Operation Wolfe Cub: A Chilling Historical Thriller (THE TIME TO TELL Book 1) (7 page)

US-2 rocked back in pure pleasure as he felt the sealskin of his seat. While he played with a puff of smoke, he tried hard not to speak his mind, but then he grinned. “Are we still on stealth propulsion?”

“Yes, of course we are, why?”

US-2 quickly buckled in his safety harnesses. “I thought so…shut it down. We need to pick up some real time.”

“What?”

“Yes, look out there. The ocean is flat, can’t you tell? Strap yourself in.”

US-1 grinned then buckled himself in too. “I thought you’d never ask…okay then…buoyancy normal…stealth propulsion now off…let’s see about your job now.” He then leaned back in his chair with his hands folded. Before he got too comfortable, he looked over his shoulder. “You don’t suppose Doc is awake do you? Maybe we shouldn’t—I mean, you know. Don’t get too crazy, you might disturb him.”

US-2 saw his comrade chickening out all too quickly as he put all of his controls into motion. On a whim, he wiggled his cigarette to the side of his mouth as if he was an old pro-operator in the brand-new prototype ship of theirs. While scratching the whiskers of his day-old beard, he obliged his comrade briefly. “
Naaaa
. He’ll sleep through it…maybe he needs our alarm clock. Don’t you think?”

US-1 contemplated the remark, then raised both his eyebrows. “A wake-up call, you mean? We might not find him hiding anything beneath our feet anymore.”

That was all that US-2 wanted to hear. At least for now, the audacious mischief-maker returned his gesture with more pointless overtures and then took his cigarette out of his mouth. He gazed at its burning ember, then blew on it, making it brighter than ever. “Did I catch that or am I just hearing things?”

US-1 looked like an angel hiding behind a thorn bush. “Catch what? I didn’t say anything.”

US-2 immediately attempted to turn their special mission vessel into a kind of fun-filled, radical hydro-jet boat before her time. As he turned and sparked up one of the engines, he grinned. “Oh, I’ve got the guts… the question is, do I have enough petrol to prove it?” He started up his second engine then rumbled the accelerator a little too much.

By then, US-1 started to look as if perhaps what they were racing into might be a little too fast. With every thrust of US-2’s touchy gas pedal, the mighty vessel’s side tipped down into the water, showing off her torque.

Just a tiny bead of sweat glistened seeking to escape US-1’s forehead when he glanced over his instrumentation. Tepidly, he looked straight down the long sleek nose of the fastest known jet boat-to-be and thought twice. “You sure you want to do this?”

“
Aw
—how nice of you. I thought you’d never ask.”

“I mean, I don’t know if this is such a—”

“How’s it looking out there, US-1? Over the bow—see any whales in my way?”

“Wha-what? Whales?”

“Haven’t got all day. Get serious, how we looking—or are you really second in command?”

US-1 took a deep breath. “Okay, if you say so…this is Midshipman. Signaled course set. We’re in the Mediterranean on a bright, beautiful, wonderful day. Test time conditions are optimal.”

“
Huh
? Damn it to hell! Are you ready?”

US-1 nodded. “You heard me…we’re good to go—dead ahead. A few kilometers anyway.”

“That’s what I want to hear. Blasting for the Strait of Gibraltar is what I know—all the way.”

“That’s right, Gibraltar here we come. Let ’er rip!”

“Then the Atlantic.”

With one big stomp, US-2 dropped his foot on the gas, unleashing the misery.

Booowaaaaaahhhhh!

Massive amounts of motor hunkered down somewhere in the back. The power of gasoline horses collided with forces. From carburation to combustion, the power punched its way down to those poor, little fellers called propellers.

Waaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!

“The US
Wehrwolf
had every intention of leaping out of her skin, but not without testing her engineers, who wished to keep her together first. From a standstill she blew, instantly slapping her two rear wings into the water. Her stern barely stayed above the water when pure power came to meet the smooth, flat ocean. Something had to give and it wasn’t the ship. Two huge jet streams blasted high into the sky from behind. She took off all right, looking like someone broke off a pair of fire hydrants.

In the surprising launch, neither one of the officers could move a muscle, but the neighboring wildlife sure did. Seagulls fled for their lives, and the fish did too. While the forward force kept them stuck to the seats of their pants, they had nowhere else to go.

