Kin, like the rest of his detachment, which was on standby in case the men of Detachment Bravo would call for help or backup, was doing his best to pass the time in their small room by reading a book when Sergeant Dubreuil entered the room with a thin, bespectacled newcomer.
‘’Guys, gather around to greet our new detachment member, Hunter Yves Soulange. He just arrived from the Alpine Corps Depot and will replace our late driver, Charles Jumonville.’
Kin, like his other six comrades, got up from his cot and approached Dubreuil and the new soldier, who was of medium height and looked a bit like an intellectual type. The soldiers took turns to present themselves to Soulange while shaking hands with him.
However, when Kin’s turn came, the said Soulange opened his eyes wide while staring at his face with apparent shock.
‘’A…a Neanderthal? But that’s impossible!’
The soldiers around him, including Sergeant Dubreuil, looked at Kin, then back at Soulange, incomprehension on their faces, while Kin did his best to keep a straight face.
Dubreuil then spoke to the newcomer in a stern tone.
‘’You are not going to start well your tour in my detachment if you start insulting one of my men right from the start, Soulange.’
‘’But…but, he HIS a Neanderthal, Sergeant! I had just completed my studies in anthropology when I was conscripted and I can recognize a Homo Neanderthalensis
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when I see one. Look at his prominent brow ridge and lack of chin! He also has the build typical of Neanderthal men: short but stocky and very muscular.’
Dubreuil and the other soldiers then looked at Kin, expecting him to contradict Soulange.
Instead, Kin gathered his courage and nodded his head once.
‘’He is correct, Sergeant: I am a Neanderthal and I was born some 58,000 years ago. I was saved by the Time Patrol after my family was killed by a pack of cave hyenas and was then adopted by one of their field agents.’
There was a stunned silence for a few seconds before Dubreuil quickly went to the door of the room and closed and locked it before returning to the group.
‘’Alright, guys. Until I say otherwise, this stays within the detachment. I will skin alive the first man who will start babbling about this to the rest of the company. Can you tell us more about you, Kin? Why did you enroll in the Army if you were a dependent of a member of the Time Patrol?’
‘’Sergeant, like I stated when I arrived in Annecy, I was truly born in the Dordogne region. However, I was born in a rock shelter, not in a house. I lost my family when I was six years-old and me and a little girl were the only survivors of an attack by a pack of hyenas. My mother Nana succeeded in chasing away those hyenas but was mortally wounded during the fight. A Time Patrol team which was discretely watching and studying my group then came to my help and that of Ani. My mother Nana spoke with my adoptive mother before dying, asking her to take care of me and Ani. Sylvie accepted at once and we were then brought to the future. When I reached the age of eighteen, I decided that I wanted to serve the country where I was born and signed into the service for three years. That’s my story in a nutshell, Sergeant.’
Dubreuil, like the other soldiers in the room, stared for a moment at Kin while digesting these revelations. Then, to Kin’s huge relief, he smiled to him and patted his shoulder in a friendly manner.
‘’Kin, the main thing of importance to me is the fact that you volunteered by yourself to serve our country. For me, you will still be a brave and most capable alpine soldier. Right, guys?’
The young men around Kin nodded and expressed their accord to that, attracting tears to Kin’s eyes.
‘’Thank you, my friends. Thank you for your acceptance and confidence in me.’
‘’Well, time to get back to our routine, men.’ announced Dubreuil in a tone that meant that this discussion was closed. ‘’I will ask you all to help Chasseur Soulange in
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taking his place in our detachment and in adapting him to our mission routine. I will see you all at mealtime in one hour. Master corporal Fortier, see that Chasseur Soulange gets a place in this room.’
‘’Yes Sergeant!’ replied at once Fortier. Once Dubreuil had left the room, Fortier pointed to a corner of the room where an empty cot sat.
‘’This was the cot used by our ex-driver, Hunter First Class Charles Jumonville.
It is now yours. Put down your things and install yourself, then prepare your kit and clean your rifle in advance of our move to our observation post.’
Soulange nodded at that and quickly went to the empty cot, then put his backpack and his web gear under it before sitting on it and starting to disassemble his rifle prior to cleaning it. He however couldn’t help look from time to time at Kin, who noticed that.
Stopping his cleaning work for a moment, Kin went to sit besides the newcomer on his cot and spoke to him in a low voice.
‘’Look, I won’t hold a grudge against you for outing me as a Neanderthal man.
Your reaction was both understandable and spontaneous. If you wish so, I am ready to speak with you later on about my time as a Neanderthal boy living in the Dordogne region. However, my life with the Time Patrol is strictly confidential, so don’t ask me things like where their base is, if you want to stay my friend.’
‘’I…I understand, Kin, although there is a lot of public curiosity about the Time Patrol in France, and this since they appeared and brought an end to the war in 1942. I promise you not to broach that subject…ever.’
‘’Thank you, Yves. Again, welcome to our mortar detachment.’
Kin then returned to his cot and his weapon cleaning. Soulange, his mind still in a bit of a turmoil, watched him walk away, then forced himself to return his attention to his own rifle.
The next morning, Mortar Detachment Alpha’s nine men, led by Sub-lieutenant Louis Montreuil, left the refuge with their toboggan filled with fresh rations and supplies and crossed the jagged icepack of the Glacier du Milieu, getting at the group’s observation post after some fifty minutes. Once they were there, the men of Bravo Detachment left to return to the refuge after making a brief situation report to Montreuil.
However, instead of going with the departing detachment, the young officer stayed at the observation post. As Kin was helping to store the supplies and the toboggan away,
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Montreuil signaled to Kin to follow him, then walked away from their tent before stopping some twenty meters away behind a big rock. There, he looked straight into Kin’s eyes.
‘’Hunter Comeau, know that Sergeant Dubreuil informed me yesterday about what was revealed about you. While this came as quite a shock to me, know that I still have full confidence in you and that I consider you as a precious asset to my group and to our unit. Continue on as before and don’t worry about any repercussions about these revelations.’
‘’Thank you, sir! Will this get known by the rest of the battalion? I really would like my story to stay as private as possible, for obvious reasons.’
‘’And you have good reasons to wish so, Hunter Comeau. Unfortunately, not everybody in France is open-minded, by a long shot. However, you can count on my discretion in this matter.’
‘’Thank you, sir! This is a big relief for me.’
‘’Indeed! You may now return to your duties.’
‘’Yes sir!’ replied Kin, saluting Montreuil before returning to the toboggan and the supplies. The young officer nodded slowly his head while watching him walk away: maybe he ought to have a private discussion with Soulange, in order to learn more about Neanderthals and the possible assets someone like Kin could bring to his group.
