Down the Rabbit Hole- Secret Agents

by Jason Walker

  More men suddenly appeared from the bushes and were now surrounding Nancy, some of them holding their rifles pointing straight at her. The man closest to her told them to hold their fire.

  Nancy held up her hands in the gesture of surrender. The man who she’d tried to hit with the branch revealed his face.

  “I’m Jean Luc Moreau, Resistance. And, might I ask who you may be? It’s a strange place - and time - for a young woman to be out for a stroll?”

  “I am not at liberty to inform you of my identity”, said Nancy.

  “Madame. I don’t know where you are from, but around here, we have a little rule, and that rule stipulates that whenever a group of tired, cold and hungry men are pointing their loaded rifles at you while asking your name, you will give them your name. Now, again. Who might you be, if you please?”

  “My name is not important. Where am I? Please, just tell me where I am.”

  Moreau looked at Nancy suspiciously. “You are in the forest just outside of Bordeaux.” Nancy’s eyes opened wide and she almost smiled. She was in the right place!

  “You are Garrow’s men?”

  “Maybe. Now, for the last and final time, who are you?”

  “Why, I’m just a little mouse with a big chunk of cheese which some important people are waiting for me to deliver”, said Nancy a little meekly.

  Moreau nodded at her in a way that told her she’d given the correct answer. He then looked at the other men and said, “It’s her.”

  The men all turned around and started to walk off, Moreau beckoning for Nancy to follow. She had never felt so exhausted and cold in her life, but now she felt safe. The difficult part of her journey was over, she hoped.

  “Where is Garrow?”

  “He is with a scout searching the southern border for enemy movement, and likely trying to find a way to get you out of here. In the meantime, you are my responsibility so please follow us, and stay close.”

  After almost two hours of walking, the group reached the group’s safe house, and upon entering they could hear groaning.

  They stepped into a back room and there was one of their own, a fighter, who was obviously in great pain. A French doctor was present and had removed the man’s boots and socks. His left foot was black with frostbite. The doctor informed the room that it was too advanced and that the only way to save his life was to remove the infected toes, before looking directly at Nancy - instinctively because she was a woman - and asking her to find plenty of cloth, water, and his medical bag. She dutifully returned with the items a few seconds later.

  “Do you have anything for the pain, Doctor?” she asked.

  “I’m afraid not. The Nazis pillaged our hospitals of all medication. The only pain killers or anesthesia we had has been taken for their own use. Still, we must do this. It’s pain now, or death soon”, he replied, grimly.

  Nancy gulped as the doctor removed his surgical saw from his bag. Moreau gave the man a piece of cloth to bite down on to, and held his hand in a futile attempt to take away some of the pain which was imminent. Another man in the room obeyed the doctor’s request to press down on the man’s leg and to hold on like hell.

  Only one set of eyes were on the man’s toes, the doctor’s. Everyone else had averted their gaze, unable to watch. Only the first movement of the saw was heard, the rest being drowned out by the screaming.

  The doctor cut as fast as he could, removing all five toes. Blood was everywhere, and he ordered Nancy to cut a piece of cloth to use as a tourniquet. She wrapped it around the patient’s upper leg, and slowly, the blood flow started to subside.

  After a few more minutes, the resistance fighter passed out, so tired he was from the screaming and constant tensing of every muscle. Everyone else collapsed on the floor, emotional wrecks. They were also worrying if any undesirable Germans in the forest had heard the screaming.

  Chapter Six

  Marseille, France.

  The two young guards threw Danielle into a small, dark and damp cell where there were already several other women. She was only just conscious. As soon as they’d left, one of the women, Marion Gogh, a very tired looking thirty-something year old from Belgium, went to her, and the other women soon followed. She was still naked, and the women could see exactly the pain which had been inflicted upon her.

  “Mon Dieu, they did a job on you”, said Marion.

  Danielle looked up at her, weeping silent tears. Marion gently lifted her head and placed it in her lap.

  “Don’t worry, you’re with us now. You’re safe, we’re not going to hurt you.”

  Between them, the women lifted Danielle onto the one and only cot in the cell, and laid her on her side. It was the first time they had seen her back, and it was lacerated in several places. She’d been beaten and whipped during her interrogation, and that was before they’d started on her chest. The women had some crushed plant root, and started applying it to the wounds, causing Danielle to once again scream out in pain.

  “Mama, Mama.”

  Marion looked at Danielle’s lower abdomen, and noticed her tiny bump, the result of her having been raped by Cpl. Himmel several weeks before.

  “Did they see this?” she asked. Danielle shook her head.

  One of the other women, Clara, went over to Danielle and Marion, and she was holding a piece of wire.

  “This is all I could find”, she announced apologetically.

  Danielle asked what it was for, and Marion looked down at the floor.

  “We need to take care of what’s inside your stomach, before it gets too big.” Danielle started sobbing again, and was trying to move away from the women.

