Chapter 1 A Snap Decision
Scotland, March, 1940
Arthur Brennus sat in a chair that looked miniature compared to his beefy seven-foot-three frame, monitoring several radio frequencies at the same time. He was often tasked with manning the radio at the military base where he and his older brother Bruce were stationed, as he spoke fluent German and was functional in French. Whenever he manned the radio he always had one radio tuned to the frequency that their family communicated on. The base didn’t mind him splitting his attention, as Arthur and Bruce were related to King George, and could reach him there more often than on the telephone. The base also found it convenient to have a direct way to communicate with a large number of nobility at once.
The radio was particularly busy that evening and Arthur had only Fairbairn helping him man the radio. As he once again checked the family frequency he heard a vaguely familiar voice with a thick German accent come across the radio, sounding panicked.
“Aunt Millie, this is Kaspar! Help! We are approaching Scottish airspace from the southwest, and we are in danger. Please advise.”
Without thinking, Arthur leapt out of his chair and answered before his aunt could.
“Kaspar. This is King Arthur. Go to Camelot.”
“Will do,” Kaspar responded.
He then grabbed the phone and hastily called his house, nearly in tears as realisation sank in. He had just told a German pilot to land on Scottish soil. And Kaspar had said “we”. How many other Germans were with him? And how extreme of a threat did they pose to Britain?
Nigel, his butler, answered in his familiar professional tone that Arthur always found calming, no matter how flustered he was. He could feel the smile that always followed hearing Nigel’s voice, spread across his face as his shoulders relaxed and he took a deep calming breath. Surely Kaspar would never allow harm to come to Nigel, right?
“Nigel, thank you,” he sighed. “My cousin Kaspar needs to make an emergency landing. Light the runway and man the radio. I’ll call back in an hour or so. He said ‘we’ so I have no idea how many people are with him, and they may need to stay a while. I’m sorry to give you such short notice but it’s an unforeseen circumstance.”
“Yes sir. I will have the staff make haste and update you in an hour.”
“Thank you! You’re a Godsend,” Arthur gushed.
The moment Arthur hung up, he got on the radio and simply said, “Kaspar, 5036.5.” He then sat down and took a deep breath. What’s done, is done, and can’t be undone. No use stressing about it until I hear that there’s a reason to. He then went back to the other signals he had been monitoring, hoping his cousin would make it to his house safely and that he and his companions posed no threat to the island.
The radio signals had been so busy that when the next officer came in to relieve Arthur, a little over two hours later, he hadn’t had the time to call Nigel back, and Nigel hadn’t radioed. As he wandered across the open training yard, his mind was thoroughly distracted by thoughts of Kaspar and what he was doing in Britain, and if Nigel was okay. Bruce easily caught up with him as he meandered toward the main office, as Bruce was not quite two inches shorter. Arthur was unusually quiet so he tried to strike up a conversation.
“The recruits are finishing up their training before graduation, and there’s not a lot that involves me, so I’m pretty bored. Anything exciting happen on your shift?”
“Oh yeah,” Arthur answered, quieter than usual, his blue eyes nervous but trying to keep a playfulness to his voice. “Kaspar radioed an SOS to Aunt Millie on the family frequency and I told him to land at our place. Then the radio got so busy I haven’t had a chance to call Nigel back to find out if Kaspar made it. I was going to see if I could use the phone in Frederick’s office.”
Bruce’s blue eyes widened with concern. “I’m coming with you. Cousin or not, Kaspar’s still a German pilot. We might be taking a detour home rather than going straight to Uncle Brendan’s for Easter.”
Arthur nodded and they picked up their pace.
