after the departed women in shock. ‘Oh my God! We’ve got to stop them!’
‘No, Kroll and the others are about to leave,’ protested Zane. The Nazis had now organised themselves into groups of around twenty beside each of the four empty wooden wagons. Schneider joined Rasche as the soldiers began to climb aboard. ‘We have to go after them.’
‘They’re still watching out for us,’ Eddie warned. Several men were guarding the train. ‘We won’t get close — and there must be ninety of them against four of us.’
‘I know, but—’ The Israeli stopped as the loco’s whistle echoed across the compound. All the men bar the guards had now squeezed into the trucks. Rasche and Schneider boarded the carriage. The train edged forward, the wagons clattering against each other. The sentries kept pace, first walking before starting to jog as the huffing old locomotive gradually picked up speed. ‘We can’t let them escape!’
‘They can’t go that fast,’ said Eddie, fighting his own urge to pursue the Nazis. ‘I saw the track on the way up — the hairpins are so tight, they’ll have to slow right down to get around them.’ He turned to Roland. ‘Can we get to this house without being seen?’ The blond man nodded. ‘Okay, let’s do it.’ He started down the garden, Roland and Nina following.
Zane didn’t move. ‘Damn it, Eddie!’
‘We can still catch up,’ the Englishman insisted.
‘These are kids we’re talking about, Jared!’ said Nina. ‘We can’t let them burn them alive!’ The Mossad agent clenched his jaw, aggrieved, then hurried after them.
They vaulted the fence, giving the barn a wide berth as its roof collapsed. Eddie checked the dirt road bisecting the compound for stragglers. There were none, and as he glanced along the railway, he saw the last guards being pulled aboard the train. ‘Okay, we’re clear. Roland?’
The young man pointed past the fire-racked barracks. ‘That way.’
They rounded the inferno, the white-painted block of the Kinderhaus coming into view ahead. ‘Shit, we’re too late!’ Nina gasped. Smoke was already rising from within.