Operation Wolfe Cub: A Chilling Historical Thriller (THE TIME TO TELL Book 1) (10 page)

A: “Oh, that’s very hard to explain. What we have on board here is but a tiny fraction of what it can do. The very least I can say is—we are somewhat safe on this operation because of it.”

Q: “Somewhat safe, you say? Can you tell how safe?”

A: “Oh, did I say that? Yes, safe to some degree… anyway, that’s why it’s dangerous now. That’s all I have to say. I’ve said too much. It jeopardizes too much.”

Q: “It’s about this mission of the operation again, isn’t it?”

A: “Yes. Just remember what I said about using it for emergency. It must be destroyed with this ship when our mission is successful.”

Both officers carried on with two different reactions; boredom struck US-2 square in the face. In no time, he readied himself to forget about it. US-1, on the other hand, stuck his hands in his pockets and thought about what Doc said. Clearly, he was intrigued. “I’m beginning to get this.
Hmmm
, so this modified Strong Ray…where is it?”

US-2 suddenly became interested too. “Yes, I can’t see it anywhere. Where’s Mr. Ray hiding? I don’t see it anywhere.”

Doc nervously poked his nose over the control panel then slowly pointed a shaky finger to the dead center of the bow. “It is right there…up front…underneath the lid…below the deck. Look hard. See the hatch? It’s flush with the deck. You can’t see it, but believe me, it’s there.”

US-1 stroked his chin. “How do you determine last-minute engagement before using it? The big brass dishes are control pads for it?”

Doc snapped out of his fear. “Oh—why, of course. It’s a firm decision process…it won’t engage unless you’ve definitely decided. The controls are punch pads, designed this way for the definitive purpose of eliminating uncertainty. Feel them…it, as well as the others next to it, are hard to press down. You have to strike it with your fist. After that, you’ll know. Engagement is transferred automatically to your pistol grip. When you’re ready to shoot, the optics behind your seat will provide the same assistance for accuracy.”

US-1 continued, “I see. Sound’s simple enough. That’s it?”

An eerie moment of silence broke out among them as Doc kept running his eyes back and forth between theirs. Almost mystified thinking about it, Doc carefully chose his words. “Yes. One more thing…we don’t understand it fully. Just plead to the heavens on your life you don’t have to use it. Maybe nothing will become of it. I wish I knew. It had destructive consistencies while we tested it for conventional uses, so its home here on the US
Wehrwolf
. It is well-founded for your mission.” He went on, “Any more questions? We have to get a move-on—there’s more.”

He continued, “Okay, next to the ‘Strong Ray button,’ is the ‘self-destruct button.’ It operates the same way. You strike it with the ball of your fist, hard. Afterward, you have forty-five seconds before the vessel completely obliterates itself. Hopefully, none of us will be in it. It can be used for two things: as a last line of defense and to complete our mission fully. This brings me to my last and most important detail, which I must reiterate.”

Doc paused a moment. “Let me make myself very clear. Once the baby is delivered to the United States, this vessel must vanish from the face of the earth. The success of this operation hinges on it. More importantly—the secret
contents you two just learned about on this vessel must never be discovered.”

US-1 questioned, “Wasn’t there another vessel just like this one back home hidden underground?”

“Yes and no…it’s the one with the Ford engines. We salvaged all we could from it so that we could complete this one ahead of schedule. This one is fully functioning and one hundred percent successful, I might add.”

US-1 went on, “I get it. The other is just a dumb derelict now…wait, Doc. What about the flying discs or,
saucers
?”

“What about them, US-1?”

“Well, I mean if the war is lost like you say, won’t they fall into enemy hands? Any valuable technology lost there?”

Doc shut his binder, closing his concerns. “They can’t fly right anyway. All their power sources have been dismantled and melted down already for just that reason.”

US-1 smirked as he looked at the ember of his cigarette up close. “Soooo, nobody will ever know the truth about anything… not us, not this vessel, and not even the baby.”

Doc nodded firmly. “Yes, they’ll never figure out what my team of special physicists and I have uncovered…they will live to find that Operation Wolfe Cub never existed.”

Boom! Boom-boom!

Utter shock gave way to huge bursts of water blasting up several meters high in the air, landing so close they couldn’t help but see the spectacle of spray engulf their vessel. Each of them stood up from their chairs. Fear rushed through Doc’s eyes as he froze in his shoes. “Christ O’Mighty! It looks like—no it can’t be.”

