Iron Cross

Skorzeny saw clearly that there were people running out of the fire in twos and threes, and several of them were still on fire, shouting heartbreakingly while running.

"Gentlemen, gentlemen..." Rank shouted, "We are from the gendarmerie, and we are here to rescue you... Run here, don't touch those who are on fire, that thing can't be put out..."

Running in the fire is originally chaotic and disorderly. Now someone is shouting, the crowd will naturally hear it, and all of them can't help but run over. And those people with fire are really as the gendarmerie said, they can't put out the fire at all. They fell to the ground and couldn't get up.

"You hurry up and put out the fire..." An elderly scholar was still in shock and said dissatisfiedly, "What's the point of waiting here?"

Rank smiled: "Sir, the fire is too big, we tried many times to rush in and couldn't."

"You can't just wait." The other party seemed to know that the situation was not good and didn't want to force it.

"Let's move to a safe place as soon as possible." Rank said, "There is a pond not far behind, it's safe there."

He signaled his men to take action, and the team members understood his intention. Each of them helped a scholar to walk to the back. When they reached the edge of the pond, they suddenly attacked at the same time, killed the survivors with daggers, and then threw their bodies into the pond. People came one after another and were "helped" to the pond by the team members one after another, and then became unjustly killed ghosts.

After three waves, at the end, another man staggered out, his expression and appearance were very embarrassed.

"Is there anyone else inside?" Someone stopped him and asked.

"Gone..." The man answered hesitantly, recalling in a tearful voice, "Many people were burned alive... It was the fire of hell, it couldn't be extinguished at all, it couldn't be extinguished... No matter how much we poured water, hit them with clothes, or even sprayed them with fire extinguishers, it was useless... We could only watch them burn into a ball of black charcoal while screaming, and finally they could only struggle to escape... My glasses fell off, and I couldn't see the road clearly, so I ran out. Why didn't you rush in to rescue them? Why didn't you rescue them?"

"We just arrived, and we couldn't rush in with such a big fire..."

"I don't know if there are any survivors. It's too tragic, too tragic..."

Skorzeny didn't want to waste any more words, patted the other person's shoulder and said, "This sir, it's still very dangerous here, let me take you to a safe place."

"Thank you, thank you."

Skorzeny winked at his men, and someone immediately came up to help the embarrassed man. He had just taken two steps when Ranke suddenly called out from behind: "McDonald, is that you?"

"It's me..." The man heard it and turned around in confusion, "Do you know me?"

Rank nodded slightly: "Yes! I know you, you are from the Department of Mathematics in Cambridge, and you have a doctorate."

"That's right." MacDonald was happy, "Sir, are you also an alumnus of Cambridge? Have we known or met before?"

"I know you, and I have met you."

"Really? I didn't know that I had an old friend in the gendarmerie..." MacDonald walked closer. He was embarrassed to ask the other person's name directly because it seemed too rude. He wanted to use the firelight to see who the other person was. When he got closer and saw Ranke's face clearly, Afterwards, he was startled and said in a stuttering tone: "Rank, why is it you?"

"It's me."

"Didn't you go back to Germany? When you left, didn't you say you would never come back to England?" MacDonald asked a few questions in doubt and subconsciously, and suddenly reacted and exclaimed, "How did you become a lieutenant colonel of the gendarmerie? No, you are a spy, a spy..."

Rank nodded: "You are right, I serve the German Wehrmacht."

"Ah..." MacDonald was so scared that his soul flew away. He took two steps back and grabbed a commando casually, shouting in horror: "Sir, catch him quickly, he is a spy, a spy who sneaked into the gendarmerie team..."

No one paid attention to him, and the only answer to him was laughter. This highly myopic intellectual only saw clearly at this time that the gendarmerie team had strange smiles on their faces, and no one was known or familiar to him. Originally, there were many gendarmerie here. Although he couldn't call out their names, his faces were still very familiar, but now he couldn't distinguish any face.

He pointed at the people beside him with a shaking finger: "You...you...are all in the same group...you are all spies..." He turned around and tried to run, but found that his legs were so sore that he had no strength at all. In addition, Rank shouted from behind: "Don't run, or I will shoot." He was even more frightened.

MacDonald raised his hands and turned around with difficulty. He saw Rank raising the black muzzle of the gun, and his whole body trembled like sieve chaff. He struggled to take two steps forward, hugged Rank's thigh and almost collapsed. It was Rank who held him up with one hand to prevent him from falling to the ground. He cried and begged: "Please, please...Rank, let me go, let me go. I'm not a soldier...I'm just a government employee...I haven't been to the battlefield, let alone killed anyone...For the sake of our past friendship, please let me go?...My wife and my baby are still waiting for me to go back...Her name is Lily...You know her, yes...She is the junior girl in the College of Arts...We got married later."

