by Glover, Nhys
Julio wouldn’t be able to repeat this performance a second time. If he had to take out the gunner, second from the back, too, he’d have to do it during the initial distraction. It was a backup plan thwart with risks, but it was the only plan they had. Luckily, Julio was an excellent shot and good at improvisation.
Slipping back down behind the ridge of the roof, Jane used a small torch held in her mouth to locate and assemble her dart gun. It used the tubing of the lipstick and its cover for the barrel. The small firing mechanism, projectiles and telescopic lens all came as parts from the face powder compact. She had practised putting it together and loading it, hundreds of times, and she barely needed the torch to do it now. Her hands carried out the habitual actions gracefully.
Because the gun was so fragile, the chance of the sights being out was another risk. But as she hadn’t jolted the parts on her climb, she thought the chances were minimal that she had dislodged the sights. She had several spare projectiles in case of emergencies. The cartridge carried up to ten shots. At best she would only need two to take out the gunners on the last two carriages. Millie’s task was to take out the gunners on the two carriages further along. They were easier targets, as Jane was deemed the better shot.
Jane checked her watch. It had only taken her five minutes to get up on the roof, get positioned and ready for action. That was an excellent time. She looked over at the other rooftop, and saw movement. Millie was up and climbing into place.
Now they waited.
Luke and Jac dived out of the Portal together, and hit the grassy hillside as the light behind them flicked off. The gate had been opened less than a few seconds, and anyone seeing that light would register it as no more than a flicker.
Lifting their heads, they surveyed their location through the lightly falling rain. They were positioned just outside the tree line, on a hill overlooking the railway track. It was already a familiar spot to Jac, as he had chosen it on a pre-Jump recon. But it was new to Luke, as he hadn’t been included as part of the recon team. He’d been told it was because of temporal anomalies, two Lukes existing in the same time and space. But Luke thought it was more likely lack of trust that had him excluded from the recon Jump.
After knowing Jac for almost a year now, and working with him on at least three missions, Luke knew the man liked, respected, but still didn’t totally trust him. Luke didn’t blame him. He wouldn’t trust him, either.
Even as late as the night before, with Faith wrapped securely in his arms, the temptation to stage an escape had been significant. It wasn’t that he wanted to leave New Atlantis, and more specifically Faith, it was just that he had a duty to perform. Even though he now knew the course of the war, and knew his people were unlikely to do anything differently because of the Intel he gave them, it was hard wired into him to complete his mission.
To do that, he would have to be willing to leave Faith. His heart ached, just thinking about such a possibility. In the year he had known her, she had become the true north of his compass. Every aspect of his life came back to her. Her gentleness, her trust, and her love, all meant so much to him. That he could consider throwing that away, throwing her away, made him sick to his stomach.
But he was not just an ordinary man; he was a soldier with a mission left unfinished. A mission he now knew was a crucial one. He had one chance, and only one, to do his duty and put his nation’s needs ahead of his own. What if his Intel could save lives?
He had gone over all the hypotheticals about time travel. Could he change history, if he tried? Or where they right in assuming that if it hadn’t happened, it couldn’t happen? He had been on several missions in his new role as Jump Team Leader, and he had seen how they invariably produced results that history told them they would.
Even when there had been a seemingly monumental ‘glitch’, he liked that word, historical events remained the same. On the second mission, several witnesses had seen them extract the group of children, and yet no record of those witnesses accounts was ever found. Follow up indicated that those witnesses had never told anyone what they saw. They told New Atlantean ‘interviewers’, later in their lives, that they had a secret from God they would take to their grave.
The Retrieval teams assumed those witnesses had decided they had been a part of a miraculous event. Even though they had not yet done it, the possibility was there that an ‘angel’ from the Twenty Fourth Century had visited these men, not long before D Day, and warned them to keep quiet about what they saw.
Clean-up like that, was a hell of a lot better than the kind of clean-up he was used to doing. It was funny how he had become loath to kill; now the pressure to do so was gone. Whether it was his martial arts philosophies, or Faith’s peaceful influence, he now found the idea of taking life repellent. Not that it would stop him doing his job. But it would make it harder to live with himself afterwards. And that was the way it should be. Being a cold-blooded killer had never sat well with him.
Dressed in dark greys and black camouflage gear unlike anything he was used to in this own time, he knew they blended in perfectly with their twilight surroundings, as they moved like shadows through the trees. Even their faces were painted black and grey. Faith had made a big deal of not kissing him goodbye, in case she messed up his ‘makeup’. Cara had not been as reticent with Jac.
Funny, the spunky Cara would have been his preference for a date, in his old life. Now, having known Faith, having experienced the balm to his heightened negative emotions her presence provided, he knew he didn’t need fireworks in his relationship. The old Luke would have seen his comfortable, committed bond with Faith as boring. But he would have been wrong, because he was never bored when he was with her.
