The Turnarounders and the Arbuckle Rescue

by Heneghan, Lou

  Keen’s face became serious and he looked at Ralf. ‘He knows.’

  Ralf kept his eyes on Keen but explained as best he could. If he kept Keen talking, maybe he’d give himself enough time to think of a way out of this. ‘Fear,’ he said. ‘The fox under the grate in the church. The strangled cat. The dolls on Hallowe’en. It was Keen all along. Ramping up the levels of Fear in the village to destabilise Time.’

  ‘Destabilise Time?’ Gloria’s face was a picture of confusion, but her colour still burned bright. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘The more Fear there was, the more terrified people got, the more unstable Time became. All the ‘ghosts’, Gloria!’ Ralf exclaimed. ‘They’re not ghosts at all! They’re rips in the fabric of things. Falls. Openings where other times are leaking through to this one. He wanted to create them! He wants as many as possible. That’s why he’s got Hart.’ Ralf locked eyes with Keen who looked grudgingly impressed that Ralf seemed to have worked things out. ‘That’s why you kidnapped Hart isn’t it?’ Ralf asked. ‘You knew about his work with the Americans through Major Kingston-Hawke. And his role as Churchill’s double! Where are you going now, eh? To hand him over to the Nazis?’

  ‘Spot on, old chum,’ said Keen. He raised his gun and motioned for the swaying actor to step towards him. ‘Charlie and I have an appointment with a German agent on the Pont de Carnot in thirty minutes.’

  Gloria could contain herself no longer. ‘Hand him over to the Germans! But why, Keen? What on earth’s possessed you?’

  Keen laughed, a high unnatural sound. ‘Possessed me? What’s possessed me?’ He shook his head ruefully. ‘Oh, Gloria! You have no idea!’

  And then he shot her.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  The Shadow King

  Time stood still. Not literally, of course, but Keen’s action had been so unexpected, so fast, that everything afterwards seemed impossibly slow by comparison. Ralf saw it all with razor sharp clarity. He saw the muzzle flash, white in the dark, and the blue smoke tinge the air. He smelt the whiff of cordite, and incredibly, from somewhere outside, heard Leo’s awful shout of warning and despair. A hot prickle of electricity needled his skin. His heart raced and blood pounded through his veins. His own cry came a millisecond later.

  ‘NOOOOO!’

  In an instinct that emanated from his gut, from the very strands of his DNA, he thrust out his palms in a gesture of rage and denial. The Shun was not enough to stop the bullet mid-flight but it was sufficient to bend its course so as not to be fatal. Gloria fell backwards in to the water with an ‘Uff!’ of surprise and a rose of blood bloomed from her shoulder. Real time resumed with a bump.

  ‘He shot me!’ Gloria cried, indignantly. But when Ralf followed her stare, he saw ‘he’ was no longer there. Keen had grabbed Hart and forced him stumbling ahead, out on to the deck, the moment his shot had been fired.

  Ralf splashed over to Gloria, tore a strip of sheet from the lower bunk and pressed it over her wound.

  ‘I’m alright!’ she gasped, though she winced when he helped her to her feet. ‘We have to stop him!’

  ‘We need to get out of here first,’ Ralf said. ‘Lean on me!’

  They waded through the rapidly filling galley. Leaving Gloria at the base of the stairs, Ralf tentatively poked his head above deck. Gadd Munton, face bruised and bloody but otherwise in one piece, was struggling to his feet. Tank was huddled in the stern, shaking and making small whimpering noises. Keen was nowhere to be seen.

  ‘What’s going on?’ King shouted from his place at the wheel. ‘I heard a shot!’

  Ralf guided Gloria up the steps but she needed less support than he thought. He smiled grimly. She was tough. There was no doubt about that.

  ‘Where’s Keen?’ he panted

  ‘Gone!’ King’s face was white. ‘I don’t know...One minute he was here...and then... He had someone with him... I don’t know... but it looked awfully like Charles Hart!’

  Ralf scanned the deck. No sign of them. But if the Captain wasn’t on the boat, where was he? The realisation hit Ralf like a punch in the chest. Keen could Shift! And he was powerful enough to take Charles Hart with him!

  ‘Wolf?’ Leo’s anxious shout was faint across the water. ‘Are you okay?’

  ‘Gloria’s been shot!’ Ralf yelled back. ‘Bring bandages!’

