Chapter 294: Infiltration

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The clamor of machinery filled the entire submarine, and the dim light made everyone feel uncomfortable. This was a compartment of the Briti

The clamor of machinery filled the entire submarine, and the dim light made everyone feel uncomfortable. This was a compartment of the British submarine HMS Odin. The air was filled with a strange smell of machine oil.

“I really admire these submarine soldiers. They can actually fight in here,” the Six of Hearts said, looking at the surrounding pipes and valves with a frown. “I hear that every time they go out to sea, they have to live here for a month.”

“We’ve only been in here for five days, and we’re already about to go crazy,” Paul said with a helpless yawn.

Before the others could reply, the submarine’s captain came to their compartment, pulled aside the cloth curtain that blocked their space, and looked at them. “Gentlemen, you have reached your destination. We are about to surface under the cover of night and then send you into German territory in a rubber raft.”

“Thank you for your help! To be able to go to sea with the finest officers and men of the navy is a very pleasant thing,” Ghost said, standing up and stretching before speaking with a smile.

The captain extended his hand and shook Ghost’s, saying solemnly, “Sir, for the five of you to go deep into German territory is a very dangerous matter. Compared to you, our combat environment is nothing. I admire people like you very much. I hope we can meet again after we have won the war.”

“Thank you! I firmly believe we will,” Ghost said with a nod.

“Put on your special diving suits and check your life jackets,” the captain said, looking at his pocket watch and then at Ghost. “Our men will help you inflate the rubber raft, and then we will leave this place. Good luck to you all.”

“Alright! I declare this operation officially begun. Check your personal equipment. We will depart in a few minutes,” Ghost said, turning his head and giving the order to his four subordinates.

A few minutes later, the submarine began to surface slowly. The metal hull pushed aside the seawater, and the upper half of the conning tower was exposed on the surface. Following that, the entire submarine also surfaced. On the deck of its slender hull, which was covered with seawater, it was a little wet and slippery.

The sailors cautiously climbed out of the submarine and, in the light of their flashlights, began to inflate the rubber raft. Several soldiers stood on the conning tower fairwater with binoculars, observing the surrounding sea surface in the dim starlight to avoid being discovered by passing German ships.

Soon, the rubber raft was inflated. The sailors placed the small raft on the water, and the five black shadows quickly jumped onto it. With the prepared paddles, they began to paddle quietly, and the entire small raft began to move toward the pitch-black shore in the distance.

During the war, the German coastline had patrol boats cruising back and forth, and there were also sentries on shore who made regular checks. However, the group had already synchronized their watches on the submarine. The intelligence personnel from inside Germany had provided the patrol times of the sentries here, so they could land between two patrols.

In the dark of night, on the German coastline, several black shadows dragged the rubber raft ashore and then quickly deflated it. They discarded the life jackets and other equipment they had worn for the crossing, bent over, and dragged the raft into a pitch-black forest.

Soon, they found a pre-dug large pit. Judging from the half-melted ice and snow inside, it was clear that this pit had been dug a long time ago. This was support provided to them by a nearby intelligence agent. Although it was not much, it was very well concealed.

In the forest, they buried the rubber raft and then hid the clothes they were wearing in the vicinity. The reason they were not buried together with the raft was to prevent the German army from being able to deduce their numbers based on the clothes if any traces were discovered.

And after the clothes were hidden, only the Six of Hearts, Paul, and Ghost regrouped.

“Are the other two not coming with us?” Paul asked, stuffing the things he had brought into his coat and looking at Ghost.

“No, they each have their own missions. We only came to Germany together. From now on, we just need to forget that these two people exist,” Ghost said, stuffing a pistol into his own pocket and panting. Landing in the ice and snow and then having to drag a rubber raft all the way into the forest was not an easy job, so until now, the three of them were still out of breath.

“If they fail, especially that woman, if she fails, it’s inevitable that she’ll talk about our business…” the Six of Hearts said, looking at Ghost with a frown and voicing his biggest worry.

Ghost waved his hand and, looking at the Six of Hearts, said, “Don’t worry. They are long-term sleeper agents, so our side should be the first to act.”

“This is also the reason why they didn’t let us see their faces. Because after all, their work is more dangerous and also involves many secret connections in the intelligence department that cannot be easily exposed,” Ghost explained, seeing the two men’s puzzled expressions. “Because I am the overall person in charge of these few plans, I must give you two a mission: if necessary, your priority is to kill me.”

