DIE HARD: THIRD STRIKE DIE HARD: THIRD STRIKE

CHAPTER FOUR
Gruber's giant van came into the parking area of the United Nations Trade Centre. Eleven terrorists stepped out of the vehicle. Each was looked like a representative. They did not appear to have any weapons on them. They approached the front of the building and found two guards.
"Good morning," Gruber said to them. "I'm Niklas K. Armster, the German councilman."
"They told us you were coming," one of them said. "Let's see your ID."
Gruber gave them the identification. When they gestured that he may proceed, he turned back toward his troops. "Philipp," he said to one of them, "wait here. Your presence is unnecessary at this time." Though his name was not Philipp, the man he was talking to knew to wait there as Gruber and the rest of his men proceeded.
They entered and came to six guards and a metal detector. Gruber went through the detector first and it didn't go off. All of the others followed with the same result. After they were through, Gruber suddenly bashed the video camera taping them and made it look like an accident.
"Oh goodness," he said. "How clumbsy of me."
Hearing the codeword clumbsy, each terrorist quickly pulled out a silenced handgun. Each guard was shot several times before any of them could get a shot off. Outside, the terrorist out there saw what had happened inside and pulled out his own silenced pistol. After killing both guards, he walked inside.
"It's a good thing Mr. Anders took out the metal detectors like he was supposed to," Kurt Ranis, the former German spy, said.
"Are the U.N. buildings always this heavily guarded?" Teresa Schulze asked.
"Only when they have forty million dollars in their vault," Anders replied.
Gruber spoke to his soldiers. "Listen up everyone! We've got forty minutes at the most before the United States government finds out what we're doing here and sends their army, airforce, and marines. Now, there are three cameras in the hallway. We want to take down as few cameras as possible to avoid suspicion. As soon as we get to the camera monitoring room, we can go wherever we want. To get there while avoiding the hallway, all we have to do is go through the room up ahead, shoot the rotating camera there and possibly a guard or two, and open the next door, bringing us to our destination. Group A will come with me to do that while Group B waits for our message on the radio. We keep using silencers until I say otherwise over the radio. Let's go."
Half of the terrorists followed Gruber. They surveyed the room and saw that the camera was not pointing at them. Then they shot it and walked in. The guard standing there was caught on surprise. They shot him immediately and entered the next room.
"Nobody move," Gruber yelled. "Put all of your hands up and move into the corner now!" All of the people who were watching the tv's did as they had been instructed. Gruber lifted his radio and glanced at his watch. "Obejective A has been completed," Gruber informed them. "You have exactly two minutes to get to the vault. Go!"
Group B hurried down the hall with their silenced handguns ready. They blasted three guards without difficulty. Reciting the plan they had created, the terrorists ran down the hallway to the elevators and pressed the down button.
After the men had entered the elevator and moved to the basement, Gruber looked at the video cameras on that floor. "There are three guards in the room you are coming into," Gruber informed his men. "Then you'll come to the vault, which Felix should have taken care of pretty soon."
Gruber was right. Anders had told the others to check on the money, and they were doing it. The only person in the building with the vault's 20-digit combination code was at work, rapidly entering the combination into the mini-computer. The man made very sure that Anders and the two other men there did not see the numbers he used. Finally, he entered the final number and the vault opened.
"It seems to all be there," the man said upon looking inside. "I don't think we need to count it all."
When Anders heard those words, he knew that the vault was open and the money was right there. Moving quickly, he pulled out a silenced Falcon and shot all three guards. Two bullets went into each of them. One of them, still alive, shouted at the assassin.
"You'll never get out of here alive!" he hollered. "There are over forty armed soldiers in here, each armed with a weapon."
Anders reloaded his handgun. Gruber's men, having wasted the guys in the other room without difficulty or loss of life, came into the room. Anders pointed the gun at the wounded soldier's head and said, "We have control of the building."
The warrior continued. "If any of the guards press the alarm button that each one of them has, you'll all be locked in. Also, the U.S. government shall be notified and will not hesitate in coming over here and forcing you to put every penny back.
"Hold that thought," Anders said, pulling out the communicator. "Yo Simon, how about you deactivate the alarm system. The code is 12-98-38-45." Anders smiled and shot the man.
After deactivating the security system, Gruber cut the phone lines. It was easy, since he knew the deactivation code. Then he turned on his communicator again and asked Anders, "How much money is there?"
Anders chuckled. "1,000,000 American dollars, 2,311,860 Deutsche marks, 1,182,035.25 euros, 706,710 pounds,..."
Gruber sighed. "How much total?"
"One million dollars worth in forty different currencies," Anders said cheerfully. "It's just like I told you. I knew this plan would work."
"Listen up, everyone," Gruber shouted into the radio. "We have all forty million dollars. We are in control, so silencers are no longer needed. You may take out the powerful weaponry at this time." Then Gruber turned off his radio and took out a machine gun. Pointing it at the unarmed U.N. workers they had captured, he said, "It's nothing personal. It's just that one of you might have a cellular phone. I promise you: It won't hurt. At least I don't think it will." The gunshots and screaming that followed could be heard by everyone on the floor. TO BE CONTINUED...