Shadow Warrior: Destiny of a Mutant

by Larry Townley

  “One minute! Everybody up, hook in your static line and stand by!”

  The last minute passed slowly. Then the green “go” light illuminated. As before, Hauser was out first, then Hess, Schechter, Robbins, and the rest of the team, except for Brunner, Becker, and Wakefield.

  After the first wave exited, it was only another minute before they reached the next jump point. The green “go” light came on again, and Brunner, Wakefield, and Becker jumped as well. Will waited until they were out of sight and they couldn’t see him. He quickly shut the door, and he then teleported through it.

  As soon as he teleported through the door he hovered in place for a few seconds. When he saw the rest of his team was covered by clouds, he morphed the plane back into its original shape - his starship cruiser. There never had been a pilot or co-pilot for the plane; it had simply obeyed Will’s commands to morph into a C-47, although a modified one that was pressurized and completely silent due to its alien technology.

  Will ordered the starship cruiser to become invisible and transport itself to the surface near their landing zone. Once there it would morph into the German staff car and transport truck they needed for the next phase of their mission.

  Will then used his vision powers to penetrate the clouds and check on the status of his men while they were in free fall. Everything appeared to be going fine, so Will began his free fall towards Hauser and his group as well so as not to expose his true identity.

  Will had ordered his team to pull their chutes at 3,000 feet due to the cloud cover and the distance from their target. The place they would be landing was in a remote area, miles from the nearest town. When Will had laid out some of his plan earlier to the president, Roosevelt wanted to have Colonel Donovan arrange for a real German staff car to be placed at his disposal by members of the Underground.

  Will nixed this idea saying he did not want to involve Donovan as he would ask too many questions, and he was afraid that the Underground would not be able to pull it off and actually obtain a German SS officer’s staff car on such short notice.

  As they neared the 3,000 foot mark, Hauser popped his chute and began his smooth descent to the ground. Schechter, Hess, Robbins, and the other members of the team, began pulling their chutes as they reached the same altitude.

  Everything was going as planned until Hammond, who had been the last one out, pulled the ripcord to open his chute, and the chute failed to open. He pulled it again, and it partially opened, but not enough to fully expand the canopy. Hammond panicked. If he had cut his primary chute and thought to pull his auxiliary chute, everything would have been fine. However, at this low of an altitude it would not do him much good anyway as he had waited too long to do it.

  Hammond began to call for help. Although Will could not see him, he heard him with his super sensitive hearing. Will then used his vision power to see why Hammond was yelling for help and saw the problem with his canopy. Will knew he couldn’t let Hammond die to protect his identity, so he quickly flew down to help Hammond.

  On the ground, Hauser and the first few members of his team who had landed had begun taking their chutes off after they had retracted into their packs automatically so they could dispose of them. Hauser looked up and saw Hammond still in his free fall.

  “Look! Gerry’s chute didn’t open all the way!”

  “Oh, fuck!” exclaimed Hess.

  Robbins crossed himself and said a quick prayer.

  Suddenly, they saw the Colonel quickly gaining on Hammond.

  “Look! It’s the Colonel!” said Hauser, “What the hell is he trying to do?”

  “Looks like he’s trying to unfuck Gerry’s chute,” said Hess.

  “Impossible!” said Robbins. “He’ll never make it.”

  As soon as Robbins said that Will wouldn’t make it, Will reached him and pulled on Hammond’s ripcord. Will knew he couldn’t pull too hard or he would rip it out completely. He pulled one more time and it came unstuck. Hammond’s canopy quickly filled with air, and he was sucked back into the air.

  The problem was that by the time his chute came open he was only 400 feet above the ground. Will knew Hammond would be seriously injured or killed if he hit the ground at his current speed, especially in the rocky, forested terrain. Will then twisted in the air and remained stationary, just as he went into a cloud bank, which kept the others on the ground from seeing what he was doing. Will then gave Hammond’s chute a soft puff of his super breath, and he was instantly propelled back up to 2,000 feet.

