ShadowShot : L'enfant Guerrier

by T. M. Deans

  “Allow me to introduce myself! I am the son of the major you killed during the war. You know the one that brutally killed your Marie Claude? Moreover, this is my son. And yes, I know the major my father, was a deranged sick creature that should have been in an institution. The world no doubt is better off without him. But wealth has its advantages. And I am here to kill you. It is a question of revenge for family honor.”

  My whole body tightened when he said the words Marie Claude. My facial muscles must have given me away, because he smiled. I believed he was who he claimed to be. In addition to the usual arrogance, his voice had that German aristocratic tone.

  Lilia chose that moment to pipe in, “You call that honor?”

  Gerard quieted her with a squeeze on the arm and then rolled his eyes!

  “Oh yes the Jew psychiatrist. Well I am sure my Arab friend agrees that she should be eliminated. He turned to the Arab and said, “Since I have told you my reasons for being here, I am curious. Tell me how it is that you know so much about the man in question?”

  “Why not? We paid for the information. It is was sold to us by the psychiatrist who hypnotized him years ago, a man named Ralph”

  The German and I both reacted exactly at the same moment, “Ralph?”

  I believe I must have smiled, but the German laughed out loud, “Ralph sold us the information also. I am afraid it is not a very good way for him to do business. He will be punished.”

  I exclaimed, “So the shrink turns fink. Do not tell me he orchestrated it so you would both arrive here at the same time. I will have to agree with you. If any of us get out of this room alive, he will be punished. It seems we have something of a dilemma here. There are some perfectly good swords over the fireplace. Why don’t the two of you have a man-to-man duel and then I will challenge the winner? NO? What ever happened to the old world Germanic code of honor? Would Salidin, the great Kurdish leader of the Crusades decline an offer like that?”

  The German ignored my comment and said, “So who is this beautiful woman?”

  Jada turned to me and answered, “I am sorry Jack.”

  She took a few steps closer to the German and said, “I am a woman who no longer wants to be in this situation.”

  I could see he was slightly affected. Germans seem to have a special affection for black women, which I cannot fault them for. The Arab I am sure, did not believe her. However, the Germans were a more immediate threat.

  “Father, do what you came here for! And let us go”

  “My son, in case you have not noticed a lot of people are also pointing weapons at us. I am trying to negotiate. The youth today no patience.”

  He had that right. His son had been pointing his weapon at the Arab leader. He swung his pistol around pointed at me and said, “To hell with this.”

  At that moment, the room exploded in gunfire. The Arab leaders started pumping bullets into the German’s son, which I was grateful for. The German’s son went down. We all seemed to gang up on the Germans. Jada leaped at the German leader, knocked his gun from his hand, bowled him over and grappled with him on the floor digging her fingers into his eyes and blinding him. I emptied my little five shot 380 into the German on my right with the machine gun, as well as another. Boom-Boom made his entry, charging past me firing, an automatic in each hand, primarily at the huge German with the machine gun, who was firing back at him. They both went down. When the Arab that had taken Marcel’s shotgun went down, Marcel grabbed it and shot the other German. He took a bullet in his shoulder. Gerard literally threw Lilia behind a couch to protect her. He grabbed a pistol on the floor from a fallen Arab, and was shot in the leg, while he shot it out with another German. The German leader was rolling on the floor holding his face, screaming. The Arab leader was down. I don’t know who shot him. Just as quickly as it had started it ended. Almost. A German with a machine gun barged into the room, took one quick look at the carnage and decided there was no reason to leave anyone standing. I was about to pick up a weapon off the floor. I was already holding my throwing knife that had been concealed in my boot. It was a long throw but I had to try. The German was raising his weapon. It easily could have deflected a throw for the heart. The German dropped the machine gun pulled my knife from his throat, squirting blood across the room as he sank to his knees. He fell over backwards. He must have been outside at the end of the driveway guarding the vehicles when he heard the shooting and came running. Jada was on her feet.

