“Oh gosh, that must have been so frightening for you?”
“I didn’t have time to think. Yes, I had blood spurting from my face but I couldn’t let that faze me. I grabbed hold of the wooden sticks attached to the wire garrotte and still holding him down, I whipped it around his neck. If you’ve never used a garrotte before, you may find yourself in a different position than I was. I was lucky to have practiced this technique many times in training and once before on an enemy. I twisted those sticks so tightly on his neck. His eyes bulged and his legs kicked. He didn’t stand a chance against me.” Her gaze drifted, showing her to be deep in thought about the incident.
Vera’s hand was placed palm flat-down on the table, Alice placed her hand on top of it. “I’m sure that your bravery was highly noted and that whatever your mission was, you were able to complete it.”
Vera closed her eyes for a short moment, hiding her sadness. “I wouldn’t call it bravery, dear Alice, more like survival.”
•••
The recruits were in building three. It was evening and the weather had eased and sky turned dark. Everyone sat behind wooden desks, which reminded them of their school days.
Sergeant Jenkins headed the class in map reading. “All maps are drawn with North at the top of the page. One unit is the equivalent to one-hundred thousand units in real life. To determine your distance, use a ruler and the scale to measure the miles from your location to your destination. Contour lines! These represent how high, or, how flat the land is. When these contour lines are close together, this will mean higher levels, when they are further apart, this means flatter land.” Using a pointing stick, he pointed out to the recruits the lines in question on the large map mounted on the wall behind him. “This will have a major effect in your decision making, should you find yourselves in such situations. Get familiar with the symbols.” He pointed to symbols along the top of his map. “Various lines depict roads, mountains are green, water bodies of any kind are in blue, towns and cities are pink or yellow, with the size of colour and boldness of writing indicating their populations and significance of importance. So, the next thing you need to know, is just where the bloody hell you are. Match road signs, take a look around at what you can see in real life, mountains, rivers, bridges and so forth. Then, plot your route out. You will have a compass but all that will do is show you where North is, other than that, your map is your best option for navigation.” He handed out a folded map to each recruit. “Learn and memorise as much as you can, it may just save your life.”
Alice was completely exhausted. Her brain just couldn’t absorb any more information, which made it music to her ears when Sergeant Jenkins announced, “Class dismissed.”
They all left the building, jogging, as instructed, to their relevant barracks. Alice practically had to drag herself to her cot, where she undressed, put on her nightgown and slipped into bed. She rested her head on her pillow and pulled up her sheet and blanket. Before she closed her eyes, she glimpsed over to Vera’s cot, noting that she was already fast asleep.
Chapter Five
Waking the following morning, Alice slipped out of bed and dressed. She made her way, by jogging, over to the compound. Sergeant Todd was already waiting. He lined the recruits up and inspected each one, noting any faults with tardiness. He then picked one of the male recruits to stand in front of him with his back turned to him. The recruit stood, wondering what was to come next. Sergeant Todd sneaked up behind him, covered his mouth with one hand and with a knife in his other hand, he mimicked slashing the recruit’s throat, then stabbing him as he pulled him down to the ground. Straddled over him, he mimicked stabbing him in his chest.
Standing up, and using his fingers, he summoned Alice over. “I want you to crawl along the ground, then sneak up behind him and imitate what I’ve just shown you.”
Alice got down on the ground and crawled along, with the knife placed between her teeth. She then couched, silently bringing herself to a standing position. She flung her arm out, reaching to place her hand over the recruit’s mouth, she drew the knife and mimicked slashing his throat. As she pulled him to the ground, she mimicked stabbing him in the heart and then jumped away from him.
“Good job,” Sergeant Todd told her. “Now, this is what is known as silent killing. You sneak in, you kill silently and you move on to your next task. The best option is to get him down as fast as possible without anyone else hearing any kind of commotion. Next, you make sure that he’s dead before he can raise any kind of alarm.” He paired the recruits off, giving all of them the chance to practice this technique.
Alice was paired with Gordon Nicolls. Together, they took turns in being the killer and the victim. She enjoyed this part of the training. It was skilful and gave her a sense of worth if she was ever to find herself up against a male opponent.
“So, where are you from?” Gordon asked her.
“I’m not sure that we’re allowed to probe each other like that. Now turn around, so I can pretend to kill you.” She placed her hands on his arms and twirled him around, so that his back was facing her. Waiting a few moments, she held the knife in her hand and then made her move, again, mimicking slashing his throat and stabbing him in the chest.
He laid on the ground looking up at her. “You’re enjoying this way too much, you know,” he said playfully.
“Quiet over there,” the Sergeant yelled at them.
Alice stood over Gordon, his torso between her feet. Looking down at him, she whispered, “I think that I was cut out to do this.”
Gordon rolled his eyes.