  Hammond was able to gain control of his chute and land softly only fifty yards east of the team’s location. Will then pulled his own chute to make it look believable to his team. He purposely came out of the cloud bank and landed farther west of Hammond’s location.

  Hauser and his team ran to Hammond’s location and made sure he was alright, which he was.

  “Gerry, are you okay?” asked Robbins, who was the first one to him.

  “Yeah, man, I’m okay. Jesus, that scared the shit out of me. If it weren’t for the Colonel, I’d be dead.”

  “Oh shit! Did anybody see where the Colonel landed?” asked Schultz.

  “I think he landed a little bit west of Gerry’s location. But man, there‘s no way he survived that fall - he was too close to the ground when his chute opened,” said Serrano.

  “We need to go and find him and see if there’s anything we can do for him,” said Hauser, “even if it is hopeless. Schultz you‘re our medic. Hess, Schechter, let‘s move out and find the Colonel. The rest of you get your gear off and get your chutes buried.”

  With a sense of urgency, the four of them moved out towards Will’s location.

  After Will had softly landed, he had quickly removed his jumpsuit, oxygen mask, and chute, and teleported them to his starship cruiser, which is what he planned to do with the rest of the team’s jump gear as well.

  “He should be just over this hill,” Will heard Hauser’s voice coming towards him.

  As they came over the hill, Hauser and his men saw the Colonel brushing off his German uniform without a scratch on him. They were completely dumbfounded, and it showed on their faces.

  “Colonel! How is it you’re not dead or seriously injured, sir?” stammered Hauser.

  “My chute must have picked up the same thermal draft that Hammond’s did and gave us enough altitude to keep us from breaking our necks - or anything else for that matter. It just knocked the wind out of me.”

  “Thermal draft? At that low an altitude? Doesn’t make sense,” said Hess. A look of disbelief covered his face.

  “Captain, get the rest of your men and let’s rendezvous here. The German staff car and transport truck should be less than a mile to our west. We need to get this show on the road. There’s no time for questions now. Do you understand me?”

  Resigned to not incurring Will’s wrath, Hauser sighed as well, “Yes, sir. Okay men, you heard the man. Let’s move out and meet back here in ten.”

  The men turned and headed back to collect their teammates. Hauser took one last look over his shoulder at Will, who was watching him with those piercing eyes.

  As Hauser and his group made it back to the rest of the men, he was inundated with questions regarding Will.

  “Is the Colonel okay?”

  “Did you find his body?”

  “With him gone, what about the mission?”

  “At ease!” shouted Hauser, more forcefully than he meant to be. “The Colonel’s fine. Not a scratch on him. We’re to meet him at his location as soon as we can get back there. Let’s move out.”

  “Not a scratch?” said Serrano. “How the fuck is that possible, sir?”

  “Claims it was the same thermal draft that saved Gerry’s sorry ass,” replied Hauser.

  “Thermal draft?” said Serrano incredulously.

  “That’s what the man said. You can question him about it when you see him, but let’s move out now. We’re burning daylight.”

  The started moving out qu
ickly, except for Schechter, who moved to Hauser’s side.

  “Thermal draft, huh?” said Schechter.

  “Yep. Thermal draft.” said Hauser.

  “We both know that’s bullshit, Captain. As a pilot I can tell you that any thermal draft you might get at a few hundred feet wouldn’t be strong enough to do what it did to their chutes.”

  “Yeah, I know that. But, like I said, if you don’t believe him, you can tell him he’s a liar. I’ll just stay here while you do it.”

  “No thanks.”

  “Okay then. Let’s move out. I’ll turn my radio on so Brunner can contact us to let us know they landed okay.”

  They moved out quickly and caught up with the rest of the team.

