The Eiger Sanction Page #8

Pity I slept through it.

That's the spirit.

Come on, up we go.

BEN:
Sh*t!

(WIND CHIMES RINGING)

- What is it?

- It's a foehn moving in.

What's a foehn?

Warm air, then rain, then a

freeze, like all in a flash.

Is that bad?

It's frigging awful. That entire mother

of a rock is gonna be covered with ice.

But you can't walk on it,

and you can't see through it

to find a crack in the rocks

to drive your pitons.

The snow is all glazed over.

But you'll be able to drop through

up to your neck at any time.

Worse thing, it's

coming from the south.

They won't even know

it's coming until it hits.

Then they must come down.

Lady, by the time they find out,

they won't be able to come down.

They won't be able to go up.

They're just gonna be stuck.

(ROCKS RUMBLING)

(WIND HOWLING)

(GRUNTING) You all right?

Yes, let's rest.

(GROANING)

Morning.

How's Jean-Paul?

He's dead.

He must have gone during the storm.

Drink that.

How do you know he's dead?

I looked at him.

You saw he was dead, and

then you made a pot of tea?

Drink it before it gets cold.

He had a concussion.

The storm was too much.

The man inside couldn't keep

the man outside from dying.

What now?

Moving ahead is out of the question.

Conditions are impossible.

We're gonna have to go back.

Through the ravine?

No, the ravine's impossible, too.

- Andrei, you listening?

- Yeah.

Speak up if you disagree.

You're doing fine.

All right.

We traverse back

across the ice field

to a place approximately above

the rail road tunnel window.

There, if we can get a rope down,

Ben will be waiting with help.

I'll lead. Karl, you be second.

Meyer, you bring up the rear.

We'll string Jean-Paul's body

on a separate line between us.

We gonna carry Montaigne back down?

A climber always

brings home his dead.

We'll get down.

- Mr. Bowman?

- Just go away.

Oh, you're Jon's friend,

aren't you?

Yeah. How is he?

Uh, well, they're coming down.

Sh*t, I don't know. Montaigne

is hurt or he's dead.

Do you think they

can get down safely?

There's only one chance.

Everything is iced.

If they can get to those cliffs

above the station window,

maybe they can rope down

and we can pull them in.

How much of a chance

do you think they have?

Not much, but it's the only one.

As soon as I find out that

that's what they're doing,

I'll bring men up to the station.

You know, I didn't want

him to make this climb.

And now, Montaigne is either hurt or

he's dead. I knew there'd be death.

It was planned that way.

All for nothing.

Drop your packs. We'll rig

some safety lines up.

Jesus Christ.

Yeah, but think of what it must

be like up there for them.

Come on, Jon.

Get your ass off that hill.

Jonathan!

(SCREAMING)

Damn it! Belay me.

Hang on.

Jonathan, watch it!

Hang on. We should be

over the tunnel window.

(PANTING) In the future,

I wish you would not use me

to ride around on like a sled.

Look, you better get up there before

he panics. Those pins are loose.

Jonathan, you're very good.

I have really enjoyed

climbing with you.

We'll make it.

I don't think so.

But we shall continue with style.

Take it easy.

Take it easy. Don't panic.

Wait.

Look out!

I can't hold him!

The ice is cracking!

(YELLING)

(SCREAMING)

Jon!

You're limping, Ben.

I'm gonna throw you a rope.

You're limping, Ben.

Listen to me.

I'm gonna throw you a rope, Jon.

Catch this rope when

I throw it to you.

Wrap it around you.

Wrap the rope around you.

Hook the rope to you!

BEN:
Good!

Now cut the rope above you.

BEN:
Jon, do what I tell you.

Cut the rope above you.

Cut the rope above you, Jon.

(GROANS)

Cold mountain air really

bothers the old frostbite.

You ought to remember, Jon.

You hauled me down off that

mountain when my feet froze.

I'm the one you're after.

I never planned for

Henri Baq to die.

I was supposed to take him

out and buy him some drinks

and con him out of the microfilm.

I was as surprised as anybody

when Kruger killed him.

How'd you get involved

with the other side anyway?

Miles Mellough. I owed him.

He helped get my

daughter off drugs.

Daughter?

George is my little girl.

Took a chance coming up

on the mountain.

You took a chance

when you cut that rope.

Old pink eyes is back.

Jesus.

Yeah?

DRAGON:
Hemlock, we don't know

and we don't want to know

how you managed

to precipitate all three fellow

climbers from the mountain.

We assume that, unable

to discover your target,

you decided to take all three.

(LAUGHING)

Extravagant, but effective.

And you have always been both.

We regret that your file will

be placed in the inactive list.

However, we hope that one day you may

work with our organization again.

Good-b ye, Dr. Hemlock.

Thank you, baby.

Well, C-2 thinks

they've got their man.

There's no reason to

persuade them otherwise.

You wouldn't sh*t me,

would you, Jon?

Hate to spend the rest of my life

looking over my shoulder

for you, like Miles did.

Forget it, Ben.

Look...

Yeah.

Well, maybe someday

we'll do some more

climbing together.

Maybe.

You know what I don't have, baby?

What don't you have?

I don't have a ticket back home.

I'll take care of it.

That art collection of mine is

not going to get any bigger,

but I'd sure like to have

you take a long look at it.

I thought you'd never ask.

I'll get two tickets.

Jonathan,

you can tell me.

You didn't really sanction

all three of them, did you?

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