The gunfire outside gradually intensified. Linna rushed out of the door again, the conference hall was filled with the smell of smoke, and the fire should have burned to the corridor. I heard her screaming in the hall: "Father, where are you? Captain Custer? Mr. Kane? Father..."
Her voice gradually quieted down, turning into a sob: "Dad..."
Lina was dead white when she came back.
She looked at me desperately: "They all went downstairs before the fire. The fire blocked the stairs, and there were snipers outside the window. We are trapped here. Alan, we will be burned to death here."
I was under the bright light for a long time, did not drink any water, and coughed due to the thick smoke rolling in from the side of the hall: "Miss, you are an agent of the Fifth Division, calm down."
As if she suddenly came to her senses, she took out a small pistol from her white satchel, put it against my back, and then cut the rope that bound me with a knife.
"Go to the window." She held her head up and ordered, "Stand up straight and walk with big strides."
I spread my hands and smiled wryly: "Miss, be gentle. I was shot in the leg, I can't walk straight..."
She pointed the gun at me: "Go."
No sooner had I reached the window than a bullet flew past my face and struck a marble pillar behind me, sending sparks off.
She is going to use me to block bullets.
For the first time, I really saw the whole picture of the conference room. Very large and empty, the ceiling is a French crystal chandelier. There was heavy darkness outside the window, and the sound of bullets whistling could be heard from time to time, and glass shards were everywhere in the room.
There are armed forces in General Selman's mansion.
The shooting stopped while I was standing by the window. The General's Mansion is an old manor-style building. Under the light of the fire, I found a whole row of people with guns standing outside the garden downstairs. None of them wore military uniforms, and they seemed more composed and sophisticated than ordinary soldiers, more like agents than soldiers.
I saw Andrew. He stood in the middle of them, looked up at me, motionless. Golden sparks danced in the air around him, and the air was filled with the crackling of burning logs.
The moment Lina pushed me to the window, it was he who raised his hand and gave the order to stop shooting.
The flames were ignited during the forced breakthrough, and the entire first floor was burned. Flames swept from the front of the mansion on the second floor to the west wing conference hall where we were. The choking smell of smoke began to blur his vision.
Lena stood beside me, holding the gun to my temple.
She hissed and ordered: "Tell them to build a ladder!"
The burning sound was so loud that I gestured for the stairs.
Andrew saw it.
He didn't do anything, just looked at me through the firelight.
"Why is he not moving?"
"Miss, Andrew is not stupid. He knows that you want to take me as a hostage and leave here. He is making a choice, whether to let you burn here, or build a ladder to let you come out alive, using your information," I said. Tell Lina: "Holding me as a hostage is useless. Even if he puts up a life-escape ladder, you have only two choices - burn yourself here or climb down the ladder and surrender yourself. Mr. Garcia can sit in his current position, He understands what's important and what's not, who must be protected and who's to be left behind. You were one of the masterminds of the Blackshirt riot, weren't you? But you've got Nazi intelligence worth his while, so you're not going to will die."
I felt a quiver in the barrel.
To my surprise, Linna actually smiled.
She was leaning on the window sill with one hand, laughing so hard that she could barely lift the gun.
Lina stared at me with light blue eyes.
"Ellen, I bet it would work to have you as a hostage. You don't understand, he loves you."
I shook my head: "He never trusted me."
I turned to look out, and through the burning noise, Andemon's voice was still so clear.
He ordered: "Ladder!"
It was a three-story white fire escape, set against a charred wall.
Lina gave the second instruction: "Everyone get out of the way, bring the jeep on the side of the road and fill it up with gasoline!"
Her voice came through the fire, and Andrew heard it.
He didn't order anyone to find the car.
Andemont drew his gun, signaled the people around him to back down, and climbed up the white fire escape.
I was dumbfounded.
The fire scorched the floor and the flames had already entered the conference hall. The carpet caught fire, igniting the oak conference table and the trim on the ceiling, and spreading to the tall window frames. Andemon was standing in front of the window, with a slender figure, the dark night behind him, and sporadic burning wreckage at his feet. He was calm and composed, like a demon king from hell in Edgar's painting.
Lena pointed the gun at me and retreated to a corner of the room.
Andrew didn't say anything.
He raises his gun.
Linna couldn't believe it: "If you dare to shoot me, I will kill Alan!"
"Your father, General Selman, was shot to death in the downstairs study, in front of a map of London spread out. It marked the action plan of the Blackshirts." Andmond leveled the gun and said softly: "Linna, you've gone too far. Now you have two choices, put down your gun and follow me, or die here."
"I will kill Allen!"
"Even if you run away with Alan, you'll kill him somewhere else, won't you? You can't run away to Germany with a liability."
Andrew was quite right. Even if we let her go, Linna will definitely kill me. I don't have the conditions to be a hostage, and Linna has too many secrets. Either she spit out the secrets about the Nazis, or she died here with the secrets of the British Intelligence Agency.
