The Sleeping Army Awakes

Part 65 Finger on the button

The count checked his Dudat's GPS to ensure that it showed a good distance between him and the blast site. He saw the large number of wolves dash for the blast site and then run for higher ground.

Even though they had probably eaten Basil, he felt little enmity toward them. In fact Count Mikula rather liked wolves, her felt an innate connection to them. Having said that, he wasn't about to intervene to stop them getting blown to smithereens by the blasts or drowned in the subsequent torrent, he simply assumed that they could look after themselves, unlike Basil.

The count toyed with the idea of picking them off with the snipers rifle that he had, but he knew, that Sir Gilbert was impatiently waiting for his signal and this would delay him informing him. He would just have to steer clear of them. There were so many of them swarming around that at least one or two might be still hungry after eating Basil.

If he had known, that their mission was to remove as many of the electrical connections as they could, before the button was pressed; then he would have been more concerned, but there would still have been little that he could do about it safely and keep Sir Gilbert happy. He had stayed alive by following the rule, that as soon as the explosives were wired up, and ready for firing, then he would get as far away as possible and stay far away until he had verified that all the charges had gone off. If they didn't go off at all then he would return to the area the next day when there was little chance of a delayed detonation.

He checked and double checked the contours on the map and then studied the slopes of the hills to make absolutely certain that none of the water could possibly come his way. He decided that he was still too close and so he trudged on for a while uphill.

Samuel warned Adolphus that time was limited each wolf should remove one set of wires from one charge and then run as far and fast as they could for higher ground.

When Count Mikula reached safety he contacted Ruthers to tell him that everything was ready.

In Berne, Sir Gilbert was holding a small black box and giggling hysterically like a little child.

"And so Ruthers if I press this button then hundreds of kilometres away then boom,?" Sir Gilbert asked, "and we've blown half a hillside to smithereens?"

"Indeed sir!" Ruthers said, "I have just received confirmation that the explosives are all in place and connected and the Count has withdrawn to a safe distance. We must however further verify that Sir Percy is not still in the vicinity for the purposes of your wager sir."

"But I want to press it now!" Sir Gilbert complained, his flabby finger edging closer to the button.

"It is my privilege that I am merely here to advise and serve you sir," Ruthers said carefully, "But there might be unforeseen consequences if you detonate the devices prematurely."

But Sir Gilbert couldn't keep his fingers still. "Oh fiddlesticks I just pressed it by mistake!" Sir Gilbert said .

"Indeed sir!" Ruthers said. "Well if that is so then if Sir Percy survives the explosion then you can expect rather a fraught conversation with the gentleman sir!"

"Well maybe it didn't go off?" Sir Gilbert suggested rather hopefully.

Rescue is a foot above the flood

Boris had repeatedly attempted to contact Malik at the fishing party and arrange a rendezvous, however no-one was answering their Dudats. Did Boris but know, Malik and the remaining guards with Dudats on the boat were both preoccupied by trying to fend off an amorous, but incandescently angry, carp, and Granddaddy carp was getting angrier by the minute.