Some three weeks later, they received the news that their mountain border surveillance mission was being closed and that they could return to Annecy. While Kin had actually enjoyed his time in the pure alpine air and slopes of the region, he was as happy as his companions to be able to return to the unit’s barracks in Annecy, a small town he had quickly learned to appreciate. It also would allow him to be able again to place periodic calls to Ani and Sylvie via the Time Patrol’s official outpost in Paris and, maybe, go to that outpost while on weekend leave and then get a time scooter ride to the main Time Patrol base, situated in New Zealand some 4,900 years in the past.
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CHAPTER 6 – ALGERIAN TROUBLES
Street demonstration in Algiers during the Algerian War.
20:15 (Paris Time)
Thursday, February 23, 1956 ‘B’
Barrack of the Heavy Weapons Company, 27th B.C.A.
Galbert Barracks, Annecy
Haute-Savoie, France
Kin, along with most of his comrades, was watching the nightly news on the small television set of their barrack’s small communal lounge when the announcer shifted to news from Algeria, where a bloody insurrection had been ongoing for years. Filmed scenes of a horrible massacre which had been committed inside a small village then started playing on the screen as a French commentator spoke.
‘’These are some of the pictures taken in the small village of Sfissifa, in the Northwest of Algeria, near the border with Morocco. From the declarations by local survivors, a large group of armed terrorists which came from the direction of the Moroccan border attacked the village at night and killed every French person they could find, along with their Muslim neighbors known to support the government. Over 79 men, women and children were killed, many of them tortured and mutilated before being killed.
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The local police detachment of five men was overwhelmed and massacred during that same attack. The other French inhabitants of this region, commonly called ‘Pieds Noirs11’ here in France, are now clamoring for better protection from the central government against such terrorist attacks. However, the local police forces and government militias are notoriously ill equipped and in insufficient numbers to face the growing threat from roaming bands of armed nationalists and Islamic extremists, who want to completely erase what is left of the French presence in Algeria. The locals also bitterly criticize the past actions of the French government in the past years since the end of World War 2, which gradually withdrew French military units from Algeria without ensuring that local military and police forces were sufficient to keep order. The various past decisions by General de Gaulle concerning the future of Algeria are particularly pointed at as being mainly responsible for the actual chaotic situation. A bitter discussion is now ongoing at the National Assembly in Paris, with some deputies asking that the government send French Army troops to restore calm and security in Algeria, while other deputies are vehemently opposed to such an action…’
Kin cringed at the view of the horrible pictures shown on televisions and had to look away more than once. Finally, having had enough, he got up from his chair and walked out of the lounge, using the room’s entrance to exit in the open air, where he inhaled deeply the cold air of the evening. He was soon joined outside by Samuel Benchetrit, who looked at least as pissed and disturbed as Kin. Knowing that Samuel had been born in Algeria and had lived there for many years before moving to continental France and joining the Army, Kin gave him a discouraged look.
‘’Will things ever get better in Algeria, Samuel? How could things degenerate to this point?’
‘’How? Thank old hatreds, intolerance and extremism for that, Kin. Thank also government corruption, ineptitude, incompetence and racism for the actual situation.
France originally conquered Algeria and other North African countries to enlarge its
‘empire’, the same way the British conquered many other countries while building their own empire much earlier on. However, like the British, the Spaniards, the Portuguese and even the Belgians, those empires were only meant to enrich the conquerors and not 11 Pieds Noirs: ‘Black Feet’ in French. Derogative term often used by French people in continental France to describe the French and their descendants who immigrated in the past to Algeria, often to establish farms or work in the local administration. Being mainly Christians, they were often targeted by Islamic extremists and by Arab nationalists.
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to help the local people or improve their lives. Those local people, seeing little to no benefit gained by them while also being treated in a most racist way, understandably grew resentful along the years, while their wish for independence grew. All that pent up resentment and hatred has now exploded in the open. I know too well about this, as my family were Algerian Jews who suffered much from hatred and intolerance…from both sides. My parents finally had enough of that and emigrated to France when I was a young teenager. Thankfully, the welcome we got in France was not as bad as we had feared and I eventually joined the Chasseurs Alpins before marrying.’
Kin looked in silence at his friend for a moment before speaking.
‘’Samuel, do you see a way out of this mess? What should be done?’
In response, Samuel lowered his head, discouragement on his face.
‘’I can see no way out of this, Kin. There is simply too much accumulated hatred and intolerance from past decades. I believe that the only realistic thing France could do now would be to completely withdraw from Algeria, evacuate its citizens and let the Algerians govern themselves. Sending French Army units in Algeria would only delay the final outcome, which will probably be a fully independent Algeria. However, even that will not insure peace in Algeria. Morocco and Tunisia, both of which border Algeria, also have long-standing border disputes and old hatreds with Algeria, dating back from the times of the Ottoman Empire, which then controlled North Africa.’
Kin shook his head angrily at those words.
‘’What a screwed-up mess! I always avoided politics and this only confirms that I did well to do so.’
‘’I suppose that politics was the least worry of Neanderthals, right Kin?’
‘’You got that right, Samuel. Finding food, water and shelter was what was on our minds. That and surviving. It was a tough life but it was also a simple life.’
Samuel nodded approvingly to Kin’s words and patted his shoulder.
‘’True! Well, I better go back to the married quarters and help my wife put our two young kids in bed. See you tomorrow at the morning roll call, Kin.’
‘’And have a good night, Samuel.’
Now alone outside of his barrack block, Kin looked up at the evening sky to watch the stars and the moon, a sight that never failed to calm him and soothe him.
While what he had said about disliking politics was true, it didn’t mean that he was ignorant or uneducated about it. While living at the secret main base of the Time Patrol,
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he and Ani had benefitted from twelve years of top-notch education there, augmented by frequent field trips and classes meant to expose them to nature and to help them develop both physically and mentally. The still common belief in France that Neanderthals were simplistic brutes could not be further from the truth. If anything, Kin’s intelligence was at least as sharp as that of the average Frenchman of this century, while his various survival skills were far superior in comparison. He was thus able to fully understand Samuel’s arguments and completely agreed with him. While the various predator beasts from the Paleolithic had been ferocious and merciless, they had been motivated by simple survival needs, like finding food by hunting. In contrast, modern Humans too often acted out of sheer hatred, intolerance and cruelty, something no beast he had met 52,000 years ago had done. After some ten minutes spent looking at the night sky, Kin then went back inside in order to prepare his uniform for tomorrow’s day of work.
10:03 (Paris Time)
Tuesday, March 5, 1956 ‘B’
Office of Lieutenant-colonel Genest
27th BCA, Galbert Barracks, Annecy
The sixteen senior officers of the battalion, having been called in by their commander, gradually filed inside Genest’ office as they arrived from their own offices or from some unit activity. They found Lieutenant-colonel Laurent Genest standing behind his desk near one window, his expression somber. More than one officer then connected his apparent mood with the increasingly deteriorating situation in Algeria. In that they were quickly proven right.
