The Metal Man: An Account of a WW2 Nazi Cyborg Read Free Page B

sort. Standard partisan practice… sir .’
     
    The woman screamed again, staring down at the three soldiers gathered some thirty feet below.
     
    ‘Reckon she’ll jump for it?’ mused one of the SS troopers.
     
    ‘Looks like she’ll have to,’ sniggered the other man. ‘Silly bitch is bound to break a leg, or both.’
     
    Ackermann joined the group. His two soldiers stiffened and greeted him formally.
     
    ‘The entrance or stairs up to the second floor of this building has been disguised in some way, sir, so you’d never know it was there,’ snapped out one of the troopers.
     
    ‘Yet more evidence of partisan activity in this village, wouldn’t you agree Bru – ’
     
    Ackermann’s sneering question was cut short as he turned his head to look at his fellow officer, only to discover that the man was no longer stood in the place he’d occupied just a few moments before.
     
    Then Ackermann saw Brucker disappear around the side of the large building, the front entrance of which had been used to start the fire. It had spread rapidly; viewed through the cracked, curtain-less windows, it seemed as though the entire ground floor was now ablaze.
     
    ‘Okay, Brucker,’ hissed Ackermann, as he moved to follow the man he’d so quickly grown to hate. ‘Let’s play hero…’
     
    *
     
    …The backdoor of the building was already open. Smoke billowed out from inside, making it difficult for Brucker to see if there was any way he could enter.
     
    Then a strong breeze momentarily blew the smoke back inside, and Brucker saw that the flames hadn’t quite yet reached the staircase that was only a few feet beyond the entrance.
     
    He moved quickly, starting to mount the stairs. Then he sensed rather than heard someone close behind him.
     
    He turned round, and his expression tightened even further at the wolf-eyes gleaming back at him.
     
    ‘Let’s get upstairs quickly, Brucker,’ said Ackermann almost amiably. ‘It’s getting a little too warm here.’
     
    There was little Brucker could do but to act as Ackermann suggested. A moment later they were on the first floor, quickly peering into several squalid rooms that possessed little more than bare floorboards and a few sticks of furniture. There were no flames, yet; but the smell of smoke was strong.
     
    It was Brucker who first realized the significance of the large wardrobe. Pushed flush against a wall in one room, it looked heavy.
     
    ‘Help me move this,’ Brucker said to Ackermann. He wondered why the SS officer should have followed him into this inferno in the first place – and then, for now, let the mental question go. There were other, more pressing matters to attend to.
     
    The two men took hold of either side of the wardrobe. Grunting with effort, they succeeded in pushing it away from the wall.
     
    And there was the door. So that it could be fully concealed by the wardrobe, the handle had been removed. Brucker guessed that the door was bolted on the inside. Obviously, other people had helped whoever was upstairs to hide, moving this wardrobe into position before leaving the house…
     
    Smoke was billowing upwards now from the gaps between the floorboards. Both men began coughing fiercely, and as Brucker heard the woman scream again he gave the door a hard kick with the heel of his boot.
     
    A panel splintered; he kicked again and succeeded in making a hole large enough for him to insert first his hand and then his forearm.
     
    He felt up and down along one side of the door (opposite the side which he knew was hinged), and located the large bolt. He tugged it open and the door immediately opened outwards of its own accord.
     
    A short, narrow staircase ahead, at the top of which was the ‘hidden’ room. Taking the stairs and emerging into this room, Brucker quickly took in the scene. A Jewish woman wearing an old, dirty floral-print dress, who was despairingly moving between the open shutter and the bed that was placed against one