Chapter 5 – The Sea Dragon

The journey back to the house was completed without incident, Garrison lead the way followed by Casino and Goniff, watched over by Actor, Chief lagged behind making sure there was no pursuit behind while keeping an eye out for any danger that might occur ahead that he could sneak up behind unobserved and put a quick, sharp end to.

As soon as they got in the house Casino gently lowered himself onto a chair and endeavoured not to swear as his back muscles twinged painfully, he tried to relax but two lines of fire down each side of his spine kept him painfully upright. Goniff wasn't faring much better, he tried to favour his left shoulder but it seemed that was the one he kept knocking into things. Actor smiled at them both as he handed out painkillers and water. "These will take effect in twenty minutes, try to stay as still as possible until then."

Casino hurled the tablets into his mouth and washed them down. "Not soon enough baby, this is drivin' me crazy, ain't you got anythin' stronger?"

Actor eased Goniff's arm into a sling and shrugged. "I'm not giving you morphine, that has too many side effects."

Casino glared at the conman. "Yeah like what?"

Actor smiled. "Constipation for starters, do you want haemorrhoids Casino?"

Casino backed down quickly. "No way, I'll stick with the painkillers."

"Me too," piped up Goniff. "Don't want 'piles' of trouble!"

Actor groaned at the thief's terrible joke.

Garrison smiled as he listened to his men, they might be battered but at least their spirits and sense of humour were undimmed. He walked over to the window to join Chief who was keeping watch. "Anyone follow us?"

Chief took the matchstick out of his mouth and shook his head. "No Warden. What you wanna do now?"

Garrison lit a cigarette, inhaled deeply and let out a cloud of smoke, his eyes were gazing out the window but Chief knew the look on his face, his mind was somewhere else, thinking his way through their current situation, weighing up the pros and cons and coming up with a plan. A minute later he snapped back into the present, turned, walked to the table and sat down, he looked up at his men. "As you know our contact was most probably compromised, it looks like we're going to have to make our way out on our own."

Casino rolled his eyes, they were the only things not hurting at present. "Just great, what're we supposed to do to get outta this place Warden?"

Garrison rolled out a map and pointed to a spot, as far as Casino could see from where he was it was next to a blue line that lead out to a big area of blue. "We'll go down to the port, steal a boat and meet up with the sub, any problems?"

Actor tilted his head at Goniff who was starting to add green to the sickly palette of his face as the unwelcome prospect of a sea voyage hoved into his not too distant future. "Apart from Goniff's seasickness?"

Garrison shrugged. "Sorry Goniff, can't be helped. It's about a hundred and sixty klicks to Heligoland where we'll meet the sub, that's nearly a hundred miles."

"What!?" Casino jerked forward and immediately regretted it. "A hundred mile trip down the Elbe and out to sea? You're crazy Warden, count me out."

Chief glanced over from his vantage point. "Knock it off Pappy. You got any better ideas?"

"Just give me a minute Geronimo an' I'll think of somethin'." Casino's face screwed up in thought and then broke into a grin. "Can't we arrange for a plane to pick us up?"

Garrison leaned back in his chair, took the last puff on his cigarette and ground it out. "How do we do that Casino? We don't have a radio and nobody's crazy enough to land in the middle of Germany."

"Ask your brother," was the muttered reply.

Chief looked at his watch. "It's still early, if you wanna go now Warden we can make it to the port, find a boat and get away."

Casino hadn't finished having his say, he pointed an angry finger at the scout. "Trust you to back his cockamamie plan! We'll be sittin' ducks on a boat."

Chief returned the safe-cracker's glare. "We're sittin' ducks here Pappy, we can wait for a Kraut patrol to find us or another air raid, your choice. Rather be a movin' target, harder to hit."

Actor nodded, stepped forward and picked up his mission bag. "I agree, we can't stay here any longer," he looked at the safe-cracker. "Do you want me to carry yours for you until the painkillers kick in?"

Casino realised he'd lost the argument, he nodded and carefully stood up. Goniff picked up his bag with his good hand and turned towards the door. Garrison joined his men and looked at his scout. "You're on point Chief."

GG-GG-GG

The bustling port spread out below the two men as they surveyed the area from the roof of a warehouse. Garrison frowned as he searched for a vessel to take them downriver, there didn't seem to be anything suitable, he turned to the figure stretched out beside him scanning the other direction. "You see anything?"

Chief shook his head as his gaze wandered along the riverfront, suddenly Garrison saw him pause to peer intently at something before turning back to him with a smile on his face. "Looks like Pappy could get his wish Warden," he pointed. "Is that what I think it is?"

Garrison shifted over and looked, his face broke into a huge grin as he made out what Chief had found, moored up a hundred yards away. "A BV-138 Sea Dragon, that's the Luftwaffe's main seaborne long-range maritime patrol and naval reconnaissance aircraft. Great work Chief."

"Why float when you can fly, right Warden?" commented Chief wryly.

Garrison laughed. "That thing will do both, it's got a range of three thousand miles, I can fly it to England, land on the Thames and moor up next to the Houses of Parliament."

Chief gazed at the trimotor flying boat. "Rather we headed back to Colchester, we could land on the Colne, tie up outside the Red Dragon and get a beer before headin' back to the mansion."