She was his firm foundation that kept his negative emotions balanced. What would it be like without her calming influence? How would he live without her, if he chose duty over love?
He pushed the question away, and focused on getting the job done. No matter what he chose to do after, he would do his duty by these people now, and help them rescue these women and children. It might be the last good deed he did in his life.
They had moved to the very edge of the tree line and crouched down behind two half grown saplings. Luke noted they both looked at their watches at the same moment. The train would be leaving the station any minute now. They could see the smoke from the funnel as wisps floated upward on the dark and overcast skyline.
‘Damn drizzle,’ Jac grumbled, pulling up the collar of his jacket. Luke was used to working in all conditions. This light rain on a chilly summer night was not unpleasant. He wondered how Jac would fare on an eight mile hike through several inches of snow.
Unfair. Jac was a good man. If he had to, he would make that hike. His dedication to his cause, and to his people, was paramount. Being from the future didn’t make him soft.
They waited.
Faith watched Luke dive through the gate as soon as it flickered on. The terror she had been keeping at bay flared. What if she never saw him again? The thought turned her insides to water. This last year had been the very best in her life. She had never felt so alive, so excited about living. Every moment with Luke was unpredictable. There were so many different parts to his personality.
But though he might be different each time she saw him, the feeling of safety and warmth she felt when she was with him, never changed. And the idea of losing that… well, quite literally, her life would be over, if she did. She would choose death, if she lost him. It had been hard enough making it through two hundred and twenty years. Living longer without him, now that she knew what real life was like, was an impossible option.
If he chose to make a break for it after the mission was completed – if Jac was forced to terminate him – she would not go on. This was not a melodramatic stance, but a well-considered option. Life without Luke was no life at all.
He loved her; she had no doubt of that. But he was a warrior first and a man second. He lived by a code of ethics she had not hope of u
nderstanding. And to tell him what she planned to do, if he left her, was not fair. He must choose what was right for him, without her decision impacting him.
So she would wait to see if she would live or die.
Chapter Eighteen
The train chugged slowly into the station, and Jane got her first real experience of the outrage. It was the smell and the sound that struck her hardest. Those poor people, packed into spaces unfit even for animals; terrified and confused, as they cried, whimpered, and called out for help she knew would never come. The smell of death was so ripe it made her gag.
How was it possible? How did the locals, who dotted the platform, stand to see this day after day? Were their dreams filled with haunted images of these people?
With ruthless determination, she tore her eyes from the train’s occupants. She could not save them all, but she could help to save one hundred and fifty. It was not a lot, in the scheme of things, but it was something. They were doing something.
She noted, with much relief, that the train had pulled well up on the platform, so that the final carriages were within her dart-gun’s range. She looked through the telescope to see if she could sight her targets. Yes, she had one in her cross-hairs already. Shifting her position slightly, she was able to get the second in her sights. Now all she had to do was wait for about eight minutes. If the SS gunners dropped too early, people on the platform would notice. If they dropped too late, they might see Luke and Jac as they ran to catch the train.
Her hands shook. Waiting was the worst part. When she heard the approach of the north bound train, she swallowed repeatedly to wet her dry mouth. Then she watched the interminable minutes tick by.
When the second train had gone through, she felt she could wait no longer. She turned and brought her first target back into her sights. Holding her breath on the outbreath, she caught the gunner in her crosshairs as he stretched to ease his back.
She pressed the trigger. A soft ping was the only sound the gun made as it went off. The machine-gunner swatted at his neck. Not waiting to see what happened next, she refocused on her second target, this one a little closer
But this second SS was now leaning over the side of the carriage, talking to a uniformed man on the platform. His position made it impossible to get a clear shot.
As the seconds passed, and her impatience mounted, Jane focused on her breathing. It helped. Then the whistle blew to warn of the train’s imminent departure. The gunner moved back to his place. At last she had a clear shot. She pressed the trigger, and watched with relief, as the man clapped his hand to his cheek and looked around, as if searching for a bee. Seeing nothing, he settled in behind his machine gun, and watched his surroundings closely.
How long would it take for him to drop? The train was beginning to move off. He seemed awake and focused. She turned the telescope back to her first target. Sighing with relief, she saw that he had slumped forward over his gun. At least the most significant one was down.
Just as the carriage left her view, Jane saw the second SS drop forward into sleep, head resting on his weapon. It had worked. She’d done it. With a light heart, she dismantled her gun, and put the pieces back into her purse. Then she carefully worked her way back along the rooftop, until she found where her hook and rope awaited her. She unwound the rope, and waited for Julio and Millie to appear.
It seemed to take forever for them to arrive, and they were both talking with more genuine enthusiasm now. Clearly, Millie had also been successful in taking down her targets.
When they were in place, Julio gave her the signal, and she dropped the rope over the side of the building. Then she lowered herself down. A flick of the wrist, and the grappling hook was in her hands again. Then she stowed the rope and hook back around her waist as a belt.
