The pilot had reached the boarding ladder at the bottom of the hatch and stood for a moment saluting his Führer, Hitler saluting back; he then climbed up the ladder and into the machine. Moments later the eerie sound of its engine started up and began increasing in power. Hitler, hands on his hips standing with his entourage, was transfixed, anticipating the big moment of his inspired machine raising off the ground in full splendor.
The camouflaged netting was being pulled back and dust was now beginning to swirl around from under the machine. The professor walked quickly up to the driver saying something again to him. This time the driver, appearing perturbed, seemed to hurry and finish his conversation with the guard and finally began walking with the professor toward the truck once more. They both got in and the driver started the engine while staring out the window trying not to miss witnessing the takeoff. Looking over at the professor, disappointed, he began leaving the area driving us toward the tunnel entrance while attempting to watch the takeoff in his rear view mirror.
I looked back as we began entering the tunnel and could see the massive machine just as it was lifting off the ground. Then, mere moment’s later―
Ka–Boom! Ka−Boom! Ka–Boom!
The tunnel trembled, astonishing the driver and the truck began swerving. I looked back again as large chunks of steaming metal were raining down in the space we had just left. The driver was about to turn back around but the professor pulled a pistol out of his satchel holding it to his side.
“Keep driving.”
From that moment on I knew Professor Gratten and I were marked men. He had to get out now as soon as possible; Hitler would be furious.
I looked back once again through the tunnel at the ensuing chaos following the utter destruction of the machine, imagining myself in some kind of bloody spy novel. We had done it! Knowing how long it took for the Germans to manage building just one of these prototypes, the setback for them would undoubtedly be catastrophic. We now had to find a place for the professor to hide out till I could get him out of Germany. I was trusting Ara would have as much success at the conduit with Anders and Paxton who were now also now part of this Nazi organization.
When we had reached the end of the tunnel, I grabbed a heavy wrench in the back and slammed it over the head of the driver, rendering him unconscious. Sirens began to wail everywhere and we knew there was little time left. We both left the truck walking at a normal pace toward the wall of the tunnel so as not to attract attention. Passing only few guards who seemed to be busy in conversation and once there, we hurried down the corridor to the main hallway leading to his quarters.
“Gather anything you need to take with you professor; we’ve got to get you out of here and hidden away for the time being!”
“Yes, yes you’re quite right. They will most assuredly be looking for me now. They will find out the only thing that would have caused such massive destruction of that machine would be sabotage.”
“The question is, where should we conceal you? It can’t be here in this warehouse, that’s for certain. It will have to be either in the old pre-war sewer tunnel, or back where we first arrived here at the apartment, Hitler’s headquarters, which might just be the very last place they would look.”
I helped the professor gather his things and we began making our way through the warehouse wondering how long it would take for the word to spread of the sabotage and who was responsible. Then, no sooner had we reached the door leading to the courtyard with the old sewer entrance, than we heard the noise of frantic shouting, alarm whistles blowing and guards running up and down the hallways. We both ran to the heavy metal cover in the ground leading to the tunnels. His belongings dropped through the entrance and we both climbed down the rusty metal wrung ladder. As I was pulling the cover closed, I looked back out through the crack of the opening. The door to the courtyard we had just come out of suddenly pushed open and two SS guards came charging out looking around the courtyard; we had just barely evaded capture.
I’m not one to readily complain, but this tunnel thing was definitely getting on my nerves; I was beginning to feel like a bloody full fledged tunnel dweller. The professor fished out a flashlight from his belonging which he thoughtfully included. This time, like an experienced rat in a maze, I led the way back to the apartment building at Thierschstrasse 41. We made our way up through the narrow tunnel and through the basement floor once more and I quietly brought him to the small storage room holding the last tracker. I cleared an area for him to sit towards the back of the room so as not to be noticed should anyone should happen to enter.
“Is there anything you need professor before I return to the island? I’m not sure what I’ll be up against when I arrive there. I just hope that Ara has things under control and has stopped Anders.”
“Don’t worry about me my boy, I’ll be fine and you can tell my Ara that. Please make sure she is safe and away from those two dangerous misfits.”
“I’ll make sure she’s safe no matter what it takes. Whatever you do, don’t leave this room, Ara and I should be back very soon with the chair but if we’re not back by tomorrow, you will need to leave the building on your own and find some way to get back to London.”
“Do what you can Richard, but remember Ara comes first, then if you can, come to get me. Don’t forget, if you do try and come back for me, you might have to think of a way for it to work.”
At first I wasn’t quite sure what he meant by finding a way for it to work, but then I realized there were only three chairs and working out a way to come and get him might be a little tricky. I couldn’t dwell on that now. We both knew I had to leave right away and that Ara’s life might be at risk if I didn’t. I shook the professor’s hand, sat down in the tracker and as the dark storage room began fading, I heard him say, “Godspeed my boy.
