Code Name Apple
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: My code name is I Don't Own Castle. Rating: K Time: The year 1919, mostly.
They met with the commander of the Coastal Motorboat Flotilla, a Lieutenant Agustus Agar.
"You're the famous Captain Richard Castle, sir?" he asked.
"I don't know about being famous, but I'm Rick Castle."
"Oh, you're quite famous among the Royal Navy here in the Baltic, attacking Red destroyers from the air, fighting off Red cavalry and German mercenaries, saving Russian princesses, and now you want my fellows to take you to Petrograd?"
"Outside of Petrograd." Kate corrected.
"And you're the lovely the Honorable Miss Katherine Beckett. How good to meet you. You're as famous as he is. Too bad that American newsman Lowell Thomas isn't here. He could make you as famous as Lawrence of Arabia. Castle of the Baltic. Has a nice ring to it, I'd say."
"Who is Lowell Thomas and who's the Lawrence of Arabia?" Rick asked.
"You haven't heard of them? Well, Thomas is a Yank newsman who went to bloody Arabia where Colonel Lawrence was raising the tribes against the Turks and their German allies. Thomas took a lot of photos and motion pictures and went back to America and went on tour. Made Lawrence a big hero. Not that he isn't of course, but it made his name. Lawrence himself is in Versailles for the peace conference advising his Arab friends. He often shows up in full Bedouin kit. Quite impressive."
"I'm sure he is." Castle said, "but I don't really need anyone to come here and take pictures of me."
"Just as well, sir. Just as well. Now, about your ride into Petrograd, there's a moonless night in two days. Is that sufficient for you?"
Castle glanced at Kate who nodded.
"That'll work just fine."
Two nights later they were on their way to Petrograd, or rather a lonely beach outside of the city. They were aboard Coastal Motorboat (CMB) 72 commanded by Sub Lieutenant Bodley. Bodley had explained what would happen.
"We've left the torpedoes ashore, sir. Makes the boat lighter and therefore faster. We also draw less water, but we don't really worry about that. We only draw three feet of water normally, and the Red mines aren't anywhere near that close to the surface. Normally, we carry a Lewis light machine gun firing forwards, but for this, we've had a Vickers machine gun installed facing aft. Could you handle that for us, sir?"
"Of course." Castle said, hoping it would not be necessary.
They set off from Finland, going slowly so as not to make too much noise or leave a visible wake. There were numerous islands that had been fortified by the Reds that they passed by. Passing one, Castle heard some soldiers singing.
"What are they singing, Kate? Sounds lovely."
Kate said nothing for a moment.
"I'm afraid the lyrics are quite naughty. I shan't be translating them for you."
"Sorry."
"No need. Not your fault."
They finally pulled up to a small beach with a thick forest behind it. Bodley turned the boat around so the stern faced the shore so they could make a quick getaway if things went wrong.
"I have an electric torch, that's a flashlight to you Americans, Castle." Kate said. "I'll flash one long and two shorts. We should get a reply from the beach from two torches. The one on our right will flash twice, the other one will flash three times. Everyone ready?"
They were and Kate flashed the signals. In seconds they got the correct reply. Bodley backed the ship up as close to the shore as he could without running aground. They saw a small rowboat coming towards them. A man was rowing, and a woman was sitting in the stern controlling the rudder.
They were thrown a line from the CMB and pulled close. Then the man handed up two steamer trunks. He looked to be in his forties, with a stocky build and a truly huge mustache.
"Did he have to bring everything he owned?" Castle whispered to Kate.
"Those trunks are full of documents. They're a treasure trove."
The woman handed up a heavy suitcase.
"Who's she?" Castle asked. The woman was a tall blonde and appeared to be much younger than Sverdlov.
"Sverdlov says she's his niece, Gina, a distinctly non-Russian name. I doubt that they're related, however. And she's a bit more mercenary than he is. She filled her suitcase with jewelry that the Reds had confiscated from the aristocracy. She says the jewelry is worth millions of pounds."
"I can see why she wants to get out of Russia."
"Sverdlov says he wants to go to America. He has a brother somewhere in California. Do you know anything about that place?"
Castle shook his head.
"I've never been there. But if he's able to hang onto Gina and the jewelry, the US is usually quite welcoming to foreign millionaires."
They moved slowly away from the shore. They hadn't gone more than two hundred yards when a troop of cavalry rode onto the beach. They had torches, not the electric kind, and searched the beach while still on horseback. They could only be Red cavalry, so Castle quietly manned the machine gun. The cavalry troop milled around for several minutes, then someone yelled something and the whole group took off further down the beach.
Bodley eased the throttles ahead and the boat slipped past the fortified islands. Once out on the Baltic, he opened the throttles and the boat sped away at thirty knots, reaching Bjorko Sound before daylight.
Sverdlov and his "niece" were handed over to the British Foreign Office who would send them on to England. Meanwhile, Kate looked over the documents he'd brought.