Macdonald's words were choppy and incoherent, but Rank understood that the other person kept talking and he kept nodding. McDonald begged for a while, and Rank also thought for a while, and finally seemed to make up his mind and said softly: "Okay, I'll let you go, you can go..."

"Thank you, thank you, I will resign tomorrow...I will never work again...you will be my best friend." McDonald couldn't believe it at first, but after he came to his senses, he thanked him repeatedly and prepared to leave.

"Sir..." Randolph next to him was anxious, "We can't let him go, he will expose our whereabouts..."

He wanted to say something more, but Skorzeny stopped him by shaking his head. McDonald obviously heard the soldier's shouting. Although he didn't know what the other party was saying, he probably said something like "You can't let yourself go." His face turned pale and he turned to Rank with a pleading look on his face.

Rank waved his hand and said, "Let's go, don't look back, and never do this again!"

McDonald nodded mechanically, turned around and took another step forward. With a "pop", Rank's gun rang out, and he saw a blood hole appear on the back of the opponent's head, and his brains splattered, red and white. piece. His eyes were full of despair, and he tried to turn his head to look at Rank as if he didn't believe it, but in the end he failed and only struggled and fell down.

Rank threw away the weighty Wilberly-Scott revolver in his hand, turned around and vomited heavily - he had been working in the logistics organization since joining the army, and had spent most of his time with weapons in the field. Rarely, let alone killing someone personally. Skorzeny patted him on the shoulder and comforted him. He saw that Rank was killing someone for the first time - he could understand the discomfort of killing someone for the first time.

After vomiting for a while, Rank rushed over like crazy to hug MacDonald's body and turned him over gently. The man's eyes were protruding and his face was fixed with death. Rank shouted loudly: "McDonald, Mike Donner..." His tone was full of despair.

"Sir, stop screaming, he's dead."

Rank gently covered the other person's eyelids, and then began to cry bitterly. Tears quickly filled his eyes, and then his whole body twitched and he could not restrain himself.

Skorzeny asked: "Sir, do you really know him?"

"Yes, I not only know him, but..." Ranke said in a sobbing tone, "He is the most brilliant mathematical genius I have ever seen in Cambridge, and he is also my best friend, even my only friend. "

"What?" Everyone was shocked.

Randolph lowered his head: "Sir, I didn't know your relationship. I should have known that I shouldn't have said that just now."

Rank shook his head: "It has nothing to do with you. He is destined to die today, either in your hands or in my hands. You don't know how powerful he is. Even without those professors, he can do it just by his ability." Rebuild the deciphering system."

Skorzeny asked him gently: "Will you regret all this in the future?"

"Me?" Rank was stunned for a moment, and then he showed a look of relief and said resolutely, "Never. The cowardly and confused Rank after returning from England is already dead. This shot gave me a new life. "

"Sir." The team member who was on guard duty in the distance ran over and reported, "The British army is coming, do you need us to stop it?"

Skorzeny originally wanted to stop them for a while, but Rank shook his head: "Don't shoot, we can't leave even if we shoot."

"It's impossible for so many people to retreat at the same time."

"I'm going to lure them away." Rank stepped forward and began to take off his British military uniform. No one, including Skorzeny, understood what he was going to do.

"Come on, why are you still standing there? Why don't you quickly take off his clothes and give them to me."

Everyone woke up from a dream and took off MacDonald's clothes and fumbled for relevant documents and work badges.

"Sir, this is too dangerous, it's better for me to go." Randolph said.

"No one knows Macdonald's situation except me, let alone the British accent..." Rank pushed him back into the team, "I will lure them away, you retreat quickly and wait for me to join up."

"Well, sir, take care of yourself."

Rank acted as Macdonald and was about to walk in the direction of the British support force. Skorzeny quickly directed his men to evacuate. When he said goodbye, he hugged Rank tightly and Rank whispered a few words in his ear. , he nodded hesitantly, unwilling to let go for a long time.

After running for a long time, Randolph asked Skorzeny innocently: "Sir, I still can't worry about Commander Rank. He has no special operations capabilities and his physical fitness is very average. He can't get rid of the British. How about I go to take care of him?" What about him?"

Skorzeny shook his head and looked at the sky that had been half red by the fire. This usually tough man shed sad tears: "No need."

"Why?"

"When he left, he knew he would never come back."