The Special Operations Flotilla

by Christopher C Tubbs

  Marty pointed over to their left with his still bloody stiletto “He becomes lunch for those guys”.

  “Pigs? You want to feed him to the pigs?” Linette replied looking slightly queasy.

  Marty pulled out a small bottle of brandy. “Douse him with this and throw him in there. By the time someone finds him they won’t be able to tell he was stabbed and just assume he got drunk and fell in.”

  Linette thought about it for a second or two and then bent to take the feet of the rapidly cooling corpse. Together they carried him to the pen and dropped him in. There were about twenty pigs in there that should make short work of him.

  It was a hell of way to celebrate his birthday but any day they reduced the numbers of the secret police was a good day.

  The next time he saw Armand he was wearing a pink handkerchief sticking out of his breast pocket. That was a signal that they had new instructions. That evening Marty went for a walk and when he found a particular signpost he looked for a stone pointing due east-west. Making sure there was no one watching him he picked up the stone and removed a folded paper from below it.

  Back in his room he decoded the message.

  Happy Birthday

  We need to have the date that they will set sail and if possible the destination.

  Short and to the point he thought as he burnt both the original and the decoded copy.

  There is only a couple of ways to get that he thought and went to find Linette. She wasn’t in the Café so he went to her room and knocked. There was a noise but the door stayed shut. He knocked again. There was a muffled scream? He wasn’t sure but tried the handle it was locked. This time there was definitely a muffled scream! He stood back, pulled his pistols and kicked the door just below the lock. It wasn’t much of a door and less of a lock and burst inwards as the lock gave way. Inside he saw Linette on the bed with a figure stood over her holding her down with one hand over her mouth.

  “You get away from her and stand aside!” He shouted. The man’s head turned and he saw it was the smarmy Captain of Infantry that had come to find the Commandant. He was obviously drunk and had a mad look in his eyes. His trousers were undone and he was obviously in a state of arousal. Marty levelled his right hand pistol at the erect member and said in an even voice.

  “If you want to keep that soldier boy let – her – go.”

  With one pistol pointing right between his eyes and the other straight at his manhood both the madness and his ardour faded. He looked at Marty with a bemused expression and then at Linette and then down at his crutch.

  “Oh my god what have I done” he cried in a wretched voice.

  Marty pushed him over to the chair and made him sit down.

  “Do your trousers up, you animal” Marty snarled.

  The sound of steps could be heard coming up the stairs. Linette jumped off the bed tucked her exposed breasts back into her dress and quickly shut the door. There was a knock and a voice called “Mademoiselle are you alright? We heard shouting”

  She opened the door a crack and said “Why yes I am fine. I didn’t hear anything it must have come from outside”

  “If you are sure” said the voice that didn’t sound very convinced

  “I am fine” she reassured him “Really I am”

  She shut the door and leaned on it as footsteps receded down the stairs.

  “Now you” she said and started towards the Capitan.

  “A moment before you castrate him” Marty intervened. He led her over to the far corner of the room keeping one of his pistols on the Capitan at all times. He quickly told her about the message from Armand and quickly outlined an idea that had come to him while she was at the door.

  He led them back in front of the Capitan.

  “You are?” Marty asked

  “Capitan Louise Verney” he replied

  “You know that we are from the Ministry?” Marty continued

  “Yes” he replied

  “Do you know of the Department of Internal Security?” Marty asked

  “Oh God” he moaned

  “What do you know?” Linette asked

  “They ensure that secrets are kept, and root out the real traitors. They aren’t like the secret police who are just looking for people who don’t believe in the revolution”

  “Exactly” said Marty and gave him a look that he hoped was meaningful. It worked, a look of horror came over his face.

  “And you are both agents of . . .”

  Marty and Linette nodded.

  Jambon hung his head into his hands and moaned. In his mind he could see the blade of a guillotine falling towards his neck. He had tried to rape a member of the dreaded D.I.S. and if they didn’t kill him then his wife would.

  He had nowhere to go.

  Marty and Linette let him ponder his fate. She sat on the bed and Marty put his guns away and leaned against the wall. He was tempted to take out a stiletto and clean his nails or something equally menacing but decided that doing nothing was probably even more terrifying.

  The silence stretched out.

  The Jambon looked up and said. “What can I do to redeem myself? I am not a bad man and I love my country. And I love my wife believe it or not”

  Linette refrained from answering that and put the mission in front of her personal desire to cut his nuts off.

  “You can help us” she said “We believe that there is a leak from the central Staff and we need to get in to the headquarters without alerting the individual that we are on to him”

  Jambon looked at them with a desperate look and said “If I do this can this ‘incident’ be forgotten?”

  Marty looked at him “I can promise it will never appear on your record or be made public” he said.

  Jambon looked from him to Linette and back. The look she gave him made him cringe.

  “OK I will do what you ask” he said in a resigned tone.

  “Go now” said Marty “be at the café next to this hotel at eight o’clock tomorrow evening. Tell your wife you have special duties if she asks why you are out in the evening and do not wear your uniform”

  Jambon left with his head bowed and his trousers firmly fastened.