  I was moving toward her when she yelled, “Behind you!”

  I turned. The Arab leader was up on one elbow pointing his automatic at Jada I yelled, “No,” and moved in front of her.

  Something slammed into me, something hard. So hard, it propelled me forward. The Louis XIV writing desk with its marble top seemed to be flying up at me. I heard Jada scream Noooooooo, and then it collided with my head. There was no more.

  Jada pumped two slugs into the Arab finishing him, and ran to Johno. She took him in her arms. Blood was leaking out of the bullet hole in his back. He had a big gash on his forehead. He left his blood on the marble top of the desk.

  She kept saying, “Baby, do not leave me. Baby, do not leave me.”

  Gerard called “Lilia are you all right?”

  “Yes, Gerard I think so.” She came out from behind a couch.

  Gerard told Lilia that Johno had been shot. He asked her to go to him and help Jada. Then he limped over to where Boom-Boom laid on the floor not four feet from where the big German with the machine gun was sprawled out dead. Boom-Boom had so many holes in him leaking blood, Gerard could not believe that he was still alive. He held Boom-Boom’s head in his hands looked over to where Jada was still bending over Johno. Lilia was there, also helping.

  He called, “Jada. Come quickly. It’s Boom-Boom.”

  She hadn’t noticed that Boom-Boom had been hit. She rushed over and took his hand in hers and softly called his name.

  He slowly opened his eyes and whispered, “I saved you and revenged my father. My family?”

  “Yes Boom-Boom they will always have everything they need. I promise you.” He smiled, closed his eyes, and was gone.

  Gerard thought back to so many years before when his father Peter had died. He said almost the same words. It was eerie.

  Marcel, in the meantime was moving about the room dispatching any of the Arabs or Germans who were still alive. He was about to do the aristocrat, lying on the floor moaning and eyeless.

  But Gerard spoke, “No, wait Marcel!”

  He stood over the German and whispered, “Look what you have done. I should leave you blind to suffer, but I could not bear to think of you alive while they are not. This is for Johno and Boom-Boom.” He finished him off.

  Just then, four armed men came through the door, weapons drawn,

  Marcel shouted out, “It is my son.”

  “My God what a fight this must have been. We came too late. Papa you have been wounded.”

  “It is nothing. Go quickly to where Lilia and the other woman are. Try and save that man. He is my brother’s son. I will get the medical kit.

  “Allow me ladies. I am a paramedic, and I will do my best to save him. Is it really true Lilia, he is my cousin?”

  “Yes. Your father will explain”

  When he had his medical kit he worked quickly.

  “It is interesting. This bullet only penetrated his back perhaps less than a half-inch. It might have been a ricochet, but I don’t think so. That could only mean it had an insufficient powder charge. That is rare. He is very lucky. Also, it is almost exactly in the same spot as an old wound, which I believe is a bullet hole also. I am not worried about the bullet wound but I am worried about his head wound. First I will clean it, and then stitch it. If he does not come to by then we can try to revive him.”

  Marcel called over to Gerard, “Look what I have found.” He was dragging the Arab psychiatrist by the foot from under a couch. “What do you want me to do with him? Shall I kill him?”


  “No, no please. Do not. I am only a doctor. As you can see I never even had a gun. They made me come. They forced me.”

  Gerard said, “That is what they always say.”

  The Arab wimped, “Yes that is true, but is because that is what they always do. Please do not kill me. I promise you I will say nothing to anyone. I told them he could not help them, but they would not listen to me. Please believe me.”

  “No we are not going to kill you. We are going to let you leave. This was all for nothing.” He hesitated for a moment when he realized, those were the exact words he said to Peppy in Portugal, when he thought Johno had died.

  “Do you not understand what he did as a child? He did it for love, to protect the woman who cared for him. Go! Let us not ever see you again.”

  Lilia came over to Gerard and Marcel. “Let me look at your wounds until your son can get to you. I do not know if Johno will pull through.”