‘’Since my office is a bit small for seating all of us, I will speak to you while standing. To make matters short, I got a call this morning from the Alpine Brigade headquarters in Varces, which had itself received a call from Army Headquarters in Paris. I was then warned to expect soon a detailed mission order for our battalion and to prepare right away our unit for deployment to Algeria.’
The senior officers either stiffened or redoubled their attention on hearing that: the possibility of a deployment had been the object of speculations for weeks already, with many doubting the wisdom of such a move in view of the politically divided feelings in France about the situation in Algeria. Genest then spoke further.
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‘’The operational and logistical details of such a deployment to Algeria will be contained in the operational mission order we should receive sometimes today but our brigade commander was able to give me some pertinent information in advance.
Basically, we will be deploying in the Northwest part of Algeria, next to the border with Morocco, in order to interdict the movements and infiltrations by Algerian nationalist terrorist groups who are based in Morocco and who frequently cross the border into Algeria. While details about our deployment will be found in the incoming mission order, Colonel Martin was able to tell me that our battalion will deploy to the area of Ain Sefra, in the Ksour Mountains of the Atlas Chain. I was assured that we will soon receive ample stocks of pertinent maps covering that area. I was also told to have this unit ready to move by train to Marseille within a week, where we will then embark on a ship bound for Algeria. That is it for the moment in terms of what I can tell you about our mission. There is however a point that was passed to me by Colonel Martin, a point that will greatly complicate the accomplishment of our incoming mission. Due to purely political factors, the Defense Minister has decreed that only career soldiers and those serving voluntarily under contract will be deployed. We will be forbidden to bring any of our conscripts with us to Algeria.’
Those last words had the effect of a cold shower on the group of senior officers, with one of the infantry company commanders protesting nearly at once.
‘’But, sir, this means that nearly forty percent of my company will not be allowed to deploy to Algeria, right at the time when numbers will count the most. The same can be said of all five of our infantry companies.’
Genest could only node once his head in visible frustration.
‘’I realize that all too well, Commandant Rimbaud. However, we will have to live with that, whether we like it or not. Apparently, the Prime Minister and the President are unwilling to face the political storm that a combat deployment of our conscripts to Algeria would raise. Thus, one of your immediate jobs will be to go back to your respective sub-units and to report quickly to me how many men will be eligible to deploy to Algeria.
Once that is done, then you will direct your men to start preparing their kits for operations in a hot semi-desertic mountain environment.’
‘’Uh, sir, do we know how long this mission could be?’ asked another company commander.’
‘’To be frank, nobody knows yet. Be prepared for an open-ended operational combat mission.’
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Genest didn’t miss the shocked look on the face of many of his officers, something he could easily understand. He himself had been shocked and not a little bit angered on hearing how improvised and nebulous the incoming mission was going to be. With nearly daily images on television news about the atrocities and violence being committed around Algeria, this was bound to create quite a few misgivings and recriminations among his men. He again looked around at his officers, gauging their state of mind before speaking again.
‘’Well, I will call a more substantial meeting once I get those operational orders from Paris. Now go back to your sub-units and start preparing them for deployment.
Oh, one last thing: this mission will stay confidential until I say otherwise. I don’t want to see rumors start spreading around about this. Dismissed, gentlemen!’
The senior officers then filed out of his office at a hurried step, leaving Genest alone with his thoughts. Captain Robert Théoret, who commanded the heavy weapons company, discussed in a low voice with Commandant Rimbaud as both men walked down the main hallway of the headquarters building.
‘’You have that many conscripts in your company, Commandant?’
‘’I do, unfortunately. The worst part is that I will have to also leave behind a few experienced NCOs in order to not leave those conscripts behind disorganized and leaderless. In a way, I envy you: most of your heavy weapons company is formed of experienced NCOs and of men under voluntary contract.’
‘’I will still have to leave behind a few men but I concede that I will be in a much better shape than you, Commandant. Unfortunately, orders are orders, especially when they come from the top.’
‘’Right!’ said Rimbaud in a bitter tone before splitting away from Théoret to go his own way. On his part, the latter went straight to the barrack sheltering the men of his company and shouted out as loudly as he could once inside it.
‘’ALL THE MEN OF THE HEAVY WEAPONS COMPANY ARE TO ASSEMBLE
AT ONCE IN THE COMMUNAL LOUNGE OF THE BARRACK! THIS INCLUDES THE
OFFICERS AND SENIOR NCOS. PASS THE WORD AROUND!’
Théoret then went out and walked to the next building, where the offices of his company were, and informed his junior officers and senior NCOs to go to the adjacent barrack. As he walked back to that barrack, he started to think about what kind of personal kit and equipment his company would need to bring to Algeria. Once item that immediately
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came to his mind was the need for his men to sign for an extra water canteen: in Algeria’s climate, his men were going to need all the water they could carry on them.
Théoret had to wait no more than a few minutes before the last of his men assembled in the TV lounge of the barrack. With the lounge being a fairly small room, his soldiers had to stand around while lining the walls three-deep. Once everybody was in, Théoret started speaking in a firm but calm voice while looking at his men.
‘’Men of the Heavy Weapons Company, I have important news to pass to you.
First, as many of you had been expecting, our battalion, along with many other units, will soon be deploying to Algeria for an operational mission. While details of that mission are still to come, our main job will be to watch over the border area between Algeria in Morocco, to stop Islamist extremists and armed nationalists from crossing into Algeria and to prevent attacks on civilians by them. Our battalion will be posted in the Northwest of the country, in the Ksour Mountains, but I can’t say more right now until we get more detailed orders. Colonel Genest wants us to start preparing for this deployment and to be ready to move by train to Marseille, where we will board a ship to Algeria. After lunch, we will all go the unit’s quartermaster in order to sign for extra water canteens and other hot desertic climate gear. We will be leaving behind our Winter gear and skis for this new mission. Corporal Benchetrit, you lived many years in Algeria. Can you tell us what kind of climatic conditions we will encounter in the Ksour Mountains near the Moroccan border?’
The mule handler, standing near Kin in the crowd of soldiers, answered Théoret in a louder than usual voice, so that the other soldiers could hear him clearly.
‘’Well, sir, since we will be at some altitude in the Ksour Mountains, we will fortunately experience more moderate temperatures than in most of Algeria. Right now, temperatures in the mountains should be around ten degrees Celsius and will climb to a maximum of about thirty degrees in the Summer. However, the climate there is very dry, so water supplies will be critical. Even in the mountains of the region, snow is a rarity, so our skis would effectively be useless there. Due to the mostly rocky ground, temperatures will drop quite a lot at night, so we will still need our parkas over there.
There are few roads around but there is a railway line running North-South and which crosses into Morocco near Ain Sefra. That’s about it for what I know of the region, sir.’
‘’That is still very useful information, Corporal Benchetrit. Thank you very much.
