Cast No Shadow: A Thrilling WW2 Adventure (Dragan Kelly Book 1)

by Peter Alderson Sharp

  “‘Now do it!’ he said and removed his hat. Jürgen knocked poor Otto to the ground with his pistol and threw on some civilian clothes belonging to Olly, Inga’s husband. Then we jumped in the car and drove to Munkelva. We had a sticky moment in Kirkenes where we were stopped, but Jürgen was able to convince the patrol that he was an off-duty officer taking a group of Norwegian ‘Friends of the Reich’ to a dinner appointment.

  “In all it took nearly three weeks for us to eventually arrive in Bergen. I can’t help saying that I felt sorry for Jürgen. He received a very frosty reception from the resistance. He was told that he would be sent to Sweden where he would either be imprisoned or handed back to the German authorities in Norway.

  “The following day however everything had changed. Jürgen was told that a British agent in Sweden would offer him a deal to act as a double agent in France. I was similarly told that this person was also interested in me as we already had a perfect cover.

  “By now the initial grief I had felt had subsided and been replaced with a burning anger and a desire to inflict hurt on those who had hurt me, so I agreed. Jürgen and I crossed into Sweden, met with the agent and were then transported to England to undergo training with SOE.”

  Kelly laughed at this point. “When where you there?” he asked. Sybilla calculated and told him. “Seems we missed each other by a few months,” he said. He allowed Sybilla to continue with her story.

  “The plan was that Jürgen would present himself to the local Gestapo in France with the story of his escape from Norway with his mistress—me—and how he wanted to clear the slate by acting as agents for the Gestapo to weed out the resistance cells. They of course embraced him with open arms. What should have happened then is that he would report back insignificant snippets of information to the Gestapo whilst actually providing me with German intelligence to pass through the resistance.

  “The plan was clearly too complicated and doomed to failure. Once accepted by the Gestapo, Jürgen saw his chance of really redeeming himself and getting back to Germany after the war. I became alarmed, but he watched me all the time, even insisting on us sleeping in the same room, though not in the same bed, for appearances as part of our cover.

  “On one occasion I managed to slip away and made contact with a British agent. After communicating with England, I was informed that the situation was retrievable. I was to play along with him and go over to his side. That way I could still get some useful information from him. I was advised that it was strongly recommended that I start sleeping with him again. He was then more likely to believe my conversion and more likely to talk.

  “Jürgen was besotted by me. He wanted to believe I was with him totally, even if his subconscious warned him against it. He was overjoyed when I moved into his bed and true to predictions, I was able to extract a huge amount of useful information. It presented me with a dilemma as I had to feed him information regarding the resistance groups I was infiltrating, but the Maquis handled this brilliantly, warning the group just before the Gestapo struck. Always blaming me, of course, to protect my cover.

  “When someone takes the trouble to analyse this operation, they will find that of the four groups I infiltrated, all four were dispersed, and hence had to regroup at some inconvenience, but not a single individual was killed or captured.

  “The rest you know only too well. You struck only a few days before. Unknown to Jürgen of course, I was to be ‘extracted’ and returned to England. ‘The Vikings’ were becoming too well known and it was believed that the Gestapo, although delighted at the breakup of the resistance groups, were nevertheless becoming suspicious at the lack of kills and captures as a consequence.

  “Once I was safe in my refuge in Dunkirk, the resistance movement there, who were in on the double bluff, kept me safe until after the invasion. Then when the coast of France was in the hands of the allies, I was repatriated to England.

  “I was on standby with SOE until near the end of the war but was never called upon to act. Just before the end, I was allowed to go back to Norway to stay with Inga for a few months. On my return to England I had planned to search for you, but at that point I was offered initially a secondment to MI5 and later a transfer. I was asked to go undercover in Berlin to gain evidence against war criminals. I couldn’t refuse; I still carried a huge burden of grief, anger and resentment. I had to do it.

  “From there I was sent by CS1 to Cuba. I was promised home leave in England after this operation and I was determined to use it to find you.”