  A second later Alfie materialised next to them carrying The Sara Luz’s medical kit. He gave Ralf a withering look and took Gloria’s other arm. ‘And what does Leo know about gunshot wounds, eh?’ he asked, scathingly. ‘Come on, Gloria. Let’s get you sat down so I can have a butchers’.

  King was so busy at the wheel, he hadn’t noticed Alfie’s arrival but Gloria seemed to take it in her stride.

  ‘I say, Alfie, you do know what you’re doing, I suppose?’ she asked quietly.

  Alfie winked as he started to dress the wound. ‘Seen it done a couple of times. Let’s leave it at that, innit.’

  The Sea-Hawke lurched dangerously to port. Alfie swore and grabbed for the medical kit before it slid off the deck.

  ‘What should I do?’ King yelled. ‘She’s listing!’

  Ralf looked round frantically. Bombs fell in clusters from the planes swirling overhead and all around gouts of water exploded from the sea. Panicked shouts and screams filled the air, punctuated by booming explosions. The mole was close, but manoeuvring alongside would be impossible with The Sea-Hawke at its current angle and time was running out

  ‘Ground her!’ Ralf shouted.

  King looked horrified. ‘I can’t! We must … Father will…’

  ‘You have to, King!’ Ralf yelled. ‘She’s sinking! Run her aground on the mole!’

  King gripped the wheel, gave a determined nod and thrust The Sea-Hawke into gear.

  Amidst the madness of battle Ralf searched for signs of the Captain but he couldn’t see him anywhere. If they could get ashore, they could warn Swift, Ralf thought. The Major would send men to intercept Keen and Hart before they reached the rendezvous point.

  A blast shuddered nearby and The Sea-Hawke rocked dangerously in the water, smoke pouring from her engine housing. Ralf dashed to help King and the boys hung desperately to the wheel, as they made the final few yards to the mole. Ralf shouted a warning and hung on. The others braced themselves too. The Sea-Hawke crunched into the mole and King was thrown violently against the cabin wall. Somehow Ralf kept his feet and turned the wheel so the vessel spun hard and lodged itself high on the rocks.

  In the second of shocked stillness that followed, King gave voice to Ralf’s own confusion.

  ‘Right,’ said King, wiping blood away from his forehead with a handkerchief. ‘Would someone, please, tell me what’s going on?’

  ‘There’s no time, Ju!’ Gloria exclaimed. ‘We need to tell whoever’s in command up there that Keen’s a German Agent!’

  King looked thunderstruck. ‘A German Agent! I say! Is he really?’

  ‘Yes!’ Ralf shouted over the racket of small arms fire. A large part of him wanted to go after Keen himself but he knew his first priority must be the Natus. ‘Someone has to warn Major Swift. Keen’s about to hand Charles Hart over to the Nazis!’

  More bombs fell on the starboard side and they all instinctively ducked as they were drenched by the resulting wave. Ralf looked at Alfie bent down over Gloria by the rail and Gadd cowering uselessly by the hatch and did a quick calculation.

  ‘Julian, are you fit enough to go? Do you think you can make it?’

  King folded his now blood soaked handkerchief deliberately. ‘Well, we can’t allow treachery, can we?’ he said in a maddeningly calm voice. He straightened his peaked cap, paused briefly by the still trembling Tank but quickly decided the large boy would be more of a hindrance than help and left him quivering where he was. He clambered down on to the rocks and set off along the mole at an unsteady jog.

  Ralf watched him go then scrambled back to Alfie.

  ‘How is she?’

  ‘Not bad,�
� Alfie declared as he tied a neat knot in a bandage. ‘She’ll have a well hard scar, I reckon, but the bullet went straight through. No bones broken.’

  ‘Small mercy, I suppose,’ she agreed. ‘But it hurts like Billy-o!’

  She gave Alfie a thank you pat and eased her bad arm to rest in her lap then began rummaging in her mackintosh pockets with her free hand. ‘Gum anyone?’ Ralf shook his head and checked his watch. It was eleven thirty-six.

  A sharp wet-earth smell bloomed through the sea salt tang. A Fall shimmered into existence on the wharf and a company of Waffen SS burst out of it. Less than a minute later the Nazis had constructed a makeshift machine gun emplacement and the Fall had disappeared. The first bullets flew.

  ‘Take cover!’ Major Swift’s voice was loud and clear from the mole. ‘Where the devil did that swine come from?’