Garrison clapped his scout on the arm. "I like your thinking. Let's get over there and see if we can borrow it." They started to back away from the edge of the roof.

Actor, Goniff and Casino watched the two smiling men walk into the alley next to the warehouse, the safe-cracker eyed them suspiciously. "You two look far too pleased with yourselves, what you find for our sea cruise Warden?"

Goniff shuddered at the thought. "Hope it's somethin' big like the Queen Mary."

Garrison took out his pack of cigarettes and passed them round. "Chief found it not me, I think you'll like it Casino."

Casino lit his cigarette and glared at the scout. "Wonderful, Geronimo's found some birch bark canoes for us to paddle!"

"Something much better than that," the Warden waved his hand. "Follow us gentlemen."

Ten minutes later Casino was fiddling with a padlock as Chief dragged away an unconscious soldier who had been reading a book instead of standing guard. He opened the solid wood gate, strode in and stopped dead as he saw what was moored in the dock.

"Some birch bark canoe eh Pappy?" said Chief drily as he walked past towards the plane.

Actor and Goniff stood next to the dumbstruck safe-cracker and stared at the ungainly sixty-five foot long plane as it bobbed up and down. It had a short, flat-sided hull that rested on the water, its wings were placed high across the top of the fuselage, their ninety foot span supporting floats at each end. Unusually it had three piston engines, two with three-bladed propellers one either side on the wings, the third was mounted in-line on top of the fuselage driving a four-bladed propeller. The remaining length of the plane was made up of a twin tail unit, the booms of which extended horizontally from the rear of the two outer engines.

The plane was well equipped to defend itself, a single 20mm cannon was mounted in a turret in the bow in front of the pilot while another was in a rear turret emplacement. A rear-firing heavy machine gun was fitted in the middle of the upper fuselage, just behind the mid-set engine and a single machine gun was added to the right-fuselage side. The Sea Dragon looked as fearsome as its name suggested.

"Chief's outdone himself this time," commented Actor.

"Yeah, but can he hot wire it?" Casino winced as he tried to ease his aching back and shook his head. "That's one hell of an ugly plane."

Garrison paused next to him. "It might be ugly but it's playing a big part in the German war effort, it's called 'The Sea Dragon', but the Krauts have nicknamed it 'Der Fliegender Holzschuh', 'The Flying Clog' because of its shape."

The safe-cracker regarded the strangely configured craft. "I can see why." He followed the Warden as he strode forward and jumped in the plane, he carefully climbed in and headed to the nearest seat.

Garrison headed for the cockpit, he took a quick look at the instruments and smiled as he recognised the controls. Chief poked his head in and looked around. "Sure you can fly this canoe Warden?"

"Does Goniff cheat at cards?" Garrison sat in the pilot's seat and tapped the fuel gauge. "We've got a full tank, more than enough to get us to England. Everyone ready?" Chief nodded. Garrison looked at his scout and indicated the co-pilot's seat on his right. "I might need some help getting this thing up in the air, want to give me a hand?" He smiled as Chief's face lit up, he jumped into the seat and eagerly waited for instructions.

Garrison turned round in his seat. "Actor, cast off, we're heading out." He waited as the conman undid the lines and pulled them in, he closed the hatch and sat down. "Andiamo Warden."

Garrison started the engines, gently pushed on the throttle and turned the plane towards the river, he guided it out and turned into the wind. "Alright Chief, when I tell you gradually pull back on the yoke." He pushed the throttle, the three engines rumbled as they increased speed and powered the blunt hull along the river leaving a wide, foaming wake behind them. Garrison kept a close eye on their speed, he nodded. "Now." The two men pulled back and the Sea Dragon took off, soaring out over the city.

Actor looked out of the turret behind the third engine and watched Hamburg disappear behind them, he ducked down and walked forward to the cockpit. "Do you really think we'll get away with stealing a plane?"

Garrison looked up at him. "Why not? Anyone on the ground will think we're a regular crew out on patrol. I'll follow the coast until we get to Rotterdam and then turn west and head for England."

The plane followed the Elbe out to the North Sea and turned west along the coast. Gradually the shoreline turned south as they headed past the Netherlands, Garrison looked to the west and saw the misty English shore in the distance, he altered course and headed home. They were halfway across when Chief leaned forward and pointed ahead. "Incomin', look like Spitfires."

Two sleek shapes zoomed past and then turned to take up position thirty feet either side of them, ready to blow them out of the sky. Garrison waggled the Sea Dragon's wings to indicate they were not going to fight and shouted over his shoulder. "Casino, get out a torch and send a message to the pilot on the starboard side, tell him we're American Special Forces coming back from a mission, drop General Fremont's name somewhere in there." The safe-cracker got up stiffly, climbed up into the turret behind the mid engine and started signalling Morse code. Garrison watched as the pilot received the message, he stuck up a thumb, waggled his wings in reply and indicated for them to follow him.

Garrison looked to his right and grinned as he shouted. "Casino, tell him we're heading for Colchester and will be landing on the Colne, they can find us in the Red Dragon Pub."

A strangled cry came from the turret. "WHAT!?"

Garrison turned round to face the rear of the plane. "You heard me, just do it." He looked at Chief. "We've got to set this thing down on water, I need that beer and we won't get one for hours if we follow them."

Chief grinned. "You're the boss Warden."

Garrison smiled with satisfaction. "Yes I am."