Shortly thereafter, a huge crack of cannons sounded off, catching up to the incoming blasts. Then more bursts of water splashed the daylight out of the sky.

Booom……Booom-Booom……Booom!

Doc quickly grabbed the periscope above him and yanked it down. With a swift motion, he feverishly surveyed
the seascape. Within an instant, he gasped, “Holy-holy, we’re being fired at! Three o’clock, look!”

US-1 snatched up his binoculars. “It’s got twin turrets…. big ones….lots of guns all over the deck. Look! Submarines too! I see them!”

He then looked at Doc. “They’re escorting U-boats, I believe! Doc! They’re submerging already!”

Doc picked his binder and thrashed through his pages then scrolled his finger down. “Oh no…it’s the German Kriegsmarine Zestorer.
¹⁸
The only destroyer in the Mediterranean, and she’s got us in her sights. We’ve got to get out of here. Fire on engines, US-2. I’m driving.”

US-2 threw his cigarette down as he quickly shifted his chair toward his controls. “Zestorer!? They’ll chop us in half!”

Suddenly, two more monster splashes cratered the water again.

US-2 fired up both engines. “That was close! The next one won’t be so pretty!”

US-1 pulled his binoculars down, shouting above the engines, “Hatch is sealed. Next one’s going to land in our laps!”

Doc quickly swiveled his chair toward his controls. “Switching engines to master controls. US-2, go below. Secure the baby for battle.”

“Got it!”

Doc secured his safety harnesses. “US-1, harness on.”

“Already there.”

“Good, guns on starboard side. Switch to auto cannons and prepare a return fire. We’ve got to buy some time.”

“Right away.”

US-1 cranked his chair around and pulled his scope down. Within seconds, he held steady on his trigger. “I got them, Doc! What’s our distance?”

“Stadimeter on periscope says two kilometers…fire when ready.”

Outside the starboard side, two shining cannons clunked out of their porthole faster than stiletto blades in a knife fight.

Booof! Booof! Booof! Booof! Booof! Booof! Booof! Booof!

US-1 commenced firing, rocking their boat and sending blistering rounds of forty or more straight across the ocean with a deadly hit.

Immediately, the crew of the Zestorer scattered across all of their decks. Red-hot rounds from the US
Wehrwolf
sliced their way through metal walls with a rude awakening. Gaping holes exploded up from out of nowhere, sending calls of calamity across their tower, bridge, and pilot houses.

Twang-Twowwww! Crash-Cheooowwwww! Twang-Crash!

Stray projectiles ricocheted everywhere as every assailant inside the Zestorer’s tower and control quarters, including the
kapitanleutnant
¹⁹
hit the ground. He cried out into his megaphone, “This is
Kapitanleutnant
Hans Hildagard! All decks! Take cover! Sound the alarm!”

Immediately after, brutal bellows of deafening bullhorns sounded off from all corners of the ship. Hundreds of crew members held their ears, looking around in fright as if hell had came to knock through their walls. More alert crew members flooded to their stations, giving every ounce of energy they could toward cranking their ten-ton, slow-moving guns over to the little speck in the sea that returned fire.

The US
Wehrwolf
’s vessel hardly looked the same. Her scrambling crew of four, including a baby, had no more than buckled in when Doc set the twin engines free.

BoooWaaaahaaaahhh!

Her propellers twisted tornadoes of torque, shooting up fountains of water while the exhaust let the rival know the US
Wehrwolf
was making a fast escape. With a squat and lunge, she left a towering stream behind her, falling back down to the ocean as if they just took off from a rainy day.

Just then, two incoming rounds made their way right where the ship had been just a second ago.

US-2 looked back. “Son of a
bitch
, that was close!”

US-1 tried to steady his aim at the Zestorer, but lifted his hand from his trigger. “She stopped firing!”

Doc wasn’t in the mood for saying much, but his perspiration said quite a bit. He was quietly busy looking straight ahead, to nothing else but calm, blue sea, clipping by faster and faster as the seconds ticked by. A bead of sweat trickled down his bald head as he twitched and said, “Don’t worry, they’ll come again. My spectacles, where are they? What’s our speed?”

