ShadowShot : L'enfant Guerrier Read online

  He told Gerard to let him think about it, but was finally swayed to because the Frenchman was known to be extremely friendly and cavorting with Germans. Suspicions about this man were numerous.

  Peppy okayed the mission, and once again I was given a role. The plan was to try and catch some Germans in the net as well as the French wine keeper. On Saturday night there were usually at least a few Germans who would come to drink with him at his place. Gerard could not be seen because he was known to the wine keeper and others in the neighborhood. Gerard would have chosen to go in with guns blazing, which shouldn’t have been too difficult, but they were in a populated area with too many Germans in the immediate vicinity. Escape would have been difficult. Perhaps if they had more weapons with silencers they could have just chanced it. They only had two pistols and the Germans were always armed. Poisoning would probably be the best way; but how to get the poison to them was a problem.

  A plan was devised that had some possible holes in it. We were leaving the area soon and this would be the only chance to take care of Gerard’s business. Vincent and I would drive up to the front of the little bar. Vincent would have a small cask of wine on his shoulder. I would tag along behind him. Vincent would ask the wine merchant if he would like to buy some wine. He would say he only had a sample cask with him and was taking orders. It was a good wine and the price was right.

  Peppy, Peter and Gerard arrived at the road in the back woods on the designated night. They had left a lookout at the front of the shop to see who had gone in. It was reported that there were three German soldiers and a lieutenant in the wine cellar. They had been drinking for several hours, which was good. Vincent and I drove up to the front as planned, walked in and asked the wine merchant if he was interested in buying a good quality wine at a good price. After tasting the wine, the merchant asked how much and where it was from. Judging by his face and the price, the merchant must have liked it. He said he would take a cask. The Germans at the table were already drinking wine and were in their cups. They were drunk enough that we probably could have gone in with two pistols and finished it right then and there. Stick to the plan. Always stick to the plan.

  The merchant took Vincent aside. With a wink, he suggested testing the wine on his customers. The wine merchant produced four medium-size glasses and took them to his customers. They seemed to like the wine. Taking out his order form, Vincent wrote down the order. He said he would be back next week, thanked the merchant and left. We went back to the road to meet Peppy and Peter.

  The three soldiers carried Schmeisser machine guns. We could use them, not to mention some wine.

  Peppy said, “Johno, you go to the front door of the bar and pretend you’re sleeping. Whistle loud if anyone comes. Peter, Gerard and I will go in.” They took the silenced pistols plus their regular handguns.

  The Germans and the wine keeper were all at the table. They appeared to be dead. No one else was in the place. As they started to check the Germans the wine merchant woke up. He was very groggy, but very much alive.

  He looked at them and said, “I am closed. Come back tomorrow.”

  Gerard looked at him and said, “There is no tomorrow for you.”

  Focusing, he looked up and said, “Gerard is that you?”

  “Yes it’s me. You sold my family out. We were neighbors and friends and now I’m here to send you to hell.”

  The wine merchant was awake now. He must not have drunk as much as he was pouring for the Germans.

  “Wait,” he said. You’re mistaken. It wasn’t me.”

  Peppy said, “Do it and let’s go.”

  Gerard shot the merchant twice with a silenced pistol just as I let out a big whistle. Peter was behind the counter. Peppy and Gerard were just about to finish the Germans with a knife to be sure they were dead. Peppy threw Peter a Schmeisser machine gun and told him to get back behind the counter out of sight. They didn’t know what was coming through the door. It was the whistle that meant one German. They had dragged the Frenchman behind the counter.

  Sure enough, the German walked in carrying a rifle. He must’ve been on patrol. Peppy was behind the counter washing a glass.

  He said, “We’re closed.”

  The German asked him where the owner was.

  Peppy said, “He is not feeling well tonight. He asked me to take his place. When they wake up, I’ll send them home.”

  The soldier could see that one of the Germans was a lieutenant. He probably thought it was best not to get involved and turned around to leave. Peppy shot him twice in the back with a silenced pistol.

  I gave the all-clear whistle; they quickly made sure all the Germans were dead. Vincent pulled around to the back with the truck. We hopped in, drove around to our other truck, and left. Mission accomplished! It had been close but Gerard had his revenge. The spoils included five more dead Germans, some nice cases of wine, and more weapons. All in a nights work.

  I was never left completely alone even when I was acting as a lookout. There was always someone close by to keep an eye on me. After all I was still only a child. Even a grown man could make a slip that could cost lives and when it came to torture, every man had their breaking point. The Germans, especially the Gestapo, were extremely skilled in finding that point.

  One day Peppy, Marie Claude and I left for a small town. When we got there they told me to play in the park and keep my eyes open. They would be back within an hour, not saying what they had to do. Often that was the best way for things to be done. Usually I dressed as a ragamuffin or a street urchin. It was fun for me to play in the park since it was something that I never really got to do. I played on the swings and slides, and climbed the monkey bars. I lost track of time enjoying myself. After about what seemed like two hours I was beginning to worry. Why haven’t they come back yet? It was already late afternoon it would take time to get back to our present camp.