  Gadd Munton crawled to the hatch on his belly and slithered eel-like below. Ralf and Alfie both threw themselves in front of Gloria. Long minutes followed in which no one knew quite what to do. There was a shout in German from the machine gun emplacement.

  ‘They’re aiming for the fishing boats!’ Seth yelled from The Sara Luz. A rapid rattle of shots rang out, spattering the sea. Someone screamed.

  Trusting to luck, Ralf jumped to his feet and, eyes screwed shut, thrust out his palms towards the gun emplacement. His Shun hit the wave of bullets, bending their flight and they sliced into the water harmlessly. There was a moment’s pause then shots were returned with renewed ferocity. The Sara Luz was closer now and Ralf shouted wildly.

  ‘Shun them, Valen!’

  ‘What in heavens name are you kids doing?’ Ron yelled incredulously ‘Get down you fools!’

  But the Turnarounders ignored him. Stepping out from behind the mast, straining against the onslaught of the bullets, outstretched arms shaking with exertion, colour flaring angry crimson, Valen joined her Shuns with Ralf’s. Leo ran forward to shield Seth who was standing in the prow, shouting frantically across the water in German.

  ‘Achtung! Kinder! Kinder! There are children on board!’ he screamed. ‘Nicht Schießen! Don’t Shoot!

  Ralf’s head spun. It was taking every ounce of energy to keep death at bay. The machine guns were firing in bursts and both Arbuckles were right in the line of fire. A second’s lapse in concentration might mean disaster.

  In that instant Keen appeared. Half marching, half dragging Charles Hart, the Captain strode down a wooden pontoon at the harbour edge. Ralf squinted into the distance and saw his captive raise two freshly tied wrists in front of him. Keen pushed him roughly to his knees. Ralf gasped as Keen hit the helpless actor savagely across the scalp with his revolver. The Captain gesticulated wildly at the Nazi machine gun emplacement, pointed to The Sea-Hawke at the end of the mole and let forth a torrent of irate German.

  ‘Untermensch!’ Keen screamed his face contorted in rage, spit flying. ‘Feuer!’

  Seth’s face lost all colour. He let out a howl of anger and disgust and Shunned at Keen with all his might. The Captain took a tiny step back but this small movement was the only sign that Seth was doing anything at all.

  ‘Enemy on the pontoon!’ Major Swift yelled. ‘Open Fire on that East Kents Captain!’

  ‘Thank heavens!’ breathed Gloria. ‘Jules must have made it through to Swift.’

  A hail of bullets came from the British soldiers on the mole but Keen, with a lazy wave of his hand, Shunned them into the water. He laughed maniacally and held his arms wide as if inviting more fire.

  That was the last straw for Gloria

  ‘Well, that is just the giddy limit!’ she raged. ‘If only I was over there, I could scupper his plans in a second.’

  Ralf’s mind was whirring. He knew Gloria had done something in the war but he hadn’t actually expected her to be useful.

  ‘What? What could you do?’ he shouted above the racket

  ‘I think that’s The Totenkopf Division,’ she said. ‘They’ll be armed with recoil-operated, air-cooled machine guns and –’

  ‘Quickly Gloria, please!’ he gasped, Shunning with all his might ‘This isn’t as easy as it looks, you know.’

  ‘Well the MG 34 is an efficient mobile firearm with a high rate of fire but they’re actually, quite simple to sabotage…’

  Alfie was all ears. ‘Howja mean?’

  ‘Well, you’d need something to block the barrel, ball bearings maybe and something sticky, like glue or putty…’

  Pulling a wad of chewing gum from his mouth and twirling it round his finger Alfie shot a questioning look at Ralf. Ralf hesitated for a second. Alfie pulled himself up to his full height then flicked his eyes to the machine gun emplacement and back again. Desperately hoping that he was making the right decision, Ralf nodded and Alfie disappeared into the smoke.

  A deafening crump split the night and a column of flame shot into the sky as The Griffin’s fuel tank was hit. The boat, which had been fully loaded with soldiers, broke in half and those that could threw themselves desperately from the flaming vessel. Ralf scanned the water on which petrol now burned blue. The sea churned with bodies. Ralf's heart lurched. Where was Walter Sedley?

  The air was hot with machine gun fire and smoke, acrid and blinding, stung Ralf’s eyes but he strained to see and hear in the confusion. Think, Ralf! Think! He cursed, running from one side of the boat to the other to try to catch sight of the young farmer. Through a momentary gap in the smoke Ralf saw The Sara Luz.