  Marion continued: “If those bâtards find out that you are carrying, they might possibly rip it out and let you bleed to death. Even worse? There is a camp for women only. It’s in Germany in a place called Ravensbrűck. There have been thousands of pregnant women sent there and turned into an experiment. They use them to see how much torture the women can tolerate before the baby pops out. If you do not allow us to do this, not only your baby, but you will surely die. If we take care of it now, we may see the end of the war and things will be very different. Please, trust me.”

  Danielle resigned herself to the fact that she was now firmly in Marion’s hands. She was so tired that she asked to be allowed to rest first, to which the women agreed. Truthfully, she just wanted to have some time to say goodbye to her unborn baby.

  Chapter Seven

  Fontaine, Nadeau and Claude were now climbing the final push to where they would settle in order to carry out their surveillance. With the ascent now at a 45 degree angle, it was hard going. Claude was still leading, and they were in an area so remote that the two men started to question his leadership.

  “He does know where he’s going, doesn’t he?” Nadeau asked Fontaine. “I hope so. If not, I’m going to be pretty pissed off.”

  Claude swung around having heard the brief exchange. “Quiet. Follow me, focus, and just be quiet.”

  The two men looked at each other and shrugged. Who were they to argue considering that they didn’t have the slightest clue where they were or where they were headed? They returned their eyes straight ahead ready to continue their trek, and there was no Claude. He had quite simply vanished.

  “Claude”, hissed Nadeau. Nothing.

  Fontaine’s leg slipped on a loose rock and he fell down a few metres, almost taking Nadeau with him. He managed to grab hold of a branch growing out of the rock and stopped himself, regaining his footing. Claude’s face then appeared as fast as it has disappeared above them, and with a stern look which a 14 year old should not have been capable of, he said, “That’s what happens when you don’t focus, now come on.”

  Fontaine and Nadeau climbed up a few more metres, and Claude took their hands, helping them on to the ledge on which he was now sat. At the back, there was a small cave barely big enough for the three of them to fit. There was absolutely nothing else of interest which Fontaine or Nadeau could see, wh
ich made things all the more confusing when Claude informed them that they had arrived at their destination.

  “What do you mean arrived at our destination, Claude?” asked Nadeau. “Do you mean we are going to take a rest?

  “No. I mean, we have arrived at our destination, gentlemen.”

  Claude then climbed into the cave and inched towards the back which was covered in snow. He punched it with his fist, and there was suddenly an opening leading to a shaft.

  It was perfectly round, measuring about two metres wide, leading straight down inside the mountain.

  Claude turned around, and for the first time since the trio had left the safe house, he was smiling.

  “Who wants to look first?” he asked.

  Fontaine was not going to be stopped. He slithered forwards on his belly until his head was hanging over the shaft. He found himself looking down. The air tunnel itself was, he estimated about 500m long. Inside the huge cave at the bottom, there was a flurry of activity with uniformed Germans, as well as local civilians.

  “Baise moi, Claude. How did you find this?” he asked incredulously.

  “By pure accident. I spotted a hare, and chased it. It was to be my lunch. It led me here”, replied Claude, now proud that he had finally earned Fontaine and Nadeau’s respect.

  It was now nighttime, and no one was going anywhere. The three of them pulled their packs into the small cave and settled down to rest for the night.

  “What do you think is going on down there”, asked Claude.

  “I’ll be damned if I know”, said Fontaine, “but we’re going to bloody well find out. We need to keep watch through the night and we’ll take it in turns. Two hour shifts. I’ll take the first one, Pierre, you will be next to give the boy a chance to get some rest.”

  Nadeau and Claude were both fast asleep before Fontaine had even had chance to remove his pair of binoculars from his pack. He assumed his position and started scanning every square inch which was visible in the cave below.

  A truck arrived outside the cave and was immediately surrounded by German guards, their rifles poised. One of them approached the back and untied the canvass cover.

  “Geh Raus, schnell.” Following the order, around ten gypsy looking women climbed out of the back of the truck. They were all young, perhaps in their twenties. They all huddled together, quite obviously scared. A Nazi officer arrived on the scene, eyeing the women, and led them inside the cave.

  Fontaine, now able to see the new arrivals, removed from his pack the small camera which Garrow had given him back at the bush shack, and pointed it down the shaft to take some pictures. As a backup, he also took a notebook and pencil from his pack and made some detailed sketches.

  Chapter Eight

  Inside the Secret Nazi Mine.

  The women were led from the cave to the entrance of the actual mine itself. A high ranking officer was in charge, one General Werner Lutze. He ordered the women to line up side- by-side, and slowly walked past each and every one, inspecting them as if they were about to go on parade. He then took a couple of steps back, facing them with a rather sinister smile on his face. He was wearing a pathetic excuse for a moustache, which he had grown to hide his cleft lip.

  “Do not be afraid, ladies. It is not my intention to harm you.” The women found this difficult to believe, given that they had been taken there by force in the back of a military truck.

  “The villagers around here have been reporting that you and your people, you wandering gypsies, have been causing trouble. They say, that you are all cursed by the devil. I do not personally see this as a curse, I see it as a talent, and I would like very much for you to use your talent and help me with something. I see your talent as fortune telling. You are visionaries. One could even go so far as to say that you are prophets of our time, perhaps. It is your civic duty to use your talents and see into the future on behalf of the Third Reich.”

