THE LOST VIKING SAGA

Instead of the drill area the morning of William’s test, they were loaded on lorries and driven to an area of Barrow-in-Furness they had not yet seen. The vehicles pulled up before the entrance to a large, brick building very near the shipyards. As he exited the lorry, Olaf caught a glimpse of one of the large, grey ships out in the harbor through a gap between two buildings in the distance. His attention returned almost immediately to the building they stood in front of. The two large doors set in the brickwork remained closed. The lorries pulled away, leaving the men standing with David and Colonel Brundige’s aide. The two men had been added to accompany the Norsemen on the mission as they were both fluent in French, a language Olaf and his men had not had the time to learn. Neither man had answers for the questions the Norsemen posed to them. They confessed to be just as in the dark regarding what William had planned for the test as anyone else. After a wait of about five minutes, one of the doors opened slightly, revealing the head of John, who smiled at them all warmly.

“You lads put on quite a demonstration yesterday on the football pitch.”

“I did not see you there, John. Why did you not join us?” asked Olaf.

“I am a bit too old for that level of play I am afraid. I can barely handle kicking a ball around with my daughter. It was enough for me to enjoy the festivities from a distance,” John said, opening the door wider. “Come in and stand in the open area just inside. Someone is going to get you properly outfitted for the exercise, after which William will join us to explain what is going to happen today.”

The men crowded into an area that was only about twenty paces square. On one side of the room was a sliding door, shut and mysterious. On the next wall was a simple door that was open wide, spilling light into the area where they were congregated. An officer with an impeccably groomed mustache stepped through the doorway and walked briskly toward them.

“Welcome,” he began. “Before you get underway with what has been arranged for you today, we need to get you all into the German uniforms you will be wearing for your mission. I will bring you through into the room behind me five at a time. Inside, you will be transformed into German soldiers with rank, insignia, and appropriate weapons. To begin I will take these five men here nearest to me. You five, please follow me.”

Grim, Olaf, Kalf, Brusi Lars’ son, and Canute the Stout all obeyed, entering the room in the officer’s wake. Fifteen minutes later, they emerged. John emitted a gasp. The five men were imposing in their new uniforms. Olaf bore the insignia of an Oberst or full colonel. His bearing in the uniform was even more authoritative. Kalf was dressed in the uniform of an Oberleutnant, Grim a Sergeant, and the other two men Privates. All of the uniforms were of the sort worn by Hitler’s SS, a greatly feared branch of the Nazi army. Five more men were bid to enter the room, and so the pattern went for the next almost ninety minutes until all of the Norsemen were garbed in their alter-egos, as well as David and Brundige’s aide, Major Penbrooke. They stood talking amongst themselves in the open space, their German uniforms, far outnumbering the Englanders around them. Had anyone entered the room without prior knowledge of Operation Thor’s Hammer they would have supposed the building was being used as a Prisoner of War detention facility.

Abruptly, the rumbling noise of the mysterious sliding door opening caused all heads to turn in that direction. Through the gap of the open doorway, walked William. He scanned the assembly of faux Nazi soldiers with a grin on his face. Strolling leisurely through the men, he examined the patches, medals, and various other accoutrements attached to the uniforms. Nodding his approval toward the officer in charge of producing the garments, he stood in the center of the open area.