“
Aaaawwhhhh
! Holy
shhhheeaawh
!”

“
Yeeeeaaaaaaw
! Son of
beee-aaawh
!”

Nothing could escape except for their ear-shattering yells.

Down below deck, Dr. Wycliffe’s deep sleep must have felt like it was getting mugged by a worst nightmare of bombs blasting and houses getting blown away. Gravity didn’t go where it should have, yanking him off his bed and slamming him into the back of the bulkhead.

Boooooof!
“
Awwwh!
”

Then came inertia. His boots, spectacles, clipboard and whatever else he hadn’t put away, came flying right at him.

Whack! Crash! Kabang!
“
Awwwhh!
”

In the midst of roaring engines, gravity that didn’t seem right, and flying objects colliding with his face, he only knew what to think or say. He barely had time to ask, “What the God’s Christ name is happening?!”

Back up on deck, US-1 tried to pull away from his seat, but the force must have given him an unfair shake from the planet Jupiter. Finally, he gave up, for it was too hard for him to move. He did manage to pull his head over to see what US-2 was doing and it wasn’t good. It wasn’t good at all. All he saw was a strained copilot, feverishly holding on for dear life with an oily face, a mania for more speed, and teeth looking longer than they should have. They even looked like fangs, clenching down on his cigarette. In fact he could have bitten through bricks.

Seeing all of this cooked US-1’s thoughts together out loud. “Stop! You’re going to get us killed!”

US-2 just let go one of his controls to take his cigarette out of his mouth. “I can’t hear you! What did you say?!”

US-1 looked down at the instrumentation. “Holy by God, shit. We’re ninety knots ’n climbing!”

Just then, the steering flirted off course, but US-2 quickly caught it. That must have been cause for celebration, for he quickly threw a fresh cigarette in his mouth but didn’t know how he could light it. The force threw his lighter out of his hand.

Lighting cigarettes in distress might have been the least of his worries by then. Suddenly, the whites of his eyes grew wide when he looked a quarter meter which was just a few seconds ahead. There, rolling along and minding their own business were twin gifts rising up from the sea, offering no path for a detour. Two parallel waves looked so perfectly intrusive that there was only one thing left to do. At 130 knots or better, US-2 barely found the time to yell, “Look out dead ahead!”

US-1 ducked while US-2 closed his eyes, but the US
Wehrwolf
kept going as if nothing was there.

Swoooooooooosh!

She took the first wave with about as much grace as a squirrel flying out the end of a circus cannon. Off the crest of wave she went, yet to the amazement of her rooky navigators, she glided like she was meant to, before falling smoothly back to the sea.

US-2 opened his eyes as he kept working his navigational levers. “Oh, so that’s what this one’s for!” He looked up again just in time to see the second wave. “Here comes another! Look out!”

Effortlessly, she glided even farther than the last one before successfully landing on the water again.

US-2 dropped his jaw. “Wow! It’s like this thing can fly almost.
Ha haaaa!
”

“Shut it down! Shut it down, now!

Instantly, US-2 backed off the throttle, sending their vessel into a near nose-diving slowdown. “Wow…seventy knots now…Good God…feels like we’re standing still, doesn’t it?”

US-1 quickly took off his safety harnesses while gasping for air. “
Shhhht
, you scared me—
maniac
. If I’m ever in charge you better not ever do that again.”

US-2 finally lit his cigarette as they kept slowing down. “Do what?”

“Do that! You know, fly! I saw us right out there, I mean up there. And I was stuck to my seat—sailing over who knows what at a hundred knots, that’s what.”

US-2 simply ignored him as he looked down at the new pair of controls he just found. “
Hmmm
, how about that, air navigations…says so right here. Did you see them before?”

“I don’t care what it says. Whu-what? Air what? You’re a hazard.”

US-2 bit down on his cigarette, grinning as he pretended to be flying again. “Shit, I can make this thing do
anything
.
Hey, look, here’s something else. Look at these big buttons. I wonder what—”

“Don’t touch them! Don’t even think about it. Doc hasn’t explained those.”

As their vessel slowed to less than thirty knots, her bellowing exhaust continued spewing long, rattling rasps. Oddly enough, she sounded as if she could have gone on their exhibition trial many times without a single problem. After hitting twenty knots or less, she rocked steady until they finally glided down to a gentle float.