  She finished her story and lay back on the sand. There was a long pause, “Well?” she said quietly. “Say something. What are you thinking?”

  Kelly leaned over her and kissed her affectionately. “I was thinking,” he said, “that you, Sybilla, are the most amazing person I have ever met in my entire life.”

  Down River

  “I’ll need to have another look at those wounds,” she said.

  “What, now?” exclaimed Kelly. In answer she took hold of his tee shirt and raised it slowly up his chest, finally pulling it over his head and placing it down beside her.

  She gently massaged his chest then said, “I need to check on the wounds on your legs also.” She spoke softly as she undid his belt.

  “This is all a bit one-sided,” he said, quietly but pointedly. Sybilla hesitated for a brief moment then nodded and standing up she untied her boots and pulled them off, then flicked off the socks. Unbuckling her fatigue trousers, she allowed them to fall and stepped out of them, then deftly removed her tee shirt, she was not wearing a bra. Finally, after a further moment’s hesitation she slipped off her pants and advanced on the still recumbent Kelly.

  Sybilla continued to undress Kelly until he too was naked, then she lay full length on him. Kelly made to roll her onto her back, but she resisted.

  “No!” she said. “You are the patient; I am the nurse. I carry out all of the healing processes. You just lie there and think of England.”

  Agent Skadi made love to Kelly until they were both exhausted. They lay for a time in each other’s arms until it was almost completely dark, then dressed quickly and walked hand in hand back to the village. They had been allocated adjoining rooms in one of the larger houses in the village, but that night one of the rooms remained unused.

  The trek to the final departure point was made under cover of darkness the following night. There were a few heart stopping moments, but they made good progress and arrived well before dawn. Prieto brought the boat out of its hidden mooring and proudly displayed it to the couple. Kelly wasn’t quite sure what he had expected, but it certainly hadn’t been a canoe with a canopy.

  This, however, is exactly what their cruise liner turned out to be.

  Alvaro supplied them with a map of the river, gave them additional instructions, wished them good luck and then after receiving their heartfelt thanks embraced each of them warmly. Finally, he took his leave. Kelly couldn’t swear, but he thought he detected just the hint of dampness in the big black eyes of the fearless revolutionary. One of nature’s gentlemen, thought Kelly.

  Having removed the pointless canopy, they set off after dark had fallen the following night. At three in the morning, to their delight, they were arrested, having been discovered by a US patrol boat at the entrance to the bay.

  The young naval officer who interviewed them stared incredulously at the pair as they told their story. Completely out of his depth, he called the senior duty officer to assist.

  He was eventually joined by a US Marine Corps Major, who also declared himself astonished at their tale. Having started out as belligerent, the assertiveness and sheer authority displayed by the British couple completely threw him; the final coup had been when Sybilla had lifted up Kelly’s shirt to reveal the ugly welts left by Botvinik. The interview ended with the major shaking their hands and asking them politely if they would mind staying in a cell until his commanding officer came on duty.

  The next interviewer was a Marine Colonel
, the commanding officer of the marine battalion. He was shrewd enough to realise that even if half of this was true, he too was completely out of his depth. He quickly passed them onto a senior naval officer.

  It was about 11 am when they were finally taken into Rear Admiral Andrews’ office. The British couple now felt they were at a level where they could share all. They told their story in detail, leaving nothing out. Sybilla gave Andrews the number she had memorised which provided a direct line to CS1.

  Andrews surveyed them for a moment, shaking his head, before picking up the phone and instructing the person on the other end, presumably his PA, to get the number. A few minutes passed before the phone rang and Andrews answered it. He relayed the details of the two people in front of him and listened, clearly with increasing interest to what the person on the other end was saying. Thereafter Andrews contributed little to the telephone conversation other than to occasionally check a detail or reference with Kelly or Sybilla.

  Andrews looked thoughtful as he slowly placed the receiver back into its cradle. After it clicked, he picked it up again and asked for another number. The response was fast this time. After exchanging salutations, he very briefly described to the recipient the situation that had arisen and gave the other person the number given to him by Sybilla. He’s checking up on the validity of CS1, thought Kelly.

