V4 Vengeance

by Nigel Seed

  “Your dinner will be ready as soon as you have already cleaned up, my friends,” he said, laying another steaming bowl of stew in front of the chemists. “With all the extra people I now have an assistant to help with the cooking.”

  They were highly delighted to find that the showers were now working and despite the water being cold they could rid themselves of the dust and grit. Andrei came in and collected their clothes.

  “I will deal with these for you,” he said, as he whisked them away.

  Geordie looked after him, “He’ll make somebody a bonny wife one day.”

  “Cut him a little slack,” said Jim, “he has his own problems and I have the feeling we may be glad of him one of these days.”

  They made their way back to the tables set up for dinner. The rest of the people in there had finished their stew and were wandering off to find their beds when Andrei and his new, and very attractive assistant came through carrying three large portions of steak with all the trimmings. The workers leaving were clearly not impressed.

  “OK boss,” said Geordie, “whatever I was thinking about this wee guy I take back. I had been dreaming about a steak after all that rock heaving.”

  Dinner finished, Jim went through to the small kitchen area with the plates. “Andrei that was a terrific meal, but how come we got steak and the others got stew?”

  “Major, when I was in the Red Army we always said you should never be rude to the people who make your food.”

  “The British Army has the same saying, it must be true the world over.”

  “Well I have done nothing bad to those people’s food, but I do not have to give them my best. The Germans working on the U-Boats I do not like. And the chemists are scum from Romanov’s organization. All of them treat me like the cleaning woman. You and your men are not like that.”

  “Whatever your reasons, those were three great steaks, so thank you for that. Aren’t you going to introduce me to your new friend?”

  Andrei nodded. “Tatiana! Come here and say hello to my friend the Major. He is the one who found this place. Major, this is Tatiana; she is usually the cook on Mister Romanov’s yacht on the Black Sea. She is a fine cook, but speaks only a little English although she understands a little more.”

  Jim looked down into the deepest, darkest brown eyes he had seen in a long time. Her lovely face was framed by long dark hair and, despite the cook’s uniform, Jim could see she had a slim and graceful body.

  “Well, hello Tatiana. The scenery down here is improving at last.”

  “Hallo Major. I am being happy to meet you.”

  The girl gave him a small, shy smile and bobbed her head before scurrying off to the kitchen again. Jim watched the slim form with the long shining hair move gracefully back into the kitchen area.

  “A lovely assistant you have there, Andrei.”

  “That is true, but she is too friendly with Romanov for my taste. I would not advise you to become too close to her.”

  For a quiet, unassuming man, Andrei seemed to have definite opinions, Jim thought. As he got back to the room he shared with Ivan and Geordie, he found them working at the table again. This time they had found themselves a trio of Luger automatic pistols and were cleaning and oiling them carefully. They seemed to be enjoying a new hobby. He left them to it and went to bed to dream of dark brown eyes.

  Chapter 14

  They rose early in the morning to find that their new companions had risen even earlier and were already at work out in the base. Andrei joined them as they took their time over their second coffee after breakfast, talking and looking out of the window across the base. Andrei seemed to be more relaxed around them now, and Jim stayed seated at the table with him as the other two men went to pack up their kit from the night before.

  “Andrei, I don’t know much about you. For instance how long have you worked for Romanov? Where are you from? Are you married? Sorry if that seems nosey, but I do like to know about the people I am working with.”

  Andrei looked down into his coffee cup for a couple of seconds, then said, “I have worked personally for Romanov for a little too long, almost two years now. We of his household staff usually travel wherever he goes. I think he is a little afraid of being poisoned. Normally we travel between Moscow and down on the Black Sea to Odessa where he keeps his motor yacht. My home is in St. Petersburg and no, I am not married. This life would not be good for such things. But what about you and your men?”