Now, there is another thing that you must know about that incoming mission: by decision
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of the government, we will not be allowed to deploy with our conscript soldiers, who will have to stay behind in Annecy.’
That announcement created quite a stir in the crowd of soldiers but Théoret quickly spoke again as whispers went around.
‘’Quiet, please! I now want all of the conscript soldiers present to step out of the ranks and line the wall behind me.’
Kin, who was serving a three-year contract, patted in encouragement the shoulder of Yves Soulange, who was the only conscript member of their mortar detachment.
‘’Go, Yves! And don’t feel bad for not accompanying us to Algeria.’
‘’Thanks, Kin!’ replied the young man before walking out of the ranks, along with a dozen other soldiers of the company, and taking position behind Captain Théoret.
After a minute of shuffling around, Théoret then spoke again, his expression becoming severe.
‘’One last thing before we disperse: this is to stay classified. No loose talk at the local cafés about our oncoming deployment to Algeria: we don’t want our enemies there to be able to prepare in advance for our arrival.’
‘’What about our families, sir?’ asked nearly at once a young soldier, making Théoret nod his head once.
‘’I will have to ask Colonel Genest about that before I could answer that question, Hunter Cuvier. In the meantime, keep mum about this. The senior NCOs and junior officers will now stay here, so that I can brief them on what we will do today. The rest, start preparing your kit for operations in a semi-desertic mountain area. DISMISSED!’
As Kin filed out of the lounge to go to his bed and locker, he whispered in passing to Samuel Benchetrit.
‘’How do you think that your wife and kids will take this, Samuel?’
‘’Not very well I’ afraid but that’s the Army for you, Kin.’
08:25 (Paris Time)
Wednesday, March 14, 1956 ‘B’
Annecy train station, Haute-Savoie
‘’ALRIGHT, MEN, SIT DOWN ON YOUR KIT AND RELAX: OUR TRAIN WILL
ARRIVE IN SOME TWENTY MINUTES!’
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On the announcement from the battalion top NCO, Chief Warrant Officer Louis Volage, Kin sat down on his voluminous backpack, imitating his comrades around him. His main worry now was that his message to his mother, transmitted to the distant past via the Time Patrol’s Paris outpost, had somehow not made it in time to Sylvie before he would leave Annecy for Algeria. With Lieutenant-colonel Genest authorizing his soldiers to advise their families, in view of the wide media publicity now being given to the Army’s deployment to North Africa, most of the soldiers of the battalion had been able to see their loved ones come to Annecy to say goodbye to them on their departure. As for Kin, he was still waiting and hoping for Sylvie Comeau to show up this morning. As he waited while looking around him, his heart jumped inside his chest when he saw a Time Patrol time scooter, a small three-seater vehicle, appear in the sky and start to descend towards the embarkation quay of the railway station. As exclamations went out around him, Kin got up on his feet and waved his arms over his head. He then nearly ran towards one end of the quay, which was mostly empty, as the time scooter was turning towards the railway station while losing altitude. The scooter finally landed smoothly and in near silence only two meters from Kin, who grinned with joy on seeing that his mother Sylvie, wearing a Time Patrol field uniform, was piloting it, while his ‘sister’ Ani, wearing a simple civilian outdoors outfit, was occupying the saddle seat behind their adoptive mother. Kin’s first move when the transparent canopy of the scooter slid open was to go to Sylvie and hug her.
‘’Thank you for coming, Mother. I
was afraid that you didn’t get my
message.’
‘’I did get it, Kin, but I was on a
field mission and had to delay a bit my visit.’ Sylvie Comeau Ani Comeau
‘’I understand, Mother. And thank you for coming as well, Ani.’
Ani, now sixteen years old, warmly returned his hug, then stepped out of the scooter with Sylvie.
‘’We just couldn’t miss your departure for Algeria, Kin. While I am worried about what awaits you there, I understand that you are fulfilling your duty to France. Since you will probably be posted in some kind of isolated position, I and Mother brought you a few gifts for you.’
‘’Just coming to see me off is already a nice gift, Ani.’
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‘’But it wasn’t enough in our opinion. Here is something that should help you spend your off-duty hours in Algeria.’
Ani then handed to Kin a flat, compact protective case made of shock-proof polymer and sporting a long carrying strap attached to it. Kin immediately broke into a happy grin on recognizing the case.
‘’A portable audio-visual entertainment viewer? Super!’
‘’It is already loaded with your favorite list of shows and music and I added to the case a dozen extra data memory sticks filled with more shows and music. You will also be able to send and receive messages to us via our Paris outpost with it.’
‘’Excellent! I don’t know how to thank you for this, Ani.’
‘’You could start by kissing me.’ replied the Neanderthal teenage girl with a malicious smile. Kin followed that suggestion at once by hugging her and kissing her on the mouth, with the soldiers nearest to them cheering them up. Sylvie waited until Kin took one step away from Ani before presenting a small leather bag to him.
‘’This is meant to give you more personal safety during your deployment in Algeria, Kin. However, keep those two objects out of the sight of others, so as not to attract questions.’
Now curious, Kin took the bag and opened it to look inside. He recognized at once the two objects in the bag: one was a Time Patrol wrist communicator unit with a leather covering band; the other was a light stun pistol in a molded belt holster and with a spare power cell. Kin had used both items in the past while living at the secret base of the Time Patrol, situated some 5,000 years in the past in what would become New Zealand.
The wrist communicator, apart from acting as both a watch and a video communications device, could also be used to send through time an emergency signal and to activate a locator beacon. As for the stun pistol, while a non-lethal weapon, a single burst from it would stun unconscious a large man, or even a bear if set at maximum power. Kin took off at once his contemporary watch from his left wrist and replaced it with the communicator unit. With its protective leather cover band in place, others would take it to be a simple watch fixed to a leather wrist band, of the type many carried in this time period. As for the stun pistol, Kin hid it in one of the cargo pockets of his combat uniform, promising himself to fit it to his belt later on. Giving back the now empty bag to Sylvie, Kin then hugged and kissed her tenderly.
‘’Thank you, Mother. I love you!’
‘’And I love you too, Kin.’
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‘’Will you stay at the station until my trail will depart?’
‘’We will, Kin. Now, tell us how were your past few months.’
Kin was too happy to speak then, telling Sylvie and Annie about the action he saw in the Alps against drug smugglers and about the training he had followed. He also proudly showed them his new Hunter First Class rank insignias, earned a month ago after his unit’s mission in the Alps.
‘’My sergeant told me that I should soon earn my corporal stripes if I continue performing the way I did up to now.’
Somehow, that brought an apprehensive look on Ani’s face.
‘’And…after your three-year contract will have been completed, do you intend to continue on in the French Army, Kin? I really miss you.’
Kin looked back at her with obvious fondness.