Andrew's way of thinking is correct. I'm going to die anyway, he's just thinking about what's best for Britain.
I turned to look at Linna, shrugged my shoulders, and grinned: "Miss, you have been in contact with the German intelligence system. I don't know if you have heard of Jane. Is Mrs. Castor the name?"
Linna's face suddenly changed, her light blue eyes stared round: "You said... Mrs. Jane? Custer?!"
"It seems that you have heard of it," I nodded, "That's my mother."
"joke!"
"You have committed treason, and taking the son of the treason as a hostage is useful, miss?"
Andemont suddenly leveled the gun.
At that moment, Linna made a decision. She took the gun away from me and pointed it at Andremon. Her judgment is very accurate. Since I can't be a hostage, Andremon is the biggest threat at this time.
Simultaneously two shots fired.
Andemont quickly bent over to avoid it, and rolled to the left corner.
The moment it rolled, he threw the gun to me: "Alan, the safety catch is on!"
Linna was shot in the shoulder, and the woman's pistol fell to the floor, blood gushing out.
Her long blond hair was loose and disheveled, her beautiful makeup was smoky, and her face was distorted due to pain, like a cat driven to a corner.
I know I'm not much better.
I rushed to catch Andymond's pistol, and said to Linna: "Miss, please cooperate. Ladies first, you go down the fire escape first."
Linna glared at me, then turned to look at Andremon again, her jaw raised.
"I know you used me when you proposed to me. You know I used you when I agreed to marry you."
Andemon didn't speak, and there was no expression on his face.
"You are my fiance, can't you find a way to let me go?"
Linna looked at him desperately: "You have never given your sincerity to others, have you?"
"You've played too hard, Miss Selman." Andermond said in a low voice, "Follow Allen's instructions and go down the fire escape."
Lina did not walk to the fire escape for survival.
"You will never understand me."
She suddenly turned to the window, as if looking up into the distance, then raised her right arm, gave a Nazi salute, turned and rushed into the flames from the corridor.
I saw the fire engulfing her long golden hair and delicate body.
Andmon didn't look at Linna, he looked at me intently, raised his left arm and pointed to the window sill that was almost sealed by the flames.
His gaze was almost calm and gentle.
"Get out of the window, there's no time, Alan."
I swallowed, my throat was dry and I could barely speak.
"I'm sorry, I was shot in the leg. It seems that I accidentally fractured it during the confrontation just now. You go down first."
Anderson shook his head lightly.
He rolled to the corner of the wall as he dodged Linna's bullet, and stayed there with his knees bent. I thought it was normal at first, but I saw him bit his head and shook his head, flattened one leg, and let go of his hand covering his stomach.
A harsh scarlet soaked through the brown wool coat.
He smiled bitterly: "Honey, I can't move either."
I suddenly understood why he threw the gun at me at that moment—he was shot.
The knife wound on Andemon's left chest hadn't healed yet, and the bullet passed through his lower abdomen again and stayed inside.
There was no time, and the fire had surrounded the entire conference hall. The hot air is uncomfortable, and the objects in the room appear as distorted mirror images in the alternation of hot and cold air. Andemon's posture leaning against the wall was very fragile, his head was slightly tilted to one side, and his delicate face was bloodless.
Everything is burning, and the burning documents are scattered into pieces, dancing with the heat like fire butterflies.
Like an unreal dream.
"Ellen, be strong, go to the window and go down the stairs. Peter is outside and he will help you."
Andmon smiled weakly: "You will survive."
I dragged my injured leg and crawled to his side.
"I'll take you down."
hot.
I put my hand under Andymond's armpit, hugged him and dragged him to the window. Every part of my body lost feeling, like it was no longer my own. There was a fire and the windows were sealed. The sound of burning, the sound of things falling, the sound of talking to Andymon.
His face was pale, his eyes were half closed, and he reached out to touch my face: "Alan, Plimpton Manor is only a part of MI6. You are very important, but not the whole of our intelligence system...be careful when dealing with C. "
The air was hot, and Andmund's hands were cold.
I desperately wanted to drag him away: "Don't say it, you will live!"
Andemond's deep blue eyes were bent, and his voice was weak: "How I wish you were that young boy in Cambridge who didn't know anything."
"Ellen, I love you."
"real… "
"If you don't leave, it will be too late."
But the flames blocked the windows, and my legs couldn't stand up anymore.
I felt the same despair as Linna.
I hugged Andrew and sat down in the only small area in the middle of the hall that was not burned. I watched his eyes close and his breathing became very weak. I was powerless to stop the blood from draining from his body, I could only press my forehead against his, his skin was abnormally cold.
The heat took away sanity.
Before losing consciousness, I heard someone talking.
It seemed that someone split the flames and broke through the window.
A drawn-out languid sound.
"Little Allen, let me save you every time. This habit is not good."