MI6s new look enhanced team are currently working through the finer details of their plan to infiltrate Wewelsburg Schloss, the headquarters of the Wolfenkorps. The team consists of Mademoiselle Mimi Dubois, La Résistance fighter and mistress of skills; Miss Madeline Forsyth, SOE operative and a living shadow; Sven Hyse, Norwegian Resistance soldier and shapeshifter; and Franklin Fort, hard bitten soldier and teleporter.
Hanslope Park, Buckinghamshire, England, November 1942
The morning after the Norwegian Embassy party I awake with a sore head and two medals pinned to my chest. It was a good night, and a great party, but the words of Doctor Jackal are still fluttering around in my head and causing me some disquiet.
The morning after the Norwegian Embassy party I awake with a sore head and two medals pinned to my chest. It was a good night, and a great party, but the words of Doctor Jackal are still fluttering around in my head and causing me some disquiet.
Late morning we meet with Captain Ledman and he informs us that the mission is scheduled for forty eight hours time. We decide to up the level of training so that we can get used to working with Frank in combat. And with Frank’s permission I borrow his teleporting ability and practice with it. It is weird to begin with but I slowly get to grips with the feeling of moving from one location to the next in a heartbeat. Once I am confident enough I attempt to teleport in shadow form, it is a success and Madeline is impressed.
The evening before Operation Pelican was a go we were sitting around the table in Hut 17B having dinner and finalising the details when the still night was shattered by the sound of a massive explosion in the direction of the laboratory that was being used to test the enhanced chemical. We rush outside and can see the building in flames, our paranoia levels rise and so we all arm ourselves before investigating. By the time we arrive there are a dozen people stood around in shock, at that moment the fire alarm is sounded.
I quickly scout around the outside of the building but can see no sign of a disturbance so I dash back to Madeline, who is keeping an eye on the burning building, and quickly borrow her powers. I then rush back to the offices and slide in under the doorway. I discover that the place looks completely undisturbed and shut up tight.
With Frank’s help the firefighters succeed in getting the fire under control, Madeline also spots that a group of scientists are talking animatedly to Colonel Lambert, Hanslope Park’s base commander. Madeline gets into a position where she can read their lips and discovers that they are talking about a missing scientist by the name of Anderson, who was working late on an experiment. Madeline remembers that Anderson was one of the scientists who was involved in the work on the enhanced chemical.
Sven, who has been circling the burning building looking for any sign of life within, glides higher and spots only a couple of cars on the road near the base. One heading away and one towards, but as it is early evening he doesn’t see anything unusual with this and so does not bother investigating further. By the time that Sven is spiralling higher and higher over Hanslope Park, I had once again joined Madeline and we decided to head into the building to search for any clues as to what has happened.
As we slip into the building I reach out with my senses and make sure that there are no enhanced still on location. I am relieved that other than Madeline and Frank I don’t detect any other enhanced individuals. We both slide as shadows further into the building towards the centre of the explosion. Madeline looks around what is left of the laboratory and comes to the conclusion that someone filled the area with gas and then ignited it creating the explosion. She also discovers a small area of intense heat on the laboratory worktop that must have happened prior to the gas explosion. It is possible that the gas explosion was set up to cover something up.
While Madeline is engaged in her scenes of crime investigation I slip in and out of the rubble searching, unfortunately, I discover a body. I inform Madeline of my discovery and we decide that it is time that we contacted Captain Ledman. I telephone Captain Ledman on the number that he had given us all of those months ago and it is answered by a very professional and clipped young lady. She asks if my call is urgent and I inform her that it is;
Please hold!
Five minutes later a very tired Captain Ledman asks who is calling. I very quickly give him a precis of what has happened and he is surprised that he has not already been contacted by the Hanslope Park staff already. He asks us to go on watch until he is able to get on site. An hour later we are all sat together in Ledman’s office giving him a full debrief. He assumes charge and orders an immediate search of the burned building to recover the body.
When did you last see Doctor Jackal?
