Chapter 13

When Richard looked around the table he noticed that Cornelia was still brooding.

"Cornelia have you understood what I'm trying to do?"

"Yes," she replied grumpily.

"I don't think you have. Let me spell it out for you!"

Richard paused, he was angry and his face reddened. Cornelia sat up in her chair, her sulking mood changed to one of nervous anticipation as she looked to Manfred who was avoiding eye contact with her.

"You are going to assume responsibilities as a vital member of this team. You don't have the capabilities that your mother has; I could never think of putting you in the field. But you are going to learn how to run this entire centre here. There are no free rides in this house and by the time I return in two weeks I want to see what progress you've made."

"But..." Cornelia started to object.

"Cornelia, there are no but's. This house is going to be the centre of my operations. When everyone here, except Anna, are in the field you could make the difference between life and death for Manfred or the others if you're able to relieve Anna with communications. I want you to think about that responsibility and apply yourself to becoming a valuable member."

"I didn't think about it like that," Cornelia said softly; her emotions roughened by the mention of Manfred and death and his reliance on her.

"I'm sure you didn't, but life is going to get harsher for all of us the longer this bloody war continues. Two weeks Cornelia and I want progress."

Cornelia felt boxed in, she was sure that Manfred or her mother would have taken her side and when they had not done so she felt angry.

Alex saw the different emotions flitting across her daughter's face, 'Sorry, Cornelia but this is life and you had better get used to it, ' she thought.

Manfred avoided Cornelia; he was grateful that Richard had spoken, relieving him of the problem.

After lunch the mood of the meeting lightened.

Gerry took the chess set from a small side table.

"Chess Richard?" Gerry asked.

Manfred thought that his timing was wrong and interrupted, "What was that Dutch word you used on me?"

Gerry was confused.

"When I confronted the guard on the Sigmaringen Bridge," Manfred prompted.

"Oh... brutaal."

"Yes that's it 'cheeky'," Manfred said.

Gerry replaced the box of chess pieces and quietly excused himself from the table.

It was nine p.m. one week after Richard's visit.

Anna and Gerry were in the communications room where Gerry had just completed his first reception and transmission of a message from Chris's camp. The message was from Otto and he was seeking information about weapons that could be used in close quarters that were silent and just as lethal as a bullet.

Anna was sitting close to Gerry ready to help him if he faulted. When he had tapped out the acknowledgement he turned to her and she was looking at him, proud of what he had accomplished. He leaned close and softly kissed her.

"Thanks for all the time you've spent with me, I've finally done it!"

"And you were quite professional too."

"Why would Otto send that message to us?" Gerry asked.

"That's Richard's doing. We're the center now and all good flows from the center."

"Oh... That's sarcastic Anna speaking."

"No. I think it's Otto being a smart arse," Anna said patting her short hair in place.

"It's not a bad question though. What kind of weapon is as silent and as lethal as a bullet?"

Anna laughed, "Bow and arrow?"

"That's true even if you are joking. Are there any books in the house that I could read?"

"Yes in Alex's study. She has a complete encyclopaedia; she told me that she bought it for Cornelia but she rarely uses it."

The next morning at breakfast Gerry asked Alex if he could have access to her encyclopaedia.

"If you've finished eating, I'll show you where it is."

Alex opened the door to her study and waved Gerry inside and as he passed her she patted him on the backside.

"You've got a nice arse."

Gerry was taken by surprise and because of his inexperience he couldn't think of anything to say.

Alex showed him to her bookcase where there were many books, all with the same style of binding, taking up one shelf.

"Do you mind if I look for what I want?"

"Go ahead make yourself comfortable, use my desk."

Soon Gerry had a pile of the encyclopaedias on the desk as he read from reference to reference. He had trouble with some of the German words but he was able to find definitions quickly. He used Alex's notepaper and took brief notes as he found items of interest.

He returned the books to the bookcase and when he walked into the kitchen Anna was starting preparing lunch. Cornelia was seated at the table, a piece of notepaper in front of her. Her index finger was tapping on the table.

Gerry couldn't resist, "The darling of the dah dit's."

Cornelia reared up from her chair and looked as if she was about to explode as she raised her arm to strike him.

Instead she growled, "Bloody men!" and went to assist Anna.

In the garage Gerry looked for wood, tools and materials to make the weapon that he had read about.

When he had found most of what he wanted, Manfred walked in to the garage.

"What are you doing?" Manfred asked.

"We had a question from Otto last night about a weapon that was silent yet just as lethal as a bullet."

"Smart arse Otto."

"That's what Anna said too. But I found some interesting items in Alex's library and one of them is so simple that I'm going to make it."

Gerry explained it to Manfred, sketching on the back of his notes, as he went.