“If I were to walk in this building uninformed, I would think that the Nazis had been successful in their plan to invade Britain. Captain Morris, you are to be commended. These deceptions are flawless. If they need to pass inspection on appearance alone we are halfway to success in this operation. However, today we will examine how you are able to carry off the other fifty percent of this highly public covert enterprise. When you pass through the door over there, you will enter a mockup of the Palais Garnier opera house. Though not as realistically depicted as I would wish, it is suitably similar that you should recognize the layout from the plans you have been studying. You will find a contingent of Nazi officers seated in one of the premier boxes with their Fuhrer. Stationed around the opera house will be numerous Nazi soldiers. We have no idea how many will be present so we have erred on the side of caution and seeded the room with roughly one hundred men. I will not reveal to you exactly where they all will be as it is your mission to discern that for yourselves and act accordingly. The audience will be full of doppelganger officials, supporters, and various and sundry other civilians, while the opera house proper as fully staffed as we deemed it would be for an event such as the one you will be intruding upon. We could find no English opera company capable of mounting a proper Wagnerian opera for us so we have to make do with a production of ‘Me and My Girl’ graciously being performed for us by a troupe from the Victoria Palace. It won’t be in German, but at least it won’t be as oppressive as Wagner. The performers have been made fully aware of what is occurring here today and are ready to play the part in it that I have assigned to them. This will not be a static performance. The actors and orchestra will react to what transpires as it happens. My intention is to give all of you as realistic a view of how this mission may pan out. Olaf, I know that you have spent many long hours reviewing the layout of the real Palais Garnier. You should enter with your men and execute the strategy you have determined best for the assured success of your mission. I, Colonel Brundige, and a handful of other officers will be observing from a clandestine position and taking careful notes of our perceptions throughout the exercise. Remember, that I have designed this application to be virtually impossible. I want to see how you all react to situations beyond your control. Now, if you are ready, I will clear this staging area of all personnel but yourselves. You have a few minutes to direct your men and then you must enter the opera house. You were all given your identity papers when issued your uniforms, correct?”

“Indeed,” answered a very sober Olaf.

“Very good. The performance will begin in twenty minutes. You and your men need to be in place five minutes prior to the opening overture. Godspeed, Olaf. It is my desire that you surprise us all in this exercise,” William pivoted to address the non-participating personnel in the area. “The rest of you, if you have not been assigned a role in the drill, please retreat to an area where you will not interfere.”

The staging area cleared of all but Olaf and his men with rapidity. Olaf used the time wisely to lay out his plan carefully so that each and every man knew their function. He knew William’s intention was that they fail, but the Norse leader did not consider that a viable option. He was fully committed to succeed however the odds were stacked against them. Olaf spoke a few final words of inspiration to his men and with a determination born from years of practice; they walked through the open door ready to face whatever William had prepared for them.

They strode into the Grand Foyer of the fake opera house with authority. Olaf’s papers indicated that he was commander of a special top secret security detachment of the SS. Just inside the door, his papers were scanned by a Sergeant, who looked them over carefully before handing them back and crisply saluting Olaf with an exuberant, “Heil, Hitler!” Olaf returned the salute nonchalantly, gesturing for his men to disperse themselves as he paid little attention to the fawning Sergeant. He walked toward the Grand Staircase, trailed by Ebbn, wearing the rank of an Oberstleutnant, Theobrand, posing as a major, and Kalf in his Oberleutnant uniform. The four of them ascended the staircase heading toward the hallway that would take them to the box adjacent to the one occupied by Hitler and his retinue. He pulled aside the curtain the shielded the box from the hallway and requested one of the men step outside. Pulling out his identification, Olaf explained that the booth was being taken over by his detachment for security reasons and that they would need to find seats elsewhere. The man looked at Olaf’s uniform, studied the papers, and without argument, instructed his companions to vacate the box. Olaf and the others were just taking their seats when the overture began.

Looking out over the audience, Olaf could see his men in their preassigned positions, each of them strategically located in close proximity to one of the German guards Olaf had supposed would be positioned in key locations of the theatre. Directly across from his box, on the other side of the auditorium, he noted with satisfaction that Major Penbrooke, Grim, and Ivar were already seated and apparently as successful as he had been in intimidating the patrons who occupied it prior to their appearance. The three men faced the stage, feigning interest in the music as it played. With no doubt in his mind, Olaf was certain that David, Thorfinn, Eovind, and Einar Wrymouth were in their proper position in the hall just outside of Hitler’s box. Their papers, exquisitely forged by one of Britain’s top practitioner of the covert arts, gave them authority to be there as a backup to the personal bodyguards who flanked Herr Hitler inside his box. As the overture drew to a close, and the lights of the house began to dim, Olaf was hopeful that the strategy he had devised may surprise William regardless of the man’s seeming ability to second guess every situation. What William could not know was that Olaf’s strategy for overcoming this scenario was more unorthodox than any he could have imagined. Olaf supposed that he considered the stakes in this mission higher than even the Englanders. The Norseman understood that their success may open the doorway once again between this time and his. Trusting to divine Providence caused him to plan in a way others may not have. Failure was not a possibility to allow in any of the actions that would follow.