Free Blitzkrieg: Origins of the Prime: A Superhero Spy Thriller by Christopher Vale Page B

thoughtfully.
    “Aren’t the Marines here under orders to help in any way we need?” Axel asked.
    The Colonel nodded. “I suppose it’ll be alright,” he said. “But if something happens to him, or if he does something to hurt someone else, that’s on you, not me.”
    Axel and Tom both nodded. “Fair enough, Colonel,” Tom said.
    “Rolf,” Axel said and watched as his brother stepped back out of the bunker, still smiling happily.
    “Yeah?” Rolf asked.
    “How would you like to stay out here in the bunker and stand post just like a real Marine?” Axel asked.
    Rolf’s eyes widened as he nodded his head up and down. “That would be so cool,” he said.
    “Alright then, you can stay here while we go to Havana.”
    The smiled disappeared from Rolf’s face. “Wait, that means I’d miss the mission,” he said and began shaking his head from side to side. “No, I want to go on the mission. You guys need me.”
    Axel glanced back over the fence and then back at his brother. “It is part of the mission,” he said.
    “Really?” Rolf asked. He trusted his brother completely, but it was difficult to understand how sitting in a Marine bunker could be part of a mission to Havana.
    “Yeah,” Axel replied. “You see this river,” Axel asked as he pointed to the water flowing by. Rolf nodded. “We might be bringing the Russian down this river and if that happens, the Cubans are going to be chasing us.” Rolf’s eyes widened. “We need you to wait for us here. As we’re coming down the river, you’ll have to help us fight the Cubans. Think you can do that?”
    Rolf nodded. “Yeah, I can fight the Cubans.” He stepped over to the fence line, placing both hands against the chain link and staring through menacingly. “I’ll crush ‘em.”
    Tom smiled at Axel proudly. The crisis had been averted for now. When they returned to D.C. they could decide what they needed to do with Rolf. For now, he’d be safe on the naval base yet still feel as though he contributed to the overall mission. Now it was time to ready for their insertion into Havana.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 7
     
    Axel felt the cool spray of the salty sea mist upon his face as the inflatable boat bounced up and down on the waves. They had set off from the Coast Guard cutter Persistence several miles from the Cuban coast. Tom was acting as coxswain of the small craft and Axel was navigating. It was dark, the shoreline was impossible to see and they were navigating completely by compass. Axel prayed to God that he was not leading them further out to sea where they would die of thirst and exposure.
    After a long night of bouncing in the waves, they were relieved when the shoreline finally came into view. They sailed parallel to the shore—a few thousand yards out—until they reached the point both agreed was the landing spot. Tom motored them in until they were about a hundred yards out. He then cut the engine and they paddled the rest of the way, allowing the waves to carry them to shore. When the water was shallow enough, Tom and Axel climbed over the sides of the boat, splashing into the cool ocean and pulling the boat ashore.
    They dragged the heavy boat up onto the beach and knelt down on the sand. Both men looked about the beach expectantly, and just as Axel was about to ask Tom if he had a back-up plan in case their Cuban contact was not here, they heard a whistle that sounded remarkably like a man attempting to sound like a bird. They watched as four dark, man-shaped shadows rose up in the black and dashed over to them.
    “Hola,” the first whispered when they reached them. “You are the CIA men, no?”
    “Not exactly,” Tom replied, “but close enough.”
    “I am Juan,” the Cuban informed them. “Let’s hide your boat.”
    He and his friends quickly helped Tom and Axel lift the boat and carry it up the beach beyond the tide line so that it would not be taken out to sea. They lowered the boat into a small ditch and