"It's a weapon that was invented in the Slavic provinces. As you can see it looks like a big dart or a small spear but the trick is how it's thrown. I need to notch the shaft near the feathers. A leather thong, with a knot right at the end, is wrapped around the notch. The thong is tied around your middle finger and you hold the shaft between your thumb and index finger but keeping tension on the thong. The knot holds the thong in place as you throw it transferring the energy from your arm through a long follow through. The book said that it could kill at over sixty metres.

Manfred studied the sketch then went further down the garage and pulled his old ski boots out and removed the leather laces from them.

"Thongs solved," Manfred said.

He picked up an old broom and from a drawer he took a small saw and a spokeshave.

"How long?" he asked holding the broom handle flat on the bench, the end protruding off the edge.

"Forty five centimetres," Gerry said.

After an hour they had fashioned two large darts using pieces of tinplate substituting for the feathers.

"The weight is all up the front like a throwing knife and I read that it's almost like throwing a stone," Gerry said.

"Let's go and try them down by the river."

Near the park bench they had about 50 metres of clear space; they picked a small tree as a target and began practising.

After they had become familiar with the darts they found the weapons so effective that they could hit the tree with almost every throw.

They went back to the garage and Manfred used his spokeshave to taper the blunt end. Then he screwed a large long wood screw into the leading end. Finally, he ground the head of the screw to a point.

Back in the clearing they found that the large darts were so deadly that they were parting pieces of wood off the trunk of their target tree.

"These are great weapons. We'll show them to Otto when we visit there," Manfred said.

They arrived back at the house and Cornelia asked, "Where have you been all afternoon? You missed lunch!"

"Why didn't you call us," Manfred asked testily.

"I was busy. Anna was teaching me the finer points of the Morse code," Cornelia said.

Manfred called Alex and Anna to the kitchen.

"Gerry's found a new weapon for us to use in the forest. Come on we want to show you."

In the forest, they demonstrated the large darts and the women were suitably horrified when Gerry said, "Imagine that tree is a German soldier with his back to you."

He adjusted the thong and threw the dart; it hit the tree with such force a piece of bark flew off as it embedded into the trunk.

"No sound! One dead soldier." Gerry said flippantly.

Cornelia and Anna were horrified but Alex went to the tree, recovered the darts, and after a few throws she began to hit the tree repeatedly.

"We should make some more of them, they're easy to use," Alex said.

At dinner that night Manfred, who had been thinking about the garden said, "If we progressively plant vegetables a few weeks apart then we'll be able to have fresh vegetables on a continuing basis until winter comes."

"I'll have a look in the almanac and work out a schedule for us to follow," Anna said.

"Alex I want you to go to Stuttgart tomorrow and buy those items that Richard discussed. Don't go alone take Cornelia with you. Gerry and I will be building a pigsty. I don't even know what they eat."

"I'll look it up," said Gerry, "but shouldn't we find a farmer that sells them and ask him what we need first before we build anything."

Before Richard's next visit Manfred and Gerry had acquired five small pigs and had worked out a way to move the pen fence to allow them to graze and had planted a small field of corn that they hoped would feed them during the winter.

Manfred knew that at sometime in the future they would need to be slaughtered and he had contemplated giving the job to Gerry but he knew that he would object strenuously. Finally he decided that he would probably ask the farmer who sold him the pigs, to do it for him.

On Saturday morning Richard's first question was to Cornelia.

"What have you learned since my last visit?"

"The Morse code!" Cornelia said proudly.

"You've learned the entire Morse in two weeks?"

"Yes I have," Cornelia said taking a piece of notepaper and quickly wrote the alphabet down the page, then she wrote the Morse code for each letter.

Looking at Anna, Richard said, "I want you to get Cornelia capable of doing your work as quickly as possible. In the next few months you and Cornelia will be working here alone for long periods."

"Oh, no!" Cornelia couldn't control her disappointment. Richard looked disdainfully at her and turned to Manfred.

"I want Alex, Gerry and you at Chris's camp on Wednesday. There's a plane expected with vital supplies of weaponry that I want you to be familiar with for the trip north in early December. Alex will drive her self and after studying the use of the new weapons she will return here," Richard said looking to Alex who nodded her head in agreement.

"Then I want you and Gerry to travel from Chris's camp to Bern in Switzerland where you are to meet with Thomas Warner. He's an American and that's all you need to know. He will give you a package for me and you will give him this envelope. The package will contain money for me to continue our operations," Richard said.

"Which currency?" Manfred asked.

"Reichspfennig, it won't be a big envelope, I want you to get a money belt to carry it. I have a page of notes for you, a rough map of the center of Bern, code to verify Warner and his telephone number. You won't be meeting him at his office in the embassy, he'll tell you where he wants to meet you. I want you to run late and assess the meeting place for safety before you make yourself known to him."