  Chapter 65

  East Side of the Eyrie

  Brunner, Wakefield, and Becker made their landings without a hitch. Once they landed, they removed and buried their insulated jumpsuits and parachutes. Then they pulled out one of their radios, which was another present from Will, but was smaller and more portable than the large, standard issue hand held radios they were used to using. These even had earpieces and throat mikes so they could communicate with each other without having to use their hands.

  They were wearing black, brown, and dark green camouflage-patterned jumpsuits and balaclavas in order to blend into the surrounding forest. They each turned on their radios and did a radio check to make sure they were functioning properly, and then they put on their vision image enhancement goggles to make sure they worked, which they did. The sun was coming up rapidly so they wouldn‘t need its night vision capability, but the thermal imaging and binocular functions would be useful.

  They used the imagers to check the immediate area for German gunners and snipers and found none. Wakefield then made contact with Hauser and let him know they had landed and would begin their ascent up the mountain as soon as they traveled the two miles to its base.

  Hauser acknowledged them and bade them good luck. They took off at a fast clip towards the base of the mountain. When they reached it several minutes later, they each put on their climbing harnesses and began their ascent up the 600 foot mountain face. As they climbed higher, they began spreading out so they would not be as noticeable to anyone who might be watching; their specially made rifles were slung across their backs. Wakefield went to the left, Brunner to the right and Becker stayed in the center.

  Using the techniques for climbing and stealth that Will had taught them, they had no problems quickly making the climb. They moved silently as one - pausing every few seconds to scan their areas for signs of German soldiers or snipers with their vision imagers.

  As they made their way to the top of the mountain, they began their track and push forward towards the front entrance of the facility where the rest of the team would be entering in a short while. They were amazed at the technology Will had provided them with and had a hard time believing the Army had developed something this sophisticated so quickly. But they didn’t have time to worry about that now; they had a mission to complete.

  Chapter 66

  The Eyrie

  After rendezvousing with Will, the team removed their parachutes and buried them quickly. Contact was made with Brunner and his team to make sure they had landed safely. As Will and his team were making their way to the transport vehicles, which were hidden in the woods off the road, Will secretly transported all of the parachutes, including those belonging to Brunner and his team, and other gear to the transport truck and made them invisible and intangible to the touch.

  After arriving at the vehicles, they quickly loaded up and proceeded towards the Eyrie’s secret location, which was about ten miles due east of their drop zone. A couple of miles before they arrived at the turn off for the road to the facility, Schultz, who was in the back of the transport truck, was dropped off to fulfill his part of the mission.

  It would be Schultz’s job to intercept any radio or telephone traffic out of the Eyrie should anyone call to check on the legitimacy of Will’s story of transferring the prisoners and to block incoming calls while the team was inside of the facility.

  The device that Will had given Schultz to accomplish his part of the mission was unlike anything he had ever seen. Will had shown him how to use it while they were flying to their destination. Will had also given him, and the rest of the team, a black-colored metal bracelet for identification purposes. His men didn’t know that each bracelet also contained a tracking device so he could find them in case they got separated, lost, or captured.

  There was only one road in and out of the facility, which was up a steep drive in the mountains. The road leading up towards it was just as it had been described by Donovan’s source - a dense canopy of trees covering it which prevented anyone flying over the location from realizing there was a road there. The Nazis had definitely chosen the location well.

  As Will and his team got closer, Will used his super vision powers to spot the hidden anti-aircraft and machine gun nests located in several locations in and around the facility. He mentally mapped their locations in his mind for when it was necessary for Brunner’s team to take them out of commission. He then quietly contacted the team on his radio and told them of the enemy’s locations. Hauser questioned Will how he knew they were there, and he advised Hauser that this information had come from Donovan’s source. Hauser did not question Will’s answer or why he had not said anything to Brunner earlier.

  As they were within 200 yards of the secret entrance, there was a checkpoint in the middle of the road with no less than six armed guards that were visible. Will found another ten concealed in the woods surrounding the mountain in camouflage using his vision powers.