  Lutze pointed to the entrance tunnel leading to the mine.

  “Through this entrance there is a huge network of tunnels. You will enter them and you will find something which we are looking for. Use your talent to guide you. Once you have found it, you will be given very special privileges.”

  He smiled once again, and as he turned to leave, one of the women asked what the outcome for them would be if they should not find whatever it was that they were looking for. Lutze approached, and stood just a few inches from her.

  “It will be in your best interests if you do not come out of the tunnels until you do find what we want.”

  The women were now crying. Those words had probably sealed their fate. They were being sent to their deaths in a dark, lonely tunnel to find something which was so secret, they hadn’t even been told what it was.

  A group of guards pushed them into the entrance of the passage that lay ahead, and stood facing them, making sure that they would not exit again. One by one, they slowly disappeared into the darkness. General Lutze turned around and walked towards a make-shift office.

  Inside, at a table, sat Professor Johannes Lenard, a man in his 40s with grey hair and a thick moustache. He was studying some blueprints and hand-drawn maps of the tunnels while scribbling notes in his journal. He saw the general enter.

  “Sir, I was just looking over the maps of the tunnel network, and I…” Lutze raised his hand and shut him off.

  “No need, Professor, I have sent the canaries inside to investigate. They entered five minutes ago.”

  “But, sir, they will surely perish as they get deeper into the network because of the gasses!”

  “Not before they find what it is that we want, Professor. There is no need for you to be concerned about them. Get some sleep, you’re going to need it. We have a long week ahead of us”, he replied, signaling an end to the conversation.

  As Lutze left the office, Professor Lenard watched him, rubbing his temples in anguish.

  He knew that ten innocent women had just been sent to their certain deaths.

  Chapter Nine

  Captain Garrow was now back at the bush shack and was catching up on the day’s events, including the amputation. He then sat down with Nancy as they ate what they would have to call a meal.

  “Captain, I must ask a favour of you. I need to keep moving, and I need to get to Bordeaux”, Nancy said to Garrow.

  Garrow leaned back in his chair, pondering Nancy’s request. “Bordeaux is crawling with Krauts.”

  “I know, but it is imperative that I get there. There is something I need to do with the utmost urgency, and please understand that I would not be asking if it wasn’t vital.”

  “It’s going to be difficult getting you in, and damned near impossible getting you out again. What is it that you need to do?”

  Nancy apologised, and explained that her task was confidential.

  “Look. I understand, and I trust you. But, you need to also understand me when I tell you that I am not going to send my men into harm’s way unless I know why I am sending them into harm’s way. Can you at least tell me something?” asked Garrow.

  “There is someone there, a contact with whom I must meet. After that I will leave with your men and they can escort me to London.”

  Garrow let out an involuntary laugh.

  “You want me to take you to London? Is there anything else I can do for you? Maybe you’d like to stop off for some souvenir shopping on the way?”

  “I don’t mean you personally, Captain. I understand that you are needed here. But, some of your men can take me, perhaps?” asked Nancy.

  “I am short of manpower, and it’s just too dangerous. Let me ask you something. This contact of yours in Bordeaux, are you absolutely sure that he - or she - is still alive?” asked Garrow, still searching for a valid excuse not to send his men there as an escort.

  “I can only hope so”, was the most honest answer she could give.

  “Ok. Give me some time. I will assemble some men to take you. They need to be fed and rested first. Something tells me I am
going to regret this, but I’m a sucker for a pretty face.”

  Nancy smiled. “Thank you, Captain.”

  Chapter Ten

  The workers in the cave leading to the mine were busy offloading boxes from delivery trucks and leaving them by the entrance to the tunnel, with the beady eyes of General Lutze watching them every second. One worker - a civilian - was carrying a large crate, obviously too large and heavy for him alone, and he dropped it, splitting the box open out of which scattered dozens of pieces of metal of varying shapes and sizes. Knowing that the general was watching him, he dropped to his knees and started gathering all of the parts. Lutz’s face turned a deep shade of crimson.

  “Halt! Halt! Everyone stop what they are doing and listen to me. There will be no more carelessness. Do you understand? The parts and components inside of these boxes were very difficult to come by, and we did not take so many risks in bringing them here only for you idiots to drop them.”

  Lutze walked over to the guilty worker who was still on his knees, drew his pistol from its holster, and inserted a bullet into the clumsy man’s head. A spurt of blood shot out from his forehead before his body slumped to the floor, motionless, confirming that he was very dead. Now, it was time for Lutze to finish his speech.

  “The next one to treat my property with such disregard will meet the same fate, and I will choose more of your men at random and shoot them too, so I suggest you be more careful. Carry on.”

  It was Claude’s turn to keep lookout. Fontaine and Nadeau were sleeping soundly. He heard a noise coming from outside the small cave which was getting closer. It was two Nazi guards patrolling the area.