  Andrews nodded throughout the phone call and finally put down the phone with much more conviction. Looking up at them, he smiled.

  “Wow!” he exclaimed. “Agent Skadi and Agent Kelly. I am asked by ...” he hesitated, “the Head of CS to tell you ‘Good Job!’. He’s looking forward to seeing you both soon. Off the record, that message comes also with the blessing of our own CIA. They are mightily impressed.”

  Andrews rose and walked around to the front of the desk and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. “Sybilla, Dan, we’ll have you home in no time!”

  Decision Time

  Dragan Kelly took the copy of the telegram he had sent to Sybilla, now assigned to Berlin, and slipped it into his briefcase. He paid the man behind the counter, smiled, and thanked him before walking out into the street.

  He was early for his appointment, so decided to walk to MI5. As he did so, he turned over recent events in his mind. After being ferried to The Bahamas by the US Coastguard, he had been met by Donnelly, who had taken over as head of G. Sybilla had been delayed in The Bahamas, but Kelly had been sent home the following day. Donnelly had greeted him partly with enthusiasm, clearly one of his agents performing well was a feather in his cap, and partly with concern because of the report he had received about Kelly’s injuries.

  Kelly had by-passed customs and passport control and had been whisked through the diplomatic channel to a small room in the terminal block. There he was met by a doctor who carried out a full examination. He confirmed to Donnelly that the injuries had been sustained by a severe beating. Despite appearances there were no serious injuries, but the doctor recommended complete rest for a while.

  Donnelly’s response had been to send Kelly on leave for a week and he would brook no argument on the subject, so Kelly had taken himself to South Devon to walk the tors of Dartmoor and immerse himself in the ancient history of the region. He had enjoyed the experience but felt guilty because, apart from a little discomfort from some of the now disappearing bruises, he was otherwise fine.

  On her return to England, Sybilla had found him and spent a little time with him. They had been a delightful few days, but too short. All too soon she had had to leave to take up her new posting in Berlin.

  He reached MI5 and walked into the foyer. He smiled at the receptionist, who clearly didn’t recognise him, but noted his ID card and signed him in. The man in the grey suit with the bulge was different, but the attitude of casual awareness was the same. Kelly started for the stairs when the receptionist called him back.

  “Sorry Mr Kelly, I nearly missed the message on the log. You are to report to the Head of CS this morning, not Mr Donnelly as previously arranged.”

  Kelly nodded and thanked him. He decided to take the lift as CS was further up the building than G.

  Kelly exited the lift and strolled along the corridor, past the doors all prefixed with CS, until he came to the door marked ‘CS Branch - Head of Operations’. He gently tapped and walked in when called. The door opened into an outer office, in exactly the same format as that of G Branch.

  A secretary smiled at him from behind her desk. “Major Kelly?” Kelly nodded and returned the smile. “Head of Ops will see you now,” she said then spoke into the intercom. “Please go in, Major.”

  Kelly walked into the inner office. It was gloomy and appeared to be empty at first, until Kelly saw a figure in silhouette huddled over a back lit map in the corner of the room. It was a silhouette that Dan Kelly would have recognised anywhere. Archie Jenkins!

  Archie, grinning, came from of the gloom. He moved to the wall, switched on a light, and indicated the other corner of the room, where two battered old chairs were arranged around an old Chippendale coffee table.

  Kelly smiled as he took his seat. Déjà vu, he thought.

  “Hello Dan! Thanks for coming,” the old seaman said as he sat down, “and congratulations on a job well done. Both you and Skadi. I’m proud of her, just as I’m sure Donnelly must be proud of you. Mind you, he won’t admit it!”

  “YOU are Head of CS? You are CS1?” asked Kelly.

  “Indeed!” said Jenkins. “This is the boring civil service job I mentioned to you some time ago. I went on so much about the need to be more focussed in our intelligence gathering that after the war they moved me in to set up this department, but of course this is only stage one.”

  “Which seems to suggest,” said Kelly, “that there will be a stage two?”

