Failing Marks, page 9
“Rauch,” he barked.
The whining voice of Kluge’s assistant, Herman, came on the line.
“There has been an incident in Uruguay.”
“Yes?” Rauch said evenly.
“One of our contacts was found dead.”
His heart skipped a beat. “Is it them?” Rauch asked.
“Not likely,” Herman said. “Groth was shot to death, and the men we expect do not use weapons. Still, he is a direct link to us. Remain alert.”
The line went dead. Rauch’s frown deepened. Getting up from his stool, he stepped out onto the road.
There was no wind today. The lush green scenery that stretched out around them was a painted canvas remarkable only in the diversity of tone. There were greens in these low hills unseen anywhere else in nature.
The mountains loomed high to his right. There were only two types of peaks from Rauch’s vantage point. Tall and taller. To his left, down a short incline, the mountain road snaked a sharp U-turn, disappearing into the forest. Beyond the visible stretch of road was a wide-open field, and beyond that, still more mountains.
Though it was a breathtaking vista, Rauch barely saw it.
He was fingering his swastika collar pin as he stepped over to the three Numbers.
“Stay alert,” Rauch ordered in a growl, repeating the command he had been given.
It was unnecessary. The men did not even turn his way. They continued staring intently down to the point where the road cut sharply down around an island of foliage.
“Freaks,” Rauch muttered.
He turned around and was heading back for the shack when he heard something new echoing against the slowly rising hills. Rauch paused, listening intently.
The sound grew louder.
An automobile engine!
He glanced down the incline to the lower half of the road just as the jeep broke into view.
The vehicle drove swiftly up the steady incline, engine working overtime. As it approached on the lower level, Rauch could see only the driver. There were no passengers.
When the jeep passed on the road beneath, Kluge could clearly make out the face behind the wheel. It was a woman. And there was something about her features that seemed strangely familiar.
The car disappeared behind the stabbing strip of trees and overgrown shrubs. Back near the shack, the Numbers were already aiming their guns down the road. Ready to shoot the incoming car the instant it broke cover.
It never did.
The engine continued to whine, but the car didn’t drive forward. It remained hidden behind the copse of trees.
“What is she doing?” Rauch hissed nervously.
“Maybe she had to make a pit stop,” suggested a voice at Rauch’s elbow.
He wheeled around.
Remo was leaning against the guard shack, a placid smile decorating his hard features.
“There is no need to be vulgar,” the Master of Sinanju admonished. He stood next to Remo, dressed in an orange kimono with red piping. A pair of fiery red dragons reared on their hind legs across the front of the flowing garment.
“They are here!” Rauch screamed, stumbling back to the trio of men who still stared down the road. “Shoot them!”
The three blond men spun toward Rauch. Six perfect blue eyes registered surprise when they saw the two men standing by the shed. Almost at once, three pale fingers tensed on triggers.
Rauch dove out of the way as the men opened fire. He skidded on his belly down the incline to the lower road.
A hail of bullets erupted around Remo and Chiun, ripping chunks of wood from the shack and spitting white splinters back atop the deep green plants.
“Wait a minute,” Remo said unhappily as he danced around the incoming lead. “Those are the same three guys from the airport. Something’s screwy here.”
“Yes,” Chiun agreed quickly. “While you chatter on like a stupid monkey, we are being shot at.” With that, the Master of Sinanju raced across the road to the three men.
“That’s news?” Remo griped. He ran after his teacher.
Chiun was first into the group of men. Dodging their blazing rifle barrels, the old Korean danced in between the two nearest men. Grabbing handfuls of blond hair in his long, tapering fingers, Chiun brought the heads together with a supersonic crack.
Perfect Aryan brains spit from perfect Aryan ears and nostrils in perfect little driblets.
As Chiun was releasing his inert bundles, Remo was flying to the third and final triplet.