CHAPTER
TWENTY
The room began to materialize before me once more as my consciousness fully returned. Still seated in the chair, it was immediately recognizable that I had indeed made the trip back to the conduit.
I sat there for a moment and collected myself while looking around the room. There, next to me was the Chair and sitting next to it, the other tracker. Looking around further, I was immediately repulsed to see up on one of the walls, a large Nazi flag with a framed picture of Hitler right next to it. Anders had surely swallowed this whole bloody Nazi thing hook line and sinker.
I almost felt sorry for him in a small way, but knew his motives were just as his Führer’s, all built in gaining power through fear and terror.
By a stroke of luck I had materialized in the conduit with no one there, but it wasn’t long after that I heard voices growing louder from down the cavern heading in my direction. I stood up, took hold of the tracker and dragged it toward the secret room feeling under the floorboards for the switch and tripping it. The door began to slide open and I quickly dragged the tracker inside and closed it immediately. I recognized the voice of Anders right away, then another voice sounding very familiar.
Paxton.
I looked through the crack of the door and could partially see a section of the room as they entered. Blinking once or twice to clear my eyes, I could then plainly see both he and Paxton wearing the Nazi arm bands. They walked out of my line of sight but I could still clearly hear them talking.
“Are we leaving her on the ship then?”
Anders spoke up. “Oh yeah, she’s going nowhere till we’re sure she’s of no use to us any more, then I’ve planned to have her conveniently lost at sea somewhere between here and Japan. Pax, go and round them all up, we need to have a little talk and tell them I’ve got something for each of them.”
Paxton walked up to Anders putting her arm around him with her head on his chest looking up at him. “A truly masterful plan Anders; I know we will be good together you and me.”
Anders holding his weapon up and checking the clip, answered smugly. “Just remember who you owe your allegiance to Pax, and I’ll take care
of you when it comes to position later on.”
Paxton shoved her new weapon in the holster and marched out, informing the two guards at the door to go in and she would round up the rest for a meeting in the conduit.
Wasn’t this ever so cozy; another little Nazi Germany born right here on an island of relative peace and tranquility! I knew this had to be stopped dead in its tracks as soon as possible, but trying to accomplish it would easily end up being a dangerous task.
I counted sixteen renegades walking in the door of the conduit for the meeting. It might not be all of them, but it was close to their entire compliment. I could barely see Anders standing in front of them with an open box on the table.
“You are all now a part of a greater cause than this island alone,” he began. “Germany, our new fatherland, has held out its hand to us in partnership. The Führer will reward us greatly in return for our allegiance to him and we, though we are small now, will grow into a great force.”
They began to clap with various shouts of approval. Anders told them all to file past him and that he had something to give each and every one of them.
As they began to file past, he handed out to each of them a Nazi armband and what looked like a large new type of super pistol.
“You will all wear these armbands in accordance to the Fürhrer’s dictates. And these new weapons, my friends, are called Mauser’s. You will find they shoot a much higher velocity round than our pistols and with a deadly result. I expect to see all of you out on the target range tomorrow morning to go over the use of this weapon; I want all of you to be as familiar with it as your own name and just as capable in its use.”
They all began talking back and forth to each other examining the new weapons as Anders continued. “After our business on the range, you will each go to your pre-assigned stations throughout the island. The ship that has been anchored just off shore these last few days, as you know, is Japanese and all of you are to treat the crew with utmost respect.
“They are here by the Führer’s request to supply large guns for our island defenses. They will also help us build hardened dugouts made of a material like stone, called cement. Word has it that the Japanese soon will be part of an alliance with the Germans and we will all eventually be unstoppable.”
A Japanese ship! I knew at that moment it had to be destroyed before these plans of theirs would be able to take effect; but that was just before I heard him finish his last few remarks.
“We now have Ara Gratten and she is being held on the ship. Soon, she’ll be out of our hair, but before that happens; we need to get some answers concerning critical locations on this island that only she has knowledge of.”
One of their voices rang out. “She’ll never talk, you know that!”
Then, another. “He’s right; you won’t get anything out of her.”
“Believe me she’ll talk. They’ve got her drugged and strapped to a bed and when she comes out of it she will have told us everything we want to know.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. They would stop at nothing to get all of this accomplished and for what, a world ruled by one mad dictator? I had to get on that ship and find Ara before they had time to inflict real harm on her. They must have grabbed her the minute she arrived at the conduit along with whoever was left of her security force probably locked up in the tank again.
I would need to scout around without being seen to find any options open. Sitting back down in the tracker, I waited till dark. It gave me time to figure out my next move.
This nightmare I had been living in lately was quickly moving from one thing to another and certainly not easing up.
The stakes were high though and from what I had witnessed up to then, it was necessary to follow through with this wherever it was going to lead. I found a moment when I was finally able to leave the secret room and quickly made my move. Running out of the conduit to the passageway, I spotted one of their guards at the elevator entrance. It was dark enough so that I wasn’t seen and I made my way toward her.
