The Red Alert Story

The Red Alert Story.
by Gareth Bird

CHAPTER VI
The area was surprisingly well lit due to the light protruding from the massive hanger doorway. Jack could see just a couple of men about now, one Fin and probably one Russian soldier. As they approached the hanger, Jack felt uneasy, as did a few of his comrades. Davies peered into one of the semi-boarded windows. Inside he saw several men sitting around a table. There were about 8 Russian soldiers - real soldiers. They were armed with pistols, whilst about another 10 more lesser ranked soldiers sat at a couple of benches with rifles slewn over their shoulders. On the table Davies could see a huge pile of letters, telegrams and other documents that were being read and sorted out. It was obvious to Davies that there were just two men doing the reading, and they were doing so at a rate which implied they were translating rather than simply reading.

Davies crouched down and relayed his descriptions to the others. Davies took another look. The 8 men around the table were probably reasonably high ranking officers, as they were in proper uniform including uniform coats, whereas the others had to make do with standard army dress. Davies crouched down again, and Dunn took his place. A few minutes later, he too crouched down and gave his report.

"I can't really tell what's going on, but it looks as though they are going through a load of very similar files." he began. "I reckon its something to do with some prisoners being released? Maybe? Like I say, I dunno."

"Prisoners?" reiterated Breeze, "As in POWs?"

"No, as in Russian prisoners. But I don't think they're translating English, or if it is, the standard of our language is really dropping!" he remarked.

"Well what language is it?" asked Shaw.

"Something Scandinavian, although not Swedish. Maybe just some dialect of one of the Soviet states near here?" answered Dunn.

The group dropped back further into the shadows as the Finnish policeman wandered into the hanger, followed closely by a Soviet soldier. They took their places inside and one of the high ranking Soviets stood up to start his speech, after which, the main hanger doors closed with a couple of convincing thuds. Dunn tried hard to hear what was being said, but over the noise of the wind, he couldn't make out a word. By now, Gower was standing up too, and had started to head out towards the coast again. He turned and signalled for the others to join him, and they began to tread carefully along the icy path towards a small pier with even smaller jetties clinging to it. The Allied soldiers were, however, uninterested with the stability of their precarious walkways as moored to each jetty were a total of 12 or more docked, and presumably uncrewed submarines.

"So much for no 'naval supremacy'." muttered Davies to anyone who cared to listen, but no-one did. Gower had already walked along the first jetty and climbed onto the first, slippery rung which led the way up to submarine's entrance. He paused as tested for the ladder's adhesivity, then having convinced himself it was safe to continue, motioned for the others to join him, then set off up the 20 or so rungs to the top of the vessel.

One by one, the remaining seven joined Gower on the top of the submarine. There was just enough room to manoeuvre, and they brushed the snow off the hatch. "It's open," observed Gray.

"Go for it." recommended Davies. Gray bent down and performed a combination shrug and shiver. He pulled at the hatch which opened perhaps a little easier than expected with a painfully loud scrape. He peered over the edge. It was black. He looked up at Gower, and then Davies. "Go for it." he repeated. Gray took the first step down the rungs on the inside of the submarine. The rest of them followed Gray to the bottom, and despite their slippery boots and the dark, they all reached the bottom without incident. A few of them produce cigarette lighters and they were then able to see. Breeze clambered back up the ladder to close the hatch whilst the rest of them dusted the snow off their coats.

They took a cautious look around the submarine, confirming their suspicions that it was indeed uncrewed whilst they did so. "This is some fishing boat..." said Taylor to break the silence. They found their way to the general supplies room, where they quickly set about finding something to eat.

"Now what?" asked Jack, after a few minutes.

"I suppose we..." started Davies, but was interrupted by Dunn and Breeze who had wandered off.

"I think we've found the..." began Breeze, who had just returned to the supply room. "I, er, we think we've..." he repeated as suddenly, the room burst into light. "Oh, yep, we have." he finished. "The generator controls," he explained, "I was just coming back to see whether one of you could work out how to turn it on."