US-1 carefully put his spectacles on for him. “Eighty knots—wait—no, ninety…we’re still climbing.”

Doc gained a smidgen of relief. As he reached for another control, he glanced at US-2 to see if he was paying attention. “Switching to glide rudders…take note of this, US-2…it is good past one hundred knots…switching right—now.”

US-2 felt for the same control in front of him. “Yes, I can feel it…so smooth.”

Back on the decks of the Zestorer, the picture wasn’t quite the same as it was moments ago. Most who had taken their battle stations were hidden flat out on the deck behind their guns. Slowly, they got back up on their feet. Some of them gazed at the holes riddled across the walls—telltale signs of close calls.

In the control room, Hildegard looked so angry he could have spit nails at every one of his crew members. “Shut off the alarm!” He turned to his two subordinate officers. “
My
crew? This is
your
crew! They’re nothing but
spasti arschloch!
²⁰
Look at them! Why didn’t they keep shooting?!”

He quickly moved to the bridge as the two subordinate officers followed. All three of them jockeyed for a vantage point to see what they could see with binoculars. Immediately, they caught up with the tiny black speck heading west in a streaming fountain of glory.

Hildegard looked even more perplexed when he saw the little, black, wedge-shaped vessel with airplane wings arch up and throw a jet stream at least four times her own height. Not only that, it was hard to ignore the sound he thought he heard. He cupped his ear out to sea. “Listen to it…
hmmm
, that’s no sitting pigeon. She’s armed deadly… noisy too.”

One of his subordinates asked, “
Kapitanleutnant
Hildegard. Is it kind of water rocket or something?”

The other subordinate next to him lowered his binoculars. “Never heard such a noise. I can still hear it.”

Hildegard tried yanking his frustration down with his binoculars. Death signals quivered from his eyelids as he watched the tiny-but-mighty black speck magically get away. “
Hurenshohn
²¹
…a water rocket? Don’t be funny,
Einfallspinsel!
²²
We missed them, can’t you see?”

The chief of the crew skipped up on the bridge to ask Hildegard, “Shall we send out a U-boat to scout her?”

“No! It’s too fast. I doubt they’ll return anyway…
hmmm
, they’re going somewhere. I can tell.”

The crew chief lowered his head and began to make his way back to the control room, when Hildegard shouted, “Wait!”

“
Jawohl, Kapitan
?”
²³

“Take a countermeasure…they’re heading for the Strait of Gibraltar…our U-boats…are they still sleeping somewhere along the opening?”

The chief stepped forward, rather excited. “Yes! They’re right off the Shores of Morocco…we have four that could position an ambush.”

“Good. Radio and tell them
Kapitanleutnant
Hans Hildegard of the
Zestorer Z91
wants to seek a countermeasure against a small, unidentified warship. Tell them to set an ambush at the Pillars of Hercules and stagger all four of them.”

“
Jawohl, Kapitan!
”

Hildegard continued, “And tell them to stay submerged close to the surface and spot from their conning towers. She’s a high-speed, floating craft with guns—that’s all.”

“
Jawohl, Kapitan
…anything else?”

“Salvage the ship, if possible. We need to see the kind of enemy she is.”

Hildegard pulled his binoculars up to his eyes once again, speaking more calmly, “Commence firing until they’re out of sight, anyway.”

“
Jawohl, Kapitan
.”

In the midst of making time and skimming across the ocean, US-1 kept an eye out through his binoculars. It wasn’t long before he saw the distant ship light up her turrets once again with heavy cannon fire. “Incoming, due any second!”

Huge rounds made a sinister sound as they hurled close by, splashing the waters several hundred meters behind them.

Doc looked back while navigating still. “
Ha haaa
! We’re free!”

Just as US-1 and 2 began to celebrate, Doc interrupted, “We’re not out of this yet…US-1, how far to the Strait of Gibraltar if we run steady at one hundred knots?”

US-1 grabbed his pencil and notepad, made a few calculations, and then spun the eraser in his mouth. “We should get there by dusk.”

“Good. US-2…take the controls. I’m too old for this.”

“I thought you’d never ask, Doc.”

Doc strained as he nodded. “Very well then…at the count of three, ready US-2?”

“Ready.”

“Okay, then…one, two, three.” The Doc switched his master controls off as US-2 took over. He then fell back into his chair in the company of his own exhaustion.