STORY MAC MACDONALD ART KEITH PAGE ITTING REMOTE IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS, THE S OLD HOUSE HAD BEEN USED TO TRAIN COMMANDOS AND SPECIAL AGENTS EARLIER IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR. NOW, IN 1944, WITH NAZIOCCUPIED EUROPE INVADED AND THE ENEMY ON THE BACK FOOT, IT WAS A PRISON FOR FOUR FANATICAL AND EVIL HENCHMEN OF ADOLF HITLER’S REGIME.
COVER KEITH PAGE
4 LUFTWAFFE MAJOR JOACHIM GOSSER, FIGHTER PILOT, HAD MADE A SPECIALITY OF PREYING ON HELPLESS TARGETS, EITHER CIVILIANS ON THE GROUND OR BALED-OUT ROYAL AIR FORCE PILOTS IN THE AIR.
NOT ANY BETTER WAS S.D. (SICHERHEITSDIENST) MAJOR AXEL HAHN WHOSE UNIT HAD HARASSED THE FRENCH RESISTANCE AND ANYBODY SUSPECTED OF HELPING THEM. UNFORTUNATE ACCIDENTS OR BULLETS IN THE BACK HAD BEEN THIS NAZI INTELLIGENCE OFFICER’S SPECIALITY.
5 THE OPEN WATERS HAD BEEN WHERE KRIEGSMARINE KAPITAN NICHOLAS STEIN HAD COMMANDED A RUTHLESS E-BOAT FLOTILLA. HE AND HIS MEN HAD THROWN AWAY THE CODE OF ALL MARINERS AND SLAUGHTERED ANY SHIPWRECKED VICTIMS WHO HAD CROSSED THEIR COURSE.
ALL THESE CRIMES HAD BEEN PROVED. ONLY S.S. MAJOR ERNST BREMER HAD YET TO BE FOUND GUILTY OF EXECUTING CAPTURED AND DISARMED COMMANDOS DURING A RAID IN FRANCE BEFORE THE INVASION. THAT SITUATION WAS ABOUT TO CHANGE, THOUGH, AS HE WAS LED AWAY FROM THE OTHERS.
WHAT FAIRY TALES HAVE THEY COME UP WITH NOW? THERE WERE NO WITNESSES LEFT ALIVE TO POINT THE FINGER AT ME!
HE’S AS COLD AS A BLOCK OF ICE THIS NAZI.
6 THE INTELLIGENCE OFFICER IN CHARGE OF QUESTIONING THE PRISONERS, LIEUTENANT-COLONEL BRIAN THORPE, WAS AWAITING BREMER WITH A COMMANDO OFFICER WHO COULD TESTIFY ONCE AND FOR ALL THAT THE S.S. MAJOR WAS INDEED TO BLAME. HE’S ON HIS WAY. BETTER PREPARE YOURSELF.
OH, I HAVE, SIR. I’VE BEEN READY FOR SOME TIME NOW.
COMMANDO CAPTAIN NEIL RIGBY HAD BEEN LEADING HIS UNIT ON AN INTELLIGENCE GATHERING MISSION INTO OCCUPIED FRANCE JUST PRIOR TO D-DAY. HE HAD CALLED A HALT BY A RUINED FARM.
GET INTO COVER...I WANT TO CHECK AHEAD.
7 AT THE SAME MOMENT A FIGURE APPEARED AHEAD OF THE GROUP. THE NEAREST OF THE RAIDERS ASSUMED IT TO BE THE FRENCH RESISTANCE CONTACT WHO WAS TO BE THEIR GUIDE. DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH? WHAT IS THE PASSWORD?
THE LOCAL PARTISAN HAD BEEN CAPTURED EARLIER, THOUGH. TORTURED, HE HAD TOLD OF THE COMMANDO MISSION. HE HAD GIVEN NO OTHER DETAILS AWAY, BUT THEY WERE NOT NEEDED.
THE ONLY PASSWORD I NEED ARE THESE... GERMAN-MADE BULLETS! AAGH!
8 MORE HEAVY FIRE WAS THE INDICATION THAT AN S.S. UNIT WAS LURKING IN AMBUSH ALL AROUND.
KILL THE SCHWEIN!
AAGH!
A BULLET HAD CREASED NEIL WHO HAD TUMBLED SENSELESS INTO A WATERLOGGED DITCH.
YE GODS...URGH!
WITH ALL THE RAIDERS EITHER DEAD OR WOUNDED, BREMER HAD SURGED FROM THE SHADOWS LIKE SOME GHASTLY AVENGING DEMON, SCYTHING DOWN SURRENDERING MEN. KILL THEM ALL...SHOOT THEM LIKE DOGS!
9 NEIL HAD COME TO IN A HAZY, CONCUSSED FOG, INCAPABLE OF MOVING, JUST IN TIME TO SEE ANOTHER MURDER DONE.
I MUST STOP THIS…
BUT NOT ONE MUSCLE WOULD MOVE AS HE HOVERED BETWEEN UNCONSCIOUSNESS AND REALITY. FINALLY THE MASSACRE HAD RUN ITS BLOODY COURSE.
CEASE FIRE... PILE THE BODIES IN THE FARM AND SET FIRE TO THE PLACE!
GET ON WITH IT... SCHNELL!
10 BUT DESPITE HIS WOUNDS, NEIL HAD BEEN AWARE ENOUGH TO IMPRINT THE FACE OF THE RABID S.S. OFFICER IN HIS MIND FOR EVER...
...AS THE GHASTLY DEED WAS COMPLETED AND THE SOLE WITNESS PASSED OUT AGAIN. THE NEXT THING NEIL KNEW WAS BEING BRIEFLY ALERT WHILE TWO FRENCH FIGHTERS DRAWN BY THE SHOOTING FOUND AND RESCUED HIM AT DAWN. HE IS BREATHING BUT HURT BADLY.
I THINK HE WILL SURVIVE...IT LOOKS WORSE THAN IT IS.