Bodyguard, she thought. Probably one or two more in the room.
The hall stretched away into the distance, like a photographer's study in perspective. There was a nurse's station some distance beyond the guard. A nurse sat behind the desk writing something, her back toward Valentina.
Valentina was armed with a Makarov PSM pistol and a razor-sharp dagger. The PSM fired a 5.45 X 18 mm round that was capable of punching through body armor at the close distances where most engagements took place. The PSM was compact and light, weighing in at about a pound. She didn't want to use it except as a last resort. The report of the pistol was sure to bring people running. Even with a suppressor screwed onto the end of the barrel the Makarov was still a noisy weapon.
For this operation noise was an enemy. She would have to use her Spetsnaz Systema martial arts or the knife. Valentina watched the nurse at the station get up and walk away. She straightened her nurse's cap and turned the corner, walking toward the guard. He looked up as she drew near.
"I need to check on Herr Kepler," Valentina said. Her German was flawless.
The guard looked at her. "I haven't seen you before. You have to be on a list. This room is restricted."
Valentina appeared annoyed. "Of course it's restricted. Herr Kepler is far too important to have just anyone disturbing him. Check your list, you'll find my name. Lisa Grunig."
She looked again toward the nurse's station in the distance. The nurse hadn't come back yet.
The guard bent over to his left and reached for a clipboard on the floor. Valentina stabbed him in the kidney, the blade sliding with ease into his unprotected back. The pain of the strike made speech impossible. The guard arched backward in reflex and tried to scream but no sound came from his throat. Valentina withdrew the blade and struck again, through the hollow at the base of his skull. She caught him as he collapsed back in the chair. It had taken only a few, silent seconds to kill him.
She straightened the body and placed the guard's hands on his lap with the book under them. From a distance it would look like he'd fallen asleep while he was reading.
Valentina opened the door into Kepler's room. Kepler was propped up in the bed and appeared to be asleep. An IV was hooked up to a needle inserted into his arm. Monitors recorded his vital signs. She stepped into the room and paused, distracted by the ruin of his face. A mistake. Something hard pressed into her back.
"Don't move. Who are you?"
The voice belonged to another guard. He'd been to the left of the door.
"She's just a nurse, Hans," a second voice said. "Karl let her through. She must be okay."
"I know all the nurses authorized to come in here," Hans said. "She's not one of them. Go ask Karl why he let her in."
The second man went outside. He was back before Valentina could move.
"Karl's dead. This bitch must've killed him."
Before she could move Hans wrapped a thick arm around her throat. He was big, much bigger than she was. It felt like being held by a gorilla. Valentina stomped down on his foot. He grunted but didn't release his hold. She was having trouble breathing. She tried to say something but his arm made it impossible.
"Time to go bye-bye, honey," Karl said. "When you wake up we'll have a nice long chat."
CHAPTER 44
Nick and the others entered the hospital through a service entrance. If someone stopped them Nick planned to claim they'd gotten lost. It wasn't much of cover.
Nick consulted the floor layout Harker had sent and found the stairs to the fourth floor of Gutenberg's wing.
"This way."
They reached the staircase without incident. They climbed the stairs to the fourth floor and looked out on the hall.
"No one there. So far, so good," Nick said.
They walked a short distance to an L-shaped junction. Ronnie looked around the corner.
"There's a guy sitting in a chair," he said. His voice was quiet. "He doesn't look so hot. He's slumped over and there's blood on his jacket."
"A guard," Selena said. "That has to be Gutenberg's room."
"Someone's been here ahead of us," Lamont said.
"There's a nurse's station farther down the hall," Ronnie said. "Nobody there. I can see a bunch of lights flashing. Must be an emergency somewhere."
Nick's left ear was tingling, the way it always did when things were about to heat up. He reached up and tugged on the lobe, what was left of it. The rest had been torn away by a Chinese bullet on the same day he'd met Selena.
Lamont, Ronnie and Selena looked at each other. They knew what it meant when Nick did that.
"This could go bad pretty quick," he said. "Try to keep it quiet. Lamont, you stay here and make sure no one comes out of those stairs behind us. Ronnie, when we get to the room you stand outside as if nothing's wrong. Pretend you're a guard. Block the view from the nurse's station. Selena and I will go in."
"Copy that."
They moved down the hall. Ronnie looked down at the slumped figure of the guard, then moved to stand on the other side of him.
"Ready?" Nick said.
Selena nodded.
They went into the room and shut the door behind them. The last thing Selena expected to see was her half-sister in the grip of a hulking man who had his arm wrapped around her throat.
"Hans, look out!"
Before the second man could draw his weapon Selena kicked him in his thigh. He stumbled. She moved in and drove her stiffened fingers into his larynx. He fell to the floor making hacking and choking noises.
Hans threw Valentina to the side as easily as tossing a doll. She slammed into the wall and crumpled to the floor. He had a pistol in his right hand. Nick stepped in fast and close and brought his hands together in a quick, scissoring motion that knocked the wrist one way and the hand with the gun the other. The pistol flew across the room. Nick kicked Hans in the groin. A normal man would've fallen to the floor out of the fight but the kick had little effect. Hans grunted and wrapped his arms around Nick in a bear hug. He lifted him into the air and began squeezing.
Nick's arms were pinned to his sides. He couldn't breathe. He knew better than to try and free his arms. He couldn't stomp down with his feet. Nick leaned back and slammed his forehead into Hans's face as hard as he could, breaking the nose. Blood cascaded down over the two of them. The bear grip loosened for an instant but not enough to get free.
Selena kicked Hans in the side of his knee. That was like kicking a brick wall. She punched him in the side of his head and it felt as though she'd punched concrete. A metal tray on a nearby cart contained an array of instruments and gauze. She grabbed a pair of surgical scissors and drove the points deep into the back of the big man's neck.
His arms flew open and Nick stumbled away. Hans fell like a tree and crashed onto the floor. He didn't move.
Nick gasped for breath. "Thanks."
"Are you all right?"
"Yeah. Hurts a little to breathe. King Kong here had a hell of a grip."
He leaned down and placed his fingers alongside the big man's neck. The scissors stuck out above his collar.
"He's dead."
The fight had been quiet. If the sound had gotten out into the hall, Ronnie would have come in.
Selena turned toward her sister.
"Put your hands up," Valentina said. She held the Makarov pointed at them.
"You've got to be kidding," Nick said. "We just saved your ass."
"For which I'm grateful. How do you say in America, reach for the sky?"
"You've been watching too many old Westerns," Selena said.
"I like your Westerns. Especially your Clint Eastwood. Get your hands up. I mean it, I will shoot."
They raised their hands.