Island Flavor, (Part 6, Excerpt 50)
This is the 6th part of a new story titled, Island Flavor. Our German spy was commanded to move his operation from Miami to Key West to spy on the Submarine base there. He has been successful. One day he sees a military vehicle outside and two MPs heading towards his door.
Island Flavor
He looked out his window and saw two guys in business suits walking up the drive. He ran down the stairs and went quietly out the back door. As they were knocking on the front door he eased over the back fence and walked hurriedly through the neighbor’s yard and over to Duval Street. He was down the street and buying a bus ticket to Miami as the two guys were getting back in their car.
“Well, Janie, it’s all done. Here is the deed to the house, our dream home in Key West. Mike did a great job with the ads and working with the Monroe County tax office. Not a bad price for a few years’ back taxes, plus interest. Let’s go down next week for a few days.”
“Sounds good, Al,” Janie exclaimed with a squeal.
They pulled up to their Key West house.
Janie said, “Let’s name it Island Flavor.”
“That sounds ok to me. Let’s use this key the county clerk gave us,” Al agreed.
“That was real nice. The county had the locks changed, both front and rear for us, Al.”
“Yep, there, we’re in like Flynn!” Al said proudly.
“Look, Al, there is a little bit of furniture. There is one easy chair in the living room. Look in the kitchen, only one chair at the kitchen table. Just a few pots and pans. It looks like a bachelor pad.”
“Let’s take a look upstairs, Jane.”
They went up. One bedroom was bare. In the other room they found a bed and dresser.
“This was definitely a one man’s abode,” Al exclaimed, “Hey, Janie, look in this turret room.”
There was one chair in the center and a small end table next to it. Laying on the end table was a pair of binoculars.
"This guy must have been spying on his neighbors!” Al exclaimed.
“No neighbors Al. Look out of this tower window. It’s looking towards the naval base!”
“Well, who knows? Let’s go downstairs and bring in the things we brought.”
“Now that we’re set up, let’s go grocery shopping,” Janie suggested.
“Good idea, Honey. I’m getting hungry, and let’s buy one more kitchen chair!”
Coming in from shopping Al said, “We've got the groceries and the chair. Now let’s eat!”
“That was good! Thank you, Dear. Now I’ll put the rest of these groceries up. You know I’ve been thinking, there would be a lot more storage in this house if they had built a pantry under these stairs. Instead they just closed it up,” he said as he slammed his hand against the stairwell wall.
“Hey, it moved!”
“What moved dear?” Jane asked.
“The stair wall. No honey look it’s a door! Look you can open it. It’s a door disguised as a wall.”
They both peered inside. It was dark. Al went part of the way in. His eyes became accustomed to the dark.
“There is a lamp on a small table,” he said as he clicked it on.
“Look, there’s a typewriter,” Janie said.
“Well Janie, if it is a typewriter, it’s a pretty weird one! No, I think we’re on to something here. If I’m not mistaken, what we have here is a transmit and receive station. See, here is a Morse Code typing key and this I’m sure is a radio transmitter. Now let’s look at this strange typewriter. It does have a keyboard with 26 letters of the alphabet. But these four rotors, they, too, have the 26 letters of the alphabet on each one. I bet it’s a code machine! Let’s look on the bottom. There’s a small metal tag. It says, Kriegsmarine Engima. Marine is naturally water. I bet it’s the German Navy’s Engima code machine! You know, Janie, it is only three years after the war.”
“What are we going to do, Al?”
“We’ll go back up to Miami. I want to put in a call to the U.S. Army CIC Branch.”
Just as soon as they got back to Miami, Al put in his call.
“US Army, Miami information,” the Army operator said.
“I would like to be connected to the CIC Branch please,” Al said kind of forceful.
“Sir, there is no CIC Branch.”
Al repeated getting slightly impatient, “I mean, Counter Intelligence Corps.”
“Sir, that group was disbanded after the war.”
“Well, possibly you could tell this disbanded group, I found a hidden broadcasting station with a Kriegsmarine Engima machine in the house I just bought in Key West!”
“Sir, who am I taking to?”
“Al Krenshaw.”
“Just one minute sir.”
Someone came on the line, “Mr Krenshaw, this is Bob Jones speaking. Please tell me once more what you just told the operator.”
Al proceeded to repeat what he had told the operator, and what he and Jane had found.
“Al, please listen carefully. We’re on this. Do not go back to your home in Key West until I call you back. Please give me some time. Also do not visit the house on 9th Street either. Do you understand?”
“Yes, but...”
“Al, I will get back to you. Just trust me. Thanks, Al. We’ll be in touch.”
Al told Janie what took place on the phone. They went about their business in Miami. But they waited…and waited. A couple of weeks later they got the call, “Al Krenshaw.”
“Yes, this is Al Krenshaw.”
“Al, this is Bob Jones, CIC remember.”
“Yes Mr. Jones.”
“Al it’s ok to go back to your Key West home now. We caught him! Peter Schmidt, Alias Peter Smith. We picked him up when he broke into your Key West home and was carrying out the Enigma machine and the other equipment. He must have realized in order to cover his tracks he needed to dispose of the items. He was a German spy, came in off a U-boat in ‘42. We’re on the trail of his Miami counterpart, and we’ll have him shortly.”
“Bob, uh, Mr. Jones, thank you for all of this,” Al said.
“Al, you must remember...actually you must forget. You never called me, and I never talked to you!”
From The Author:
This story is fictional. Any resemblance to any person or place is purely coincidental. The historic sources are in the Author’s Notes of Definitions and References in the rear of the book.
(However, Jane and Al Krenshaw’s speech and mannerisms bear some resemblance to my Mom and Dad, Al and Jane Kranich. God rest their souls.)
My second full-length book , Florida Keys’ Watercolor Kapers is composed of 336 pages. There are 12 stories running from 6 pages to as many as 72 pages. It is fully illustrated with 88 watercolors and sketches. The watercolors I made roaming around Key West after I finished my 750 mile hike from Georgia to Key West. (See book or Don Browne’s SouthWest Florida Online News records, A Walk Across Florida.) As you read these stories you will experience Key West, the Keys, and the Caribbean. These stories span the time of the early 1800’s to 1969. bkranich.wixsite.com/bobkranich
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