  “The planning for stage two has already started,” confirmed Jenkins. “We are well advanced and plan to go active in a little over a month.”

  “Am I cleared to know?” ask Kelly.

  “Yes, you are,” confirmed Jenkins. “In fact, I’d like you to be involved, hence my calling you to this meeting.” Jenkins pre-empted the next question by raising his hand. “Let’s take tea and reminisce before we go into detail. Excuse me.” Jenkins arose and walked to the door, which he opened halfway and spoke to his PA.

  Kelly heard the woman trilling, “Yes Admiral, at once,” as the door closed. Jenkins sat down again with a sigh.

  “Do you remember Megan, Dan? She would have assumed we wanted tea. I wouldn’t even have had to ask.”

  “I do remember Megan,” said Kelly, displaying no emotion. “Very nice person, seemed very efficient.”

  “Indeed, she was, or rather is,” said Jenkins. “Had a terrible time after the war. Husband fell at Casino, but she bounced back.” Jenkins paused for a while, and then looking at Kelly askance said, “We’re to be married. Seems she became quite fond of me when we worked together.” Kelly was only partly surprised; he had detected the bond between them when he visited the admiralty. He offered his heartfelt congratulations.

  “When I told her I was seeing you, she said to send you her best wishes. I think she took a shine to you, you know Dan.”

  “That’s exceedingly kind, Admiral. Please return the compliment,” responded Kelly, pleased that Megan would find happiness.

  They chatted about various issues as they drank the tea that had arrived, then Jenkins steered the conversation to their first meeting.

  “Do you remember Dan, that we talked about deterrence?”

  Kelly nodded.

  “I do Admiral. I remember you talked about a different type of deterrence. One based on intelligence, with intervention if necessary.”

  “Indeed Dan. That, in effect, is stage two of this project. I am currently putting together a small team of highly skilled agents who will be authorised to intervene and, if necessary, use extreme force in pursuit of their duties. I have recruited a number of such agents so far. Skadi, that is to say Sybilla, is one and
I seek another three.”

  “Will you lead this team, Admiral?” asked Kelly.

  “No!” said Jenkins with firmness. “I was flattered to have been asked by our superiors but am happy to retire now. I’ve set the project up, but the operation of the new branch will rest with an incoming senior agent. Incidentally, the branch will be designated IIA. It stands for Intelligence and Intervention Agency. Officially it will be part of G3, but actually it will be entirely autonomous.”

  There was a pause. Kelly felt it was inappropriate to interrupt at this point, he wanted Jenkins to say what he suspected, hoped, he was about to say.

  At length, Jenkins said, “I want you to be a member of this team, Dan.”

  Kelly nodded. “I would be honoured to accept, Admiral. I’m only sorry you won’t be leading us.”

  “Excellent!” exclaimed Jenkins. “I think you’ll find that the senior agent appointment won’t disappoint. He is a very experienced agent with an excellent record of success, in fact you know him! Robert McFarlane!”

  Kelly smiled. Yes, he could work with Bob McFarlane.

  “Right Dan!” said Jenkins decisively. “Let’s walk along to Bob’s office so that he can formally welcome you to his branch, as Dragan Kelly, Special Intelligence Agent.”

  Berlin 1950

  Dragan Kelly, SIA, sat at a small table beside a refreshment concession in Tempelhof airport. He took a sip of his now tepid coffee and scanned the front page of Die Welt for the umpteenth time. His contact was late. He glanced at his watch. Three fifteen; he should have been here at three. He would give Herr Manteufel another five minutes then he would leave, appearing too keen would send the wrong signal.

  As he glanced up from his watch, he saw Manteufel out of the corner of his eye, approaching from the main entrance. He was alone, which was bad news. Kelly deliberately showed no recognition. Instead, he stood, folded his paper, and picked up his coat. Again, out of the corner of his eye he saw Manteufel quicken his step. Good, thought Kelly, that was the response he was looking for. He turned towards the entrance, immediately smiled, and half nodded as if seeing his contact for the first time.