A Very Strange Quest in America: The American Mission

By Will Forster Gordon

A Very Strange Quest In America
The American Mission Part One
The second book in my saga has come to fruition. It sees our intrepid bunch of misfits attempting to overcome another series of obstacles and succeed against impossible odds.
The action takes place in England, Greenland and America. The squad are trying to locate a professor of archaeology who was part of an expedition to Australia as a student and apparently found an unusual artefact with a bizarre power.
Other parties are also interested in this artefact including the Nazi Thule Society although they may not be the major players in this search as other shadowy powerful organisations lurk in the background, some of which may not even be of this world.
Secret societies and governmental departments also appear to be meddling in the action sometimes helping sometimes hindering. Big business and the British royal family appear to have a strong influence on the squad's activities.
A minor royal takes a very strong interest in the squad but they cannot fathom whether he is an ally or otherwise or what his interest is. A strange reclusive multi millionaire is also involved and again they don't know if he is friend or foe. Our mad shaman also reappears to add his strange ways to the story.
Pagan rites and rituals draw the squad into some unusual situations; a medicine wheel ceremony is used to help one of the squad overcome a very dark sanity affecting condition.
The American part of their quest leads them to Boston and then Salem, famous for its witch torture trials and burnings.
There are many twists and turns leading up to the finale of this book that will lead the way to the second book of the 'American Mission' 'An Alchemical Quest for time' The third book in this saga now on the verge of completion!

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Dec 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9781667815459

Book preview

Chapter One

SAM AND ALEC

Yeh knaa what, Alec.  If that jumped up bugger doesn’t stop pushing it with us aahm ganna stick one on him, he’s nee right to deeh that to yeh.  Wonder if he knaa’s what a Byker Kiss is?  Sam was angrily referring to Sergeant Harry Dobley, a Military Policeman who had been assigned as their own personal escort and minder.  For his part he couldn’t understand why he had been giving the job of watching over two nondescript squaddies who as far as he could see were no different to the others who passed through this base. 

It didn’t help that one of them was possibly the bolshiest character he had ever had the misfortune to meet.  The other was the least co-ordinated marcher he had ever seen, the term two left feet didn’t even begin to describe how clumsy and ungainly he was when attempting to march in quick time to and from different parts of the base.  These two factors were enough to make him do his utmost to make life as difficult as he could for Sam and Alec.

For them it was hard to come to terms with being treated as miscreants.  They hadn’t expected a grand parade or a medal from the King, but they had saved the world and here they were being pushed around by some jumped up idiot for their efforts.  Not that they had actually come out and said that.  They had in the de-briefings told the interrogators what had happened to them on the mission, omitting as agreed the bits where Petyr was involved.  It appeared however that their story was a little too incredulous and that they were not convincing the people interrogating them.

Another thing that baffled them was why their de-briefing was being carried out at what was obviously a top secret high security research facility.  Once they arrived back on the British mainland they were kept in quarantine conditions and transported in unmarked yellow vehicles designed just for that very purpose.  Their escorts were always wearing protective clothing a factor that both angered and amused the squad in equal measure.  Once they had arrived at the facility, their transportation being completed in one non-stop journey which didn’t improve their mood, they were immediately ensconced in an isolation wing of the base with separate quarters in the same block for each of them.  This consisted of a room with a bed, wash basin and a toilet. 

They were then subjected to a series of physical examinations with numerous blood, urine and stool samples being taken throughout these tests.  One particularly unpleasant and painful procedure was having spinal fluid extracted from the base of the spine using a long needle, fortunately this happened only once. 

They later learnt that all of this was because the upper echelons of the SOE were concerned that either; they might have been exposed to high levels of radiation or, they may have been contaminated by some otherworldly organism that could constitute a threat to life on Earth.  Or, as Jessica had wryly commented they might just find a nice little biological weapon.  She, because of her work in intelligence, was aware of the sort of research that went on at Porton Down.

After a couple of days the medical staff decided that they were safe enough to be allowed a bit more freedom and although they were marched everywhere under escort they were able to mix with each other at meals and in the recreation room provided for them.  They were not allowed to talk to or mingle with others working or held at this facility and this was the reason for the constant escorting by Sergeant Dobley and a squad of men under his command. 

After Lieutenant Barnes and Sergeant Calhoun had been released and conveyed back to SOE London, Dobley was able to give full vent to his hatred of Sam and Alec without the restriction of a senior officer’s presence.  Sam and Alec were not sure what their status was as they seemed to be being treated as prisoners.  They had decided to try and keep their heads down and go along with whatever was asked of them in the belief that Dobley wanted to provoke a reaction to get them deeper into trouble.