  ‘The Griffin, Ron!’

  ‘Keep your head down Ralf! We’re almost there…’

  But The Sara Luz was moving too slowly. Ralf couldn’t just wait and watch as men struggled and died in the water. He grabbed a lifebelt and was just about to dive overboard when Gloria spoke with a calm an alien authority Ralf could not ignore.

  ‘No, Ralf. That is for Tom, Ron, Old Bill and the others. Let them be! You have other things to do.’

  ‘But Walter!’ he cried. ‘He can’t be lost! He –’ He was unable to finish the thought aloud but in his head he screamed it. He’s one of the Natus!

  Gloria’s reached forward to grab Ralf’s wrist with her good hand. Her grip was steely. ‘Listen to me, Wolf!’ she urged. ‘How many men has Walter saved tonight? Dozens. Probably more. It’s Fate that they survived. Their Fate. And whatever should happen to Walter now is his. Wolf, do you hear me?’ she asked sternly. ‘How many lives might Alfie save? Might you? We must all do what we can. What we must! Accept your Fate. You can do nothing for Walter now!’

  ‘But, but it can’t be…’ Tears welled in his eyes as he recognised the truth in what she said. She was right. He had to stop fighting his destiny. He must accept it. His heart thumped at the realisation. Yes. But he would do more than that. He would rush to meet it.

  Abruptly, Gloria was just Gloria again grabbing his shirt and asking urgently: ‘There’s a little booklet sewn into the lining of my coat. Cut down the seam with your penknife to get it for me, would you?’

  ‘A book!’ Ralf shouted. ‘A book at a time like this! What? Are we boring you?’ But he did as he was asked. He handed the tiny book over and she rifled the pages until she found what she was looking for.

  ‘Now,’ she said, in a ‘down to business’ kind of voice. ‘I’m sure I saw Alfie’s lovely new torch somewhere?’

  Ralf shrugged, wrestled it out of the toolbox where Alfie had put it and handed it over.

  ‘Smashing,’ she said, pointing the torch over the side of the vessel towards the gun emplacement. ‘Now, let’s see if I’ve been paying attention in class’. Her face set with a crooked smile she started flicking it on and off in staccato bursts of light.

  The fire from the mole continued unabated. Gloria lurched to her knees. ‘They’re not looking this way!’ she exclaimed. ‘Why don’t they see me?

  It seemed then, that Ralf stepped outside himself and, in a peaceful place, somewhere above all the action he was able to see and hear what was going on around him.

  There was a
burst of hot wind and fire as more bombs fell from the sky and tracer rounds skimmed around them. The Luftwaffe had returned to strafe the men in the water who struck out for the mole or raced for The Sara Luz, which was nearer. The soldiers already on board hauled them up bodily and dumped them, choking, in the bottom of the boat. The rescued men, none of them sailors, looked inexplicably to Leo for direction.

  ‘Return Fire!’ Swift yelled from the mole.

  ‘Good plan!’ gasped Leo. He whirled to face the men. ‘The machine guns! Shoot back at them!’

  The evacuated soldiers had no idea what was going on, but whatever it was, they didn’t like it one bit. Those still armed, formed ranks and shouldered their rifles. Shots rang out from The Sara Luz, their smoke adding to the foggy gloom. The machine guns clattered in return, but Val and Leo thrust out their hands once more and Shunned for all they were worth. The hail of bullets sailed harmlessly overhead but The Sara Luz was listing heavily to port where most of the swimming men had gathered and held on.

  ‘We can’t take anymore!’ Valen bellowed.

  The boat, now within yards of the Sea-Hawke, pitched wildly in the chaos.

  It was eleven forty two when something amazing happened and Ralf came back to earth with a bump.

  The torrent of bullets from the emplacement stopped.

  Gloria jumped to her feet, slapped the rail with her good hand and laughed outright.

  ‘How –? What did you –?’ Ralf breathed.

  Gloria chuckled. ‘It is The Death’s Head Division!’ she crowed. ‘Just as I thought! I’ve sent them a ‘Halt’ order in German Morse using their own codes. I don’t suppose it’ll last for long but it’s got them confused for the moment.’

  He gazed at her in stunned admiration.

  In the minutes of silence that followed Ralf’s ears rang and he, like everyone else, stood still, panting with exertion. From the distant harbour, there was some low talk in German, a few barely audible clicks and then the muffled crump of two explosions in quick succession.