Dunn soon arrived back and they all squashed around the fire which Gray had started by burning a blanket he'd found. "Well this is cosy, isn't it?" remarked Dunn, taking a bite out of apple.

Jack looked over at Davies. "As you were saying, what do we so now?"

"Oh yeah," replied Davies, still chewing heavily on some stale bread. "I suppose we should find somewhere to sleep, 'cos I don't know about you, but I'm knackered." They agreed with Davies hid themselves in a smaller room leading off the supply room which turned out to be an armoury of sorts with two or three sets of Soviet uniforms and a supply of arms the ground forces would be proud of.

They made themselves as comfortable as possible, given the conditions and hid themselves in the store rooms, leaving Dunn and Breeze to return to the generator controls and to leave the submarine as if they had never been there.

Jack and Davies took this opportunity to ponder over their next move. Jack was sure that they could never be able to operate a submarine of this size on their own, regardless of what Davies may or may not believe. However, he was equally sure that they would not be able to effectively hold up a crew of blood-thirsty soldiers at gun point considering their tired states. The answer would come to them, but first they had to find out what was going on in the hanger, and that would not be an easy task.

Dunn and Breeze returned, cigarette lighters in hand and extinguished the remaining sparks which had once been the fire and disposed of the evidence, before assuming their positions under blankets, then promptly fell asleep, like the rest of the group who had already so.

When they eventually awoke in the morning, they each looked at their non-synchronised watches and the popular outcome was that it was already after eleven o'clock. They decided that it would be best to split up; Jack, Dunn and Gray would leave and try to get close to the hanger; Gower, Davies and Taylor would survey the surrounding area leaving Gower and Shaw behind to guard their cumbersome baggage. They planned to return in one hour and give their debriefs with the hope that they could form some sort of realistic aim.

Dunn led Jack, Davies and the others as they meandered around the corridors, navigating the obstacles which blocked their darkened paths. He reached the hatch and opened it enough to observe that they would be able to climb out of the submarine without being spotted. Confident that Dunn's evaluation of the situation was accurate, the remaining men joined Dunn on the jetty.

The sun was as bright as it had been for some time, so much so that were it not for the snow and ice, one would have thought it was still autumn, not early December. The groups split and darted from cover to cover as they made their ways towards their targets.

Jack's group made a large arc as they chose their way to the hanger. Its doors were once again wide open and this time they could see that there were several tables and a few jeeps inside, those bearing both Finnish and Soviet emblems. Jokes and the resultant laughter could be heard clearly, although could not be translated by Dunn. They crawled silently around the hanger to its rear where they found another door, which turned out to be locked.

Again, they silently moved towards the front of the hanger, but there were too many men. They were not particularly patrolling or on look out, Jack observed, but nevertheless, he knew they would not welcome three enemy soldiers if they were spotted. He signalled for them to back off and return to the locked the door. Dunn discretely tried it again and was unsurprised to find it still locked. Out of either frustration or desperation, Jack pushed Dunn aside and tried it too. He needed to know what was going on. He needed a way inside. Time was passing quickly and it soon became apparent that they would not be able to make it back to the submarine within the hour.

Jack, annoyed with himself for not making any progress, headed his small group back to the submarine via the perimeter of the base and eventually seized his opportunity to climb aboard the vessel. The lights were on inside and Jack was immediately met with the rifles of Taylor and Gower. They quickly returned them to their shoulders upon the recognition of Jack and the others.

"We were about to send out the search party for you." joked Gower, glancing at Taylor.

"Yeah, well, we would have done had we not got anything more pressing." continued Taylor.

"More pressing?" inquired Gray.

"We've had a visitor, or eight." replied Gower. "Davies and the others are waiting for you in the stores."

"Right, OK." thanked Jack as he pushed through the space between Gower and Taylor. He marched along the corridor and felt that Davies would be ready to gloat at the failure of Jack's reconnaissance attempt. He did not let a single word uttered by either Gower or Taylor enter his head. By the time he had got to the store room, he had clean forgotten what they had said, or even that they had said anything.