Large tail waves quickly found her stern and splashed over. When she leveled off completely, steam exited high into the air from the pressurized engine bays. Water hissed at the touch of blazing-hot exhaust systems barely peeping out from the sides. While she idled to down just above the water, she resembled the cool, relaxed turn of a surprise. Absolutely, their mad dash had turned out to be a test ride that went without a hitch.

US-2 slapped his knee. “
Ho-ho
, this thing has big
hoden!
⁵
”

US-1 nodded to try and get it out of his mind. “Yes? Yes, wow, big
hoden
.”

“Did you see my launch? I mean back there. And then we kept going, then fuu-lying,
ha ha
, yes—flying!”

US-1 quivered. “No…I mean,
I know
—”

“No? No way soldier German…we were—fuu-lying! Wow, where’s my pack of cigarettes? I can’t find them. They must have fell down below.”

US-1 threw him his pack like he’d like shove them down his throat. “Not down there. Knock yourself out. Don’t forget to light one for me.”

US-2 kicked his legs up on the controls. “
Whoweee
, you don’t smoke. Now if I can only figure out how we could steer better. Hey, I just thought of something! When we get rough
water? Maybe I can float the handles next time to grab more air,
ha
! That’s it. Yeah that’s what I’ll do.”

“Oh, God, that’s it…you could have got us all killed. I can’t believe I’m hearing this.”

US-2 tapped on his controls as if he were playing drums. Ashes and red cinders fell from his cigarette into his lap. “I got power. I got tools, yes!”

“Knock it off…you’re dropping your ashes all over the place! You’re a fire hazard too.”

Just then, thumping clunks and clangs bellowed from below deck, which drew their weary concerns. Sure enough, it was Doc, kicking things out of his way just so he could get to the ladder to get up on deck. “Son of God’s Christ O’Mighty! What in the name of?! Why I ought to—
Christ!
Oh holy boy,
Jesus!
You two had better be ready! This has
got
to be good!
Christ
—O’Mighty! Did you hear that, my lord? They are cooked potatoes in a fire!”

US-1 and 2 looked at each other like muskrats captured in a cage. “What do we do, US-1?”

“You’re asking me? You’re the self-made smart one, not me.”

“You’re the midshipman. Of course, I’m asking you.”

US-1 shrugged his shoulders, looking the other way. “I wasn’t at the helm. Get yourself out of this.”

“You gave me the command, damn it. I heard you. Wait, maybe a warship was chasing us?”

US-1 crossed his arms, shaking his head. “No lies, Blondie. He won’t buy it. Can you hear him coming?”

Doc popped up on deck, beet-red in the face and panting mad. As he tried to get his bent spectacles to fit over his eyes, he barked out, “Okay, US-2 on engines…get yourself out of this!”

“Well it was like—”

“I already don’t like your answer!”

Doc looked outside while he tried to put on his tangled-up white smock with baby milk spilled all over it. He then focused on US-1. “You’re the partner in this behemoth crime. Where’s the danger out there? I don’t see it. What’s your story,
huh
? Speak up! Speak up,
huh
?”

“
Uh
, it was an exercise, I believe. You could call it an exercise.”

Doc could have slapped himself. “Exercise? What!? What exercise?” While he adjusted his smock, he took his handkerchief out to wipe the sweat from his forehead and neck to think. “
Hmmm
, continue, US-1, but if I hear any lies I shall personally give you a life raft and send you away—to General MacArthur!”

“Yes, Doc…we wanted to see what this thing could do in case of a surprise engagement of combat.”

US-2 jumped up. “Yes, an escape drill! We thought of it before heading out into more troubled waters. Look, we have smooth conditions right now with nothing out there.”

Doc glanced back and forth, seeing nothing but calm in their eyes. He gave up being mad then looked over to the side where his pair of binoculars were sitting. Quickly, he grabbed them up. After straightening his spectacles, he calmed down a little more. “Well, that is precisely the only foreseeable answer worth the attention…I might let you by on that test analysis—but just once.” He then rushed to the edge of the cockpit glass, looking out to sea, frantically with the binoculars. “Quick now, open the hatch and shut off those noisy engines. Do it—
now
!”

US-2 quickly killed both engines, then hit the switch.