Breaking point with Alec was reached when both he and Sam had been put through several room and kit inspections one morning and Dobley had managed to find something wrong during each one.  He somehow managed to find a speck of dust or something equally trivial and smirked as he ordered them to ‘Do it again but properly, you scruffy wastes of space!’  The final straw was when he was screaming at Alec with his face only inches away and spittle spraying into Alec’s face resulting in Alec losing his temper and swinging a right hook into Dobley’s jaw knocking him onto his back.  Alec realised immediately that he had played straight into the sadistic Sergeant’s hands as he lay there with an evil smile on his face.  He also realised that Dobley was a tough bastard as he had hit him with a good solid punch and done nothing more than knocked him to the ground.  He stood back up and with great relish said, Right Private Jones, I think you and I had better move in quick time over to the guard room and put you somewhere to cool down for the night.  We’ll see what the duty officer has to say about your little show of temper. 

Dobley had no intention of reporting Alec for the assault, what he actually did was to get some of his cronies and they took him to an isolated part of the base.  After blindfolding him and tying his arms and legs Dobley proceeded to give him a good beating making sure there was no facial bruising or obvious damage.  They then dumped him outside the medical unit with Dobley warning him to keep his mouth shut.  He staggered into the unit and collapsed onto the floor, he was immediately placed into bed and then examined by the military duty doctor.  Dobley was streetwise enough to know how to beat someone up to inflict the maximum pain with the minimum damage so although Alec was in great pain it wasn’t life threatening but he was kept in the sick bay overnight.

Sam heard that Alec was in the sick bay and went to see him the same night.  He realised straight away what had happened and it was whilst he was sitting with his semi conscious friend that he made the comment about a ‘Byker Kiss’.  After he left Alec and was making his way back to his room he got steadily angrier, a red mist forming in his mind.  He had managed to slip out of his room without an escort and was thinking about going to see ‘that bastard’ but decided it would probably just make things worse.

Sam was woken suddenly by a loud crash as his door was flung open and several armed military policemen burst into the room.  What’s ganning on? he asked groggily having been in a very deep sleep.  He was rather bemused as he didn’t remember getting back to his room and getting into bed after leaving Alec. 

Shut up, get on your knees put your hands behind your back! ordered the MP Sergeant.  He had a pistol pointing at Sam, his fellow MPs had rifles also aimed straight at him.

What’s ganning on? he repeated, feeling very confused and frightened at what was happening. 

Just do as you are told.  ‘Now! the Sergeant barked fiercely, on your bloody knees!  Sam hesitated for a moment with the thought of saying bollocks to this order but the look on the Sergeant’s face made him reconsider and he reluctantly complied.  One of the MPs secured his wrists with handcuffs and once this was done the Sergeant and two of his men bundled him out of the room and took him to the guard room where he was locked in a cell still wearing the handcuffs.  The two remaining MPs began a thorough search of Sam’s room.

After sitting sweating and wondering about what was going on for about two hours the senior camp doctor entered the cell and gave him a thorough examination.  Sam had already had had his clothes, which he was still wearing after his visit to see Alec, taken from him and was dressed in one of those flimsy hospital robes which was missing the ties that held it closed at the back. 

Sam did try to question the doctor as to why he was being examined but the arresting MP Sergeant who was present throughout the examination and still pointing a pistol at him quickly ordered him to shut up.  Sam gave up at that point thinking that he might as well let them get on with whatever they were doing so the little charade could be done with.  He did wonder if it was something to do with what had happened to Alec.  He half suspected that they might be trying to pin the blame on him, ludicrous as that might be.

As the examination proceeded Sam was aware that there was a rising sense of confusion and bafflement in the mood of the doctor.  He appeared to be looking for something and kept shaking his head and muttering to himself as he failed to find it.  At one point Sam was made to put his shirt back on, the handcuffs had been removed whilst he was being examined.  The doctor had in minute detail, even at one stage using a magnifying glass, peered at areas of his skin that matched several clean one and a half inch neat cuts in the shirt and his frustrated attitude at not finding anything on the skin that related to the cuts was very obvious. 

His exasperation seemed to increase as he checked Sam’s blood pressure and pulse.  He instinctively knew that Sam was in much better health somehow than he should have been but he just couldn’t work out why.  Sam as it happened was feeling great, any aches and pains he had had from the onerous physical tasks Dobly had inflicted on him and Alec had gone.  He felt so alert and alive that he thought he could probably tear the smug bastard apart with ‘Nee bother’ in a fight.  Sam’s whole body seemed to be buzzing with energy.