"Rick, this is a treasure trove of secret documents, but it's too much for me to try to translate myself. We need to go to the British Embassy in Stockholm where there are more people who can help me translate all of this. Can we go on the Thomas Ford?"
"Of course. Assuming the British will allow me access to the translated documents and let me send them to the US Navy."
"Of course. That's our deal."
They made a quick trip to Stockholm where the Royal Navy kindly topped them up with fuel. There were some things that needed maintenance aboard the ship and Rick left Lieutenant Richter in charge of that.
After talking to the people at the embassy, Kate felt that it would take everyone there at least four days to translate all the documents. She had already translated what she felt were the most important ones and gave copies to Rick to give to the naval attaché at the US Embassy.
Castle reported to the attaché, a Captain Gorman, and began explaining what he was there for.
"No need, Captain Castle. Your intelligence mission is well known. You've gotten quite a few commendations from the Navy Department back home. I hope this doesn't mean you'll end up commanding a desk in ONI for the rest of your career."
Rick shuddered.
"The Office of Naval Intelligence? I hope not, sir. I like commanding a ship. It's what I've wanted since I got to Annapolis."
"We'll encode your documents and be ready for the next lot."
Rick hated this next part.
"I suppose I should check in with Ambassador Peabody. Is he in?"
"No, and he won't be for a while. The Swedish government had some questions about the US actions at the Versailles Peace Conference. He could have sent the inquiry by telegraph, but he decided to go in person. I suppose so he could rub shoulders with the great and good of this world and say he was there at a world altering event. No one has any idea when he'll be back, but I imagine he'll stay as long as possible."
Much relieved, Castle saluted and left, heading back to the British Embassy.
He found Kate was busy translating and supervising others.
"I can't help you here. I'll go back to the ship." He said.
"You'll be going to the US Embassy as we translate these, perhaps as many as four or five times a day. You'll stay at my place. I'll have my car pick you up and take you there. I'll be home for dinner,"
"Kate, I'm not sure…" He began.
"Well, I am sure. Now run along, dear. I'll see you at dinner time."
Having been called dear, Castle turned around and went to meet her driver.
Kate did get home in time for dinner with another batch of documents for Rick. He decided he'd take them to the US Embassy the next morning. After dinner Kate said she was tired and wanted to go to sleep. She briefly kissed Rick before they each went to their separate bedrooms. Rick and Kate both wanted more than just a kiss but felt that rushing things might ruin what they had and what they might have in the future.
They had almost finished translating and sending off all of the documents when they got a visit from Lieutenant Agar, the commander of the CMBs. He spoke with Rick and Kate at the British Embassy.
"As you know, sir and ma'am, the Baltic Red Fleet has been content so far to sit behind their defenses and minefields and only occasionally send out a few destroyers or submarines. However, the evidence that Miss Beckett has provided indicates they Bolshevik leadership wants their fleet to be more active. As you know, they have a number of powerful ships that would outgun anything that Admiral Cowan has. We have aerial photographs showing the defenses of the Kronstadt naval base and the surrounding islands and we know pretty much where their minefields are. If you have any further information about the defenses of Kronstadt or anything about their fleet, it would help. You see, our new CMB commander, Commander Claude Dobson, offered to make a torpedo attack on their fleet with my boats. Can you help?"
Kate nodded.
"Of course. We have information that we'll be happy to provide to you and Admiral Cowan."
Rick, Kate and Agar spent hours going over the information that Sverdlov had provided, comparing it with aerial photos and other intelligence they had. Finally, Agar was satisfied.
"I think we have as much as we're going to get here, Miss Beckett, Captain Castle. It looks like we have a good shot at doing real damage to their fleet."
"I wish I could go with you." Kate said. "I don't get to see the results of the intelligence I gather. It would be interesting and who knows, I might just have some tiny bit of information that you'd find is exactly what you need when you get to Kronstadt that we didn't think to give you."
"I'm afraid we can't take you, Miss Beckett. You're a wanted woman by the Bolsheviks. You're too important for us to lose."
"I can go." Rick said.
"No." Kate said as Agar said, "Wonderful, sir."
"I don't think it's advisable to involve an American officer in such a difficult and important mission." Kate said quickly.
"I've been involved in all sorts of difficult and dangerous missions before. Besides, the CMBs could be of great use to the US Navy in places like the Caribbean, around Puerto Rico and especially in the Philippines. There are thousands upon thousands of islands there."
"Then it's settled." Agar said. "Welcome to my mission, Captain Castle."
Kate just glared at Rick.
Once back at Kate's, she turned on Rick.
"Do you really think that going on this mission is so important?" She demanded.
"Yes. I'm here, among other things, to learn about what the Royal Navy is doing. The US really has nothing like those torpedo-armed coastal motorboats. They could be quite important in any future wars. Seeing them in action, a real fight, will give me insights into how they should be operated that just talking to someone like Agar can't match."
"I want you to know that I'll be extremely cross with you if you don't come back."
"I'll be very upset if I don't come back, too."
She ended the conversation with a searing kiss and went off to bed.
TBC