He looked at the surrounding environment, then waved his hand. “Alright, don’t think about other things anymore. We just need to complete this most important mission at hand, and our names will go down in history! Let’s move out.”

The Six of Hearts and Paul both nodded, picked up their luggage, and followed behind Ghost, disappearing together into the night at the end of the forest.

Half an hour after they had left, a German patrol team with a wolfhound passed by this section of the coast. They were chatting and joking as they walked散漫, their Mauser 98K rifles slung over their shoulders.

Suddenly, the wolfhound held by the lead officer began to bark wildly. Everyone quickly took down their rifles and formed a defensive formation. The wolfhound continued to bark at the small path by the sea. The officer carefully shone his flashlight on the ground and only then did he discover that there were traces of a large, hard object having been dragged here.

“Someone has landed here! And with equipment!” the officer shouted. “Follow the tracks, after them!”

With a wave of his hand, this squad of twelve soldiers, with their rifles at the ready, chased after them into the forest on the side of the small path. The leading officer took out the P-38 pistol tucked in his belt and fired a shot into the air.

“Crack!” The sound of the gunshot echoed in the quiet night sky, seeming so clear and long. In the forest, the wolfhound barked nonstop. The surrounding German patrol teams also rushed over. Dozens of flashlights swayed from side to side, and they finally found the large pit, whose traces had not yet been completely covered.

There were messy footprints around, and further out, they also found several small pits with hidden clothes. Soon, the situation here was reported to the coastline’s garrison force. One after another, trucks rushed out of the barracks, and the entire area was disturbed by the noisy search until dawn.

However, it was a pity that this infiltration was clearly a premeditated espionage activity. A few kilometers away, they found three pre-prepared cars. The owners of these cars were later found in their rooms. They had all been killed, the method very clean and neat.

And not far from where the cars were found was a railway line. They had every ability to use the train to spread out over a large enough area that they would be impossible to find. It was clear that if the search were to continue, it would not be a problem that the border defense forces could handle. So the highest-ranking person in charge here, a colonel, called the SS duty office in the middle of the night.

“Hello! We are the coastal defense force of district 08. We discovered an infiltration landing point tonight. About three to seven foreign spies have entered the interior. Their plan is very detailed. We are not very good at dealing with this kind of problem.”

“We will send people over to take over soon. Please submit a detailed report on this matter for use in future investigations,” the SS duty officer on the other end of the line said.

“Thank you very much for the SS’s assistance! I still have to call the Army Intelligence department, so I won’t disturb you any longer,” the officer said, politely hanging up the phone. He then picked up the receiver again. “Get me the Army Intelligence section of the coastal defense area… Hello, this is Colonel Hantel. An espionage infiltration incident occurred here today… Yes, a group of about three to seven people. We have never discovered such a large-scale infiltration before. Yes, that’s right. We tracked them for about two hours and then lost their trail.”

He was silent for a moment, then continued, “They abandoned their cars after fleeing to a railway line. Many trains pass through there, some going south to the Ruhr industrial area, and some going north to the Wilhelmshaven naval port. We cannot determine their direction.”

A few days later, at a party in the city of Cologne, a young Junker aristocrat serving locally was smiling and swirling the wine in his glass, boasting to a few of his usual friends about his romantic encounter. “You wouldn’t believe it. My aunt said she was going to introduce a girl to me so that I could get married quickly. I thought the other party must be some pitiful old woman. Who knew that the day I saw her, I found that I had fallen in love with her.”

“Come on, you’re just bragging. Since you’re engaged, why don’t you bring that girl out for us to see?” a young officer said with a look of disbelief.

“My dear!” At this moment, the young aristocratic officer waved his arm at the distance. Soon, a very beautiful woman with curly blonde hair and a smiling face walked over and leaned against his side.

This beautiful woman, under the envious gazes of everyone, said something that made the young Junker aristocrat feel ecstatic. “My dear, are you all talking about me?”

“They are my friends, all local officers. This one has the highest rank, serving in the technical department. He is already a major,” the Junker aristocrat said, pointing to his friends and introducing them one by one.

The beautiful woman nodded. She extended her arm and allowed the young officers opposite her to perform a hand-kissing ceremony. She then continued to ask politely, “You can all call me Aina. If you don’t mind, can I join your conversation?”