  Perhaps they thought we would stay in town for the night. They never said anything one way or the other. It was unlike them, especially Marie Claude, not come back when she said she would. I began to worry. I could not leave the park, because they wouldn’t be able to find me. I had no way of knowing where they were. They didn’t say where they were going. I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible. One rule of survival that we had was never to stay in one place too long. I had been in the park too long already.

  Finally, I saw someone I knew. It was an old lady who was sympathetic to our cause. She didn’t walk directly to me, so as not to be noticed in case someone was looking. She worked her way towards me eventually. She stopped close by, and said that Marie Claude had been taken by the Gestapo. She advised me to find Peppy and said that was all she could tell me now.

  I said, “I don’t know where Peppy is. They were supposed to be back here. What happened?”

  She answered, “I don’t know. All I know is, that she’s been taken by the Gestapo. It doesn’t look good.”

  “Did they take her to Gestapo headquarters? Where is it?”

  She said, “They didn’t take her to Gestapo headquarters. They took her to an abandoned factory warehouse on the edge of town.”

  I responded, “Are you sure about this?”

  She answered, “Yes I was there when it happened. It took me this long to get back here. I saw Peppy and Marie Claude earlier and they told me that you were in the park.”

  I said, “I must go there. Find Peppy, tell him that I’ve gone to the factory to see what I can do.”

  She replied, “You shouldn’t do that. It’s too dangerous. Marie Claude would not want you to do that.” But she just nodded her head and took off.

  Did this mean that they knew who Marie Claude was? I didn’t have time to think. I knew exactly where the old factory warehouse was. I had even slept there a couple of nights. I ran as fast as I could without looking too conspicuous, which wasn’t easy to do. There were a couple of places in the same direction as the warehouse where Peppy might’ve been. I quickly checked them out and kept on go
ing I passed the place where I had stashed a German Luger in some rubble a month before. I decided that I might need it and circled back to get it. It was still there. I wasn’t sure what I could do with it but thought I better have it. I chambered the gun, which had one clip. I threw it in my backpack and ran to the warehouse as fast as I could.

  Psychiatrist’s Session Two Notation. At this point patient refused to continue. I was unable to coax him into talking about what happened next. I finally persuaded him to continue, omitting what happened in the warehouse.

  I thought I could hear a vehicle pulling up in the front of the building. I had to go. I had to obey. I went out the way I had come in. I thought I could hear voices approaching. I was going to keep the pistols but then I thought better to get rid of them. If I were stopped before I was clear of the town, they would surely have been my death warrant. I had to get back to Peppy to let him know what had happened. There was nobody outside in the back of the building. I didn’t run but walked as fast as I could. It was only maybe 300 yards to the edge of the woods. If I could make it that far I had a chance. I wanted to run. I wanted to fly. I wanted to die.

  Finally I was in the woods. Once I got in deep enough I started to run. I ran as fast as I could, circling around toward our route to camp. I saw no one and heard no one. A thousand thoughts were running through my mind. Maybe I shouldn’t have left, maybe no one had come, but then they must have known. I should have asked more of the old woman. Was it just the two of them and why did they take her there.

  Eventually I got back to where we had come into town. I had to follow our original line of travel if I was to find the camp again. I had to be sure I wasn’t being followed. I had to stop crying because I was making too much noise. I had to be a man now. I had to get back.

  I ran as far as I could as fast as I could, until I thought my heart would burst. The pain in my side made me slow down. I started to walk, making sure I wasn’t being followed.

  I didn’t see anyone. It was going to be dark soon, but I needed to make more space between the town and me. I kept going as fast as I could. So many things kept running through my head. It was almost dark. I couldn’t go much farther. I felt so weak and so tired. I had to stop. It was not much of a trail, but it was the right trail. It would not be smart to stop directly on the trail if they were following me. They probably would have dogs, those damn German shepherds. I moved about 500 yards to the high ground above the trail. I found a bowl at the base of a tree and covered myself with leaves, I had my jacket. It was cold, but there was nothing I could do about it. I fell asleep almost immediately.

  I don’t know how long I slept before I woke up, but it was pitch black. I could not see or hear anything. Uncontrollably the tears started coming again. I had to stop. I covered my mouth with my hand until I could hardly breathe. If there was somebody close by they could hear me and I would be found. I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t let them follow me to the camp. I would die first. I don’t know if it was the cold or what had happened at the warehouse, but I shook all night long. When first light came I took off. I could see no one.

  When I got to the camp, the sentries let me pass. One of them escorted me into camp. I could hardly speak. My eyes were watering. Much to my relief, Peppy was there. He knelt down and took me by the shoulders, “Sit. Tell me what happened Johno.”

  I blurted out as much as I could through the tears. Peppy told several men go out and check the trail to make sure I wasn’t followed.

  I said, “I was not followed! I made sure.”

  He nodded but the men went out anyway. It was the right thing to do. After I had told him everything I was capable of at that time, Peppy said, “Wait here Johno.”