‘’And I missed you a lot as well, Ani. Whatever I do at the end of my present contract, I will do it with you, that I promise you.’
He then sealed his declaration with a loving kiss.
Some thirty minutes later, with his unit’s train now stopped alongside the quay, Kin shared a last hug with Sylvie and Ani, then boarded the train, where he and the members of his mortar group were assigned seats in one of the passenger cars. Kin was able to wave goodbye to his mother and sister by adoption one last time as the train rolled out of the Annecy train station. Once the station was out of sight, Kin sat back on his bench, next to Samuel Benchetrit and facing Philippe Bonséjour and Daniel Vaillant.
‘’How long our trip to Marseille will be?’ asked after a few minutes of silence Daniel Vaillant, with Samuel Benchetrit answering him.
‘’Sergeant Dubreuil said that we should be there in about seven hours.’
‘’Seven hours?! What the hell are we supposed to do in the meantime?’
‘’You could catch some sleep, for starters.’
‘’Sleep? On this barely padded bench seat?’
‘’Hey, if you could sleep on snow and rock in the Alps, why not on a bench?’
‘’Wait!’ suddenly said Kin, an idea coming to him. ‘’My mother gave me a gift at the station that could help up pass the time. Let me get it from my backpack.’
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Watched by his curious comrades, Kin got up and searched for a few seconds in his big backpack, which was stuffed in the overheard rack above their heads. Sitting back down with his entertainment viewer in his hands, he was immediately assailed with questions.
‘’Hey, what is that thing?’ asked Philippe Bonséjour.
‘’A portable entertainment viewer. It is a technology from the 34th Century which the Time Patrol, to which my mother is part of, routinely use. It is able to record and play both music and video images from its electronic library.’
‘’And what will we be able to view now on it, Kin?’
Kin thought about that for a few seconds before a big grin came to his lips.
‘’I know what you guys would like!’
He then powered up his viewing unit, then spoke into its integrated microphone.
‘’Viewer, play the Time Patrol documentary ‘Sex and History, an intimate relationship.’
As the screen of the viewer unit came alive, Kin then shouted out loud at the other soldiers around him.
‘’HEY, GUYS, WHO WANTS TO SEE THE FAMOUS QUEEN CLEOPATRA OF
EGYPT, NAKED AND IN BED?’
Sergeant Dubreuil, who was in the process of stepping out of one of the lavatories of the train, barely had time to hurriedly step back inside in order to avoid being trampled by the dozens of young soldiers now rushing towards Kin’s seat.
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CHAPTER 7 – A DANGEROUS MISSION
Ain Sefra, Algeria
16:01 (Algeria Time)
Sunday, March 18, 1956 ‘B’
Ain Sefra Train Station, Ksour Mountains
Saharian Atlas Chain, Northwest Algeria
Kin, leaning out on an open window of his wagon, couldn’t help shake his head as the train carrying his unit was slowing down while entering Ain Sefra.
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‘’Damn! I already miss Annecy. This looks like the proverbial hole in the middle of nowhere.’
His friend Philippe Bonséjour, who was also looking through the window, nodded his head at those words.
‘’You are too right about that, Kin. We better be prepared for months of dry, hot and dusty duty. I hope that, at the least, the locals will prove friendly enough.’
‘’Remember what Samuel told us, Philippe: trust no one here. Some of those Algerian extremists may well be watching us arrive right now.’
Unbeknown to Kin, his words were prophetic, as a thin man wearing the long robe of a Berber nomad watched the arriving train with barely concealed hatred in his eyes.
‘’More French infidels! And a lot of them too. Too bad that we didn’t learn of their arrival in time to place a bomb in this station.’
The man, staying in a discrete corner and half hidden by a pillar, then watched as the train came to a halt, with French soldiers then coming out and starting to take their supplies and vehicles off the train. The FLN12 man nodded his head when he saw French soldiers lead out of a cattle car over twenty mules fitted with pack-carrying frames: at least those French soldiers understood the value of mules in the region’s mountainous terrain. He also noted the wide, pie-like blue berets worn by the arriving soldiers.
‘’Alpine troops! They are reputed to be elite soldiers. I can count about 400 of them. Boumediene13 will need to be informed about them.’
The man carefully noted the number and types of vehicles which were then unloaded from the train, along with the approximate quantity of supplies and ammunition taken out of the train, then left the station. Once in the street outside of the railway station, he walked around the nearby streets for a while, with the goal of making sure that he was not being followed. Once reassured about that, he made his way to a small mud brick shop in town that served as the local safehouse of the ALN, where he placed a telephone call to another house situated in the hills outside of Ain Sefra. That house 12 FLN : Front de Libération National (National Liberal Front). The main Algerian extremist movement which opposed French presence in Algeria. The FLN used assassinations, massacres of European settlers and intimidation as its common tactics.
13 Houari Boumediene : A major leader of the ALN (Armée de Libération Nationale), the armed branch of the FLN.
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sheltered a clandestine radio transmitter that would be used to retransmit his information in coded form to the nearest ALN base camp, situated on the Moroccan side of the border. Once his call was completed, the man left the shop, intent on finding out where the newly arrived French troops would establish their quarters in Ain Sefra.
20:40 (Algeria Time)
French military truck, valley of El Mekrizene, west-southwest of Ain Sefra, Twelve kilometers from the Algeria-Morocco border
‘’Can someone tell me why we didn’t stay in Ain Sefra and why we are now rolling at night on this dirt track, with no lights on?’
That question, coming from young Hunter First Class Daniel Vaillant, attracted a matter-of-fact answer from the mortar pointer of their detachment, Master corporal Réjean Fortier.
‘’We didn’t stay in Ain Sefra because we would be of little use there, since a full infantry company is deployed there and defending it. We are instead going to take a firing position within mortar range of the border with Morocco, so that we could cover with our fire the trails coming from the border. As for rolling at night with no lights on, the reason is simple and obvious: we don’t want the enemy to know where we are going.
Got it, Vaillant?’
‘’Uh, yes, Master corporal.’ answered in a contrite tone the young soldier. Fortier was tempted to add something like ‘even a caveman would understand that’ but stopped himself in time: apart from being unwarranted, such a remark would have antagonized one of the best soldiers in the detachment. In fact, thinking about it, Fortier conceded that Kin Comeau had surprised him many times in the past with his demonstrated level of intelligence. Sure, Kin was no rocket scientist but neither was he an idiot. Fortier could think of many past men and teenage boys he had met or known who had proved to be less intelligent than Kin. All in all, Kin Comeau kept surprising him, while also impressing him with his physical prowess. Kin had quickly established himself as the battalion’s champion in both Greco-Roman wrestling and weight lifting, on top of proving to have incredibly acute eyesight, something that had helped him become a true rifle sharpshooter. Comeau’s shooting skills had quickly attracted the attention of Lieutenant Lepage, who commanded the battalion’s snipers’ platoon, but Sub-lieutenant Montreuil had immediately opposed Kin’s transfer, pleading that Kin’s physical strength and
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endurance made him perfect for his mortar group. Captain Théoret had then taken Montreuil’s side and kept Kin with the mortar group, but had also directed that Kin receive a scope-equipped FRF-1sniper rifle as a personal weapon rather than the usual MAS 49 semi-automatic rifle, arguing that this would provide longer range local covering fire to his mortar detachment. Looking briefly at Kin Comeau, who was sitting facing him in the back of the truck, Fortier thought that this new combat mission could well prove Captain Théoret right about his decision.