The last man was spinning in place, desperate to locate his suddenly missing targets. His blue eyes had only just alighted on the smears of gray purée on the road and the placid kimono-clad figure standing above them when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He wheeled.
Remo stood beside him, his cruel features fixed in stone. “Check-out time, Goldilocks,” he said.
The surviving Number saw a thick-wristed hand flutter up before his face, index finger and pinkie extended. Briefly, in the uncomplicated center of his genetically engineered brain, the last Number wondered what this man was doing. Then his survival instinct kicked in. Unfortunately, in that infinitesimally short period of time during which he was raising his rifle, Remo’s hand was already shooting forward.
The blond man felt an unbelievable, blinding pressure at his eyes. Twin supernovas exploded, each bearing the distinctive swirl patterns of his attacker’s fingerprints.
And then the entire universe collapsed back into ethereal nothingness.
. . .
Remo allowed the body to fall from his extended fingers. There were no eyes visible in the blood-lined sockets, yet not a trace of ocular fluid or gore was visible on Remo’s hand. It was as if the eyes had simply evaporated.
Remo turned from the body.
“I better go get the other one,” he said.
Before he had taken a single step toward the ridge down which Veit Rauch had slid, he heard a gunshot. Exchanging tight glances, both Masters of Sinanju raced over to the hill that looked down onto the lower half of the road.
Veit Rauch’s twisted body lay on the ground, Above him, gun in hand, stood Heidi Stolpe. When Remo and Chiun broke into view on the hill, Heidi twisted and crouched, aiming her gun up at them with cool professionalism. When she saw who was looking down at her, she relaxed.
“Is it safe?” she called up.
“That depends on who you plan to shoot next,” Remo shouted down to her.
Heidi took this as a yes. She ran back up the road, disappearing behind the cluster of trees. A moment later, her jeep pulled into view around the far turn and headed up the hill, stopping at the bodies of the three Numbers.
As he and Chiun climbed into the vehicle, Remo said, “You must be putting your ammo dealer’s kids through college.”
“Does he always feel compelled to talk even when it is not necessary?” she asked Chiun.
In the back of the jeep, Chiun nodded somberly.
“And he has no sense of humor,” the old Korean confided. “I spend half my time shushing him and the other half explaining the punchlines to jokes. He is not a bad son, mind you, just dour. And a chatterbox. And he sometimes eats with his mouth open.”
“Look, can we just get going?” Remo begged from the passenger’s seat.
“He’s your son?” Heidi asked, ignoring Remo. She suddenly seemed very interested.
“That’s it,” Remo announced, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “I’m walking.” He reached for the door handle.
“Oh.” Heidi glanced at Remo. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she mumbled quickly, turning back to the wheel. She seemed upset with herself for becoming distracted.
She slipped the jeep in gear. But even as she eased around the bodies of the failed neo-Nazi experiment for perfection, her eyes strayed to the rearview mirror and the wizened figure in the back seat. There was something infinitely sad in the depths of her azure eyes.
The jeep continued up the winding mountain road.
. . .
Adolf Kluge watched the jeep proceed on one of the many video monitors that lined the curving wall in the special rear room of the ancient temple.
The treetop surveillance camera tracked the vehicle as far as it could before the system automatically switched over to the next camera. The surveillance had been arranged so that once a vehicle entered the protected IV perimeter, it was never out of sight.
The jeep was moving fast.
This was it, Kluge thought. This was how IV would end.
He still couldn’t completely believe that it would happen. Even though he had seen what these men could do, it was impossible to conceive that these two unexceptional-appearing men would overwhelm IV’s defenses.
And yet Kluge would not have evacuated the village if he truly believed the village could survive otherwise.
Many of the monitors displayed the empty homes of the abandoned village. In streets and near the mouth of the fortress, his army of men waited patiently.
Kluge spun his chair around. Herman sat over near the radio equipment.
“Tell them they are almost here,” Kluge commanded.
Herman obediently radioed the orders down to the troops.
