Enemies and Traitors: The Norsemen's War: Book One - Teigen and Selby (The Hansen Series 1)

by Kris Tualla

  “We’ll find it. Ships are all the same.” Lars lifted his toolbox and walked inside the vessel with a silent Teigen following.

  “Engines are in the back,” he told Teigen. “Cargo is in front.”

  The men turned toward the front. After walking a several yards, Teigen stopped. “Do you smell that?”

  Lars turned startled eyes to his. “Smoke.”

  Both men looked up.

  A layer of hazy yellowish gray was creeping along the ceiling and heading toward them.

  “The open door is pulling the smoke,” Lars started to back away.

  Teigen spun around. “And where there’s smoke—RUN!”

  Lars dropped his tool box. Both men ran back the way they came as fast as they were able.

  “FIRE!” Teigen shouted at the startled sailors guarding the open door.

  He leapt from the ship to the rowboat and fell to his knees. His weight and the direction he was headed pushed the little boat closer to the dock. Teigen regained his balance and scrambled out the other side onto the pier.

  He heard the sailors behind him start to shout. And he heard a splash. Apparently Lars Hamre had panicked and chose to swim for safety.

  Teigen’s focus was on reaching the boarding house and getting Selby and the others to safety before the Voorbode blew upon its own. He ran to the end of the pier and turned to his left to circle the edge of the bay. When he turned left again, he looked across the water at the ship.

  The crew was pouring from the open doorway, leaping for the pier the same way Teigen had. A loud BANG sent a hatch cover fifty feet in the air.

  “Oh, God.” Teigen resumed his frantic pace. People on the edge of the water were stopping and staring at the Voorbode.

  “Look! The ship’s on fire!”

  “There’s so much smoke!”

  “That flame’s got to be ten stories tall!”

  Teigen shouted at them as he passed. “Get to safety now! It’s a munitions ship!”

  He didn’t wait to see whether they heeded his advice. Rounding a corner he pushed his burning legs to keep going until he reached the boarding house. He jumped to the porch and threw the door open.

  “Everyone! Go to the cellar! NOW!” he bellowed as he climbed the stairs two at a time. “GET IN THE CELLAR!”

  Selby opened the door to their room, her eyes wide with alarm. “What’s wrong?”

  “The ship’s on fire!” He grabbed her arm and pulled her into the hall. “Go down to the cellar right now! HURRY!”

  He pushed her in that direction and ran past her to the stairs. “I’ll get Ben. GO!”

  Selby seemed to grasp his panic-stricken message and she ran down the stairs while he ran up.

  “Go to the cellar!” he shouted, pounding on doors he ran past toward Ben and Bennett’s room. He opened their door without knocking.

  “The ship’s on fire,” he managing past heaving breaths. “Get to the cellar—NOW.”

  *****

  The occupants of the boarding house who believed Teigen’s warning huddled in the damp and dim stone-walled cellar below their four-story clapboard row house. Ben sat on the floor next to Bennett facing Teigen and their legs straddled his. Dahl wasn’t in his room.

  Selby sat on the floor next to her husband, her shoulder tucked under his arm.

  She hadn’t asked him why he was wearing a jacket and hat he didn’t own, but she had an angry suspicion that he had boarded the ship and started the fire himself.

  After he told me he wouldn’t.

  She clenched her jaw to keep from asking him now, in front of witnesses, resistance or not.

  “Tell me why we’re here,” a man demanded. “I’m supposed to be at work by nine and it’s already eight-thirty.”

  Teigen was catching his breath. “The ship—Voorbode—is on fire. And—she’s a munitions ship—meaning her cargo is mainly explosives.”

  A murmur of concern rumbled through the enclosure.

  “How long do we need to stay down here, do you think?” Bennett asked.

  “I don’t know,” Teigen admitted, still breathing hard. “Until we’re sure—the fire’s put out.”

  Gunnhild had her ever-present kitchen towel twisted around her work-reddened hands. “I hope it’s soon. I have a cake in the oven.”

  Teigen looked at Selby. “I suppose if nothing happens in another fifteen minutes I could go up and look.”