The doctor finally concluded the examination and turned to the duty officer, Captain  Thomas, who had arrived towards the end of the examination and shook his head.  He was about to say something but Captain Thomas cut him off telling him to wait until they were outside.  Sam’s cell door was relocked although they didn’t put the handcuffs back on.  They went into the next room and began to talk quietly on the assumption that Sam wouldn’t be able to hear them through the closed door. 

Sam in fact could clearly hear everything they were saying, as if they were standing right next to him.  It can’t have been him! declared the doctor.  There are no knife wounds on his body, there is no blood on his shirt and you found no blood in his room you say? 

No the room was as clean as a whistle, nothing there to link him with the murder, replied Captain Thomas.  Sam did a double take at this, what murder?  He was extremely perplexed at what he was hearing.

It’s one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen, continued the doctor.  Sergeant Dobley’s body was completely exsanguinated.  At this point Sam would have normally been totally flummoxed by the word but now it seemed to click straight into his mind. 

Exsanguinated, total blood loss from a body. he thought.  Then as an afterthought, Just how did aah knaah that?  It appeared that it wasn’t just his physical abilities that were currently enhanced, although he didn’t actually realise this strange fact! 

There was definitely a struggle, said Captain Thomas.  Sergeant Dobley put up a hell of a fight and from the blood in his room and on the knife, someone was stabbed several times.  He didn’t have any stab wounds, so it must have come from the assailant.  You mentioned the possibility of a witness Captain? 

Yes doctor, but it was someone returning from the NAFFI and he had had a few drinks so is not a reliable witness.  However, he claims to have seen someone matching the description of Private Tompkins staggering past him with what appeared to be serious wounds and covered in blood around the time of the murder.

What about the man who discovered Dobley’s body? queried the doctor.  Oh we have him in a padded cell; he seems to have gone a little mad.  Captain Thomas paused and then added, Not too surprising though, it would be a bit of a shock seeing what looks like an Egyptian mummy lying on the floor of his mate’s room. 

Indeed Captain, that desiccated, bloodless shrivelled up body was his mate.  I’ve never seen anything like it.

Sam listened in horror to the conversation and wondered why he was a suspect, other than on the word of some drunken squaddie.  They seriously didn’t think that he had somehow sucked all the blood from Dobley’s body; he hated the bastard but not enough to kill him.  As he was worrying over what he was hearing from the discussion, he was nervously wringing his hands together and realised that the finger which bore his newly acquired ring was itching slightly.  Nooh that’s a bit strange, he thought noticing the ring, Aah aalways thought it was a very light pink.  To his bafflement the gemstones were now a very deep blood red colour and seemed almost to glow.

Chapter Two

Jessica and Calhoun

When the squad arrived in the Shetland Isles they had expected to tie up alongside a quayside.  Instead the ‘Hessa,’ a fast submarine chaser which was the Royal Norwegian Navy vessel in which they had travelled, was anchored in a quiet channel away from the main harbour in Lerwick.  It was rather disquieting when a launch pulled alongside and several people clambered onto the ‘Hessa’ wearing full protective chemical suits and instructed the squad to don the same type of apparel that they had bought aboard with them.

They were then taken ashore to a warehouse where a large, windowless, yellow, unmarked hermetically sealed van with its own independent air supply was waiting for them and which had seating for the squad and the protective suited people.  After a transfer by boat to the Scottish mainland although they couldn’t see it because of the lack of windows, they were then on their way to England.

Once they had arrived at Porton Down the four squad members went through the screening tests and debriefing exercise.  After several days Jessica and Sergeant Calhoun were ordered to pack any gear they had and were unceremoniously bundled off to the SOE headquarters in London with no explanation as to why.  Nor was an explanation offered as to why they were keeping Privates Tompkins and Jones in the highly secret unit.

Jessica was glad to leave that place as she felt the treatment she was receiving was too bullying and cruel.  Specially in their efforts to steal her crystal.  Every time they had taken it from her she had felt a terrible loss.  She knew that her reaction was inexplicable and couldn’t understand why she was having such a strong emotional and depressive response.  Logic didn’t seem to be a factor in the way she felt, it was something more basic in the human psyche.  It was similar to the emotions she first felt reaching out to her from the depths of the evil in the Dark Mountain.  She couldn’t get out of her head the feeling that this was an infantile entity, some sort of a vulnerable and needy baby that wanted her to protect it.

