Griffin W.E.B. - Honor Bound 02 - Blood and Honor

Здесь есть возможность читать онлайн «Griffin W.E.B. - Honor Bound 02 - Blood and Honor» весь текст электронной книги совершенно бесплатно (целиком полную версию без сокращений). В некоторых случаях можно слушать аудио, скачать через торрент в формате fb2 и присутствует краткое содержание. Год выпуска: 2016, Жанр: Старинная литература, на английском языке. Описание произведения, (предисловие) а так же отзывы посетителей доступны на портале библиотеки ЛибКат.

Honor Bound 02 - Blood and Honor: краткое содержание, описание и аннотация

Предлагаем к чтению аннотацию, описание, краткое содержание или предисловие (зависит от того, что написал сам автор книги «Honor Bound 02 - Blood and Honor»). Если вы не нашли необходимую информацию о книге — напишите в комментариях, мы постараемся отыскать её.

Honor Bound 02 - Blood and Honor — читать онлайн бесплатно полную книгу (весь текст) целиком

Ниже представлен текст книги, разбитый по страницам. Система сохранения места последней прочитанной страницы, позволяет с удобством читать онлайн бесплатно книгу «Honor Bound 02 - Blood and Honor», без необходимости каждый раз заново искать на чём Вы остановились. Поставьте закладку, и сможете в любой момент перейти на страницу, на которой закончили чтение.

Тёмная тема
Сбросить

Интервал:

Закладка:

Сделать

In Capitan de Banderano's opinion, the English and the Americans were absolutely hypocritical in their denunciation of anyone else who violated neutrality.

And it was the further judgment of Capitan de Banderano that the captain of the American destroyer Alfred Thomas deserved to be brought before an international tribunal for reckless endangerment on the high seas and put in prison.

He almost wished the American destroyer put a shot across his bows then, or took some other action. He thought there was a good chance he could have blown her out of the water with naval cannon carried aboard the Oceano Pacifico in false superstructure.

He had always been skilled with naval artillery. He suspected—but did not know—that someone who knew him in the Admiralty had recommended him to the Germans for command of the Comerciante del Oceano Pacifico because of this skill.

In any event, he was approached about taking command of the Oceano Pacifico on a "special mission"—and of course he suspected that mission was to replace the Reine de la Mer that the Americans had sunk. When the command was offered, he made up his mind to accept the commission even before the generous emoluments were mentioned.

Even if there was, so to speak, no command of the Royal Navy available to him, even if he was technically a civilian, he knew in his heart that he would be fighting the Antichrist, the godless Communists.

Capitan de Banderano was in his cabin shaving when the Second Officer knocked and announced that a small boat was approaching the Oceano Pacifico from the port.

"How far?"

"A mile or so, Sir. I would say she will come close in five minutes."

"Thank you, I will be there directly."

Capitan de Banderano finished shaving, put on his tunic, and went to the bridge. He picked his binoculars from its rack and walked out on the flying bridge, where he found the binoculars unnecessary. He could quite clearly read the gold-lettered name of the vessel on its bow with his naked eye— Coronel Gasparo.

His first thought was that a boat of that type had no business so far out in the bay. She was a river craft, lean, narrow, and long. In a moment he recognized her for what she was: one of the river craft that plied the maze of waters of El Tigre, north of Buenos Aires.

What in the name of all the saints is she doing out here in the first place, so far from the sheltered waters of El Tigre? And in the second place, why is she pulling alongside me ?

She had neither bridge nor wheelhouse. She was controlled internally by her coxswain—or more likely by some sheltered water seaman who proudly called himself "Capitan"—from inside her superstructure.

She took water over her bow as she turned to draw alongside—not enough to be dangerous, he judged. And when the light was right, he could see into the interior of her single cabin.

A young blond-haired man was at her wheel. Beside him, hanging on for dear life, was a man very likely wearing the uniform of the SS.

"Capitan, our accommodation ladder is half-raised," his Second Officer informed him.

"Have it lowered. Have someone on the platform throw her a line. Have an officer arm himself and be prepared on my orders to deny the use of the ladder to anyone."

"Aye, aye, Sir."

It took five minutes for the accommodation ladder to be lowered to the surface of the water, then for an officer—de Banderano was surprised to see it was the Second Engineer—to find a submachine gun and come to the rail, and finally for two seaman to find a coil of line and descend to the ladder's platform with it.

During this period, the Coronel Gasparo circled, dipping her bow in the swells and leaning almost alarmingly as she waited for the completion of the preparations to receive her.

The first time she approached the ladder, only a last-second desperate maneuver kept her from colliding with the Oceano Pacifico. This, of course, forced her to make yet another dipping and swaying turn.

Two of her crew—a middle-aged man and a younger one, who looked like his son—were now outside the cabin. The middle-aged man aft caught the second tossed line, tied it to a stanchion that was not very substantial-looking, and the two sailors on the ladder physically dragged the Coronel Gasparo back to the ladder.

The SS officer appeared on the aft deck. De Banderano could now see him clearly. He was not only an SS officer, but a Standartenf?hrer. De Banderano had been told he would be contacted by a senior German official, but had expected this would be someone from the German embassy, a diplomat, not a Standartenf?hrer.

Very carefully, the Standartenf?hrer jumped from the Coronel Gasparo onto the ladder and started up it.

When he reached the deck, he looked around until he saw Captain de Banderano.

His arm shot out in the Nazi salute.

"Heil Hitler!" he barked in German. "You are Captain de Banderano?"

De Banderano nodded. His German was adequate but not fluent; he used it only when he had to.

"Standartenf?hrer Goltz," Goltz announced. "I am the officer you were told to expect."

"What can I do for you, Standartenf?hrer?" de Banderano asked in his halting German.

"This is my authority," Goltz said, and handed him the letter on the stationery of the Nazi party and signed by all the senior members of the German government except Adolf Hitler himself.

Capitan de Banderano had just finished reading it—and being suitably impressed by it—when Peter stepped off the ladder onto the deck.

"Buenos dias, Capitan," Peter said, and rendered a military salute.

"Major Freiherr von Wachtstein, Captain," Goltz said. "My assistant in this undertaking."

There was something about the young major that de Banderano liked.

"You apparently have had a rather rough voyage," de Banderano said in Spanish. "Could I offer coffee? Perhaps with a little something to sweeten it?"

"The Capitan's understatement is exceeded only by his generosity," Peter said. "I accept with the most profound thanks."

Goltz looked at Peter for a translation.

"The Capitan has just offered us coffee," Peter said.

"I think that would be a splendid idea," Goltz said.

"If you'll come this way, gentlemen?" de Banderano said, and then added: "You speak Spanish very well, Mayor."

"Thank you. I spent some time in Spain," Peter said.

"During the war?"

"With the Condor Legion," Peter said.

Goltz picked up on the Condor Legion and guessed what they were talking about.

"Major von Wachtstein received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross from the hands of the F?hrer himself," he offered.

"For service in Spain?" de Banderano asked.

"For service in the East," Peter said.

De Banderano now had the satisfaction of confirming his snap judgment of the young officer. He was a fellow warrior in the war against the Antichrist Communists.

He waved them to seats around the wardroom table and ordered the steward to bring coffee, sweets, and brandy.

"Curiosity overwhelms me," he said. "What are you doing in that river craft out here?"

"What did he ask?" Goltz asked.

"It was all we could find on short notice," Peter said, and then translated for Goltz both de Banderano's question and his reply.

"We are pressed for time," Goltz said to de Banderano.

"How may I be of service?" de Banderano asked.

"Shortly before you sailed from Sweden, Captain, several crates were loaded aboard your vessel by Obersturmbannfuhrer Hasselmann. . . ."

Goltz paused until this was acknowledged—de Banderano nodded his head—and then continued.

"I tell you now, in confidence, Captain, that they contain certain materiel which will be used to repatriate the officers of the Graf Spee now interned in Argentina. These officers will be brought—probably in groups of twenty or so— from their place of internment to your ship, and then transferred to submarines."

Читать дальше
Тёмная тема
Сбросить

Интервал:

Закладка:

Сделать

Похожие книги на «Honor Bound 02 - Blood and Honor»

Представляем Вашему вниманию похожие книги на «Honor Bound 02 - Blood and Honor» списком для выбора. Мы отобрали схожую по названию и смыслу литературу в надежде предоставить читателям больше вариантов отыскать новые, интересные, ещё непрочитанные произведения.


Отзывы о книге «Honor Bound 02 - Blood and Honor»

Обсуждение, отзывы о книге «Honor Bound 02 - Blood and Honor» и просто собственные мнения читателей. Оставьте ваши комментарии, напишите, что Вы думаете о произведении, его смысле или главных героях. Укажите что конкретно понравилось, а что нет, и почему Вы так считаете.

x