She was a tall brunette and looked fairly formidable with an impressive muscular figure, one of those bloody health nuts. I would need my wits about me and take her by surprise. One thing I surely didn’t want was to offer myself as a target for that new weapon of theirs. I waited for a bit till she turned her back on me then approached her from behind. I stuck my pistol in her ribs. “Don’t you bloody move sister, unless you want to end up a martyr for the cause; drop that weapon.”
She dropped it to her side and I immediately picked it up to examine it. Sticking the other pistol in my back pocket I marched her back into the conduit. After taping her mouth and hands I then went back to the elevator and up to the tank level. As I had surmised, there were several of Ara’s security people locked up.
“You again!” one of them shouted out.
“Yes, it’s me again, We’re going to have to stop meeting like this. Is everyone alright?”
“Yeah, most of us are but a few of us were shot in a fight yesterday and they put the rest of us in here. Man, they’ve gone berserk out of their heads, and they all wear these―”
“I know, armbands; they call themselves Nazi’s and they now have a growing and powerful following from a far country called Germany.”
One of them came up grabbing the bars with both hands. “What in hell is their game? What do they want with us?”
“They want to take over this island and turn it into a base of operations for their maniacal and insane ideals. Does anyone know if Eric Dorn is still alive?”
“Yes, Eric got away in the shoot out we had with them but we’re not sure where he went and he might have been wounded.”
“I’ve got to find him. There is a ship anchored off shore getting ready to bring large guns to the island. They have Ara tied up and drugged on that ship. They’re going to try and get information out of her before getting rid of her out at sea when they return to Japan.”
“Let us out and give us weapons so we can help.”
“Hold on, we need to find a way to gain control of the island again. Anders has distributed this new type weapon to his people which make them much more dangerous!” I handed it to one of them through the bars. “Keep it with you, but don’t use it yet until the time is right.”
“How will we know it’s the right time?”
“Stay here, keep cool and have patience for a little while, believe me it won’t be long!”
Leaving them in the tank, I took the elevator back down to the conduit. I walked in toward the female guard I had immobilized but before I could reach her, the barrel of a gun pushed into my back.
“Very slowly drop your weapon to the floor and get your hands up.”
How could I have been so stupid and careless to get caught so easily I thought to myself.
“Now slowly turn around.”
With my hands up, I slowly turned and― “Dorn?”
“Richard! Where in hell did you come from?”
As he stepped closer I could see his clothing was torn with blood stains. “I’ve been waiting in the tunnel for the right moment to spring on one of these goons. They have a new type of pistol.
“It’s called a Mauser and yes, their very nasty. I was just about to go looking for you; are you alright? I heard there was a shoot out with those traitors!”
“Yea, I guess I’m alright. A bullet grazed my arm but it seems alright and the bleeding stopped for now.”
“Did you hear about the ship that Ara is being held captive on?”
“I…I’ve seen the ship but I didn’t know Ara was being held on it. ”
“We have to get her off that ship as soon as we can before they try and harm her for information they need.”
Dorn spoke up. “If they harm one hair on her head they’ll have to deal with me after you. We can go back out the cave entrance and down the beach to get a good look at the ship from a great vantage point.”
“Good, let’s do it.”
; CHAPTER
TWENTY ONE
We both left the cave entrance without being seen by any other guards. It was getting dark as the tide was coming in and the moon was a misty slice resting just over the horizon.
Dorn walked ahead and looked around. “It’s not far from here, just a little further up and around that shoal.”
We took our boots off and waded out and across the shoal to a rocky outcropping then sat down for a minute to catch our breath.
“We need to climb this cliff to the top and we’ll be overlooking Hayman’s Cove.”
“Don’t tell me, Hayman’s Cove is named after one of the originals landing on the island, right?”
“Yeah, he was one of the original naturalists from the Oceanus that I heard died of some strange disease way back when; soon after he passed on, they named the cove after him. The top of this rock cliff should give us a good view of the cove and that Japanese ship.”
“Perfect. We need a good vantage point to find a way to get to Ara without giving ourselves away.”
We climbed to the top of the jetted rocky cliff, stood at the top and there it was. You could see the ship clearly sitting in the cove just off shore, truly a commanding view of the cove. She looked like a small heavy duty ocean liner, converted into a supply ship, with the name Yusen Maru. There was a good sized barge hanging from a crane off the side of the ship which they would probably use to ferry the heavy guns to shore.
Looking down at the beach we could see a small skiff type craft with its running lights on. It appeared to be tied to a rock with two armed guards standing next to it. That little skiff would be Ara’s ticket off that ship. Somehow after dark, we had to appropriate it and get to the ship without being noticed. Both Dorn and I had our weapons ready as we began to hike down the rocky crag. It was getting darker by the minute which would help to cover our approach.
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