Tales of the Shadowmen 6: Grand Guignol by Jean-Marc Lofficier & Randy Lofficier

Author:Jean-Marc Lofficier & Randy Lofficier
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Coat Press
Published: 2013-10-04T00:00:00+00:00

Getting to the German airfield wasn’t too difficult now that he was on his own. Francis Ardan used all of his skills to slip silently through the woods, and avoided all of the patrols. At the edge of the field, he paused to reconnoiter. There was a fair amount of activity, with mechanics checking over various aircraft. Workers were fueling a few of the craft, so it looked like an aerial foray was being readied. With a smile, he spotted Von Hammer’s blood-red Fokker sitting alone. A worker was driving a fuel truck away from it, so it was clearly ready for flight, and merely awaiting the arrival of the aviator himself.

What better disguise could he employ? The young man moved from cover, and sauntered toward the craft. His long, dark coat looked sufficiently like a flying jacket that he aroused no suspicions. It was early and no one was expecting any intrusion at this remote, guarded field, and this played in his favor. As soon as there were no eyes upon him, he sprinted for the Fokker and swung into the cockpit.

He’d never been in a Fokker tri-wing before, but he knew that if Biggles were here, his friend would be saying, as ever: “If you can fly a Sopwith Camel, you can fly anything.” The controls were basically very similar, though Ardan was certain the Fokker would handle very differently once he was aloft. This should prove educational...

Once he had fired up the engine, he received some attention—especially since the ground crew knew that Von Hammer had not yet arrived. A handful of people started to move, puzzled, toward him, as he taxied and then began gunning the engine to gather speed. The ground had been cleared and roughly leveled, but the plane shook and bumped. Then he had sufficient speed to get aloft and he hauled back on the stick.

Mechanics flattened as he flew low over their heads. He was starting to get the feel of the controls as he maneuvered for height. It would be a while before anyone would be able to get aloft after him, but he couldn’t spare too much time to experiment. Instead, as soon as he was 200 feet up, he turned the plane and headed back toward the Paris gun.

He checked the craft’s Spandau’s, firing short bursts from both to be certain they were working properly, and smiled grimly. He was now ready.

The flight back was swift, and it was barely five minutes before he could see the huge barrel looming ahead of him. Men were working on it, and he realized that it was being readied to be fired. Paris would suffer another terrifying barrage if he and his companions didn’t succeed.

He sent the Fokker into a downward spiral, and held his thumbs over the firing controls. Despite the fact that they were enemy soldiers down there, he was reluctant to actually take a life. After the war, he intended to train as a medical doctor, and he preferred to save life rather than kill.

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