Some twenty minutes later, after having rolled over some pretty rough ground, their truck stopped, with Sergeant Dubreuil then jumping out of their truck’s cab and going to the rear of the vehicle to give orders in a restrained voice.
‘’Alright, men: we are at our destination. Get out and take out our mortar and your kits. Keep your voices low and avoid making loud noises: noise can be heard from afar in the desert at night.’
The six men sitting in the back of the truck obeyed at once, taking out their backpacks before taking out the three components of their 81mm mortar and the mortar bomb containers they had with them. Once the truck was emptied, Dubreuil assembled his men around him and, using a flashlight fitted with a red lens filter, showed them a map.
‘’Okay, guys: we are here, next to the southern slope of the hill named Senn Ez Zgag, which culminates at an altitude of 1,705 meters. We are also just a bit more than three kilometers from the border with Morocco. We are now going to climb atop this hill behind me and set our mortar near the summit, so that we could cover with mortar fire the two trails that run past both sides of the hill. Detachment Bravo, along with the group’s command team, is now going to the adjacent hill to the Northwest, where they will establish another mortar position and a command post covering the valley of the Oued bel Hared. I want you to make sure that you have red light filters on your lamps before we start climbing this hill. Show me your flashlights.’
After inspecting the flashlights of his men and confirming that they had red lens filters on them, Dubreuil then made them put on their packs, heavy with ammunition and water, to which were added the tube, bipod and baseplate of their 81mm Stokes-Brandt Mle 27/31
mortar. Due to his uncommon physical strength, Kin got to carry the heaviest piece, the 20.5-kilo base plate, adding to it a seven-kilo mortar bomb holder containing two bombs.
Even though Dubreuil knew well by now how strong Kin was, he was still impressed by that demonstration of strength.
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‘’Kin, you would clean up the weight-lifting competitions at the next Olympic Games if you ever participate in them.’
‘’It’s in the books, Sergeant!’ replied Kin with a grin, making Dubreuil shake his head in amusement.
‘’Well, since we are all ready now, let’s climb that hill.’
Leading his detachment in single file, with the three men carrying the mortar components following directly behind him, Dubreuil started walking up the slope of the hill. The gradient was at first gentle but quickly became much steeper, requiring significant effort to climb it. Thankfully, the local March temperatures at night were quite low, with the actual temperature being only nine degrees Celsius above zero, so the French soldiers did not sweat as much or as quickly as they had expected. Still, most of the men were both tired and hot by the time they arrived at the top of the rocky hill…except for Kin, despite him carrying the heaviest load. His friend Philippe shook his head while smiling to him as he put down the mortar base plate.
‘’Kin, you’re a machine, truly!’
‘’Me, a machine? I am just a caveman, remember?’
That attracted a few laughs around him before Sergeant Dubreuil told them to rest a bit and drink some water while he would explore a bit their immediate surroundings. Some ten minutes later, the senior NCO came back and gave a few orders.
‘’I found a shallow cave next to a small flat surface a bit downslope, on the northwest side. We will establish our camp and firing position there. Put your packs and loads back on and follow me.’
‘’A cave, Sergeant? You are really considerate with me today.’
‘’Feel free to rate it on the Michelin scale once you see it, Kin.’ replied Dubreuil, triggering another round of laughter. The seven men then put their packs on and walked for less than two minutes before arriving at the spot chosen by Dubreuil. Rather than being a true cave, the place would have been better described as a shallow rock shelter, a large rock overhang surrounded by some roughly flat surface. Still, Kin nodded his head in appreciation.
‘’Nice! That overhang should help a lot to cut sunrays, especially since it is on the northwest side of this hill. Could I make a suggestion, Sergeant?’
‘’Go ahead, Kin.’
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‘’I see a lot of loose rocks around this overhang. We could use them to build a low stone wall around this platform, which would then protect us partly from rifle fire coming up from the valley.’
‘’A good idea actually, Kin. We will first set up our mortar, then will build that low wall. Let’s get to work, men!’
Contrary to setting up their mortar, something that took only a couple of minutes, building a low stone wall proved to be a lot longer and much more tiring job. However, Sergeant Dubreuil declared himself satisfied about the final result after a half-hour of hard work.
‘’That will be good enough for me. Take a break, guys, and start spreading out your sleeping bags under the overhang.’
Dubreuil was about to call by radio his group commander, to report that he was in position, when he saw Hunter Maurice Panetton take out a cigarette and prepare to light it.
‘’HEY, NO SMOKING! THE TIP OF A BURNING CIGARETTE CAN BE SEEN
FOR KILOMETERS AT NIGHT. DON’T YOU REMEMBER YOUR TRAINING, PANETTON?’
‘’Uh, sorry, Sergeant. Won’t happen again.’ said the young man while pocketing back his cigarette pack and lighter. Kin nodded to himself in appreciation at that: Sergeant Dubreuil could be rough and short-tempered at times but nobody could deny that he was a true professional soldier with lots of experience.
‘’Good! We will now establish an observation post a few meters away to the West, with a field telephone linking it to this position. Kin, Fortier, you will be the first to man that observation post. Grab a field telephone and a spool of wire and follow me once I will have called Lieutenant Montreuil.’
‘’Got it, Sergeant!’ replied Fortier before taking out of a haversack two field telephones and a spool of telephone wire. Setting up one of the field telephones near the western side of their low stone wall, he then connected one end of the wire to the telephone unit and loosened by a few meters the wire rolled around the spool. Once Sergeant Dubreuil had finished his radio call and motioned him and Kin to follow him, Fortier started walking while unrolling more of the wire along the way. Cautiously advancing in the darkness on the rocky slope of their hill, the trio stopped after about a
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minute behind a large boulder situated some fifty meters to the West of the detachment’s camp. Looking over and around the boulder, Dubreuil nodded with satisfaction.
‘’This is a good spot for our observation post. It is well protected from rifle fire by this boulder, while this position gives us an unobstructed view of the valley and trails around our hill. Place and connect the field telephone behind this boulder: I will make a test call once back at our camp. Signal any movement you will see or hear down below.
Watch especially for groups of men, possibly with loaded mules, which could show up. I will send a replacement team in four hours. Got it, Fortier?’
‘’Yes, Sergeant!’