Sergeant Todd gathered the recruits around him. “Now, if you need to search a prisoner, you will kill him, or her, first. There’s no room for error. Be inconspicuous. Your conduct in civilian land will be polite, you will not draw attention to yourselves. The worst scenario, prepare to die for your job. Death will be a welcome gift if you are tortured. If you are captured, it is a certain death sentence. If and when you kill, you will do it swiftly. Kill, or be killed, will be drummed into you. Your caps are lined with razor blades. You can swing them around to slash your enemy in hand-to-hand combat. Do not show that you are sorry for killing someone. They will have no regrets with their kills. There is no room for emotional outbursts. You will be trained to be brutal in combat. In warfare, there are no rules. If you attack a man, kick him in the balls, hook a finger in his eye, and punch his throat. If you can’t, or don’t do this, you will die. Most importantly, blend in with the locals. Befriend them. Locals know the habits of their country that you won’t know. If you are ever questioned in a hostile environment, you will need to give a plausible explanation. During interrogation, false identity cover stories need to sound valid. If you have a British made watch, take it off tonight and leave it off. Anything that is branded with an ally country, remove it. Anything that has the Queens English on your persons, remove it. There are to be no romances between any man and woman in this camp. Anyone who is associated as a couple and caught, you will find that the enemy will take great pleasure in torturing one of you in front of the other, to force you to talk. You cannot jeopardise your operation, or this camp. So keep it in your trousers, gentlemen. Any questions?”
The group remained silent.
“Good. Now for using a rifle, or a pistol. You will aim to kill on the first round. If that is not plausible, you will injure the assailant, then once he, or she, is down, you will kill with a knife, or any other weaponry you have on you that won’t draw any further attention to yourself. We will teach you how to use explosives. Incomplete detonation, means, incomplete mission. Do not fail your mission, you can and will die. The Gestapo will not be so kind to take your life so quickly. They take great pleasure in torture. If you are captured, you will suffer great pain and then you will die.” He looked down at his wrist and checked his watch, tapping the glass cover to make sure it was still good for time. “Make your way to the mess hall and jog, anyone caught walking will find themselves reprimanded.”
In the mess hall, Alice sat with Gordon and a few of the other males she had been training with. They ate fast, like hungry animals eating their first kill in a week.
Still chewing the food in his mouth, Gordon grinned at them all. “You know, this little vixen kicked my bloody arse today,” he said, as he winked at Alice.
“You know, I will hold you to that. It’s not often I get to kick some bloody arse,” she laughed.
The group of men joined in and threw in a few one liners of their own. Vera had walked in during the blissful laughter. She made her way over to the unruly table and stood sternly with her hands on her hips. Her expression was none too pleased. “Gentlemen, and lady. Please refrain from causing so much attention to yourselves. Everything that you do from the moment you arrive here, is associated with your training and that includes your behaviour at all times. Had you have found yourselves in enemy occupied countries, would you still be behaving like this?”
Gordon signalled the lads to quieten down. “We were just having a bit of fun, Miss. Bradshaw, weren’t we lads?” he told her politely.
The lads nodded and agreed. Alice, looking down at the table, remained silent.
Vera was not satisfied with her reaction and had taken an instant personal dislike to Gordon, for being so forward and overly friendly with Alice. Her mouth pursed tight, she glared at him. “Please remember where you are in future and, Alice, make sure that’s the last time you wear any perfume in this camp. I can smell the trails of it half a mile away. Now, if you’ve all finished your meals, I’m sure that you have another training session to attend.” She turned around sharply and marched off, out through the door.
“I wouldn’t mind seein’ a bit of her arse, either,” Gordon snickered, looking down at his lap.
Again, the lads joined in with the laughter.
Alice rose from her seat and ran after Vera, catching up to her outside. “Vera, wait! Please, stop, I want to talk to you.”
Vera stopped marching and turned to face Alice. Her eyes gave away that they were filled with hurt. She sighed heavily. “What is it that you want to talk about?”
Alice looked around, checking that no one had any interest in their stand-offish conversation. “I apologise for wearing perfume, I honestly didn’t think about the consequences it could have. But please, don’t be angry with the lads, or me, we didn’t mean any harm by it. I think we all needed to just let off a little steam.”
“I know that I’m here to make sure that we win this war. Why are you here, Alice? Ask yourself that question every day that you wake up in that nice warm cot of yours. And please remember to think of all those who are back in England, homeless, hungry, tired and scared. Those who have lost members of their families. Remember, Alice. Remember that this is why we are all here.” Her chin quivered, as she tried to hold her emotions back. “I’ve lost my entire family to this war. My parents were killed in the Blitz, my brother, a pilot in the RAF, died while bombing a city in Germany, my youngest sister, a nurse, was killed in the hospital that she worked at, it was a stupid senseless death. She was murdered by a German pilot, who had survived the plane cash when he was shot down, only to be taken to the hospital with severe injuries. My sister was the first nurse to tend to him. The bastard pulled a knife from his pocket and stabbed her in her neck. She was just seventeen. So again, I’ll remind you to ask yourself, why are you here?” Her eyes blinked heavily, as she tried to force her tears to stay. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a class to teach.” Her head low, she turned and continued walking away—her pace slow.