  “Not much to tell,” said Jim looking out of the window again. “We were all in the Army and were all thrown on the scrapheap when the size of the Army was reduced. We took this job because it’s better than sitting on our backsides doing nothing. Our personal lives are complicated. I am divorced, Geordie has a stunning girlfriend who is an actress, she’s rehearsing for a play off-Broadway in New York at the moment, and Ivan is a widower.’

  Andrei nodded, “How did his wife die? I would not want to say anything that might hurt him.’

  “It was a horrible accident,” said Jim. “He was stationed up in the Hebridean Islands at the missile testing site the army has up there. One of the missiles went rogue and landed on his house. His wife Mary was inside. Luckily his children were at a kid’s birthday party down the road. It is best not to mention it to him. He hasn’t really accepted she is dead, since they never found a body or any trace of her. He is still struggling to move on.”

  “How is he taking care of his children when you are here?”

  “They live with his wife’s parents in Florida. He doesn’t get to see them much. I think the parents blame him for their daughter’s death. They don’t make him welcome.”

  He stopped talking as the other two men came back into the room. They all thanked Andrei for the coffee, and then wandered down to the water gate. The water was dribbling in and there was a large wet patch across the dock floor. They found that the water gate had four heavy duty lifting eyes built into the top edge. Having cleared some stone debris from around these, they were ready for the lifting stage, if the gantry crane could be made to work. If not, they needed a new solution.

  Examining the crane they found it was equipped with its own diesel engine generator that was mounted on the framework and that moved with it. This generator supplied power to run the crane unit itself and the electric motors that moved the gantry. Geordie and Ivan started to look the engine over while Jim went in search of Romanov. He found him in the missile bay examining one of the V1s in there.

  He looked over his shoulder as Jim came in. “Good morning, Major, you seem to be making progress.”

  “We are. If we can get the equipment to work, we hope to flood the maneuvering dock today. We are going to leave the dry docks until you want to try floating your submarines.”

  “Good. Now tell me, Major, what do you know about flying bombs?”

  “Not much about those particular ones, but I do know about the reconnaissance UAVs we used to fly in the Army’s Drone Unit and these can’t be that much different in principle.”

  “Major, I have a dream. When we get back to the Black Sea with our prize I would like to fly ten of these from the deck of the submarine as a sort of firework show to welcome us home. Can you make them fly for me?”

  “I can certainly try, but they may not be very accurate after all these years and I don’t think they were very precise even when they were new.”

  “Good, good. No need to worry about that, there is plenty of room in the Black Sea. We will talk about it after you create the underground lake for me.”

  Jim left him and went back toward the gantry crane. This museum was certainly going to be spectacular.

  It took some time and a good deal of swearing to get the gantry engine to run. Eventually it gave in to the tender ministrations from all three engineers and coughed into life in a choking cloud of black exhaust smoke. Three or four minutes running allowed it to vent the preservative oil from the cylinders and the heavy smoke slowly dissipated. Ivan heaved the control
lever across and the huge gantry juddered forward. Once the wheels were moving the wheel bearings settled and the massive gantry started to move forward slowly, but smoothly.

  They moved it as far forward as they could on the rails inset into the concrete of the docks and then Geordie climbed the long ladder, up into the crane operator’s cabin. He tracked the cabin and the attached crane winch across until it was lined up with the center of the massive water gate. The crane hook below him already had a heavy four-legged cable sling dangling from it. The German engineers must have left it there, ready for their return, all those years ago. By the time Geordie had it precisely positioned over the gate, Ivan and Jim were waiting for the sling to reach them.

  As it lowered within reach, they pulled the heavy cables outwards until the hooks on the ends slipped around the lifting eyes. They moved well clear of the gate and waved up to Geordie. Very carefully and very slowly, he reeled in the lifting cable. The gate was heavy and it had been there a long time, so he expected some strain. The explosions had loosened the seal and shaken out any corrosion that might have stopped the lift so, with surprising ease, the huge gate started to rise. It moved a very few centimeters until it cleared the lower seal, then the water of the Baltic came blasting into the dock that had been denied to it for so long.

