Shout in the Dark Read Online Free PDF Page A

moment outside
the large glass doors. Total Training had taught him it was essential to have
absolute control over people and events. Herr Kessel had told him
to use the rear entrance, but for an important job like this the
main entrance was suitable for someone who would surely soon be a
senior member of Achtzehn Deutschland Reinigung.
    The sun had not even set, but already the
vast glass paneled front of the studios was a blaze of electric
light. He could see Herr Kessel across the street, frightened to
come near, but watching from the shadows like some white-headed
hawk. Karl wished he had his ADR friends from Düsseldorf to help him do this job, but he
had been ordered by Herr Kessel not to breathe a word of the plan.
The old fool seemed to be behaving like a lunatic in his obsession
for status in the ADR. Karl shrugged his broad shoulders and felt
for his balaclava.
    He could feel an unexpected tension inside
as he checked that his Makarov handgun was out of sight in his
pocket, then he began to push his way through the glass doors. A
quick ciao , and a
casual wave of Kessel's fake staff pass at the security guard. The
guard merely nodded. One word of Italian and he was in. Karl began
to relax.
    The man in dark green uniform seemed to be
taking no more notice. Herr Kessel had said that the elevator was
round the corner, and for once it seemed that the old Narr knew what he was talking about.
The indicator showed the elevator was on the second floor. Karl
pressed the button and waited.
    The security man might not be as sleepy as
he looked. He stood up and came from behind his desk to stand by
the elevator, saying something in Italian. Karl pointed up at the
indicator. Herr Kessel had impressed the Italian word for four on
him, the number of the floor, so he muttered, " Quattro ," and hoped he sounded like an
Italian.
    The elevator came. The guard entered and stood with him. Karl
pressed the button for the fourth floor. The man in uniform was
watching. Total Training told Karl things were going
wrong.
    He stayed facing the doors, waiting for
the elevator to stop on the fourth floor. Herr Kessel had explained
exactly which way to go. The elevator slowed. The guard said
something. Karl just replied, " Si ," and continued facing the door. As the elevator stopped
he felt a hand tug at his shoulder.
    He'd been found out.
    With lightning reaction he spun round,
Göring dagger at the ready, but the guard was too close for him to
ram the knife through his heart. Karl clutched the ivory handle,
forcing the blade upwards into the soft stomach, before smashing
the hard edge of his hand across the back of the guard's neck. The
man grunted, sagged and subsided to the floor, his eyes wide in
fear as he pressed his hands against the large patch of blood
spreading across the front of his white shirt.
    The elevator doors were fully open now,
but not the doors through which they'd entered. In an instant Karl
realized the guard had been trying to explain that the elevator
doors were on the opposite side for the fourth floor.
    A woman with a trolley of papers screamed
at the sight of the guard writhing on the floor of the elevator.
Karl pointed his gun in her face and she dropped to the ground in
fear. He kicked her head and turned to the right. The Current
Affairs studio should be at the end of the corridor. The alarm
would be raised any minute. If Herr Kessel could be believed, there
was an escape route down the back stairs. All he had to do now was
get into the studio with his 9-millimeter Makarov at the ready,
snatch the bronze head, and be outside -- before these sleepy
Italians even knew what time of day it was.
     
    FROM THE SHELTER of the small park
opposite the studio ,
Manfred Kessel heard the alarm. He knew he'd been a fool to let the
half-witted youngster barge in alone. Only a fool would believe
that Total Training could benefit a moron like Karl Bretz. Without
doubt the boy was making a complete mess of the
operation.
    Kessel was