Dubreuil then walked away in the dark, heading back to their camp. Now alone with Fortier, Kin whispered a question to him.
‘’How will we know if someone who shows up is the enemy?’
‘’Easy: shepherds don’t go around with rifles. Keep watching while I wait for the test call from the sergeant.’
Lying down behind a small boulder next to the bigger boulder, Kin then started looking at the lower grounds around them: his Neanderthal night vision, superior to that of modern Homo Sapiens, made that task relatively easy for him. At first glance, he could not see anyone around for a good 300 meters, nor could he hear anything suspect. A minute later, a light buzz from the field telephone made Fortier pick up its handset.
‘’Fortier here!... No, nothing for the moment… Understood!’
Putting down the handset, Fortier then grinned to Kin.
‘’Time to watch and listen, Kin.’
Four hours later and with nothing to report up to now, Corporal Julien Harcourt and Hunter Daniel Vaillant showed up at their position, walking at a crouch.
‘’Time for you to go catch some sleep, guys: we are taking over for the next four hours.’
‘’I won’t say no to that.’ replied Fortier while getting up from the ground. ‘’Follow me, Kin.’
Before leaving the observation post, Kin gently patted his friend Daniel’s shoulder.
‘’Have a quiet watch, Daniel.’
‘’Thanks, Kin!’
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Kin and Fortier then walked back to their base camp, where Fortier quickly slipped inside his sleeping bag after removing his boots and coat. Seeing that Kin was simply lying down on top of his own sleeping bag, Fortier gave him a questioning look.
‘’Aren’t you going to sleep inside your sleeping bag, Kin?’
‘’Why? It’s not really cold, at least not for me.’
‘’Neanderthals!’ said Fortier while shaking his head, meaning it as a simple statement rather than as an insult. By now, after having served for ten months with his unit, Kin’s peculiarities, including his uncommon resistance to cold, were now well known to his comrades.
That night, along with the following two days, proved uneventful, with only a couple of shepherds seen with their flocks of sheep down in the valleys around the hill.
Then, on Wednesday night, the noise of a distant gun battle was heard from the North, waking up the whole detachment. After listening to it for a few seconds, Sergeant Dubreuil spoke up to his men around him.
‘’That gunfight is at least ten kilometers away to the North, probably somewhere in the zone of our neighboring battalion. Our soldiers must have spotted some kind of infiltration attempt across the border. If that’s the case, the enemy may well try again in another sector, possibly ours, on another night. We will have to be extra vigilant from now on. You can go back to sleep now, men.’
His soldiers, a bit reassured, obeyed him and returned into their sleeping bags or, in the case of Kin, atop his sleeping bag. Dubreuil smiled slightly at that: while Kin’s sleeping habits were a bit disconcerting, it meant for Dubreuil that he had at least one man ready to jump into action in seconds if need be. Personally, he would have been content to have a whole detachment of Neanderthal soldiers under his command, if not for the fact that only one such soldier existed in this year 1956.
02:06 (Algeria Time)
Thursday, March 22, 1956 ‘B’
Observation post of Mortar Detachment Alpha
Hill of Senn Ez Zgag, near border with Morocco Being widely recognized to have by far the best night vision in his unit, Kin had been designated to stand observation duties during the riskiest period for enemy activity:
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from midnight to four in the morning. This time he had been paired with Corporal Julien Harcourt, the detachment’s ammunition specialist. The day before, an army helicopter had dropped extra supplies and mortar ammunition on the ridgeline, some distance away from the detachment’s camp, so as to not unmask their position. While the extra supplies had been welcome, that had forced the soldiers to haul the supplies back to their camp along some 400 meters of ridgeline, a back-breaking job. Kin had done his part in that and, after some early sleep, was now back at the observation post. A half moon and a clear night sky helped him see reasonably well to a fair distance, while the crisp mountain air carried sounds far. Kin actually heard something that made him grow more attentive before he could see the first sign of movement below his hill. Pointing the binoculars lent to his team by Sergeant Dubreuil, Kin was able to spot a group of at least twenty men walking in single file towards the Northeast and Ain Sefra. That group had four mules with them and were going to pass to the South of the detachment’s hill.
Using one foot to shake a bit Harcourt, Kin then whispered to him in the dark.
‘’Hey, I see a group of about twenty men and four mules heading Northeast some 300 meters to our South. You better call Sergeant Dubreuil and alert him to those bozos.’
‘’Let me look first.’ replied Harcourt, who then crawled to near Kin and took the binoculars offered by him. He looked through them for half a minute before lowering the binoculars and grabbing the handset of the nearby field telephone and turning its ringing handle. Master Corporal Fortier was the one who answered him.
‘’Fortier here!’
‘’This is Harcourt! You better wake up our guys: a group of twenty men and four mules are about to pass to our South, heading Northeast.’
‘’Hang on! I’m going to wake the sergeant. Keep track of that group in the meantime.’
‘’Will do!’
Kin and Harcourt, now fully alert and feeling adrenaline starting to flow in their systems, kept close watch on the suspect group of men and their mules for the next few minutes, until Sergeant Dubreuil showed up at the observation post.
‘’Alright, show me where that group is.’
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With Harcourt pointing the group to him in the distance, Dubreuil used his night vision scope to look for a moment, then grabbed the telephone’s handset to call back the detachment’s camp.
‘’Hello! This is Dubreuil! Prepare our mortar for action and call Lieutenant Montreuil by radio to warn him that a possible enemy group is trying to infiltrate our battalion zone by passing South of our hill. Here are the map coordinates of that group’s present position…’
Once he had passed those coordinates by telephone and was told that their group commander had been advised by radio, Dubreuil then gave one further order.
‘’Fire one para flare illumination round over those coordinates. Fire when ready.’
Dubreuil, like Harcourt and Kin, then anxiously waited for the illumination flare to light up in the sky. Some 45 seconds later, their mortar erupted briefly in the night and a bright spot of light soon lit up high in the sky, illuminating the grounds of the valley to their South with a harsh white light. The reaction to that of the group of men down the slopes confirmed their identity to Dubreuil: they either ran to take cover and hide or stopped on the spot and crouched.
‘’They ain’t your friendly visitor types.’ said Dubreuil in a sarcastic tone before speaking again in the telephone’s handset. ‘’Fortier, fire a ranging HE-FRAG14 bomb at the same coordinates.’
Dubreuil then looked at Kin, who lay some two meters from him.
‘’Kin, do you think that you could nail some of those assholes at this distance?’
‘’Yes, Sergeant, especially with that illumination round up in the sky.’
‘’Then, start firing deliberate shots. Don’t wait for our mortar bomb to hit.’