Kluge had turned his attention back to the intruders. “Let us see if we cannot stop them before they get here,” he muttered. But his voice lacked conviction.
Face somber, he flipped several silver toggle switches at a broad control panel before him. Once finished, his hand strayed to a single button, index finger hovering in place.
Eyes alert, Adolf Kluge watched the progress of the jeep.
. . .
“Stop the jeep,” Remo ordered.
They were racing along the steep mountain road. “What?” Heidi asked. “Why?”
“Stop!” Remo snapped.
Face registering her confusion, Heidi slowed to a stop. The mountain stretched up on their left. A wooded slope dropped off to their right, overshadowed by a nearby hill.
“You feel them, Little Father?”
“Of course,” Chiun replied. “There are many of them.”
“Too many to go through?”
“For us, no,” the Master of Sinanju said flatly.
Remo looked at Heidi. From the way they spoke, she felt as if she was holding them back somehow. Her expression made it clear she didn’t enjoy being treated as a handicap.
“What is it?” she asked, peeved.
“Wait here.”
Remo got out of the jeep. Standing on the road, he felt around under his seat. Producing a tire iron, he held it out for Heidi’s inspection.
“So?” she said with a look of perplexed annoyance.
“Watch.”
Remo flipped the tire iron up the road. It soared two dozen yards before it finally struck the ground. The instant it hit, a huge flash of white and orange belched from the earth. The accompanying violent explosion rattled the road beneath them. The jeep was rocked on its shocks as the windshield was pelted with dirt and gravel.
Heidi sucked in a sharp breath as the unexpected flash of light flared and diminished.
“Land mines,” Heidi breathed, once the commotion had died down. A huge smoking crater filled the road.
“The exploding kind,” Remo agreed. “Looks like we’ll have to hoof it after all.”
“It is a lovely day for a walk,” the Master of Sinanju said. He stepped down from the jeep onto the debris-scattered road.
Heidi shut off the engine. She was clearly confused. “How do we get through without setting them off?” she asked, trotting to catch up with the two departing figures.
. . .
“..Without setting them off?”
Heidi’s voice sounded tinny on the small speakers.
“Damn,” Adolf Kluge snapped. “How did they know?” His hand withdrew from the minefield’s remote arming system.
Herman shook his head. “They could not possibly,” he said. “We planted them only this morning.”
“They know, Herman,” Kluge snarled. He peered at Heidi more closely. The image was not clear. “Does she look like anyone to you?” he asked.
Herman shook his head. “Possibly the Numbers,” he said.
Kluge nodded. “Of course. A perfect Aryan woman,” he said, “siding with our attackers. A fitting irony for those who write the final history of Four.”
He watched the three of them abandon the jeep and head away from the minefield. They went down the side of the hill, disappearing from the camera’s range.
Kluge felt a tingle of excitement.
“Perhaps there is still hope,” he said. He stood up, leaning over the board before him. With desperate hands, he remotely armed every mine in the road. When he was finished, he waited at the master control. “How long ago did they go down?” he demanded urgently.
“Twenty seconds. Perhaps thirty,” Herman answered.
Kluge nodded. “They move quickly, but she will slow them up. Half a minute to the bottom, plus another minute to get in position...” Kluge was counting in his head. When he guessed a minute and a half had elapsed, he smiled nervously. “We will see if we can’t surprise the men from Sinanju after all.”
With a sharp stab, he punched a single button. It was the one to detonate the entire field of mines.
. . .
The tree-dotted hill sloped down sharply to a narrow strip of level land. This mini-gorge, which ran parallel to both the road on one side and to the upward slope of the adjacent hill on the other, was packed with pine needles and rotting leaves. Some of the boulders that had been displaced when the road was constructed had been rolled down into the ravine. There were many of these scattered like blocks after a child’s tantrum. They stood in the way of Remo, Chiun and Heidi.
Remo assumed he would have to help Heidi through the rough terrain, but he was pleasantly surprised to find she was much more agile than he expected.