  The low tidal wave rushed through the gap with a roar, even as Geordie stopped the lift. Anybody standing in the dock would have been picked up and smashed against the concrete walls by the powerful tsunami of water. It spread rapidly and struck the walls of the dock, causing back waves and turbulence. Even up here in the crane cabin the noise was deafening. The water boiled up the walls and filled the maneuvering dock within minutes. Geordie looked around to check that the gates of the submarine docks were holding and was pleased to see that they were. He gave a reassuring thumbs up sign to his two companions on the dock walls below.

  The inrush of water slowed and the swirling turbulence in the dock calmed as the water inside the base achieved the same level as the waters outside the hill. The movement settled until Geordie was looking down on a quiet pool of dirty water with odd pieces of debris floating in it. With the inside and outside water pressure equalized, he continued the lift and brought the huge water gate clear of its mounting. With the large load swinging below him he tracked the crane across slowly and then backed it up. He laid the massive steel door down gently on the concrete between the first and second dry docks. Climbing down the ladder from the control cabin, he walked forward and joined the other two engineers on the edge of the pool.

  “Anybody fancy a swim?”

  “Not with all the river rubbish that has been dragged in with the water,” said Jim. “Once it settles completely we may have to go in and clear that out so nothing tangles with the U-Boat’s propellers as they move through.”

  Romanov and his bodyguards, trailed by the inevitable Mr. Smith, joined them on the dockside.

  “Well done, Major. It looks as though we have one large obstacle out of the way. You and your team also seem to have a way with diesel engines.”

  “Most of the heavy construction equipment we have been using for years has diesel engines, so yes we know a bit.”

  “Then once you have finished with the dock here,” said Romanov, “I would like you to give my submarine people a little help. They are having trouble with the main engines on my prizes.”

  He didn’t wait for an answer, but turned and walked away. The three men watched him as he left, followed by his small entourage.

  Ivan sniffed, “You know boss, there’s something about that man that really gets up my nose. Can’t put my finger on it though.”

  Jim nodded, “I know what you mean. But for now we have work to do.”

  The three ex-Royal Engineers checked that the submarine dry dock gates were holding and no water was leaking in. They then decided to reward themselves with a coffee back in the dining area. Andrei was still buzzing about tidying and preparing food for the workers’ midday meal. He was happy to stop and make them a very passable coffee with some ornate sticky German cakes that had been brought in that day. They were looking out over the base from the window of the old officer’s mess when Geordie spoke.

  “Isn’t it odd, that our British contact is John Smith, one of the commonest names in Britain, and Romanov has one of the most distinctive names in Russia? The Romanovs were the Russian Royal Family before the communists slaughtered them.”

  Ivan looked at him, “So what? Is there something significant about that?”

  “Maybe not. It just struck me as an interesting coincidence.”

  Jim filed that thought away in his memory. He must ask Andrei about it later.

  They finished the coffee when Smith came hurrying through the door. “What are you doing? Mr. Romanov told you to get to the submarine to fix the engine and you are idling around here drinking coffee. I only just stopped him from sending his bodyguards to get you.”

  Jim was surprised, but tried to remain cool. “Calm down Mr. Smith. We are taking a break after completing a bloody big job and now we are moving on to the next one.”

  Smith gulped visibly then turned and rapidly left the room. The three men stood up from the table and thanking Andrei, they wandered out to the submarine still brushing the cake crumbs from their black overalls.

  Chapter 15

  Dropping down though the conning tower hatch they made their way aft to the engine room. The six German submarine engineers, that Romanov had brought in, were working on the starboard engine, their tools scattered around them. There was not much room in any U-Boat engine room and there was certainly not room for three more big men. Rather than get in the way they decided to move across to the next boat where work had not yet started and agreed they would work on these engines to see if there was more chance of getting these ones ready to run. The thought of beating the experts to getting an ancient engine working was attractive to three competitive people.