  “What if it blows up when you’re up there?” she demanded.

  He didn’t seem to have an answer.

  She glared at him. “Give it thirty.”

  “But I’ll be late for work!” the man protested.

  Teigen faced him. “So then pray you’ll still have a workplace to be late to.”

  The group fell uncomfortably quiet; the only sounds in the stuffy cellar were sniffing and throat clearing. Selby decided to be a good wife and show some her support for her husband; she’d deal with his dishonesty later.

  She slipped her hand into the pocket of the unfamiliar jacket.

  Something was there. A pouch tied to a cord.

  Selby drew a sharp breath through her nose.

  Could it be?

  She turned and looked up at Teigen in shock. “Is that…”

  She left the question dangling, knowing he’d understand if she meant was it the bomb.

  “Yes.” He heaved a jagged sigh. “The ship was already on fire.”

  Chapter

  Forty Two

  The explosive BOOM seemed to come up from below the ground as the cellar floor shivered.

  “Oh, God!” Gunnhild wailed. “My house!”

  No one in the enclosure moved. Selby wondered if they were even breathing.

  Nine minutes had passed since the man berated Teigen, saying they shouldn’t have to wait below the house for so long.

  Nine minutes.

  The man’s face paled. “I could be dead.”

  “You’re welcome,” Teigen growled.

  No one in the cellar looked irritated anymore. In fact, they looked at Teigen like he was some kind of deity.

  “You saved our lives,” Ben said, looking at his foster father in awe. “If you hadn’t run back and warned us…”

  A woman started to cry.

  “Is it safe to go see the damage?” Bennett asked.

  Teigen shrugged. “I don’t believe it can explode twice.”

  People reclaimed their feet and helped others to theirs. Teigen opened the cellar door for Gunnhild because she couldn’t get through the crowded cellar and open it herself.

  Acrid smoke and ashes wafted down to them. Something was definitely on fire. Selby hoped it wasn’t the city itself.

  Teigen helped people up the steep wooden steps to the kitchen until only he, Ben, Bennett, and Selby remained.

  “Ladies first.” Teigen practically pushed her through the opening.

  The smoke-filled air stung Selby’s eyes.

  Gunnhild was picking up dishes from the floor. A few platters survived, but the majority of her plates were broken.

  “Watch your step, dear,” she said to Selby. “The windows blew out of their frames.”

  Selby looked down at the floor covered in tiny glittering glass shards. “I’ll help you clean up.”

  Gunnhild didn’t meet Selby’s eyes. “Thank you, dear.”

  Teigen appeared and looked around at the mess. “I’m going outside to see the extent of the damage.”

  Bennett stepped out from behind him. “I’m coming with you.”

  “Me, too.” Ben looked terrified but determined.

  Selby grabbed the front of Teigen’s unfamiliar jacket in a tight fist, her expression stern. “Be careful. I mean it.”

  “I will.”

  She shook the jacket before she let go of it. “Promise me. And keep it this time.”

  Teigen’s eyes widened briefly; he knew he was found out. “I will.”

  She turned her back so he wouldn’t see the tears that threatened and went
to find the broom and dustpan.

  *****

  The scene that Teigen met was surreal. In one moment the city of Bergen had been damaged beyond anything he would have believed. Everything near the water’s edge was reduced to rubble. And wet.

  “You wouldn’t believe it,” a man kept saying to anyone walking close to him—he was obviously in shock. “Water shot hundreds of feet in the air. Hundreds. You wouldn’t believe it.”

  The thing Teigen didn’t expect to see were so many bodies lying sprawled on the pier.

  “What happened to them?” Ben asked quietly.

  Teigen turned him around. “Don’t look.”

  Ben’s somber gaze met Teigen’s. “But what happened?”

  “Either they were too late running away, or they were watching the first flames and didn’t believe they were in danger.” Teigen recognized one couple he had shouted warnings at.

  Damn it.

  “The force of a close explosion causes internal injuries. If it knocks you down, you die.”

  Ben’s eye rounded. “How do you know that?”

