Eddie tried to move, but his jacket was still snared on the vent cover. Face red with rage, Walther reached out, thick fingers grasping at the Englishman’s neck… and squeezing.
The choking Eddie had received from the guard in the treasure wagon had been a light tickle by comparison. Walther’s grip felt as if it could crush steel. He realised he had no hope of prising open the Nazi’s fingers — so instead he attacked. With his other hand holding on to the carriage, the German couldn’t defend his face. Eddie stabbed at his eyes—
Walther simply raised his head, his longer reach putting him beyond the other man’s strikes. All Eddie could catch was his chin, but even that was too far away for him to do more than bruise it. ‘Now you will die!’ the SS thug snarled. ‘Die, you English bastard, die!’
Eddie thrashed and kicked, but couldn’t break free. Never mind suffocation; Walther was about to snap his neck. He made one last hopeless swing at the Nazi’s jaw as something loomed behind it…
The punch was abandoned mid throw as he saw what it was — the bridge, the train looping back around to pass beneath it. Instead he braced both hands palms up under Walther’s chin, forcing his head back. The Nazi grinned malevolently at the futility of this final action—
The back of Walther’s skull burst apart as it smacked into the unyielding end of a rusty girder.
The big man instantly went limp, collapsing on top of Eddie before sliding off the roof. His body bounced off the side of the cutting and fell under the train’s wheels, mangled pieces being dragged along before the gory mush was finally spewed out over the side of the track.
Eddie kept his head down until the train was clear. ‘Like a bridge over troubled Walther,’ he wheezed, even a bad joke feeling necessary to celebrate his survival.
A metallic squeal from above. He looked back to see the brake van pass over the crossing and start around the loop. With the train still slowing, Nina and Zane were quickly catching up.
Too quickly. If the train stopped, the van would smash right into it…
The Nazi leaders had realised the same thing. Kroll screamed ‘Schnell! Schnell!’ — and the man in the cab released the brakes, the carriage shuddering as the train rolled freely once more. A moment later, a bellowing huff of smoke burst from the chimney as the soldier opened the throttle. The wheels spun wildly before finding traction, and the locomotive lurched forward.
The jolt of acceleration kicked Eddie backwards. Fabric ripped. He struggled, finally pulling free and exhaustedly standing. As the loco came out of the bottom of the loop, the brake van screeched around the tighter upper section, descending to pass under the bridge. Even with the train picking up speed, it would catch it in seconds.
He retrieved the gun. A moment of indecision — then with deep reluctance he turned and ran back down the train, vaulting over the gaps between the cars. He felt disgusted at himself for abandoning Banna, but he knew that climbing into the carriage to rescue him would result only in his death. Also, without the relic, the Nazis needed the young Egyptian to find the spring. They would keep him alive… until he was no longer needed.
The train emerged on to the next leg of the track. The brake van rounded the loop behind it. He jumped on to the last remaining wagon and pounded along its roof. Shouted German came from below — then geysers of bullets erupted behind him as the enraged Nazis opened fire. The brake van was thirty feet behind the train, twenty, Nina and Zane urging him on…
Eddie reached the rear of the wagon, shots bursting up at his heels—
He didn’t stop.
The track blurred below as he made a running jump off the back of the train, the brake van rushing at him.
Falling short—
He threw out both arms — and hit the veranda with an agonising bang. But he couldn’t get a firm hold. He clawed at the wood — then fell towards the track…
Hands grabbed his wrists.
‘Got you!’ Zane grunted. Eddie swung his feet before finding the coupler and using it to push himself upwards.
Behind the Israeli, he saw Nina standing at the brake. ‘You got him?’ she shouted.
‘Yeah!’ Zane replied, hauling Eddie over the barrier.
‘Great — ’cause we need to duck!’ She twisted the wheel and dropped, the two men hurriedly doing the same—
Bullets hammered against planks as the Nazis opened fire. But the train was pulling away. The fusillade died down, a few last rounds smacking home before the gunmen were carried out of range.
Eddie shook off broken wood and looked at Nina. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Yeah,’ she replied. ‘Jesus, what about you?’
He realised he was covered with Walther’s blood. ‘Don’t worry, it’s not mine. Well, most of it.’ He noticed a lump of grey matter stuck to his jacket. ‘Looks like I finally got some brains,’ he said as he flicked it away.
Nina made a disgusted face. ‘Gross. What about Ubayy?’
‘I couldn’t get to him. I’m sorry. But,’ he added on seeing her dismay, ‘they’ll need to keep him alive for now.’
‘Why?’ asked Zane as he went to the brake column.
‘’Cause I’ve got the fish.’ He proudly produced it from his trousers, to his wife’s amusement. ‘So they need him to find the spring.’
‘That’s assuming we let them get away,’ Zane said, determination returning to his voice. He released the brakes.
‘How’re we going to stop ’em?’ Eddie said. ‘There’s three of us, and a gun with,’ he slid out the magazine to count, ‘two bullets. They’ve still got two trucks full of arseholes with automatic weapons.’
‘I don’t know how! But we can’t let them escape.’
‘Not after what they did to Macy,’ said Nina. Her voice was quiet, but the anger behind it was clear.
Eddie shook his head wearily, then rose. The train was still drawing away as it headed for the trestle bridge. He glimpsed Rasche shouting orders from the carriage.
Wait — what orders? The brake van was now beyond an MP5’s effective range, and all the heavy weapons had been in the destroyed ammunition truck. But the soldiers in the last wagon were leaning from both doors as if preparing to attack…
His gaze snapped past the train. It was almost at the crossing—
‘Shit!’ he gasped. ‘Put the brakes back on, quick!’
‘What’s happening?’ Nina asked in sudden concern.
‘They’re going to blow up the fucking bridge!’ The soldiers were being passed objects by their fellows inside the wagon: grenades.
Zane hurriedly spun the wheel back the other way. The brakes wailed again. ‘We’ll never stop in time!’
‘We’d bloody well better!’ Eddie tossed the relic to Nina, then joined the Israeli and added his weight. The stench of burning reached them as flying sparks set light to splintered wood.
The train crossed the bridge — too quickly, parts of the track bed shaking loose as it thundered over the ravine. The men leaning from the rear wagon stretched out further, others inside holding them steady…
Arms swung in synchrony, tossing grenades on to the line.
The train continued. Seconds passed, two, three—
The explosions came so close together that they seemed like one single blast. Sleepers flew like scattered toothpicks, the central section of the bridge rocking wildly before support beams broke and a full third of the old structure collapsed into the canyon. The train was already safely across, carrying on down the hill.