  Brunner and his bunch are going to have their hands full, he thought to himself.

  As they approached the checkpoint, Will told Serrano, who was driving the black Daimler-Benz, closed top, SS officer’s staff car, to stop as two heavily armed guards stepped out in front of the car, one with his hand up directing them to stop. As they came to a halt, the guards warily approached the car.

  “State your business, Corporal! This is a highly restricted area!” asserted a burly sergeant.

  “I am driving SS Obergruppenführer Hoffmeier to facilitate the transfer of thirteen prisoners into the custody of the SS where they are to be taken to Berlin immediately in the troop transport truck directly behind us, Sergeant!” retorted Serrano.

  Before the sergeant could say anything, Schechter, disguised as Standartenführer Klaus Miller, interrupted.

  “Corporal! What is the holdup? The Obergruppenführer is under orders from the Führer himself! Is there a problem?”

  Upon hearing the voice in the back seat, the sergeant looked through the window and saw a colonel and a general in black SS uniforms sitting in the back. He immediately came to attention, gave the Nazi salute, and loudly barked “Heil Hitler!”

  Will and Schechter both returned the salute.

  “Begging the Standartenführer’s pardon, but I am under strict orders regarding who is allowed to enter this facility, sir. I was not informed of a prisoner transfer happening today.”

  “I wasn’t aware that the Führer needed to explain himself to you, Sergeant. Corporal, show the sergeant our transfer orders which were signed by the Führer personally.”

  Serrano then pulled out the phony transfer orders that had “Hitler’s” signature on them, along with other high ranking members of the Nazi command structure in Berlin.

  The sergeant visibly went a little pale at seeing the document, which was a perfect forgery, made by Will, with a little help from his alien technology. The sergeant wouldn’t know Hitler’s signature from anyone else’s, but he was not about to argue with an SS general and colonel; he had heard stories about what had happened to others who had made that mistake. Besides, the Eyrie was such a secret that for them to show up in this manner lent credibility to their story as well.

  “Lift the gate!” the sergeant said immediately to one of his men, who ope
ned it quickly. “My apologies to you and the Obergruppenführer for any delay, sir. Please proceed. One of my men will escort you to the entrance at once,” he said to Schechter.

  “You were just doing your duty, Sergeant. I will inform your superiors of your dedication and thoroughness.”

  “Thank you, Herr Standartenführer! Heil Hitler!”

  Will and Schechter again returned the salute, and then they proceeded through the checkpoint, following the sergeant’s man to the entrance.

  “Well, the easy part’s over,” said Schechter to Will.

  Will simply nodded.

  As they drove past, the sergeant lifted the handset of his phone.

  “Colonel Hoffman’s office, Bitte.” After a brief pause, a man answered the phone at the other end. “There are two SS officers, a general and a colonel, here to pick up the prisoners. They have orders personally signed by the Führer. Please inform Colonel Hoffman. Danke.”

  ***

  The officer in charge of the Eyrie was an SS Colonel named Frederich Hoffman. He was the winner of the Iron Cross and other medals for bravery. He had lost an eye from a hand grenade that landed too close to him during the invasion of Poland. As a result he wore a black eye patch over his left eye and had a nasty scar on the left side of his face as well.

  Hoffman was widely known as a sadistic bastard who had run a Vernichtungslager, or “death camp,” prior to being assigned to the Eyrie. He was very imaginative when it came to devising methods of torture or other techniques to extract information from his prisoners.

  One of his favorites was to bring a family of Jews into an interrogation room, accuse the father of some contrived crime, and tell the father he needed to confess. When the father refused, he would have several of his men gang rape the man’s daughter, or daughters, no matter what her age, in front of him and the rest of her family, stating that if he confessed the rest of the family would live. If he didn’t have daughters, the man’s wife would be raped instead. After the father or husband ‘confessed,’ he then systematically shot and killed the whole family - saving the father for last.