  He sat me down on a log and told the men to move camp now. He told Suzette to go with me while they packed. It was the safest thing to do. He needed to keep us moving. We could not sit around thinking and grieving.

  I was a good hiker. I could walk for a long way and even carry some weight, but not this day. Peppy asked Peter to carry me. Peter rigged up something like an Indian papoose so I could be on his back with my arms around his neck. I believe I fell asleep almost immediately. When we got to where we would camp that night, Suzette took me and held me all night.

  Note- patient was becoming too emotional. I thought it best to take him out of the trance. I have once again induced amnesia, so that the patient has no recollection of this session.

  After my two sessions with Ralph I was off to Spain for another six weeks of more thorough and intensive training, mostly concentrating on stealth, weapons, and extracting ones self from a deadly situation. I always enjoyed and excelled with weapons. I liked learning to fight with the knife. Even though I became exceptionally skilled in throwing a knife, for some reason I wanted to keep it to myself. So I let them think it was a new skill for me and only did mildly well. I also liked the high-speed chase and getaway driving classes. They were great fun. After Spain I went back to Paris and carried on with my usual affairs of the work kind.

  When the Company wanted me for a special assignment it worked like this. They would name the target. I would get the information from them. I would try to weasel out what it was that this person had done against the Stars & Stripes to make them a target. Then I would do my own homework. By now I had made a few contacts of my own who were suppliers of information. If George gave me a job and I didn’t want it, I would not take it. If I thought it was overkill, I wouldn’t take it. George knew my position on this and I think rather than have me say no he was careful about assignments he gave me. He didn’t give me anything that he didn’t think I could handle.

  For the next six months, my work continued mostly as an information gatherer, meeting people and then picking up little pieces of information here and there. I did have two missions of the other kind in that six-month period. Both of them came off as planned without any problems. I believe George was training me for bigger and better missions. He wanted me to be able to handle myself in any situation. That was fine with me.

  15

  THE DUTCHMAN

  George had another job lined up for me. There was a Dutchman who was trafficking heroin to the US. Apparently he was in the Dutch government, a high roller. Not wanting to embarrass the government or wasting time with a lengthy court procedure, it was best if the Dutchman met with an accident. It was to look like a robbery. If it had not been heroin I wouldn’t have taken the job. I had seen what the drug could do to a person. With my usual idealistic nature I saw no reason not to help stop it from coming into to my country. I checked out the Dutchman’s MO. He was to be in Italy on a business meeting in one week. I would be there.

  My weapon of choice was always a revolver, preferably a 38 caliber with a silencer and special ammunition. With a revolver there are no spent cartridges lying around and less chance of a jam up. You didn’t have the firepower but that was what my backup automatic was for if I needed it. I had also become adequate in the art of disguise and make up. I would use a wig or die my hair, fake mustache and sideburns and sunglasses of course. Sometimes I would wear an identifying large ring, which I would discard immediately. Padding my stomach to make me look bigger than I was, wearing reversible clothing, and of course gloves were also practical tools to avoid identification. You never knew when Murphy’s Law would kick in and someone unexpected in your plan would see you. I was not asked to get any information from the Dutchman about his contacts. Either the people that I worked for already knew or didn’t care and that was fine with me, because I was not compelled to have any conversation at all with him. He didn’t have any bodyguards, but he should have. The job went off without a hitch and I was back in Paris in three days. That was my freebie for George so it was back to the usual arrangement.

  16

  THE FRENCHMAN GOES DOWN

  1964

  I was sort of settling back into my lifestyle. I probably even had the notion a few times of making this a career. I should’ve known as soon as
things would start going smoothly there would be a change coming on the wind. The word came to me that the Frenchman from my mercenary days had been taken out by the contract. I had pretty much stopped worrying about that. After all it wasn’t like they were a highly militarized army or a precision company like I worked for. In fact the U.N. had taken over and it was all pretty much winding down. How wrong I was. The family of the woman and children who had been killed were not going to forget what had happened. I can’t say that I could blame them. I still occasionally had bad dreams about that whole episode.

  The Frenchman’s sister told me that when his body was discovered in his apartment, he had six bullet holes in him. He had taken out three of his assassins and probably shot the fourth judging by the blood trail. He hadn’t lost his edge. It didn’t appear like they had time to get any information from him about me, although worst-case scenario all he could have given them at best was a description and name, and that I existed. He didn’t even know where I was. I asked his sister if she had any money. She said her brother had always been generous with her and she had some put away. If I needed money she could help me.

  I said, “No that’s not what I meant but bless you for asking. It’s you I’m worried about. You could be in danger. You must remember that the contract was not only for us but any family members. I have no one in my family left but they could be coming after you.”

  “I’m going to send you $10,000 in French francs by special courier. As soon as we get off the phone, pack a suitcase with only the minimum of what you need. Close your house up and go someplace safe. After you get the money let me know by the usual code that you’ve got it, and take off. Go someplace you’ve always wanted to go and don’t come back until the money runs out. Now promise me you’ll do that, so I don’t have to worry about you. And don’t leave a trail as to where you’re going.”