  “Eight dead Germans, five dead Arabs. One dead good friend and three of us wounded, one of us still critical. Poor Lilia’s home shot to hell. I am sorry Lilia I truly am.”

  “This is not the first time this old castle has been in a battle. It will survive, Gerard.”

  Johno was struggling to stay alive. He was fighting to wake up. He was being pulled down deeper and deeper into oblivion. He knew what had happened. He had been shot. He had saved Jada. He had taken the bullet for her, for his woman. The bullet was not a problem. It didn’t even hurt. It was his head. That hurt. He wondered if his brains were leaking out. Somebody was working on it but he couldn’t open his eyes to see if they were pushing his brains back inside his head. Could that be done? He did not think so.

  I was born in this castle. It would be a good place to die. It would be a good day to die. But I am in love. I am to be married. I have found my place in the sun with the woman who I want to spend the rest of my life with. I have found family. I am not ready to die. If I do not die and I wake up, will I not remember anything like last time? I would not want that again. Had they all survived the firefight? What is the last thing I remember? Johno focus. I have to focus to stay alive. The knife throw yes, that was one hell of a knife throw. Frank would have liked to see that. Peppy would have been proud. Where have all the people in my life gone? Mother and grandmother, Frank, my real father Edmond, Sophia, Misha, Lana, and good old George? Why can’t I think about Marie Claude? I want to remember about Marie Claude. A voice said you could remember Johno if you are ready. Are you ready?

  “Yes, I am ready.”

  It was like an old time kaleidoscope in my head, image after image passing before my eyes. The times with Marie Claude and Peppy, then it was the last scene. I didn’t want to remember now. I wanted to close my eyes, but they were already closed.

  A voice said, “Johno you said you were ready to remember.”

  Yes, I did say I was ready to remember.

  My eyes opened, even though my lids were closed, I could see clearly, everything that happened that day.

  I was never completely left alone even when I was acting as a lookout. There was always someone close by to keep an eye on me. The reason being if I was captured, I knew too much. I was still only a child. Even a grown man could make a slip. It could cost lives, and when it came to torture, every man had his breaking point. The Germans, especially the Gestapo, were extremely skilled in finding that point.

  Peppy, Marie Claude, and I left for a small town. When we got there, they told me to go play in the park and keep my eyes open. They would be back within an hour. It was fun for me to play in the park. It was something I never really got to do. The swings, the slides, things to climb on, I must have lost track of time enjoying myself. After what seemed like two hours I was beginning to worry why they hadn’t come back. It was already late afternoon. I couldn’t leave the park to find them. If they came back, I wouldn’t be there. I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible. One rule of survival that we had was never to stay in one place too long. I had been there too long already. Finally I saw someone I knew. It was an old woman who was sympathetic to our cause. She did not walk toward me, so as not to be noticed in case someone was looking.

  When she was near me, she said, “Marie Claude has been taken by the Gestapo. You must go find Peppy. That is all I can tell you now.”

  I told her, “I do not know where Peppy is. They were supposed to be back here. What happened?”

  She replied “All I know is she has been taken by the Gestapo.”

  I asked, “Tell me where they took her?” I thought they would have taken her to Gestapo headquarters. I did not know where that was.

  She answered, “They took her to the abandoned factory warehouse on the edge of town.”

  I said, “Are you sure?”

  “Yes I was there when it happened. It took me this long to get back here. I saw Peppy and Marie Claude earlier. They told me that you were in the Park.”

  I said, “I must go there. You find Peppy. Tell him that I have gone to the factory.”

  “You should not do that. It is too dangerous. Marie Claude would not want you to do that.”

  She just shook her head and took off.

