04.3 The Wolf Pack

Four in the afternoon, the Volkswagen parked in front of a liquor bar on Ayacucho, a few yards away from the side entry to Avenue Palace Hotel. Madeleine Blanche was fastened to an explosive belt locked on her waist under a white coat and still in the flamenco dress. Tony Yunis wore a bulletproof vest and an Uzi machine pistol under his coat. They stepped in through the side gate, passed the orangery and crossed the lobby to the elevators. Carlos and Sainz lingering there approached. Carlos was the leader of the Wolfgang Team.

Four of them entered the elevator and the bellboy even recognised the countess with unruly hair. He bowed and took them up to the fourth floor.

Meanwhile, Castillo in the front seat of the Falcon parked on Avenida Alvear, told the driver, “I don’t like this guy, Mr Fish. The way he treats women is appalling!”

“Take it easy, boss!” responded Roco.

The blue carpeted hallways were empty and fallen silent. Madeleine led them through the deep halls and white walls to Suite 425.

Suddenly, they burst in, armed with Uzi submachine guns. It was an operations room with some communications equipment. There stood a Cuban doctor in a white lab coat and a beard that reminded of their feudal leader. A female nurse and an operator in a red dress sat there. Carlos ordered them to lie down on the floor and Sainz took over control.

Yunis gagged Madeleine with a piece of twine. She wore those explosives. He held her wrist from behind as he opened the opposite door marked 452, to give that impression she was taken hostage, and silently stepped into the secret corridor of The Blue Hall.

They advanced slowly into the empty hallways and Carlos followed behind watching their back. There stood no guard outside Suite 464 and they came across nobody.

Madeleine opened the door which was left unlocked. The two entered. This room was washed down. A sharp stench of Dettol caught in their nostrils. The bed laid with a straight sheet; not a crease, not a mark and so white.

“Where is he?” asked Yunis.

Madeleine took off the gag and spoke, “They have removed him.”

“You are lying!”

“No. I don’t understand. He was here.”

Yunis looked under the bed, checked the bathroom, drew the lockers and the wardrobe. All empty. He flipped the curtains, “You trick me!”

Abruptly, they heard firing and Carlos stumbled in through the door. “There’s a guy at the end of the hall!”

Yunis fired at the window panels and it pierced cracks from the witness side but did not break. Meanwhile, Carlos continued to fire into the hall. Yunis pushed a heavy shelf out of the door to block the hallway. Carlos threw a hand grenade into the corridor. Promptly as it blew, Madeleine grabbed Yunis and ran into the next corridor.

“Follow me!” She showed the way.

Meanwhile, two guys in the lobby fired a series of shots at the doors and chandeliers to scare the people. There were four others at the Avenue entrance armed with weapons and the Vanagon pulled up.

Madeleine reached the end of a corridor, released a latch on the bottom and the blocking shutters came open. There was loud gunfire heard from the rear and upfront. They managed to reach the staircase and climbed down to the lobby. They ran out of the arched entrance. The Falcon rolled across Ayacucho and drove its wheels over the pavement. Yunis and Madeleine got in the rear and Roco sped into the increasing traffic at rush hour. They could hear police sirens too.

Carlos and his gang exchanged fire and threw more grenades into the hotel floor. They retreated into the Vanagon and succeeded in a getaway. Sainz died on the floor.

Some of those M34 White Phosphorus Smoke Grenades thrown in the hotel caused a fire. It scorched so bad that this hotel had to close down for renovation.

“He is not there!” uttered Yunis.

“You did not have a plan!” said Castillo, “You rushed it!”

“She lied! It is a trap!”

Castillo turned and passed a small key, “Unfasten that belt, Mister Fish!”