  Chapter 15 A little bit of ‘breaking and entering’

  They met at the designated time and Marty told Jambon

  “we need to get into the Comandante’s office and inspect his papers. Can you get us in unobserved?”

  Jambon looked surprised for a moment but then a look of understanding crossed his face.

  “Aah you suspect that his sexual preferences have made him vulnerable” he said with a smirk

  “The reason is none of your concern” Linette snapped “Can you get us in?”

  A little abashed at her curt response he replied. “There is a hatch to the cellar at the rear of the building that could be used to get in, but it is locked with a padlock and I have no key”

  “The padlock is on the outside?” asked Marty

  “Yes, it is used to deliver wood for the fires” he explained.

  They left the table and walked the short distance to the Headquarters building. It was dark and a sleepy sentry stood outside the main door. Jambon led them around the building to the rear and through a gate to a courtyard. The hatch was against the back wall and protruded a couple of inches above ground level, the padlock was sturdy but a regular pattern. Marty knelt and, by touch, picked the lock in less than 15 seconds.

  They gently lifted the hatch, hoping it didn’t squeak too loud. Once it was open Marty located the wooden ladder that led down into the pitch dark cellar. He very carefully climbed down feeling for every rung with his feet. Once he reached the bottom he took a small shuttered lantern from his shoulder bag and lit the candle inside. The lantern had a polished metal reflector and was designed to throw a weak beam of light forward through the glass. He shone it on the ladder and first Jambon and then Linette came down. Linette carefully lowered the hatch back into place.

  Marty motioned Jambon to
lead the way and they made their way to the other end of the cellar where there was a stair that they climbed to find a door at the top. It was latched from the other side.

  Marty gave Jambon the lantern and delved into his bag. He pulled out a slimjim, a strip of springy metal , which he carefully worked between the door and the jam and then slid it up to lift the catch on the other side. He reached over and closed the shutter on the lantern and then slowly started to move the door. He felt a slight resistance and heard the start of a squeak. He stopped, shut the door and opened the shutter again.

  He took a small stoppered bottle from his coat pocket and a hollow straw. He opened the bottle, dipped the straw in it and put his finger over the open end. He then pulled the straw out and held it at the top of the lowest hinge. Removing his finger he allowed a drop or two of oil to escape from the straw and lubricate the hinge. He repeated this on all three hinges.

  They waited for a few minutes during which Jambon was starting to fidget.

  “What is your problem?” hissed Linette

  “I need to pee” he replied “I am very nervous”

  Linette stood to one side and indicated he should go back down into the cellar and relieve himself. He took the lantern with him and soon they heard the unmistakable sound of urine hitting the dirt floor.

  “The man has the bladder of an ‘orse” she whispered in Marty’s ear who had to restrain himself from laughing.

  Jambon returned and Marty had him close the lantern again. He tried the door and this time it opened with the faintest of grumbles. They stepped though into a corridor and Jambon led them up to the second floor to the office of the Commandant. They left him outside on ‘watch’ as they didn’t want him to see what they would be doing.

  The room had shutters on the inside of the windows which they closed and then opened the lantern. The desk top was searched and there was nothing of interest on it. So they unlocked and searched each drawer. Still nothing. There was a cabinet with a roller shutter against one wall and Linette opened it after picking the lock. Inside it was a bank of drawers each with a label. A quick scan showed that most were dated but one just had the word “Expedition” written on it.

  Linette pulled it out completely and took the drawer to the desk. They went through it page by page in astonishment. The papers inside were copies of orders from Paris showing that General Napoleon himself had ordered that an army of some forty thousand men be assembled in a number of ports around the Mediterranean and that they had to be ready to embark on a fleet to be assembled at Toulon by the beginning of April. The fleet at Toulon was to be made up of 13 ships of the line, 14 frigates, and 400 transports and was to be supplemented by ships from Genoa, Civitavecchia and Bastia. Marty scribbled down the numbers as fast as he could while Linette looked in vain for a destination for the “Expedition”.

  They had been in the room for almost an hour when there was a faint scratch at the door. Marty went to see what was the problem while Linette returned the room to its untouched state. Jambon was obviously very, very nervous by now and waiting outside on his own hadn’t helped. So Marty stood with him in a deliberately relaxed manner until Linette left the room to join him. Marty stuck his head through the door and glanced around the room. He almost closed the door when he noticed that the shutters were still closed. He raised his eyebrows at Linette and went and opened them and satisfied that they had left no trace led the way back to the cellar.

  Once outside and back at the café they thanked Jambon for his cooperation and said that would take care not to mention that he had helped them in their report. He looked mightily relieved at that and scurried away without even saying goodbye.

  Chapter 16 A Sea Chase

  It was now imperative to get the information back to Armand and for them to get out of Toulon as soon as possible. Luckily the next day was a scheduled drop day so they grabbed their things from their rooms and set off to Sanary to try and intercept him as he came ashore. They got there just after dawn and settled down in a spot where they were concealed but could keep an eye on the old wooden dock that jutted out to sea.

