Dreaming of flirting with a sexy beauty, Feck suddenly felt his shoulder being vigorously shaken. Initially, he thought it was his wife who had discovered his hidden malicious intentions, so he nervously opened his eyes, only to see the chubby face of Mitchell.
"What's going on? Huh? What's the matter?"
"Hey, Anna, there's an emergency!" Mitchell's face came close, and Feck could smell the smoked fish he had eaten the night before.
"Cough, you damn fool, you almost scared me to death!" Feck pushed him away.
"But there really is an emergency!" The chubby patrolman looked innocent. "A armored car and three trucks came in from the west, seems like they're from the Army Provost Corps. They're parked in the dock area. I sent Ruchi to check it out, but he hasn't come back yet!"
"Hmm? When did the Army Provost Corps become interested in a port like Portsmouth?" Feck wiped his face, puzzled. "God, did you send Ruchi to scout? He must be boasting again about his close relationship with the chef at the Army Commander's house!"
Mitchell still looked innocent. "But everyone else is asleep, and besides, I just asked him to get closer and check, not to go up and chat!"
"You know nothing!" Feck cursed. "Get out of the way! I don't know what those Provosts are doing here at this hour. Could it be a spot check? Impossible, they wouldn't bother with local patrols like us! If they're here to take over the defense, then that's great, we can go back to sleep if there's nothing else!"
"Oh? Then should I wake everyone up to go back to sleep?" The brash man was about to do so but was stopped by his companion, who gave him a fierce look.
"You fool, let me go ask about the situation first, maybe we'll have to help them out! Oh, by the way, where are they now?"
Mitchell scratched his head innocently. "They're at the 'Berlin' dock!"
"Hey, 'Berlin' dock! Do they think standing there can step on the German Chancellor's office?" Feck shook his head as he walked towards the dock area - the harbor was small and shallow, compared to Newport on the same island or Portsmouth across the strait, it was simply a remote place. Fortunately, the nearby beach scenery was good, and wealthy people who came to White Island for vacation occasionally stayed in the seaside apartments here for a few days. But since the outbreak of the war, especially two months ago when Germany attacked Norway, no one had the leisure to come here anymore, and the residents had no income, everyone was worried.
"I hope this damn war ends soon!" Feck muttered to himself, thinking that as soon as the war ended, he would immediately go to the grocery store in Misha to buy a few buckets of paint, repaint his old house, and hang a sign at the door saying "Seaside House for Rent", which would surely attract customers!
In just a few minutes, the waist-pistol-bearing local patrol leader arrived at the dock area: there were four docks in total in Portsmouth, each named after the capital of the four European powers, namely London, Paris, Berlin, and Rome. This was entirely for the sake of developing the tourism industry - in fact, these docks were all tiny, the longest one only extended twenty meters into the sea, barely enough for ships of several hundred tons to berth.
Since the German army swept the Western Front, London has ordered partial curfews and light control in coastal areas in the east and south, making Portsmouth basically dark at night. Without entertainment programs, old men like Feck suffered, and he was often thrown onto the bed by his wife with his pants off. Every time he thought of this, Feck sighed.
Fortunately, it was already dawn, and Feck could easily recognize the four vehicles Mitchell had mentioned: two trucks were parked on the quay, and one truck and one armored vehicle were parked by the dock.
"Hold it, who goes there?" Feck was startled by the voice that suddenly came from nearby. He looked closely and saw a "British Provost" holding a rifle. But there were no large boxes or anything similar nearby, so where did he come from?
Feck raised his hand halfway: "Hey, don't be nervous, I'm Anna Feck, the commander of the Portsmouth patrol. Just heard from my men that you're taking over the port defense?"
"Patrol commander?" The handsome Provost officer walked over with a Scottish accent. "Yes, sir, I'm Anna Feck. I'm responsible for local patrols and vigilance. Can I help you with something?"
Feck tried to make his voice sound more friendly and humble, although he wasn't usually like this.
The Provost officer looked him up and down. "We're on a very confidential mission, and we need your patrol team's help - we need everyone else to stay away from the dock as much as possible!"
"No problem! It's still early, who else would be running out?" Feck said. "By the way, sir, my men heard muffled thunder from the sea and gunshots from the south earlier, it's quite complicated, very complicated..."
"Muffled thunder from the sea? Uh... don't worry, there was indeed a minor incident tonight, but everything is back under our control now!" The handsome Provost officer was initially surprised but quickly regained his composure.
"That's good, that's good! I'll go arrange the alert!" Feck was about to go back to gather the lazy pigs who were sleeping, when he heard a Provost on the dock say:
"Captain, look, it's coming!"
Out of curiosity, Feck turned around to see what "it" was. Before he knew it, the Provost officer had slung his arm over Feck's shoulder. "Better early than never. Come, let's go together! I'll give you a huge surprise!"
"A surprise?" At first, Feck was full of expectations, but when he realized that the slowly approaching ship was actually a submarine, all his excitement vanished - especially when the huge eagle emblem on the front of the conning tower became clear, he panicked to an unprecedented extent: it was a German submarine!
Since the original plan was for a nighttime evacuation, Logan didn't ask the navy to remove the eagle emblem from the submarine. In the dawn light, this early Type IIA-class short-range submarine looked quite "unique": there were large metal boxes on the fore and aft decks, making it look like a fish with malformed tumors. In fact, these were waterproof sealing boxes specially installed on the submarine by the navy to accommodate equipment for Operation Stiletto. Even if the submarine submerged to a depth of 30 meters, the equipment would be safe inside the sealed boxes.
"We're embarking on an exciting sea journey, heading to a French port across the strait. Since you're lucky enough to witness it, Patrol Commander, I sincerely invite you to join us!"
After hearing the Provost officer's words, Feck's heart tightened. How much he wished he could quietly lie next to his wife and not get involved in this terrible situation. Damn Mitchell, damn Germans.
Something hard pressed against his waist, and he had no choice.