She was aware that she had been heavily sedated when they took the crystal away and the loss of it on each occasion nearly drove her mad with grief leaving a hollow emptiness deep within her.  When she had the crystal she was, for most of the time, perfectly normal and often hardly gave it a second thought.  At other times she would find herself staring into it for long periods.  It seemed somehow to contain an infinite depth.  There appeared to be layers of crystals within it with a Russian doll aspect to them.  Every time she looked she saw another crystal within each succeeding layer that continued deeper and deeper into its very core.  Occasionally she thought she caught the faint pinprick of an intense light within it in the same way that people glimpse things out of the corner of their eyes but when they look there is nothing there.

Whilst asleep she was having some very strange and vivid dreams of alien landscapes and creatures.  What was even stranger was that the creatures within the dreams were seemingly aware of her.  Many just ignored her; some watched her with curiosity or followed her.  Some were aggressive and hostile either reacting as if they were being threatened or actually attacking her.  There were life forms that were so bizarre that they didn’t need to attack or threaten her, just being near them filled her with fear and dread.  When any of the negative reactions occurred the dreams ended and she found herself back in her bed, heart pounding and panic stricken.  Stranger still was that she would sometimes have mud on her clothes or be clutching an object from the dream such as a flower, a fruit or an unusual stone.  These vanished after she had gone back to sleep and awoke the next day.

The crystal always came back to her and she knew it wasn’t being returned by her captors, as this was how she was beginning to think of them.  It was the crystal itself that was somehow returning itself to her, to the bafflement and frustration of the people in the research establishment.  They gave up in the end as they couldn’t keep it long enough to study it properly and on the few occasions that they were able to examine it all they saw was a dull, opaque, glass marble.

Calhoun was very stoic throughout the debriefing and medical tests.  He wasn’t sure what the investigative personnel wanted from the squad but he didn’t see any point in not co-operating with them.  The sooner they had completed their tests and questioning, the sooner they would be allowed to leave.  Inwardly he wasn’t very happy about the way that Jessica, Alec and Sam were being treated but there was nothing he could do about it and whatever department that was in control of this base they were nothing if not thorough and this was a military unit with rules and regulations. 

The NCO assigned to oversee them was obviously a sadistic bastard, he had met enough similar types in his army career to know one when he saw one.  He also realised that the only reason he wasn’t coming down too hard on the squad at the moment was the presence of himself and Jessica, so it was with a heavy heart and a lot of worry that he parted from Sam and Alec as he was transferred out with Jessica to London. Jessica was allocated accommodation with enough room for Calhoun to also live there and act as her batman.

Calhoun wasn’t entirely happy about his new duties as Lieutenant Barnes batman but as he realised it meant him getting out of that strange and rather ominous research facility it was a task he was willing to take on.  Back in SOE headquarters Calhoun and Jessica were assigned to ‘W’ section which was housed in the basement of the building and they were allocated an office with a desk each. 

He spent as little time as he could at his desk.  Shuffling paperwork around just wasn’t for him and any that was passed in his direction surreptitiously found its way onto Jessica’s desk.  She seemed to enjoy this sort of work anyway and didn’t notice the extra paperwork that came to her and which was then removed later by Calhoun. All he had to do then was too add his signature to make it look as if he was completing any assigned tasks. 

Any batman duties given to him by Jessica he either didn’t bother to do or he got a jolly little cleaning lady called Martha, who worked on this floor, to do them for him and she was happy to do these little jobs for a few extra pence to supplement her own meagre earnings.  She was happy to earn a little extra and he was happy to make her happy.  A win-win situation all around as Jessica was happy thinking that she was being looked after by a reasonably competent stand in for Randi, although she was looking forward to having him back with her.

Calhoun always made sure he was at his desk when Jessica arrived, but as soon as she was ensconced in her work and he had shuffled his own work from his in-tray to hers and had arranged for Martha to keep the tea and biscuits flowing he would make a point of telling Jessica he was off to the bathroom as he knew this would register in her mind should she be asked where he was.  That he was actually gone for several hours and would smell of alcohol when he did finally return from the nice little pub around the corner did not register with her. 

When he wasn’t able to escape to the pub, rather than sit idly at his desk he would wander around the other rooms and offices of ‘W’ section observing or chatting with others who worked in this subterranean environment.  When questioned, no one seemed to actually know what the ‘W’ denoting this section meant but someone ventured the thought that it was coined in jest by an upstairs bigwig who referred to the ‘Weird’ bunch working in the basement and rather than calling it the Weird department it was shortened to ‘W’ section.  Calhoun found this rather apt and amusing as there was a lot of very strange stuff and ideas wafting around this part of the SOE headquarters. 