He stepped into the room and without looking up, he made a swift apology for not being able to shed any light on their darkened situation and that he had no idea what they were to do next. "We'd have probably been better off walking through the night. We could have been 10 miles from here by now." he concluded. "I'm sorry we ever came here."

"I'm not!" joked an alien voice, prompting Jack to look up. He could see the familiar faces of the comrades in his group, but was pleasantly surprised to see those of the group of eight men who had set out to Vyshniy Volochek a couple of days earlier. "How y'doing, Rivers?" he asked rhetorically.

"I, er, well, you know..." he began, but was interrupted by the same man, who Jack recognised as Walden, and had obviously taken charge of his group of men.

"Good." he continued. "We've been here since early yesterday morning and we were hiding in a garage, or rather a hut or something, and it was one of your lot who found us - even before any of the fucking Commies!" he smiled, at the apparent incompetence of their enemy, whilst raising a bandaged hand and waving it in Davies's direction.

With his other hand, Walden drew a long breath from a hand-rolled cigarette and offered Davies the opportunity to continue the conversation. "As it happens, we've most probably found out more in 10 minutes talking to these guys than you would have done if you'd managed to get close enough to the hanger - so don't feel too bad about it."

Jack sighed. "OK. D'you want to spill the beans?" he asked Davies, who in turn looked at Walden.

"I've already said my part." said Walden, politely, yet in a way which indicated to Jack that he wasn't prepared to be exploited. "Higgins?" he asked finally, turning to face him.

"Sure." smiled Higgins. Jack knew little of any of the men who was not in his group and was eager for as many men to talk and introduce their respective personalities to him. "Basically, this fleet of submarines is set to leave here the day after tomorrow for somewhere towards Denmark where they will be joining another group of submarines where they can move off together and attack Northern France."

"At least that's the plan." interrupted Walden, before finishing his cigarette and flicking its remains across the room into a corner. He turned back to face Higgins who continued.

"We think that the Soviets will have planned to have taken over Germany, or enough of it to ensure a large enough stranglehold on Europe..."

"...Large enough that is, to start raining A-Bombs on the rest of Europe when they finish building them." finished Walden. "The whole shebang will take place in the next few weeks." predicted Walden. "The war could be over in as little as 25 days."

"January 1st." informed Higgins, with an nod of agreement with Walden.

Jack considered this for a second or two as he tried to digest the thoughts of Soviet control over Europe by the start of the next year. "That's the plan," started Jack, "but you sounded as if you had another plan."

"Yeah!" cried Walden. "Damn right we have! We're gonna get on the 'phone to 'A-Bomb Headquarters and tell them to hurry up and build that damn thing!" Walden leant against the wall and lowered his voice. "'Truth is, we've only got one option, one plan, as you say." He looked first at Jack, then moved his eyes across the room until they connected with Davies.

"So," started Davies, "they reckoned the Soviets were winning the nuclear race, there's not a damn thing we can do to help Einstein stuck out here to help the Allied effort and we're running out of time." he listed in bullet-point format. "All we can realistically do is delay the bombs." Davies waited for Jack's reaction. He didn't react. "We've got to get to Moscow." Again, Davies waited. "Where they do the research." he patronised.

"I know that, but what's your point?" asked Jack firmly.

"It's a long way there and we were meeting outside Moscow 'no later than 20th January'."

"Ahh," said Jack as he finally realised. It struck him that Captain Rodger's plan of getting to Moscow was just not going to work in time. They had to get there - and they had to get there fast.

"At our pace, we could expect to be no further than half way there by the new year." estimated Walden. "Then..." he tailed off his voice before Higgins made an explosion gesture with his hands whilst mouthing 'Happy New year!'

"Our only option is to take the sub..." concluded Davies.

"It won't work." stated Jack, boldly. "We can't..."

"It's the same plan we had before, but its turned out to be a sub rather than a boat. You like the plan then, why don't you like..."

