Ever Present Danger
by
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They crossed the English coast mid-way between Great Yarmouth and Lowerstoft. Down beneath them lapped the waves of the deadly and forbiddingly cold North Sea. Peering downwards, Colin pondered on the huge numbers of aircraft which already lay with their crew on the sea bed-their graveyard-deep below those treacherous waves.
Flak was exploding all around them. It was buffetting the aircraft around. During the training Colin had heard all about flak and the danger it posed. Bursts of it were exploding closer and closer. Apprehensively, he steered and picked the Lancaster's way through it. He couldn't remember being so frightened in his whole life.
With shells and flak exploding, bursting all around it, "B" for Baker began to buck violently. Some of the turbulence, no doubt, attributable to the slipstream of aircraft ahead of them in the bomber stream. Suddenly, alarmingly, the beam of a searchlight penetrated the Lancaster cockpit, illuminating its interior like bright sunlight. The crew knew only too well that once, caught in a beam, it usually meant curtains for a plane and its crew. No matter what he did, Colin couldn't get out of the beam. He tried one last desperate thing.
Suddenly, a startlingly tall man in his fifties dressed in a sports jacket entered. ...I'm simply known as David. I understand Colonel Barclay has told you a little of what you'll be doing for us in France?
...'Precisely. The purpose of my coming to see you now, is to allow you as much times as possible to get to know the new identity we've given you. After all your training you will now understand how important it is for you to be thoroughly conversant with your new identity and cover story.
...'You will be Edouard Estornel.' James opened up the document and saw a photograph of himself together with the name and details of one Edouard Estornel...
The target, Hamburg, had been a hellish trip up to now, the worst Colin had experienced so far in his tour of duty. ...As soon as he spoke, ahead and to starboard, pillars of light pierced the darkness, flashes of orange mushroomed in the bow lightened sky. Like rolling thunder, above the beating throb of the aircraft's engines came the sound of exploding shells. Suddenly the cockpit lit up as a searchlight beam dazzled Colin and illuminated every crevice of the flight deck. Darting streams of orange tracer streaked past the starboard wing tip...
The grew impatient and edgy. The golden rule was to make all transmissions as brief as possible to avoid direction. At least, where they were positioned, miles from anywhere with a good vantage point, there was not much risk as in a town, where the Gestapo could sneak up unseen to the area of a transmission. As soon as the message had been received and acknowledged, James withdrew the aerial... ...The message was about a meeting scheduled by German High Command. The meeting would be held in the Hotel de Ville in three days time, and was to be attended by local high ranking commanders of the Army, Navy and Luftwaffe.
The earlier infiltration and destruction of the 'Castle' Resistance Group happened just as SOE began to suspect radio transmissions between then and Charleville were being intercepted or falsified. A disastrous drop of supplies into German hands and the murder of a French Army Captain working with the Group as he was en route to the pick-up point for a trip back to England, confirmed SOE were being fed false information and intelligence.
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About the Book
"Ever Present Danger" is the second part of the Graham family saga.
It is now early 1942 and finds James Graham coming to terms with his new individual role in the Second World War. A role, like his first as a Fighter Pilot, with its immense inherent risks and dangers. This time, though, the risks and danger come from his work as an SOE operative behind enemy lines in occupied Europe, where there are constant, fatal risks both to himself and others either working for the French Resistance or Evasion and Escape Lines in their desperate attempts to thwart the terrible endeavours of the occupying German forces and Gestapo.
Jame's brother Colin is now also embroiled in the horrors of the War as captain of the Lancaster bomber, just one of many aircrew, who night after night, take off on missions to bring the War to a close. In so doing, he sees mass destruction and tragedy not only to those comrades around him in Bomber Command but, also, thousands of feet below in occupied territory.
Events arise which see both brother's lives once more threatened and unknowingly entwined and with their fates and those of their family forever sealed.
"Ever Present Danger" is full of suspense, shock and thrills and leads to outcomes that no one in the Graham family could ever predict.
About the Author
C.S. Peters was born and brought up in Ealing, London and has formerly worked in industry as a technical writer and editor. He then worked for several years as a freelance editorial consultant, researcher and historian whilst also writing plays for the stage. In latter years, he has turned his attention to writing novels, the first "On a Wing and a Prayer" being published in 2010. C.S. Peters and his family live in the Chilterns.