  Around nine o’clock a fishing boat approached from offshore and tied up at the dock. They didn’t recognise it but the unmistakeable figure of Armond climbed out and strolled down to the shore while the crew were busy offloading fish in baskets. He stopped to talk to a man who had emerged from a shed set back from the beach who then beckoned for the crew to carry the baskets into it. As soon as they had all gone inside Armand started walking along the path towards their hiding place. Marty and Linette stepped out on to the path and strolled over towards him.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” he asked in total surprise.

  “We’ll tell you later, but we need to go now!” Marty told him.

  They didn’t bother to hide the fact that they joined the fishing boat or the fact that it left in a hurry when Armand shouted to the crew to get back on board. They didn’t think they would be coming back.

  Once back on the Alouette, one of the crew chopped a hole in the bottom of the fishing boat to sink it and then Marty had Armand set sail and head to Gibraltar.

  The next morning their luck ran out. Dawn came and with it two sets of sails on the horizon. The lookout immediately identified them as French Frigates and they had turned and were heading their way. They put on as much sail as they could and headed southwest as fast as they were able as they wouldn’t stand up to close inspection. But by about midday they could see that the Frigates were hull up and gaining. Their bottom was in need of a clean and in any case even on their best day the corvette would never outrun a Frigate who with their longer hull were more hydrodynamically efficient.

  A swift calculation showed that the French ships would be in range with their fore chasers about an hour before sunset at the rate they were gaining.

  “ We need an extra hour” Marty figured and asked the master “How much more speed do we need? To stay out of range until dark?”

  “Another 2 knots” Monk replied. He was a member of the Deal brotherhood and had been the Master of a cargo ship in his day.

  “How can we make that?” asked Armand.

  “The only way is to lighten her” Monk replied “if we dump most of the water and the guns we might just do it”

  Marty looked over at his beloved Carronades and sighed.

  “So be it.” said Armand “let’s get to it”

  The whole crew was put to work and each barrel was hoisted quickly from its carriage and dropped over the side to be followed by the carriage itself. A second team used axes to stove in the tops of the water barrels and empty the contents into the bilges. Then a team got on the chain pump and pumped the water overboard as fast as they could. That was such hard work that they had to change the hands on the pump every 20 minutes.

  They cast the log. They had gained two fathoms under two knots in speed. The French were still gaining but they had bought a bit more time.

  Marty looked at the map and guesstimated that they were somewhere between Mercia and Algiers. He looked up and saw that Armand had the crew wetting the sails. There was a bang from behind them. He ran to the stern rail and looked back at the frighteningly close frigates just in time to see a splash as a shot landed some ways behind and to the left of their wake. A dirty puff of smoke came from the bow of the closest one and he watched in fascination as the dark blob of another ball came towards them and dropped into the sea a cable short but in line.

  He checked the pennant. It showed the wind had shifted direction slightly.

  “Bring her up as close to the wind as she will sail” he ordered the man on the wheel and called to the men to brace up the sheets.

  Armand stepped over and Marty pointed out that with their rig they could sail a little closer to the wind than the Frigates and that would give them a tiny advantage.

  Sure enough they could see that the French were having trouble maintain their course and were falling off half a point. They might just make i
t as now the gap was staying the same as the courses diverged a little.

  More bangs and a ball splashed down level with them.

  “The buggers are overcharging their guns to get our range!” said Tom who had moved up near to where Marty was stood.

  They looked across to the western horizon and could see that the sun was just kissing it. Another 20 minutes and they would be safe in the dark. But could they avoid getting hit until then?

  “Oh shit!” exclaimed Tom and Marty wrenched his attention back to the Frigates. The divergent course had allowed the Frenchman to present his broadside to them and the side of the ship now blossomed with a row of flashes and puffs of smoke. Splashes of skipping shot raced across the sea towards them. Marty’s eyes went wide and he heard Linette scream from behind him. One shot was dead in line and bounced once then twice and then a third time before thudding into their side.

  The Alouette shuddered at the impact of the 12 pound ball smacking into her just above the waterline with the heal they had on. Marty went below to check on the damage. The ball had lost most of its momentum as it skipped but it still had enough energy to spring the plank and Marty got a team together to shore up the damaged area as best they could. By the time he got back on deck it was dark, Armand had extinguished all lights and was about to change course to throw off their pursuers.

  “Will it hold?” he asked

  “Should do, as long as the seas don’t get any rougher” Marty replied.

  “Silence in the ship! Prepare to wear!” Armand ordered “Steer due south” he told the helmsman “Wear ship!”

  They continued South for two hours and then swung back west towards Gibraltar. The lookouts reported nothing until dawn when they heard

  “SAIL HO! 3 points off the Starboard Aft Quarter!”

  Marty raced up the ratlines of the mainmast and looked along the horizon. Dammit it’s them Frenchie’s again he thought as he spotted their topsails.

  He waved at Armand and shouted out what he could see and then got down on deck as fast as he could.