"I never liked the plan." corrected Jack. "But I decided that I couldn't take an argument in the middle of the night when its fifty below freezing!" He stared at Davies, but felt Walden stare back. Jack gave in and turned first towards Higgins, then back to Davies. "Besides, does anyone know how to operate a submarine?"

Higgins and Walden looked at each other. "It can't be that difficult." suggested Davies finally.

"Don't give me that crap!" argued Jack. "Does anyone know how many men are needed to keep this thing ticking over? I mean, I doubt 16 pairs of buggered up, knowledgeless hands would get us anywhere even if we could understand the non-existent Russian manual!" Jack paused for breath and to try to get his message across that their plan was seriously flawed. "And what makes you think they won't just blow us all to Kingdom Come? Call me old fashioned, but I wouldn't let them bugger off with one of my multi-million pound battle ships without trying to do something about it!" Jack was on a roll. He could see the men were both angry, yet weak and unable to counter Jack's thoughtout replies. Maybe now they would be better off sticking to the original plan and not take diversions. He rounded off with what he hoped would be a final defiant sentence on the subject; "If you find me a man to drive this tin," he started, banging on the side on the submarine, "I'll consider going along with your plan."

Jack looked around and took satisfaction from knowing that Davies would now have to grow up and wipe that smug grin off his face. He looked at Higgins. He sat there; head bowed low. He looked defeated. Two down. Walden looked angry, yet Jack felt that despite their immediate indifferences, he had made a good impression for him. He could tell that Walden had no more ideas to put forward. Three down. All the other strangers to Jack appeared to put up no resistance - except one.

Rigg shook his head and sat up straight. "Down, but not out." he smiled.

Jack stared at him for a moment. "What?"

"I can read your mind, Rivers." replied Rigg. "But you're not gonna be able to throw our plan down the tube just yet."

"What 'you talking about Rigg?" demanded Walden.

Rigg took a slow breath, and as if to prolong the suspense took just as long again to stand up. "Have you got any objections to what I just said?" asked Jack.

"No." answered Rigg. "No objections."

"Then what?" fumed Jack. "Have you found me a driver? 'Cos I told you until you do..."

"Yeah! I've got you a driver." said Rigg without expression.

"You've..." stammered Jack.

"I've got you a driver." repeated Rigg.

"What?" responded Jack. "I suppose you've got some men to crew the thing too have you?"

"As a matter of fact I have." beamed Rigg. "Any one of a dozen." Rigg took a step closer towards Jack, who began to feel uneasy at the thought of defeat on this debate. "They're all keeping their arses warm in that big building you've been trying to get into." He took another step. "Who says we have to steal this tub, when someone can give it us?"

Jack was lost for answers. He knew this man could give as good as he gets. The best he could manage was a shrug - something which gave his credibility as a potential leader for this group a serious setback.

"In a couple of days time, we can be sitting aboard this sub with as many men we need to run the show doing so at our command. They just won't realise it. We'll wait until we can conveniently take over. We'll give them one whiff of these," continued Rigg, shaking his rifle, "and they'll ferry us to Leningrad - no questions asked."

He was right. Or so Jack thought anyway, and that was the general view amongst those in the room. He still didn't like it though. Captain Rodgers' plan was for them to meet up and try to get to get hold of the Soviet information in a do or die raid on the headquarters. By taking the ferry, as Rigg called it, they would reach Leningrad quickly and would easily be able to find some transport to Moscow. Once there, they could find the out information on the Soviet's A-Bombs and get out again. When they returned to Britain they would be hailed as heroes; the men who put an end to the second World War. However, as soon as the enemy finds out that they are on their way, security would be undoubtedly stepped up. They would have to be in and out like a flash, which would not be easy when they are tired, hungry and cold. If they tried and failed, the Soviets would be fully alerted to the threat of espionage and by the time Rodgers and the rest of the crew reached Moscow, they wouldn't stand a chance. If they failed and they did somehow manage to escape, they would be court-martialed for jeopardising the plan - the only real plan - which would have given victory to the Allies.

"It's a tall order," said Jack finally as he opened his eyes, "but so be it." he concluded.


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