The fans went wild at the goal... then death arrived in the arena

Opening with a horrifying terror attack and a young journalist mistaken for his dead father, the long-awaited sequel to former Express legend Freddie Forsyth's 1972 blockbuster The Odessa File is every bit as dramatic as you'd expect... read on for our exclusive extract

- Frederick Forsyth

KARL Weber leaped into the air before the ball had hit the back of the net, his frenzied cheers as indecipherable as the thousands that surrounded him.

The entire Cannstatter Kurve had come alive at a moment of individual brilliance from VfB Stuttgart's iconic number 10 Bobby Wright, his 40-metre run ending with a rocket of a shot from the corner of the penalty area. VfB were 4-0 ahead with only 15 minutes to go, making a comeback near impossible for TSG Hoffenheim.

It was the kind of scoreline that demanded celebration, especially when it was achieved against one of the club's biggest rivals. And Weber-like so many around him - was going to do exactly that. He was not the only one. Wright's strike had set off an explosion of uncontrolled euphoria.

No one watched as the ball was retrieved from the goal or reset in the centre circle, ready for the final stretch of the match to begin. Instead, the cheering continued as minutes passed, with fans congratulating one another as if they had scored the four goals themselves. This was why the Cannstatter Kurve fans were the very last to see death's arrival at the MHP Arena.

Weber barely registered the first of the gunshots. They came when his head was buried deep into the shoulder of his much taller friend, Philipp Rüdiger. Weber and Rüdiger had been coming to VfB together - along with their pal Florian Aber - for close to 30 years.

None of the three men noticed the sudden change in atmosphere. The second shots came seconds later. This time, Weber noticed the noise, but his mind was still too distracted to even wonder what the cause might be. That changed in a moment with a third, fourth and fifth burst, these almost simultaneous. Weber looked around in confusion.

His first thought was firecrackers, but something inside him was saying "no". Perhaps it was the volume. Too loud for stadium fireworks. Or perhaps it was the inherent violence that seemed to accompany the sound.