  “First, I’m a scientist. And second…” Teigen heaved a steadying sigh. “My father fought in the last war and he told me.”

  “This looks like war,” Bennett murmured. “Like a bomb was dropped here.”

  “That’s actually what happened. That cargo was one big bomb.” Teigen’s gut turned over and he felt like he might vomit.

  I almost caused this.

  He started walking, leaving Ben and Bennett to follow. He was shaking with shock and knew he couldn’t trust his voice.

  If I set the bomb, all these deaths would be on my shoulders.

  It wouldn’t have mattered that Major Helgesen ordered him to make the bomb. And it wouldn’t have mattered if Lars or Lauritz had been the one to place the bomb and light the fuse. Teigen gave them the weapon.

  What about Dahl and Falko?

  Teigen squinted against the smoke and tried without success to see the spot where he and Falko met the mechanics. All he could tell was that the majority of the damage from the blast seemed to be on this side of the inlet, not that side.

  Fire trucks screeched past the trio toward the burning rubble. The sky above them was a thick gray mix of smoke and cloud. The roof of the medieval Bergenhus Fortress was in flames.

  All around them people were shouting, Germans and Norwegians alike. Buckets of water were being thrown against the wooden buildings still standing. Bodies were being covered with blankets.

  Teigen pulled himself together enough to ask, “Where was Dahl this morning?”

  Bennett’s stunned expression didn’t change when he answered. “I don’t know.”

  “Did he go out early?” Teigen pressed. “Or was he out all night?”

  When Ben tugged on the sleeve of Sletten’s jacket, Teigen realized he still wore the mechanic’s clothes. And that the bomb was still in the pocket.

  I need to get rid of it.

  He looked at his foster son. “What?”

  “He had a date.” Ben looked awkwardly embarrassed. “I think… he said something about…”

  “Sex.” Bennett rescued the youth. “This is one time I hope he was right.”

  “Do you know where she lives?” Teigen asked even though he doubted they did.

  Bennett swept his arm toward the destruction and flames. “Hopefully not here.”

  Teigen’s eyes followed the sweep of Bennett’s arm.

  I could have done this.

  Teigen’s knees gave way. He dropped to the ground and covered his eyes.

  “Teigen?” Ben’s trembling voice was right in his ear. “Are you okay?”

  Pull yourself together.

  You did not do this.

  No one in Norway did. If anyone had set the ship on fire it was a German. So it had to be an accident, because no one who knew what her cargo was would do something so foolish.

  Teigen sucked a deep smoky breath and coughed it out. He nodded and lifted watering eyes to the pair.

  “I’m okay. I just got light-headed. From the smoke, I think.”

  “Yeah. It’s bad.” Bennett pointed away from the burning pier. “Let’s see how far the damage goes.”

  Teigen climbed carefully to his feet. “I have to do something first.”

  He stumbled to the water’s closest edge. Reaching into the pocket of Sletten’s coat, he palmed the heavy linen pouch of gun powder.

  God forgive me for what I almost caused.

  And thank You that I didn’t.

  He pulled the bomb from his pocket and in one seamless motion pitched it as far as he could into the sea.

  *****

  Dahl showed up at supper.

  Selby leapt from the table and launched herself toward him. She threw her arms around him.

  “Where were you? I was so worried!” she sobbed.

  The erstwhile actor didn’t seem to be able to hide his shattered emotions. “I was with a lady friend,” he managed. “We stayed out late and had a lot to drink. I—I slept on her couch.”

  Selby didn’t believe that for a minute but she wasn’t about to call him out now. She let go of him and stepped back.

  “So you were safe?”

  His face was pale. “Mostly. We were both awakened when the windows in her house shattered.”

  “Did you hear the explosion?” Teigen asked.

  Dahl nodded. “I was afraid you were killed.”

  Selby cut her eyes toward Teigen, silently thanking God that her beloved husband had escaped unscathed.

  In spite of his foolishness.

  “What have you been doing all day?” he asked Dahl.

