Chapter 30

“No way in hell,” Norm told the Germans, “am I going anywhere. If you want to shoot us Hochstetter. You’re going to have to do it right here at the palace where you’ll have some explaining to do.”

Cal actually had his hands raised even if Norm did not. He looked around at the horde of Germans, with their teeth fully bared, and noticed that they were not moving. Cal considered that a good thing. Then he looked carefully at Hochstetter and the man seemed to be in deep thought.

The German Major said, “I’ve changed my mind.”

The only other person in the room that Cal figured was probably as nervous as he was, was the that little female Corporal. Since she appeared to be the only other German in the tent that spoke English, she was absolutely horrified and squirming. She looked very relieved when Hochstetter seemed to change his mind. Then the Major went on by saying, “if they resist, beat them within an inch of their lives, then take them to airport and shoot them.”

Cal stomped his foot, “I knew that was going to happen!”

Norm appeared unimpressed. Furthermore, he said, “I’m not impressed.”

“You’re wasting my time,” Hochstetter replied. “In the German military that is the death penalty as far as I’m concerned.”

Norm looked the man in the eye and said, “we talked to Pierre. He was a lot more forthcoming without the metal shanks in his balls. We know what he unloaded and, more important, to who.”

Hochstetter actually considered that for a second and then bluntly replied, “you are lying.”

Norm cracked a smile, “you really want to take that chance Major? You know, considering the hardware they’re using, I can even take a guess as to who the actual target is.”

Now Hochstetter rubbed at his chin, thought some more, then ordered his men in English and then German, “beat the shit out of them, take them to the airport, interrogate them, then shoot them!”

Cal sunk, “you just had to push it didn’t you? We could have had been shot easy but nooo….”

The corporal had almost breathed a sigh of relief. The she got a report over her headset. She became very concerned and then looked at the Major, “I think we have a problem Sir.” There was fear in her voice when she switched back to German. What was even more important was that Hochstetter sounded pretty rattled when he started replying.

Cal could not follow a word of it. He had taken German in high school but, that had been a long time ago. The teacher did not speak a thousand miles an hour either. All he could guess was, “so now we’re going to get life in front of a firing squad?”

The young girl looked to the colonial prisoners and said in English, “there is a bomb just outside this tent.”

Cal dropped his arms and ranted, “my day is NOT getting any better here!”

Hochstetter quickly gave orders to his men who began scrambling out of every flap the tent had. Norm took that as his cue and walked over behind the German spook. He looked past the man’s beefy shoulders and saw the bomb in question. It was on a jacket and that jacket was being worn by a woman who was slowly, and clumsily, walking towards the palace.

The corporal explained, “she got to the security table and then dropped her overcoat.”

Norm finally got a good look at the terrified face on the bomber. He sighed, “I don’t believe this.”

Cal was still stomping around in the middle of the tent, “me ether! Shouldn’t we be finding cover?”

Norm looked back, “that’s Tammy Nguyen out there. That’s Danni’s mom.”

Hochstetter no longer waited. He burst into action by issuing orders on his radio, “reaction team! Approach from the building and do not get close. You are then cleared to engage. Remove the threat!”

Norm did not need to speak German to get the gist of what Hochstetter said. He did look to the young girl though. She spoke descent enough English and appeared to be somewhat sympathetic. When Norm asked she nodded in the affirmative, “reaction protocol to suicide bombers are…”

“That is not a suicide out there,” Norm angrily replied, “that is a hostage!” Then he looked to the Major and said, “and if you go off popping caps you’re going to set the bomb off anyway!”

“Better here,” Hochstetter replied, “than at it’s primary target, Agent Scoggins. Hostage or not, it makes no difference.” The man angrily left the tent.

Cal huffed, “saved from Nazi’s by terrorists. This just sounds like the kind of day I’ve been having.”

The young girl became offended, “we are not Nazi’s! I will have you know that…”

Norm grabbed the girl by the arm, “never mind that now. What’s your name?”

“Um, I am Corp…” the girl could see Norm did not care about that so she said, “Maria.”

“Look Maria,” Norm told her seriously, “you got to call off that reaction team before it’s too late. If that bomb goes here then, from the looks of that vest, it’s going to kill a lot people. That includes us by the way.”

Maria felt very conflicted and she said, “I can’t countermand a Major’s order. I’m just a corporal. I’m on the college plan!” The girl looked back out the tent as she agonized over what to do. Then she saw the reaction team. They were forming a battle line between the palace and the bomb. She could hear them shouting, “HALT” even at this distance.

Maria then looked back to Norm, “it is already too late.”