Manfred placed the notes and the map in front of him.

"I don't want you to carry the notes, memorise them and then burn them," Richard cautioned.

"It's a heavily policed border, which route were you thinking that we should follow?"

"I want you to go to Meersburg and find Pieter, the way that you will get across the Bodensee will be by kayak."

Manfred leaned forward in his chair; his face was red with controlled anger.

"Richard, the border is heavily policed and they could shoot us like sitting ducks. With all due respect, do you want to get us killed," he asked loudly.

"Don't like the kayak idea? I didn't think you would." Richard was laughing.

"It's a ridiculous idea," Manfred said, not sharing Richard's humour.

"Then I think that you'll have to persuade Bert to ferry you across," Richard was smiling and had thought that he would get a more violent outburst from Manfred.

Manfred shook his head in disgust, "You've got a twisted sense of humour."

"Calm down, in the supplies that will be dropped at Chris's camp there are two kayaks and explosives that Pieter has agreed to use to sabotage the German river boats. They're collapsible and will fit in your trunk."

"That's okay, so we get to Kruezlingen then..."

"Axel Nagle will give you a car for the trip to Bern."

"How far is it from Kruezlingen to Bern?"

"About one hundred and fifty kilometres but it's a mountainous ride and will take you about half a day to travel one way."

"Remember Cornelia, I want you to continue to learn quickly and when I return in two weeks I want to know that you have been able to transmit and receive messages."

The following Tuesday, Anna had prepared a special meal. She stood drawing herself up to her full height of five feet two inches.

"I wanted to give you a treat before you leave tomorrow, I've made onion soup, the main course is stewed beef and a steamed fruit pudding for dessert."

Alex dashed off and returned to the table with a bottle of schnapps.

They ate heartily, submerging their anxieties about their coming mission. Gerry drank a glass of schnapps, he felt more nervous than he had before previous trips.

When they had finished eating, Anna leaned close to Gerry, "You look tense, l have just the remedy for your problem, let's go to bed now."

Gerry looked up and saw that Cornelia was leading Manfred down the hall to her bedroom.

"Go ahead you two, I'll clean up," Alex said.

Gerry felt uneasy as he left the table with Anna and he squeezed her hand.

"You're a good man, you feel sorry for her don't you," Anna said as they entered her room.

"Yeah."

"It's okay, it's not your fault."

They undressed quickly and hugged one another as they warmed up beneath the covers.

"Just holding you calms me down," Gerry said.

As he relaxed and his body grew warmer his erection poked up and Anna's hand held it, idly stroking him.

Gerry kissed her and slowly moved along her jaw and into the hollow in her neck. Anna stretched and her head went back exposing her neck to him. Gerry's hand caressed her breasts and then trailed down her belly and as his hand encountered her mound she pushed her hips up and his finger slipped between her labia.

Anna rolled on top and whispered, "This is just for you."

She guided him to her entrance and rising up on her knees she let him slip slowly into her. She leaned down and suckled on his nipples and Gerry was finding it difficult to control his urge to speed up. He was determined to give Anna the first orgasm.

"I like you inside me, I can feel you trying to hold back but I'm not going to let you."

She stopped when he was fully inside her and she squeezed him hard with her internal muscles causing Gerry to moan and he was carried away in emotional bliss.

But Anna was determined to bring him to a climax and leaning close to his ear, "Oh you're so big, come for me, let go, it feels so good."

Anna's mind was busy trying to bring Gerry to an orgasm, she hadn't thought about her own enjoyment and her orgasm suddenly streaked through her causing her to collapse onto Gerry's chest where she lay panting, her heart pounding in her chest.

Gerry held her close for many minutes; he felt her shudder when his erection stirred within her.

"You sabotaged me!" she whispered.

Gerry hugged her close but soon she broke away and rapidly she built his desire again and whispering in his ear she goaded him until he spent deep within her.

Gerry wasn't sure when he fell asleep but when he awoke Anna was still lying on his chest and sleeping.

The next morning they prepared for their departure, Gerry packed his silent weapons under the spare wheel. And packed a change of clothes for their trip through Switzerland. He made sure that his pistol was hidden under the front seat alongside Manfred's.

After a quick lunch Alex departed followed half an hour later by Gerry and Manfred.

As they drove out of the garage Manfred waved to Cornelia who's eyes were flowing; alongside her, Anna had her arm around her waist. When Gerry waved to them she turned quickly away hiding her tears from Cornelia.

Gerry raised both hands and made motions imitating sending Morse code while he looked at Cornelia.

Through her tears she made a grotesque face and poked her fully extended tongue at him.

Gerry and Manfred were still laughing as they turned on to the road and headed south.