We tell him that it was as he was leaving the Norwegian Embassy and asks why he is asking. He lets us know that he is the only other member of base staff that cannot be accounted for. That surprises us all and we conjecture that Doctor Jackal may have been involved in the destruction of the laboratory, but then Madeline points out that he would not have been party to killing Anderson and we are all left somewhat confused by the evidence in front of us.
Captain Ledman asks us to carry out a search of both Jackal’s and Anderson’s rooms to see what we can find. Madeline and I head off to carry out Ledman’s orders. When we arrive at the scientists hut that Doctor Jackal had moved into when he left Hut 17B we question his hut mates and discover that Henry was last seen between seventeen and eighteen hundred hours yesterday. He had entered his room for a short while and then had left once more. He wasn’t carrying anything bulky. Madeline and I search his room thoroughly and Madeline discovers that while an effort has been made to make it look like nothing has been taken, all of Doctor Jackal’s immediate personal effects are missing.
We move onto Anderson’s room and search it with a fine tooth comb. Eventually, as I am flicking through the books on his bookshelf a small piece of folded paper drops out of the pages of a scientific textbook. When I unfold it I discover a typed message in German;
Kill Doctor Jackal. SS-Major Julius Schwartz
We return back to Captain Ledman and give him what we have found. We also suggest that he double check that the body that has been discovered is that of Anderson, he and Doctor Jackal were of similar build and the body suffered from very bad chemical burns to its front. We don’t have to point out to Captain Ledman the enormity of the fact that we have had a German spy working within MI6s enhanced division.
I remember feeling very guilty about the fact that Doctor Jackal either was assassinated, or that someone attempted to assassinate him and Mr Hades is responsible for the destruction of the laboratory. If it was Mr Hades, then it is likely that he would have made his escape on foot through the woods. So I convince the team that we should search the perimeter for any signs of his passage. But we find no trace.
The following day we are visited by Captain Ledman and he lets us know what they have discovered so far. The body is definitely Anderson, and they have discovered that there is a car missing from the bases motorpool. Ledman also tells us that there is quite a bit of suspicion about the typed note that we found. Everything points to it being a smoke screen that Doctor Jackal has fabricated so that he could disappear, but once again Madeline points out that Doctor Jackal would not kill. With no further leads, and the possibility of a German spy being in the camp unlikely, we agree that Operation Pelican is once more a go.
Paderborn Lippstadt Airfield, Germany, November 1942
SS-Major Burgher, his two SS-Leutnant aides, and his SS-Unteroffizier guard are met by the airfields Luftwaffe Leutnant and his driver. As soon as they see SS-Major Burgher they quickly snap to attention. Sven, living the role of an up his own backside SS-Major, turns to me and in perfect German says;
Deal with this!
He then buries his nose in a notebook. I slip into my role as a hard done by aide, ably assisted by Madeline, and we both turn on the heavy charm. Within seconds the Luftwaffe Leutnant is pitching his driver out of the car and hurrying the three of us in. He says that his driver will walk our SS-Unteroffizier to the mess, and we pull quickly away leaving Frank with the German driver. As we pull away Madeline makes eye contact with me and flicks her eyes towards Frank. At that moment I remember that Frank’s German leaves a lot to be desired. We could be in trouble.
The German driver, also an Unteroffizier, begins to lead Frank towards the main airfield buildings while trying to engage him in conversation. Frank tries his best not to speak but it becomes impossible and so he attempts a short, clipped response. The German driver senses that something isn’t quite right with this SS-Unteroffizier. The German driver stops in his tracks and demands to know what is going on, Franks stops and puts his kitbag down, turns to the driver and attempts to answer once again. Again it doesn’t go well and the driver starts to shout at Frank demanding to know what is going on and who he is.
A split second later there is a knife in Frank’s hand and he quickly puts it to use with two quick stabs into the drivers chest. The German driver slumps forward dead and Frank catches him before he hits the floor. Frank bends down and picks up his kitbag once again and starts to drag the body of the German into the darkness.