•••
•••
The recruits entered Building Two. They walked in to a large room filled with desks, Morse code radio equipment, headphones and communications equipment.
Vera stood in front of her chair, the palms of her hands flat on the top of her desk. As she leaned forward, her eyes followed each recruit as they entered and seated themselves. “In front of you on your desks, are charts showing you the alphabet of the Morse code. You will get to know each letter by listening to messages and deciphering what they are.” She stood up straight and walked over to the door, to close it. Alice quick-stepped into the room just before she was able to shut it. She sat down at the first empty seat available to her. “Please join us, Miss. Bennet. May I remind you that if this had been a real life mission, your lateness would and could have killed your fellow colleagues.”
Alice flushed with embarrassment. “I apologise for my lateness. I needed to use the cloakroom, I honestly thought that I had time, I’m truly sorry.”
“Lateness can kill. If you were the one who was to give the signal for, let me see.” She looked around the room. “Let’s say, your friend, Gordon. If you were the one solely responsible for signalling Gordon to blast the bridge to smithereens, when a German vehicle with a very important target inside, was crossing, and you were late, causing the mission to fail, are you to assume that saying sorry will make everything all right?”
Alice lowered her head and placed her hand to hood her eyes. “The mission would have failed,” she agreed shamefully.
“Now, let’s get back to the reason why we’re all here. Everyone,” she glared at Alice. “Pick up the charts in front of you. When you listen to the Morse code messages, you will learn to match what you hear to the letters of the alphabet on your chart. For some of you, it may come easier if you sound it out. If you do find that you need to do this, please be respectful and keep your tone low, not everyone will want to hear you. Now, put on your headphones and listen. What you are listening to is a series of dots and dashes. These are short beeps and longer beeps.” She walked around the room, ensuring each recruit was listening carefully. “The longer beeps are obvious to hear, as they are three times longer than the short beeps.” She approached Gordon and shifted his headphones to fit his head better. “Between each letter is a short pause and between every word is a longer pause, which will enable you to decipher when the next letter, or word will start.” She walked slowly to her desk and sat in the chair, facing them. “Memorise the easiest letters first. A single ‘dah’ is a T and a ‘dit’ is an E. ‘Dits’ and ‘dahs’ are dots and dashes, be familiar. The E and T have the shortest symbols. K, Q, X and Z have the longest symbols. You can associate the code pronunciations to music. Beethoven’s symphony is a short melody, this will help those of you who are music lovers. When you send a Morse code message, you will need to know how to use the key on the transmitter. In front of you are J-38 straight keys. The signal is ‘on’ when the knob is pressed, and ‘off’ when it’s depressed. Your job is to learn to understand the message received and how to reply.” She sat back in her chair and studied each student.
Alice held the headphones close to her ears and scanned over the chart in front of her. Listening intently, she wrote down the letters that she was hearing:
When you have deciphered this message, bring it to me and then sit back down in your seat.
Placing her pencil quietly down on her desk, Alice picked up the piece of paper that she’d written the message on, pushed back her chair and made her way to Vera’s desk. She handed it over to her and then sat back down in her chair. Wearing a smug smile, she crossed her arms over her chest and waited for the others to finish. Gordon huffed loudly, crossing out a few letters that he’d written down. After listening for a while longer, he realised what the message was and followed suit by handing his paper over to Vera. Each recruit took it in turn to decipher the message and hand it in.
Vera read every paper. She looked around at each recruit, locking eyes with every single one of them, until she reached Alice. She avoided any eye contact with her. “I’m impressed at how quickly you all came to decipher the message. You will train daily with new messages, so memorise the chart. Now, there may be an instance when you need to use a torch, or a mirror, to send a message to your team. The rules are the same. Point the light at the person you are sending the message to. Press and release the button
slowly, or quickly, to indicate whether it’s a dot, or a dash. Remember, you must leave a break in between each word. The person who is on the receiving end will send you a long flash back. This will indicate that they have understood the message received. If for any reason you should find that you’ve made a mistake, you can send eight dots to indicate the error and then re-send the message.”
Gordon picked up his torch and playfully flashed long and short signals to Alice. She smiled, knowing that he had just sent her complete jargon.
“Well?” he asked, his head rested in his arms on the desk, so that Vera couldn’t hear him.
“Well what?” Alice asked.
He rolled his eyes. “Coffee. Have a coffee with me.”
Alice giggled. “You didn’t ask me that.”
“Didn’t I? Then what did I just message you?”
“A whole bunch of letters with no purpose,” she whispered.
Vera, who had her back to the class, writing on a blackboard with chalk, turned around to see who was interrupting the lesson. “I might have known,” she said sharply. I will inform you now that my reports and findings go straight to Colonel Simms. I have at the moment that the behaviour between the two of you is completely immature, and neither one of you are portraying the sense and duty of anyone I’d wish to keep me alive if the situation should arise.”
Silent Killing Page 5