  In the end, after considerable effort and any number of skinned knuckles, both teams succeeded in getting the big diesels in both submarines to run. The dense white clouds as the preservative oil was burnt off took some time to clear, but after further adjustments all four of the engines in the two boats were running smoothly. Once the engines were closed down the German submarine specialists started crawling over both boats, checking everything they could before they dared to fill the docks with water.

  The next morning, with the safety checks still in progress, the three engineers felt themselves to be at a loose end and had decided to leave the base and take themselves into town for a well-earned break. As they were heading for the boatswain’s chair to lift themselves to the surface they were halted by the voice of Romanov. They hadn’t seen him for a couple of days and had assumed he was away running his business interests.

  “Gentlemen. I do hope you were not thinking of leaving?”

  Jim turned to him “Yes, we were, but only for a few hours break from here. It’s been a long couple of weeks.”

  “I am afraid I can’t allow that, Major. We are so close now that security becomes vital. And anyway I have an interesting task for your special talents.” He crooked his finger for them to follow him and set off for the rear of the base.

  “Hang on Mr. Romanov, we’ve been working our arses off down in this base and now we want to see some sunlight.”

  Romanov spun round with a look of frustrated fury on his face. “You are working for me now and I expect results. I do not pay you to sunbathe. You would do well to remember that.”

  Jim decided that this was not the time to have an argument so shrugged his shoulders and indicated to his two men that they should follow Romanov.

  Geordie was not impressed “Bloody good job he’s paying us a small fortune or I could really get fed up with this guy.”

  They followed Romanov into the workshop area where the V1 flying bombs were stored on their trolleys. Romanov turned and waited until they were all inside the room. It was clear
he had calmed down as quickly as he had flared up.

  “Major I need twenty of these in flying condition.”

  Jim looked at him, “Why, in heaven’s name, would you need so many? I understand your plan for the ten, but won’t the rest just be museum exhibits?”

  Romanov smiled, “Major, I am not some dusty museum keeper. I am a showman and I want to grab the attention of the world. If I can bring two working V4 submarines to the Black Sea with missiles on board, I can fire them from the deck and have the most impressive firework display. If I can demonstrate that the weapon system aimed at American cities in 1945 was truly viable, I will startle the world, especially the Americans.”

  Ivan and Geordie looked at each other. Ivan spoke for both of them, “It would make one hell of a show, boss. We might even make it on to a YouTube video.”

  Jim nodded, “OK we will give it a go, but we will need the nose cones to make sure the rockets are balanced for flight. Not the ones with the nerve agent in, if you please.”

  Romanov laughed “I think releasing nerve agent over the Black Sea would rather ruin the effect I am trying to achieve, don’t you think?”

  He seemed to find the idea funny and left the flying bomb hangar still chuckling.

  The team turned to one of the missiles and decided to open it up to educate themselves on how it worked. They were surprised at how simple it was compared to a modern Unmanned Aerial Vehicle or UAV. They had to remind themselves that even though it was old technology it had actually worked and had done quite a lot of damage. It wasn’t very accurate, but the Germans had been able to hit London when firing from the other side of the English Channel. Had they been closer, they could no doubt have concentrated the missiles’ impact in a much smaller area.

  They tested each missile, in turn. Some were still fully functional, others had minor problems that they cured by cannibalising spares from the ones that had bigger problems or from the stocks in the storage area. The empty warheads were brought round from the chemical laboratory and were fitted in place on the twenty best missiles, with sandbags fitted inside the nose cones to simulate the weight of the ancient explosives and chemicals. They had no way to test fire the pulse jet engines inside the base, but as far as they could tell, the remarkably simple motors should function once they were fueled up. They marked the serviceable missiles with green tags so they did not get confused with the ones that were not ready for use, and moved the trolleys supporting the tagged ones to the front of the hangar.