  I knew exactly where the old warehouse was. I had even slept there a couple of nights. I ran as fast as I could without looking conspicuous which was not easy to do. There were a couple places in the same direction as the warehouse where Peppy might have been. I quickly checked them out. I passed the place where I had stashed a German Luger in some rubble a month before. I decided I might need it, and circled back to get it. I got to the warehouse as fast as I could. I came in the back way. There were many rooms. It was completely dilapidated. I worked my way through the rubble until I started to hear some German voices, at least two men talking. I got as close as I could until I was actually in the next room, with only one wall separating us. I was able to peek through some cracks in the wallboards. There were two Germans in uniform. I could see a little of Marie Claude’ dress. There was nothing left to do but to enter the room.

  I held the pistol in front of me and walked into the room, and presented myself. The Germans seemed quite shocked at first then amused, that a little boy was holding a gun on them. One of the Germans was in shirtsleeves with his cuffs rolled up but I could see on the chair where his jacket hung. He was a major, the other one a lieutenant, I suppose.

  I went to Marie Claude and shook her. I said, “Get up. Get up.”

  She was asleep. Then for the first time I noticed the blood on the table where she was lying. I shook her again. She did not move. She was dead.

  I shouted, “You killed her.” The major just laughed at me. I looked at his face. I knew I would see it for the rest of my life. He was an ugly, short, fat, disgusting little man.

  He exclaimed, “Yes and if you do not want to be dead also, give the lieutenant your gun.” I stood there holding the gun on both of them.

  The major lost patience, and yelled to his lieutenant sharply, “Go and take the gun from him.” The lieutenant had a strange look on his face. He was not pleased about this. He hesitated for a moment.

  The major said, “Well go ahead.”

  My Marie Claude was dead. They had killed her.

  I said, “Why did you kill her?”

  The major just laughed and declared, “Because I could.”

  The lieutenant took another step towards me. I fired into his chest. He went down. The major went for his pistol. I turned the Luger on the major and fired again. The bullet caught him in the stomach. He went down on his knees.

  I stood over him. “You bastard you have killed her and now you are going to die for it.”

  He looked up at me with a look of astonishment. “You, you are the L’enfant Guerrier. I was sent here to capture you.”

  “Yes. And now I am going to send you to hell.”

  I did not want to remember his face, except the way I wanted it to look. I shot him twice in the face. I stood there for a moment, and then she groaned. Marie Claude was not
dead.

  “Marie Claude, Marie Claude. You are alive.’’

  The shots must have awakened her. She looked at me and said, “Johno you killed them both.”

  “Yes.”

  “My fierce little warrior. You have come to save me once again.”

  “Quickly we must go. I will help you.”

  She tried to get up on one elbow and sank back down. She looked at me. Her eyes were so cloudy. I had never seen her look like this.

  “I cannot. I do not have the strength.”

  I said, “We must go now. Someone will have heard the shots. They will be coming for us. The old woman is looking for Peppy. We must find him. He will know what to do.”

  She took my hand and squeezed it saying, “No Peppy left hours ago. He had to leave. There is no one to help us.”

  “Please try and get up. I will help you. I will help you to walk. We must leave now.”

  “Johno you must trust me. I am a nurse. I know these things. I am dying. I will be dead within the hour.”

  “No, no that cannot be,” there was so much blood on the floor and on the table. “Have you been shot? Where are you hurt?” She closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them. “It does not matter. It is too late. You must leave now.”

  “No I cannot. I will not leave you. I love you. I will not leave you.”

  I was holding her hand. I had seen death before. I knew she was right. It was then that I noticed the blood seeping from between her legs. I did not understand at that moment.

  Again I said, “I am not leaving you.”

  I went to where the Germans laid on the floor and took their pistols. I chambered the major’s and put it in her hand.

  “Then we will make our stand here together. We have three pistols. We will take as many of them as we can before they kill us.”

  “You have revenged me my little one.” She was having trouble talking. “You must listen to me I will be dead very shortly. You are a soldier of France. You must live to fight another day. Find Peppy so that he knows what has happened. Tell him I love him. I will always love him. You must obey me. Now kiss me.” I went to kiss her on the cheek as I always had.