  Dahl stepped to the closest chair at the boarding house’s communal table, set with the mismatched pieces of china and pottery that had somehow survived the blast, and dropped heavily onto it. Selby reclaimed her seat next to Teigen.

  “I reported to Helgesen immediately.” Dahl accepted the cracked platter of sausages Bennett handed him. “We spent the day gathering information.”

  “What did you find out?” Bennett asked.

  Dahl scooped potatoes onto his chipped plate. “The papers the Voorbode’s captain filed with the harbormaster weren’t accurate. The ship was carrying more explosives than were allowed.”

  Teigen dropped his fork. “How much more?”

  “One hundred tons of dynamite, fifty tons of fuses and one hundred and eighty thousand blasting caps.”

  “Two times what’s allowed?” Teigen shouted. “No wonder the blast was so big!”

  Bennett jabbed his fork at Dahl, his expression volatile. “And the damage was so severe! What in hell were they thinking?”

  “One of our men intercepted a letter from the captain. He copied it down and sent it to Helgesen today.” Dahl heaved a sad sigh. “Forsen knew exactly what he was carrying.”

  Selby shuddered. “Of course he did. He had to have!”

  Ben, their still-growing charge, paused the continuous shoveling of food into his mouth long enough to ask, “What did the letter say?”

  “As best I can quote it,” Dahl began, “It was something like, We’re sitting ducks with a hold full of dynamite. One bullet through the hull, and there won’t be anything left of the crew or the ship.”

  “Damn.” Teigen’s expression was thunderous. “And he sailed it right into Bergen’s harbor anyway.”

  “The ship was having mechanical trouble,” Selby reminded him. “Isn’t that why the two engineers were boarding?”

  Teigen shot her a guilty look. “Yes.”

  He knows I know.

  Teigen leaned forward. “Have you seen Falko?”

  Dahl nodded. “About an hour ago. He looked a mess, but he’s not mortally wounded.”

  “Thank God!” Teigen seemed to melt into his chair.

  “He gave me a message for you and Selby,” Dahl said with his mouth full. “He said to tell you both that Fritz Walder was definitely on the ship when it exploded.”


  Selby gasped and turned to Teigen. “Did you know?”

  “I only hoped.” Teigen looked at her like he was extending her a peace offering. “We sent him an invitation from the captain to join him for breakfast this morning.”

  Selby’s anger softened a little with the knowledge of her husband’s endeavor on her behalf. “Thank you.”

  “The good news is that the Nazis have lost a massive amount of explosives—twice what we thought. Plus a warship.” Dahl lifted his jar of watery beer with a wry smile. “Happy fifty-fifth birthday, Adolf. May it be your last.”

  *****

  “You know I’m still angry with you, don’t you.” Selby’s statement was clearly not a question. “Even though I do have to thank you for making sure Walder got his just reward.”

  Teigen sat in one of the chairs in their room and removed his shoes before he faced his wife.

  “I swear to you, Sel. I didn’t lie to you. I never intended to board that ship.”

  She crossed her arms and glared at him from her stiff perch on the edge of their bed. “So why did you?”

  “Sletten got cold feet at the last minute.” Teigen’s pulse sped up with the recollection. “He refused to set the bomb.”

  “And so you decided to go in his place.”

  Teigen spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness. “The Germans were expecting two men. And Lars Hamre would never have done it on his own. If I didn’t pretend to be Sletten and go with him then the plan was over.”

  Selby’s crossed arms dropped a little. “What happened when you boarded the ship?”

  “We headed toward the cargo hold.” Teigen wondered if his heart was actually going to beat itself to death inside his chest. He drew a steadying breath hoping to slow it down. “But there was smoke. The ship was on fire. We turned and ran. We even warned the Germans to jump ship.”

  At least we did that.

  Her shoulders relaxed. “And then you came home.”

  “All the way here I was running and shouting at people to take cover.” Teigen dragged his hands through his hair. “I told them the ship was a munitions ship! But so many of them just stood there, watching the flames shoot through a hatch cover.”

  The horror of what happened to those people began to drown him. “They wouldn’t listen. They just stood there.”