[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
his legs. With Baumann gripping his neck from behind, he allowed himself to be steered to the privy beside the barracks. "Inside," Baumann said, giving the Russian a shove. "You have latrine duty, Ivan." The thick plank that covered the cess pit had been removed and placed on the floor next to the body of the other guard. "Strip, Ivan," Baumann ordered. Numbly the guard did as he was ordered, pulling off his shirt and vest over his head. Naked, he shivered as much from fear as the biting cold of early morning. "Hands against the wall, feet spread," Baumann commanded. "You know the routine. Just like you made us do in the camp." "I swear I am only a clerk," the Russian blubbered. "Not with this," Baumann said, placing the blade of the bayonet against the Russian's throat. "This is a German army bayonet, the kind you bastards use to carve up 'vanished' Germans." He punched the Russian in the small of the back. "Now, spread your legs and step away from the wall." Biting back a sob, the Russian did as he was told. Satisfied that his prisoner wasn't going to try anything, Baumann bent down and stabbed a a T T n n s s F F f f o o D D r r P P m m Y Y e e Y Y r r B B 2 2 . . B B A A Click here to buy Click here to buy w w m m w w o o w w c c . . . . A A Y Y B B Y Y B B r r the dead man half a dozen times in the abdomen, ventilating the corpse so that expanding gases could escape. He was taking no chances that the body, bloated from decomposition, would float to the surface of the cess pit. Whenever the relief troops arrived, he wanted them to think that the two Ivans had deserted. "All right," Baumann said when he had finished. "Turn around." The Russian slowly turned toward Baumann, then launched himself forward and tried to grab the bayonet. The movement took Baumann by surprise, but only for an instant. Balling his hand into a fist, he smashed the Russian's jaw with one blow. Pain momentarily stunned the Russian. As he staggered backward, Baumann hit him again, this time in the solar plexus, doubling him up against the edge of the concrete cess pit. For good measure, Baumann kicked him in the ribs. "Get up, Ivan. You've got work to do." Slowly the Russian struggled to his feet, his jaw hanging from his face at a crazy angle, a large purple bruise forming where Baumann's boot had caved in several of his ribs. "Pick up your comrade and lower him into the pit," Baumann ordered. The Russian moved like a wounded animal, half dragging, half lifting the dead man to the edge of the cess pit. Before the corpse could topple in, Baumann reached over and caught it by one arm. "You first, Ivan," he said nodding toward the pit. "Get in." Whimpering now, the Russian sat on the rough edge of the pit and eased himself over the concrete blocks that had supported the front edge of the planks. Frost had hardened the top layer of the filth, and it cracked as he lowered himself into the mire. Standing waist deep in the pit, the Russian pulled the body of the dead guard into the excrement and then, at Baumann's command, stood on it, gradually forcing it to sink to the bottom of the pit. From his stamping up and down on it, the body finally sank from sight. When the Russian got off, the body did not reappear. At Baumann's gesture, the Russian came back to the edge of the pit and started to climb out. But as the man threw one arm over the side of the pit to hoist himself out, Baumann pinned him to the edge with his foot. Leaning down with the bayonet, he drew its rough edge across the guard's throat. a a T T n n s s F F f f o o D D r r P P m m Y Y e e Y Y r r B B 2 2 . . B B A A Click here to buy Click here to buy w w m m w w o o w w c c . . . . A A Y Y B B Y Y B B r r With a scream that was a gurgle, the Russian brought his hand up to his neck, eyes bulging. As he did, Baumann drove the point of the weapon deep into the guard's chest, puncturing his heart. Several more quick stabs with the bayonet, and Baumann was confident that the Russian would stay at the bottom of the cess pit with his comrade. Baumann felt the man go limp under his foot, and carefully let him slide back down into the excrement. Returning to the barracks for a moment, he came back with one of the Russian rifles and, holding it by the barrel, used it to push the body down to the bottom of the pit. When he was satisfied that the body couldn't be seen, he threw the rifle in after and watched it sink slowly from sight. Then, picking up the thick plank with the four holes cut in it, he replaced it over the cess pit and left. The motorcycle had taken him as far as the mountains, and there Baumann pushed the machine into a ravine and continued on foot. The villages of Azerbaidzhan were filled with dark-eyed, furtive people, and Baumann moved among them like a ghost. It took him four months to reach the frontier and cross over into Turkey. Istanbul, with its bazaars, crowded narrow streets, and opium racketeers, became Baumann's hunting ground. In less than a year, he was back on the Russian border, talking to the nomadic traders and renegade cossacks. He bought information with gold or American dollars and repaid lies with death. When the nomads would head to Baku and Astrakhan, Baumann would see them off; and when they returned he would be waiting waiting to hear of German prisoners. And while the nomads searched for his comrades, and Kluge in particular, Baumann stalked the streets of Istanbul. CHAPTER 15 Da. Wampyr. Hier. As Baumann looked out across the expanse of snow, watching the Soviet guards make their rounds at the prison hospital where the Cossacks had led him, his escape from the Russians seemed as if it had happened a thousand years ago. He had learned a great deal since then. He watched the camp's inmates for the better part of a day, counting them as they moved about, and decided that there were no more than a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |