A Dubious Plan (A Colton Banyon Mystery Book 5) Read online

  A Dubious Plan

  Colton Banyon Mystery #5

  By

  Gerald J Kubicki

  Other Books by Gerald J. Kubicki

  A Dubious Mission #1

  A Dubious Secret #2

  A Dubious Dream #3

  A Dubious Terrain #4

  A Dubious Plan #5

  A Dubious Artifact #6

  Books by Gerald J. Kubicki & Kristopher Kubicki

  A Dubious Position #7

  A Dubious Curse #8

  A Dubious Crime #9

  A Dubious Device #10

  A Dubious Race # 11

  The Society of Orion Series

  The Weapons #1

  The Recovery #2

  The Deception #3

  The Orion Codex #4

  The Tayos Caves #5

  License Note

  This ebook is for your personal enjoyment.

  It may not be re-sold.

  A Dubious Plan

  Colton Banyon Mystery #5

  Published by Gerald J. Kubicki

  Copyright ©2015 by Gerald J. Kubicki

  All rights reserved

  This book is dedicated to Kathy Mayeda

  Prologue

  The two friends wrestled the last drum of fuel off of the flat truck and rolled it down the ramp. It rolled a few feet away on the slick ice and came to rest next to the nineteen other barrels that they had already unloaded. It had taken them four trips along the ice trail to complete their task.

  “I’m glad that we have finally finished. Let’s get back in the truck, it’s freezing out here,” Felix, the taller one, said.

  “Herr Kappel wants us out here to watch for the plane,” Luca, his stout friend, replied with sarcasm in his voice. “Besides, it’s kind of balmy out here tonight,” he joked. “It’s probably around one degree Celsius.”

  “He just wants to stay warm and not have to put up with your smart mouth. Remember, that is how we got into this mess,” Felix retorted.

  The two friends were chosen for the unusual task of stockpiling the fuel drums because Luca had told the captain that he should pull into the nearest port and surrender immediately. He reasoned that the war was almost over and they wanted to get on with their lives. The war had not gone well in the last few years for the celebrated U-boat command. Losses were approaching eighty percent. Every U-boat was living on borrowed time.

  The U-boat political officer, whose function was to keep everyone in line on the boat, was standing nearby when Luca and the captain were talking. The political officer, Kappel, a diehard Nazi, had overheard them. He told the men that they had a choice: either help move the fuel drums or die, right now. Felix and Luca quickly volunteered for the strange assignment, but did not realize that it would still be a one-way trip to the mainland.

  Despite wearing civilian clothes, Felix, Luca, and the political officer Kappel were all sailors. They were all assigned to an unregistered German submarine, the U-boat, U114. There were no ship logs and no mission reports listed at their home base in Germany. However, U114 had quite a lot of war experience. It was not a hunter like so many other U-boats in the North Atlantic; it was a supplier.

  The Captain, Eric Schneider, reported directly to Admiral Donitz, the head of the German Navy. Donitz had sent them on several missions to the frigid waters that surrounded the sub-continent of Greenland. Captain Schneider knew the area well and had been put in charge of all activities that concerned the frozen wasteland of Greenland.

  Their current mission had been assigned by a secret code, bypassing Donitz. The orders were very specific and included final instructions about the men that would be involved in the assignment. Schneider could not tell anyone about the mission, not even Kappel.

  Since 1940, Captain Schneider had traveled to Greenland and had attempted to establish several German weather bases on the huge landmass. Germany wanted a base on Greenland to help direct the many U-boats that rained havoc on Allied shipping in the North Atlantic. They also wanted a station that could help predict the future weather for the European mainland so that they could plan their attacks. All of their efforts had been thwarted by a very small group of American fighters. The entire sub-continent was covered by just fifteen American soldiers. They were assigned to protect Greenland from German invasion and were known as “The Sedge Patrol”. These few men traveled by dog sleds. They found and captured the three weather stations along with over forty men that Schneider had brought to the land. No one was sure how fifteen men in the vast frigid wilderness of Greenland could find the weather stations and capture superior numbers of men, but they did.

  Following his current secret orders, on April 17, 1945, Captain Schneider piloted the U114 up the large fjord of Nuup Kangerlua on the Southeastern Coast of Greenland. The Fjord was huge and had three large islands that covered the mouth. The U-boat had little fear of detection, as the water was deep and the islands were basically uninhabited. His destination was the very small capital city of Nuuk. It was past the large islands and on a small peninsula. That was where he dropped off the three men, now dressed in civilian clothes, complete with hats and gloves. The submarine then continued up the fjord until it reached the edge of the great Kalaalisut glacier that covered eighty percent of the island. The submarine waited there for the three men to return with a lorry.

  It was three hours later that Kappel and his men returned with a truck large enough to carry five barrels. Sailors from the ship loaded the truck and Kappel set off for an ice trail that went up the glacier. It took an hour to finally reach the mostly flat top of the glacier. They dropped the five barrels and returned three more times before accumulating the needed twenty barrels of fuel.

  As soon as they were finished, one spoke; “Felix, look what I have,” Luca said as he reached inside his thick coat and produced a bottle of schnapps.

  “Where in God’s name did you get that?” Felix replied as he grinned, took off his gloves, and reached for the bottle.

  “It was on the table back at the man’s house. He had no more use for it, so I liberated it,” Luca answered.

  “I wish that Kappel had not shot and killed him. He is such a fanatic. All we had to do was to tie him up and leave him. It is nighttime. No one will even miss him for many more hours. We will be long gone by then.”

  “I think that Kappel likes killing. We should watch our backs,” Luca pointed out before taking a large gulp of the fiery liquid.

  Satisfied that they had completed their task, the two men leaned on the back of the open truck and proceeded to finish the bottle of liquor. They both light up cigarettes and stared into the night. After about ten minutes, they began to hear a noise. At first, it sounded like thunder that was muted by the strong wind that blew across the open plain, but the thunder became louder and soon turned into a roar.

  It was at that moment Kappel opened the door to the truck cab and started screaming at the two men. The roar was so loud that neither man could hear him. A large black shadow suddenly crossed over the truck. Kappel reached into the cabin and brought out a sack. He ran to the back of the truck and pointed into the bag. There were twenty flairs stacked in the bag. Both Felix and Luca suddenly understood that they needed to make a runway entrance for a plane. Each man grabbed some and proceeded to run straight ahead, lighting the flairs and dropping them on the ice. In just a few minutes, the beginnings of a runway emerged from the semi-darkness.

  The men returned to the truck just as the roar returned and the shadow once again flashed over the men. The roar became overwhelming and the men were suddenly pelted with loose snow and ice as a huge plane settled down on the makeshift runway. It braked to a stop and eventually rolled up to the unnerved men by the truck.

  The men were startled because they had never seen a plane like the one that now dwarfed their truck. It was the largest plane either of them had ever seen. It was over one hundred feet long and the wingspan was one and a half times that. It had six huge engines mounted on the long wings, but the most startling feature was that it didn’t contain any German markings. A Swedish flag was drawn on the very large rear tailfin.

  As the men stared at the behemoth before them, four of the engines spooled down, two propellers continued to turn. A door opened near the back of the plane and a set of steps suddenly appeared. A tall rugged man in a leather long coat walked down the stairs liked he owned the continent. The men by the truck cringed. They knew that the man was a high ranking Nazi, even though he did not wear a uniform. The man ceremoniously put on a pair of gloves and then looked around like he was surveying his domain. Once done with his survey, he acted as though he had just seen that there were others on the barren sheet of ice and moved towards them.

  “Heil Hitler,” Kappel screamed. He clicked his heels and shot out his arm in salute. Before the other two men could comply, the man put up his hand to stop them.

  “I’m a Swedish diplomat,” he smoothly lied to the trio. He stuck out his hand for each man to shake. No one believed him.

  The always-efficient Kappel immediately said, “We are here to refuel your plane Herr…,” but he was interrupted.

  “My name is not important,” the tall man stated.

  “Your plane is impressive,” Kappel continued. “I am not familiar with the design. Is it a new type of war plane?”

  “She is a beauty, isn’t she?” The tall man turned to look at it. He smiled like a predator.
br />   “What is the range, if I may ask?” Kappel prodded.

  “Why, it will make it all the way to the west coast of America, once it is has been refueled,” the man replied.

  Shock registered on the faces of the three men. They were just about to ask a flood of questions when the pilot joined the group. The men were further shocked. The pilot was a petite woman. She was munching on a cracker.

  “What is the delay? Start refueling the plane you morons,” she barked. “We are on a tight schedule.” She then removed her helmet and revealed long blonde hair that blew almost straight back in the howling wind.

  The men noticed that she was also not dressed in a uniform, but carried a large pistol in her narrow hip. It looked huge on her small body. They had not seen a woman in many months, let alone a woman aviator. As far as they knew, German women were never allowed to fly government planes. She was also quite beautiful. The men stayed rooted where they were.

  “Move now, or do I have to start shooting,” she ordered.

  “But, how do we refuel the plane? We have not been trained,” Felix blurted. He had not expected to perform additional duties.

  “Look by the stairs. I have left two hand pumps, along with hoses. You two drag the drums under both wings.” You,” she pointed to Kappel. “You climb up on the wings and open the tanks. We will throw up the hoses for you to insert into the tanks. Now, get to work.”

  Kappel pleaded, “What about the rest of the crew? Can’t they help?” He also had not expected to do any additional work, he was a political officer. He gave orders.

  “The rest of the crew is dead. I killed them. Do you have any more questions?” Her hand went to her gun. The men scrambled to begin refueling.

  As soon as they were alone, the tall man commented, “That was pretty clever Petra. We don’t have a crew.”

  “It got them motivated, didn’t it,” she replied easily.

  “Yes, it did.”

  “We are actually on a very tight schedule if you want to meet your contact in America,” she pressed. “We have already been delayed for several hours. The men who loaded the plane were completely incompetent.”

  “We will make it. I’m kind of good at planning things you know,” he replied with the smugness of an Aryan male. He didn’t notice her look of disdain.

  Within an hour, the three men completed the refueling. The barrels were all empty and rolled freely around the ice shelf. The three submarines returned to the truck exhausted, but proud that they had completed their assignment.

  “Where are you going?” Felix asked.

  “Why do you want to know?” responded the tall man.

  “Because I want to go with you to America,” Felix responded. “I am done with this war. We are going to lose anyway.”

  “Germany may lose some battles, but the war will continue. I guarantee it,” the tall man replied as he stiffened his back and stood proudly before them.

  “But, how is that possible?” replied Luca. “The Americans are on the doorsteps of Berlin and the slovenly Russians are ahead of them.”

  “We will carry the war to America,” the tall man answered. “We will win, if not today, then another day in the future.”

  “How are you so sure?” Luca asked.

  “Do you know who I am?”

  “A Swedish diplomat,” replied a suddenly nervous Kappel.

  “No, my name is actually General Hans Kammler. I will keep the Third Reich alive, but in America.”

  “Oh, no, I have heard of you,” an astonished Kappel screamed.

  Before the others comprehended what Kappel said, Kammler produced a luger and shot all three men in their heads.

  “Come Petra, my pet, we have much work to do in America,” he said as he ambled towards the plane.

  Part One

  The Plane

  Chapter One

  It was a beautiful day in Death Valley. Even though it was only mid-April, the temperature was already over 90 degrees, and it was just 10A.M. The skies were bright blue and didn’t contain a hint of a cloud. The relentless winds were calm this morning.

  Death Valley is located between two high mountain ranges. It’s long and desolate. Other than the few roads that snake through the valley, there are only a couple of passable trails in the vast region. The rest of the land is empty. It can be very dangerous too. A visitor could easily get lost and because of the economy, there are few park rangers to come to the rescue. The largest town, Furnace Creek, has a population of less than fifty people. The area is large, barren, uninhabited, and if you got in trouble, there is almost no cell phone reception.

  The Death Valley National Park is however, starkly beautiful. The scenery is sometimes breathtaking and sometimes serenely barren. It also contains the lowest point in North America, 282 feet below sea level. It is the driest area in the Americas with less than 2 inches of rainfall on average per year. Temperatures in the valley have been recorded as high as 136 degrees in the summer. It can be a most inhospitable place. But is also one of the most visited National Parks in America. The three thousand square mile park is located just west of Mid-Nevada and is actually in the great state of California. It is in easy driving distance from several major cities including Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco. It is like visiting another world. But it is a great place to be alone and a great place to go for a hike.

  Brent Maguson had booked the only hotel in Furnace Creek for Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. He booked only one room with two beds because he was not alone. His entourage included himself and three young women, one was from the office.

  Brent was a successful middle-aged salesperson for an electronics company in San Francisco. He was still in good shape and had little trouble getting dates, but this was different. The woman from his office was his administrative assistant named Cindy. One of other women was her roommate, the other a friend. He planned to have a very good time with all the young women over the weekend. As he cruised down Hwy 190 in the middle of Death Valley, he thought about his incredibility good luck. He had not planned to be headed for Death Valley this weekend, but Cindy had convinced him with an offer that he could not refuse. Cindy was very pretty Asian woman with short brown hair and the body of a runner. She was also about half his age. She was currently dressed in very short white shorts and a pink tube top. She sat next to him in the front seat of his year old Jeep Cherokee and constantly flirted with him, just as she did at work. He glanced at her exposed light brown legs and wished that they were at the hotel already.

  He checked his rear view mirror and was shocked and then immediately excited. The two women in the back were locked in a passionate embrace. The blond Chelsea was partly lying on top of the redhead, Alesha. Both girls were in short blue denim skirts and golf shirts. Alesha had her blue shirt pushed up around her neck and Chelsea was hard at work undoing her bra. Brent adjusted the rear view mirror so that he could get a better view.

  Cindy noticed that Brent was staring into the rear view mirror and immediately undid her seat belt and turned around on her knees in the seat. It exposed her small ass to Brent.

  “Hey, what are you two doing back there,” she spoke in a scolding sexy voice that Brent had never heard before.

  “We can’t wait. Come and join us,” replied Alesha.

  Cindy started to throw her leg over the seat, but stopped and reached over and stroked Brent on his face. Her hand drifted down his front and suddenly brushed his lower body.

  “Wow,” she exclaimed. “You are already excited. But Brent don’t you worry, you’ll have your chance very soon,” she reassured him as she breathed into his ear. She then dropped down into the back seat.

  Brent was ready to stop the car right there, but he readjusted the mirror again and thought about the weekend trip. He wondered if he had been setup, it had happen so quickly. It all started when Cindy had come into his office on Wednesday and stood by his desk pouting.

  “Why the pout on such a pretty face?” Brent sincerely asked.

  “I’ve got a big problem,” she confessed.

  “I’m guessing that I can help?” he confidently replied.

  “I doubt it,” she answered, but stood next to him without moving.