After abandoning the jeep, she had pulled a drab green coat on over her T-shirt, dragging her omnipresent knapsack over too. With her thumbs tucked into the backpack’s shoulder straps, she was scaling the rocks like a professional mountaineer. Scampering up one side of a large rock, she would leap back down to the ravine floor.
For their part, Remo and Chiun appeared to float effortlessly up one side of a rock before gliding back down to the ground.
Chiun made the move look particularly graceful. The hem of his kimono billowed like a gaily colored parachute as the material caught the small air pockets in the cramped valley.
“Are there any mines down here?” Heidi asked as she scampered up a rock face.
Remo’s hands were stuffed in his pockets as he hopped down from a large boulder. “Hard to tell,” he said casually.
Heidi, who until now had been in the lead, stopped abruptly. Remo stopped, as well.
“Don’t you know?” she asked.
“It’s a little trickier here,” Remo admitted. “Given the terrain. Oddly enough, mines are much easier to detect in a car. I find that tires focus your senses.”
“It is their hollowness,” Chiun explained, passing the two of them. He scurried up another rock face. When the stone had been rolled down here, a massive tree was uprooted in its path. Long dead, it remained pinned beneath the huge rock. Enormous, gnarled roots clawed at the air.
“You think that’s it?” Remo called up to him.
Chiun nodded. “The compressed air within reacts to the surface of the road. The normal sensory range is thus extended greatly.”
“That’s probably true,” Remo admitted. “I never much thought of it.”
“Fortunately for all of our sakes, you are not paid to think,” the Master of Sinanju called. He disappeared over the far side of the high rock.
“Is he always so unpleasant?” Heidi asked.
“Naw,” Remo said. “He’s just showing off because he likes you. Let me give you a hand.”
The rock Chiun had vanished over was the tallest so far. Remo was pleased to find that Heidi was not too proud to accept help when it was offered.
Remo held his hands out in an interlocking cuplike formation. Heidi placed one boot inside the U-shape and allowed Remo to boost her up to the rock.
He hopped up beside her.
They were walking to the other side of the great flat rock when Remo felt something reverberate up from the rock-and-leaf strewed ground. To his highly trained senses, it was a sudden snap—like a sheet pulled taut.
It came a split second before the explosion.
The ground beneath began to shake as in an earthquake. Belches of flame were briefly visible between the trunks and branches of trees as a black mushroom cloud poured into the crisp mountain air.
Heidi covered her face against the initial hail of pebbles. “The mines!” she shouted to Remo.
A few boulders ahead of them, the Master of Sinanju stopped dead. He shot a concerned look back to Remo.
“What the hell set them off?” Remo demanded.
The question died in his throat.
His senses had suddenly picked up something else. Even Heidi felt the new rumble through the rock. On the hill above them, she could see the tops of the farthest trees topple and vanish behind those closest to them. They were being flicked aside by some horrifying force.
It was like a clichéed movie scene in which some creature from a bygone age first makes its appearance. Except this terror was real.
An avalanche.
“Remo!” Chiun squeaked anxiously. Trees nearby rattled.
“Go!” Remo shouted back.
Chiun hesitated at first, too far away to offer assistance. All at once, he spun on a sandaled heel, his mouth a thin line. Rapidly he began bounding from rock to rock, distancing himself from the main area of collapse.
The trees nearest them ripped away. Like pencils in some massive sharpener, they were flung beneath the great rolling boulders. The mighty trunks were split to kindling and thrust into the ravenous maw of the avalanche.
When the mass of rock was nearly upon them, Remo snatched Heidi up around the waist. It would be difficult enough by himself. He didn’t know if he could manage with extra baggage.
Remo didn’t follow the Master of Sinanju. He was too far back. If he attempted to follow, Remo would be swept under the collapsing mountain of debris. Instead, he spun on his heel and—Heidi in tow—headed directly into the incoming rush of stone and earth.
