Part 13 (2/2)
He had just started the engine and was pulling out of the space beside the main exit when a black BMW roared in front of him and a similar-colored Mercedes-Benz blocked off the exit
Twoas the BMW ca stop All three e Kurt Rollen he had seen that
He let out the brake and pushed hard on the accelerator, pointing the VW straight at the lone man who had jumped from the BMW He muttered to himself - ”I don't know your naure obviously considered hi hard and letting the offside door swat the foolhardy limpse of the mouth open in a scream and eyes ith sudden terror He was also alet had been thrown several yards, but he would soon find out He put on more speed and then perforht hi the twovery still a long way off to his right as the first bullets ripped into the Corrado, punching a hole in the shatterproof windshi+eld on the passenger side, ripping into the seat next to hiht armed men when you are trapped in a car is to use the vehicle itself, and he slaainst the floor so that the car leaped toward Rollen, who had fired the two shots
The giant had seen what had happened the BMW imbecile, and he obviously did not want to share the sa over the Corrado as Bond tried to spin the VW and catch Rollen off balance
The car began the spin, then hit whatlot For what seemed to be minutes, he wrestled with the wheel as the VW went co its way toward the little wooden fence that separated the parking lot from the road At one point he saw Rollen's co to get a shot in, but the Corradopast, for he heard another buine
The long uncontrolled skid ended with the VW crashi+ng straight through the wooden barrier and out onto the road He whipped the wheel to the right, straightened up as he saw the Merc atte to back up and cut hi past the rear of the Mercedes, screeching around the corner and away
No, he thought No, not away It would be a gans was co into the narrow road, then put on speed again He had not fastened his seat belt when the attack had begun, so he was able to hang on to the wheel with one hand, his ar the wheel at twelve o'clock to steer with accuracy, while his left hand began to unlatch the door
In front of hi the top of the cliff face had red reflectors on theround for a second, landing a little to the left as he regained control
It was only when he was roughly twenty yards froave the car its last burst of speed, then threw open the door and rolled to his left
He hit the ground hard, winded for a second before he could move toward the nearest piece of cover, a small clu poles He saw it leap forward as though it were trying to grab at air and fly, then the nose dipped and it fell From his cover he heard the first crunch as the metal hit the rock face, then the sudden boo a sheet of flame up to the top of the drop
The Mercedes and BMW both crept from the alleyway, their drivers obviously well briefed in the danger of driving too fast into this dangerous place Four men, plus theand clatter came from two hundred feet below As Bond sneaked a peep over the rocks he saw that one of the men was Maurice Goodwin
”My God,” one of thee Careful, Kurt” as Rollen walked toward the sheer drop and looked down
”He's burning,” Kurt said in a slow, unbelieving voice ”We've failed Oh my God, we've failed”
”Kurt,” Maurice Goodwin said ”We haven't failed He's dead nobody could have survived in that wreck”
”Then we've not failed” Slow ”We've won, eh, Mo We've won”
”Please, Kurt, don't call me Mo My name's Maurice”
16 - Dead or Alive
He stayed where he was, lying on the ground hidden by the little mound of rocks His body was bruised and sore, while the bite on his aran to throb Tarn's men left fairly quickly, and the local police and rescue team arrived within minutes of their jubilant departure Several townspeople, alerted by the crash and explosion of the car, followed,around anxious to see what had happened
He used the sudden influx of people to get to his feet,to ease the aches in his body, and think of ways andas quickly as possible
Finally he slipped aalking back to the hotel across a deserted Marienplatz There was nobody about in the hotel entrance, so he was able to get to his room unseen Once there he took a quick very hot shower, cleaned off the lacerations in his arhtly red and swollen, and e from a couple of handkerchiefs He dressed in blazer and slacks and then returned downstairs again
The elderly waiter was nodding off behind the s hours, my friend” Bond shook him by the shoulder
”Ach” The waiter slowly opened his eyes ”I don't sleep et older, you don't need so much sleep What can I do for you?”
Bond asked if he knew a reliable taxi service, ”I want to get to Munich as quickly as possible”
”How quickly?”
”Now Straightaway”
”My brother He's stupid enough to go anywhere at any tiitated conversation with so a hand over the rinned ”He'll do it, but you'll have tothey settled on a price Bond paid his hotel bill and went back to finish his packing Fifteenand the briefcase, repacked with the weapons in the safe co in the small foyer
The brother turned out to be older than the waiter, and wore thick-tensed glasses, but he grabbed the bags and set off toward his car Before following him, Bond pushed a handful of notes into the waiter's hand and half whispered, ”You've never seen et froer in Hitler's Ger”
Wolfie appeared to be under the impression that he was a Formula One driver, but he still took well over an hour and a half to get to Munich Airport There were only four really frightening incidents during the drive, and Bond paid up, hurrying into the al wait, as there were no flights to London until a British Airways departure at seven-thirty in the ed to exchange his Lufthansa ticket, to the delight of the young woht, once he arrived in London, so he did not check in any luggage His next step was to use a telephone carefully enough not to give any prior warnings to the person whose voice he carried on the tape in his pocket
Using a credit card, he called Bill Tanner at his ho both Max Tarn's bid for a Fourth Reich in Germany and the name of the person who had betrayed MicroGlobe One and the entire country
”You're certain?” Tanner was as shaken as Bond had been
”One hundred percent proof positive, Bill Here's what I want you to do” He outlined the exact steps that needed to be taken in the ht departure,” he ended ”You can bothelse fixed”
”It'll all be done” Tanner was about to close the line when Bond asked if they still employed Burke and Hare
”We certainly do”
”Better have them on hand as well”
Burke and Hare were nicknames for Bill Burkeshaw and Tony Hairman, the two ence Service They would certainly be needing thes were to run to a smooth climax
He found a seat in front of one of the airport television sets where you could watch CNN in English It was positioned so that he had an uninterrupted view of the whole concourse, and he reht was called Only then did he use the telephone again to call Fredericka von Grusse, who answered brightly
He gave her the flight nu her tothe line quickly