A story inspired by Castello di Briolio - Episode 45 - Jackerby meets a sticky end
For a story
that was conceived during those long boring hours flying in a steel cocoon,
striving to keep away the thoughts that the plane and everyone in it could just
simply disappear as planes have in the past, it has come a long way.
Whilst I have
always had a fascination with what happened during the second world war, not
the battles or fighting, but in the more obscure events that took place, I
decided to pen my own little sidebar to what was a long and bitter war.
And, so, it
continues...
...
A second report from
Blinky’s surveillance of the castle had Leonardo on the move, and a second
shadowy person following them.
It had to be Jackerby,
Atherton thought. Jackerby would be the only
one who didn’t trust anyone, or, perhaps, he had more murderous
intentions. Maybe he had worked out that
Leonardo was rapidly becoming a liability.
Or he had some other
agenda.
“How many of resistance
are waiting at the barn?” Atherton asked the soldier.
“Four. The fifth went to find them.”
“OK. Carlo, take some of the soldiers and stop
them.”
He grinned. At last.
“I’ll deal with the other
man.” I whistled and Jack came over. “We
have a job to do, Jack.” He had no idea
what I was saying, but his enthusiasm was obvious.
“Taking any prisoners,”
Blinky asked.
“If the situation
warrants it, but if the fire on us, we fire back.”
“And, once that’s done?”
“We retake the castle.”
“Sounds a bit like a
story out of a Boys Own annual.”
“It does. It’ll certainly make a good story to tell
your grandchildren one day.”
“If we make it back.”
“We will. If we’re careful and don’t take unnecessary
risks. I won’t be bringing a prisoner
back. If it’s Jackerby, I have a score
to settle with him.”
“Don’t let revenge cloud
your judgement.”
“I won’t. See you soon.”
When we reached the
woods, on the opposite side to the castle, I planned to come at Jackerby from an
angle he would not be expecting anyone.
From the moment we
entered the woods, Jack went into what I would call stealth mode as if he was
hunting. In a sense he was, and perhaps
he knew instinctively what we were looking for.
It took about a half hour
of carefully moving through the woods to get to a point where I could just see
Jackerby, sitting beside a tree, watching the barn. I moved a little closer, and the change of
angle brought Leonardo and two other men of the resistance, sitting behind the
barn, and one of sentry duty, waiting for the fifth to return.
I turned back to see
where Jack was, but he had gone off. A
rabbit perhaps, or something else.
I moved closer;
Jackerby’s attention was fully on the resistance members, so he would not hear
me coming.
What was he doing? He was taking an enormous risk coming out of
the castle alone or did he think that if I was clever enough to have the
castle under surveillance, he could assume I might be stupid enough to follow
him.
It was an interesting
thought, broken by the sudden rustling through the undergrowth, and then a
yelp, as Jack launched himself at Jackerby, taking him completely by surprise,
then, when Jackerby tried to get a gun in hand, Jack attacked that hand.
Long enough for me to get
there, gun in hand. “Stop resisting, or
I’m sure Jack will do some serious damage to that hand.”
It looked serious enough
to me.
“So, this is where you’re
hiding?”
“Enough, Jack.”
Curiously, the dog
stopped, but remained menacingly close, growling.
“I should have shot that
dog when I had the chance.”
Jack moved forward and
growled in his face, baring his teeth, and Jackerby shrank back.
“Don’t upset him. He obviously doesn’t like you.”
Our attention was
interrupted by gunfire, and a glance over to the barn saw two men with their
hands up against the wall, and the two on the ground, including Leonardo. Carlo was in the process of ‘interrogating’
the other two.
“Carlo is not a happy
man, Jackerby. And I promised him five
minutes alone with you.”
Another glance over at
the barn, Carlo was kicking one of the men who had fallen on the ground, with
enthusiasm. I didn’t rate the man’s
chances of surviving. “You really shouldn’t
have let Leonardo mistreat Chiara or Martina, wherever you’ve got her.”
“She is still alive. We can do a deal here, Atherton.”
“The trouble I have with
anything you say is that I can’t believe you.
I’m sure you’d say or do anything to stay alive and renege the moment
you got back to the castle.”
“I give you my word as an
officer. We are, like you, men of
honour.”
I shook my head. “You’re Gestapo, or worse, Jackerby. And they, as far as I’m concerned, are the
lowest of the low, little more than murderous thugs. No.”
I aimed the gun and
pulled the trigger.
The only way Jackerby was
leaving the woods was as dead weight.
...
© Charles
Heath 2022
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