‘Okay?’ Julio asked, as she finally snuggled in under his arm.
‘Yes. Millie?’ she glanced over at the old school teacher, who looked no older than she did. Millie’s last experience with this war had been as a nurse, when she was in her forties.
Millie’s eyes were gleaming with triumph in the darkness. ‘Done.’
They began their slow saunter away from the station as the drizzle turned into a downpour.
Stepping into the buzzing light of the Portal was more of a relief than she had imagined possible. When they were finally standing on the other side, they looked at the rest of the team awaiting their turn.
‘The gunners are down.’ Julio told them, just as the Portal closed down behind them.
The next time it opened, it would be for Jac and Luke. They were jumping into an open space on the edge of the forest, very close to the town. It would require split second precision to minimise the length of time the portal was open and visible to observers. The men prepped for their Jump, ready to dive through onto the dark hillside.
Luke heard the train coming toward them, and rose to a crouch. They had to time their run carefully. Too early, and they risked being spotted by the gunners who hadn’t been knocked out; too late, and they’d miss the train.
As the last four carriages began to chug past, he and Jac began their dash down the hill from the tree line. They reached the track just as the last car was passing them. With a spurt of additional speed, Luke pulled out ahead of Jac and jumped up to grab the ladder that ran up the back of the carriage. He clung on for a second, while he reorientated himself, and then quickly scrambled up the rungs, leaving room for Jac to join him.
When he felt the ladder shudder under him, he knew Jac had made it. More confidently now, he took the last few rungs to reach the top of the carriage, as the train started to accelerate.
His greatest fear, in that moment, was that the gunner wouldn’t be down when he reached him. He had a pistol, but that would be no match for a machine gun. If Jane had made a mistake, if she hadn’t succeeded in taking the man out as she thought she had, then he was a dead man.
As soon as he was on the roof of the carriage, he saw the gunner slumped over his machine gun. So far, so good. He began to run up the shaking and bumping train, trying to keep his feet under him. If he hadn’t done this before, it would have been disconcerting. But practise made perfect, even if it had been over a year since he’d done it before. And he didn’t miss a beat.
As he passed the gunner, he heaved him over the side, not caring if he lived or died in the fall. There was no record of him being found. And his fate was not his concern. Any man who could shoot unarmed civilians in the back, didn’t deserve a moment of his thoughts. His conscience was clear.
He continued on his way until he reached the end of the car. Then he dropped down between the carriages.
The smell here was awful, and he had to fight the gag reflex. How could they do this to human beings, who were just like themselves? He could hear the crying and the moaning through the barricaded door.
Taking his mind off the people in the carriages, he focused on the job at hand. It was not a difficult task to uncouple the cars, but it required know-how and strength, when a train was in motion. He got to work…
‘Children, can you hear me?’ Jac yelled into the carriage through a hole in the rotted wood. He spoke in German first.
He heard scuffling. A second later, a woman’s voice replied in the same language. ‘Who are you? What do you want?’
‘My friends and I are here to rescue you. In a few moments, the carriage will slow down. Do not be afraid. When the carriage is finally still, the sliding doors will be opened, and my people will help you down. You must keep calm and stay orderly, so we can get you all away to the lighted tunnel you will see. Do you understand me?’
‘What about the guards? They will shoot us!’
‘The guards are taken care of. You have nothing to fear. Pass the word along to all those that speak German. I will now tell the Czechs my message.’
‘I will, I will…thank you, oh thank you!’ The woman’s voice was shrill with relief, and he heard her repeat his message to others.
The train jerked and shuddered beneath him, and Jac tightened his hold on the metal ladder, as he prepared to deliver his speech once more. The stench from the carriage filled his nostrils. He could only imagine what it must be like inside.
‘Children, can you hear me?’ he started again in Czech. Immediately, a boy’s voice replied. From the sound of it, he couldn’t be more than ten, Jac estimated. ‘What is happening? What is she saying?’
Jac repeated his message in Czech, and then again in Polish. When he was finished, he listened as his words echoed back to him from one voice after another. What surprised him was the upsurge in crying. He would have expected that hope would have eased their suffering. But for some reason, it seemed to have increased it.
‘Don’t cry. It will be all right. You are safe now,’ he said into the hole in German.
One sobbing voice spoke back to him, ‘We cry for joy. We cry for joy!’
Jac felt tears catch in the back of his throat, and he could say no more. He clung to the side of the train as the rain pelted down on him, and his hands grew slippery on the ladder’s metal rungs.
Several more minutes passed, and the crying in the carriage had stopped. Everyone waited and listened. Jac found he was praying to a God he wasn’t sure existed. Let Luke get the carriage uncoupled. Let him get it done! It didn’t help, in that moment, to remind himself that, historically, this carriage had been found abandoned on a deserted stretch of track the next morning. In this moment, everything hung in the balance and depended on Luke.