Escape to Athena Page #4

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Except, and listen very carefully,

gentlemen...

...the treasures of Athena

are the property of the Greek people.

We shall begin by infiltrating

the brothel in the village.

I find it disgusting, Major Hecht...

...but I'm sure you don't wish

to see your so-called soldiers...

...expire of terminal priapism.

Permission granted.

Done.

Now it's up to you.

Imagine that Austrian antique dealer...

...wanting his country club guards

to visit a whorehouse before breakfast!

Leutnant, have the men dismount.

Absteigen!

- Absteigen?

- Absteigen.

- Herr Major?

- Ja?

There will be executions this morning...

...therefore Major Volkmann asks

that your men be present and armed.

Please inform the Herr Major

that we shall be delighted...

...to lend our presence to the occasion.

Im Laufschritt, marsch!

Dreht rechts!

- Hey, Zeno.

- Yes?

- So long as we're here...

- The voice of Italy.

Go downstairs,

take the prisoners into the basement.

Abteilung, links um!

Blake will be attacking the oil depot soon.

Rotelli, you and your men take up your positions.

Remember, short bursts, Charlie.

Not rat-tat-tat-tat like

in the gangster movies.

- Yes, sir.

- The barrel heats up.

- What's he telling him?

- What's he telling him?

That he likes matzo ball soup.

Ganze Abteilung - Halt!

Waffen entsichern.

Eagle four, Eagle four,

this is Swordfish.

Position X-ray 42, yellow grid.

Will give you ETA later.

Eagle four to Swordfish.

Channel nets will be open,

use tanks one and two.

Ihre Papiere, bitte.

Alert the frogmen

to prepare for entry.

Yes, sir.

Is it safe?

There's no one at the oil pumps,

so we should be all right...

...until the next submarine shows up.

- Herr Hecht's too close to him.

- That's his problem.

Eleana, you take over.

We're going downstairs.

Get to the radio!

Get him!

Stop that man!

I assume that everything

went well in the village.

- For your country or mine?

- For mine.

Oh, there's no such thing as country, Major.

Only rivers, mountains, houses and people.

- Country is an abstraction.

- You don't really believe that, do you?

- No.

- Thank you for trying.

- You seem to be in good shape here.

- I'm not sure. Look.

Here's today's log.

Now, what does this entry mean?

There is a U-boat out there somewhere,

coming in for refuelling.

- What's in here?

- The key to the monastery.

What does it say?

"Athena. Goddess of war,

wisdom and music".

Like you, a very confused goddess.

- What does that mean?

- Wait a moment.

Looks like, er...

- Looks like it's pretty good here, huh?

- Not a bad show.

Element of total surprise, what?

When do we hit the monastery

and get rich?

There's a problem -

Volkmann may have radioed for help.

- Where to?

- Where is the problem.

That's why Zeno's dragging his heels,

or so he says.

The Allied invasion here

has been advanced 30 days.

That's a week from today.

And I'm to act immediately.

- Charlie! Rotelli! Up here!

- What's our Greek mother want now?

Coming, Mother.

I've got good news.

Volkmann - he didn't transmit anything.

Or if he did, nobody was listening.

- How do you know?

- How do I know?

This is how I know.

Allied intelligence in Turkey

monitors this area.

So, we're staying out here

till the invasion, huh?

Well, we could... have lots of time

to climb to the monastery.

You certainly change

your mind fast, Zeno.

The last I heard it was out of bounds.

"The treasures are the property

of the Greek people".

- They are.

- That's right.

Listen, the first troops that land here,

regardless of race, creed or colour...

...are gonna steal everything.

It might as well be us.

- You feel the same way?

- Monks will be conned by someone.

- Rotelli?

- I agree with both.

All right. We'll have to climb up...

...carrying heavy weapons

and explosives.

For a bunch of monks?

Well, they may have taken the treasure,

buried it and sealed it.

I understand dynamite,

but why the fancy hardware?

There's still a war going on, Charlie.

You know something,

I don't really trust you.

But I'm more greedy than I am cautious.

- When do we start?

- Right now, if you'd like.

- What have you got?

- Submarine surfacing. Zone three.

20 degrees southwest of the depot.

'This is Swordfish, ETA 13:13.

Over.

Tell him we have a fuel leak.

- They won't believe it.

- Tell him!

'This is Swordfish, do you read me?

'Eagle four, this is Swordfish... '

Swordfish, Swordfish, Eagle four.

Can't believe some people

do this for fun.

'Will proceed to Eagle six

as alternate. Over and out'.

How will I immobilise this place?

There are some things

you must find out for yourself.

We have a few limpet mines.

- Dottie?

- Hm?

Five metres... Can you get down

about 18 feet without equipment?

Well, I guess so.

Anything for the war effort.

First open the barrels,

then set the mines...

...and I hope there are

no underwater surprises.

- Hey, what's all that?

- It looks like transmitting equipment.

- For a bunch of monks?

- Wonder what they do with it?

Maybe a morning talk show.

"This is Brother Zoltos speaking to you

on orthodoxy at high altitudes".

The Germans must have

an installation in there.

- At least try to sound surprised.

- Are you saying...

He's saying you took us up here...

...for reasons that are not to do

with what we're after.

- Right.

- So am I.

All right.

It's a communications centre.

When they find out something is wrong

down there, they'll radio for help.

We have to knock it out.

- How many man are in there?

- Oh, there can't be too many.

You've worked out some sort of plan?

Ah, carefully.

We ought to throw you down there.

- Then you won't get your golden plates.

- My golden plates...

If something happens to me...

In 20 years when the Germans are selling

Volkswagen all over the world,

I'm going to be very angry.

It can't be for one of us.

- Hey, maybe it's your agent, huh?

- Really? No.

Jawohl. Ja, alles normal hier.

Ja, ja, geht in Ordnung. Ja, gut.

Jump! Jump!

Ha. Nice of them to make it

easy to climb down.

Make sure you only touch it

with your boots.

Halt!

- Zeno, my silencer doesn't fit.

- Shut up!

My silencer doesn't fit!

Is this your idea of not too many?

One, two, three, four...

There's a whole army down there!

- Take off the lid.

- Hexaclyde II?

- Sounds like a stain remover.

- That's close.

When they wake up

there'll be a change of management.

Hold your breath.

Natrlich.

Dankeschn.

The radio's dead, sir.

Depot, this is Athena, come in.

Call the air base at Crete.

Crete, this is Athena, come in.

What's next?

Not too many now, are there?

I can't raise Crete either, sir.

- Let's go.

- For the treasure?

- Oh, yes.

- Great.

- Check the antenna.

- Yes, sir.

Halt! Halt!

- Here you are.

- Oh, thank you.

- Lantz.

- Sir?

Put the garrison on alert.

- Supervise the manning of all stations.

- Sir.

Zeno, are we getting

close to the treasure yet?

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