Kin nodded his head, then raised his FRF-1 7.5mm sniper rifle’s telescope to his right eye and started aiming his weapon. It took him only a few seconds to spot one of the suspect men, who had raised his head from behind a rock and was obviously trying to spot the French soldiers. Aiming carefully and gently squeezing his rifle’s trigger while holding his breath, Kin fired his first shot of this war three seconds later. Dubreuil let out a triumphant exclamation when he saw that suspected guerrilla jerk and then crumble to the ground.
‘’A HIT! Well done, Kin! Keep firing at other targets.’
14 HE-FRAG : High-Explosive Fragmentation projectile.
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Kin had time to fire two more shots, downing two other men, before the first 81mm mortar bomb exploded on the ground, some twenty meters behind the suspects.
Dubreuil quickly called in a correction to his mortar’s aim while Kin fired his fourth shot.
By now, the panicked extremist guerrillas were firing blindly towards the top of the hill and the observation post but their shooting proved to be wild, with no bullets striking or even passing anywhere near the observation post. Then, a quick salvo of three mortar bombs exploded among the guerrillas’ positions, spreading panic in their ranks. Kin was pained to see two of the mules fall to the ground and trash in agony while screaming in pain, hit by mortar shrapnel. Those poor beasts did not deserve to die like this. With a number of the guerrillas now running away and trying to escape the mortar fire, more targets presented themselves to him, so he used that opportunity to fire three more aimed shots that downed two men before the light from the illumination round extinguished itself in the sky. Thankfully, his concentrating on aiming his shots made him avoid seeing the deaths of the two remaining mules brought by the guerrillas. One mule dropped dead on the ground, instantly killed by a mortar bomb fragment to its heart, while the last remaining mule was dismembered and projected into the air by a near-hit from a mortar bomb. The rain of mortar bombs also killed or wounded over half of the still surviving guerrillas, forcing the remainder to stay low and immobile behind rocks in order to avoid being hit. Kin used renewed light from a second illumination bomb ordered by Dubreuil to shoot his seventh enemy as the man was trying to crawl to a nearby ditch for extra protection. That was when hands started getting up as the surviving guerrillas shouted to signify their surrender. Dubreuil immediately ordered a stop to the mortar firing and called for two of his men at the camp to join him before looking at Kin and Harcourt.
‘’Once Vaillant and Bonséjour will have joined up, we will go down and take prisoner those surviving guerrillas. Don’t take any bullshit from them and search them at once for weapons. Once they are all tied up and lying down, we will see what their mules were transporting.’
‘’It is a good thing that Samuel was not here tonight, Sergeant: he would have been heartbroken to see those four mules die.’
‘’Unfortunately that’s war, Kin. You should have seen all the horses killed during World War Two: nearly as many horses as men died in that conflict and it was even worse in the Great War of 1914.’
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Kin lowered his head in sadness then: he could accept having to kill men who would be ready and willing to kill him but those mules had been nobody’s enemies.
Vaillant and Bonséjour showed up less than a minute later, then went down with Dubreuil, Harcourt and Kin, climbing and sliding down the slopes towards the surviving guerrillas, who now stood in the open with both hands up. The first guerrilla Kin approached turned out to be a very young and very scared man who appeared to be under shock from the mortar fire which had decimated his comrades. Kin didn’t say a word to him and he quickly searched him, relieving him of a rifle’s ammunition bandoleer, a knife and a grenade before pushing him down to his knees. It turned out that only five of twenty guerrillas had survived the fight intact, with four other men seriously wounded and with eleven dead sprawled around. Dubreuil slowly shook his head after summarily examining the four wounded.
‘’They would need immediate medical treatment at a casualty’s station in order to survive and getting a helicopter to show up here would take at least half an hour: these men will probably die tonight. Alright, men, tie these prisoners up while I go see what those mules were carrying. Harcourt, Panetton and Bonséjour, you will administer first aid to these four wounded men.’
The first mule Dubreuil went to was still alive and thrashing around, pushing pitiful cries of pain. Taking out his pistol, Dubreuil shot the animal in the head, cutting its suffering, then looked at the wooden crates attached to its back: it contained rifle and pistol ammunition. The second mule, dead by now, carried a dozen submachine guns, lots of spare magazines and two crates of bullets.
‘’Twelve Soviet PPsH-41 7.62mm submachine guns, along with 71-round drum magazines. That could have hurt us bad.’
The third dead mule, the one that had been ripped apart by a mortar bomb, proved to carry wooden crates full of grenades, while the fourth mule had carried a mix of plastic explosives, detonators and rudimentary clock mechanisms meant to act as delay detonators.
‘’We probably avoided a lot of hurt to our unit in the near future with this success.
Lieutenant Montreuil will be happy with this. I better call him now to ask for a pickup for these prisoners and ammunition.’
Using the compact short-range radio he carried with him, he then called Master corporal Fortier, who had stayed at the mortar position, and asked him to relay his request for
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transportation. Once that was done, he toured the dead men to see what he could find of interest on them. Most of them only carried rudimentary sets of identity papers, possibly fake ones. However, one dead man had a backpack radio and carried a map, along with a notebook with Arabic writing in it.
‘’Now, that could prove interesting for our intelligence section.’
He carefully noted on which frequency the backpack radio was set before resuming his round of the dead men. He however didn’t find more items of true interest, thus went to see how his men were doing with the wounded guerrillas. When asked, Harcourt looked up at Dubreuil with a non-committal expression.
‘’One of those four men just died from massive blood loss. We patched up the three others as best we could but we may lose at least another one before a helicopter could arrive here.’
‘’Well, too bad! We really can’t do more for them here.’
No helicopter came for another two hours, until the Sun rose over the horizon.
As predicted by Harcourt, another guerrilla died from his wounds before the arrival of the helicopter. That same helicopter also proved to carry the battalion’s intelligence officer, Captain Fernand Rivet, along with two armed soldiers. Dubreuil took a few minutes to brief Rivet on the night action and handed him the map, radio and notebook taken from the presumed leader of the guerrilla group, plus the identity papers found on the dead and wounded. Rivet appeared quite pleased by Dubreuil’s finds and the successes of the mortar detachment, including Kin’s kill score.
‘’Seven men shot down at night and at a distance of at least 400 meters? That’s damn good shooting.’
‘’Indeed! Up to now, Hunter Comeau has performed in an exemplary manner. If it would be depending on me, I would give him his corporal stripes right away.’
‘’I will pass that tidbit to Colonel Genest, along with all this info. Again, great job from you and your detachment, Sergeant.’
‘’Thank you, sir!’ replied Dubreuil, puffing up with pride. Some seven minutes later, with the surviving guerrillas and the captured weapons and ammunition aboard, the helicopter took off in a whirlwind of dust and sand, to head East towards Ain Sefra.
Dubreuil watched it fly away for a moment, then looked at his men.
‘’Alright, men! Let’s climb back to our positions on the hill. This war is only beginning for us.’
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CHAPTER 8 – POLITICAL COWARDICE