On one occasion he entered a room where some sort of ritual was going to be performed with a group of people setting it up in the large room.  A small, wizened, bespectacled man was very carefully and painstakingly drawing a five pointed star on the floor with white chalk, muttering away to himself about mathematical formulae as he did.  Others were putting candles and containers at various cardinal points of a chalk drawn circle which enclosed the star. 

A young and attractive blonde haired woman was going around the inner wall of the room waving a bunch of smouldering herbs and chanting as she did so.  Calhoun recognised some of the herbs from the smell with the strongest being sage.  Overseeing the event was a small slightly portly woman with dark hair that reached down to her shoulders whom he thought was probably in her mid sixties. 

She had just passed a carton of salt to an elderly, balding gentleman with an instruction to overlay the chalk circle with it when she noticed Calhoun. Oh, you must be our thirteenth person, I wondered if Monty would remember. she said in a slightly cross tone.  Before Calhoun had a chance to demur she took some clothing from a peg and thrust them into his hands saying.  Get robed quickly, we have no time to lose, then bustled away to another part of the room to harass someone else. 

Calhoun looked at her then at the robes and thought to himself, Given all that has happened to me so far, I might as well go along with whatever it happening here.  After all, I’ve been involved with tribal rituals in Africa and some of the stuff with Petyr was pretty mad so I might as well give this a go!

The bossy lady had handed out some typewritten sheets to three of the other participants and was looking around as if pondering her next step when her eyes again alighted on Calhoun.  She came over to him, thrust another sheet into his hand and stated You can call the East quarter, just read through this to get the gist of what you need to say then invoke the elemental spirits of the Air. Calhoun must have looked a little bemused but before he was able to protest she added, when you speak the invocation ask for their protection and energy but do not…., and she emphasised the ‘not’, invite anything into the circle.  Understand?  Calhoun nodded an acknowledgement and she bustled off to someone else. 

Calhoun read through the sheet pertaining to the Eastern quarter of the circle and it stressed the important aspects as being; rebirth, innovation, inspiration, intelligence, the rising sun, creatures and spirits of air.  There were other esoteric connections but it didn’t appear to Calhoun that he needed to focus too much on these from the scribbled notes at the bottom of the page.

The bossy woman ushered everyone into the centre of the star and Calhoun saw the other three designated to call the quarters position themselves at what he took to be North, South and West so he went to what he assumed to be the East and the rest of the group stood either side of the callers to form a circle within the star.  After walking around the outside of the circle waving a short dagger and chanting the Bossy woman declared the circle closed and asked for the quarters to be called. 

All of the participants turned to face Calhoun and he stood looking at them thinking, What’s going on now?  He realised with a start that the Bossy woman was waiting with a hint of impatience and exasperation for him to do something.  The penny suddenly dropped as he realised what he was supposed to do.  He also turned around and copying the others raised his hand in a supplicant gesture.  I know what will make it sound as if I know what I’m doing, he thought, smiling inwardly. 

He proceeded to recite a Rabby Burns poem in Gaelic, a lot of the people living on the laird’s estate when his father was the head gamekeeper still spoke the old tongue and whilst he hadn’t spoken it for many years he could still remember enough to get by.  He threw in the relevant words from the notes he’d been given in English and when he had finished turned back towards the centre and was delighted to see that all of the others were looking at him with a hint of astonishment and awe.  That is everyone bar one, the very attractive young lady who had a big grin on her face and he could see she was trying very hard to suppress a desire to burst into laughter.  She put her hand over her mouth and there was a visible expression of relief on her face when the South caller began his invocation and they all turned in that direction.

The ritual lasted for about half an hour and Calhoun wasn’t sure quite what its purpose was but a big, bluff, bearded chap, who for some reason Calhoun thought might be a naval officer and who was calling the West which represented the Water Element, went into a trance and appeared to be communicating with someone. The quarters then were called in reverse order and after hearing how the other three did theirs Calhoun kept his similarly short and to the point but again in Gaelic.  The bossy lady or Lynda, as Calhoun came to realise was the name of this actually quite nice but very determined woman closed the circle and they finished with a happy little chant.  They all held hands and recited;

‘May the circle be open but never unbroken, merry meet, merry part and merry meet again!’

The room was tidied with the salt being swept up, the candles which were lit at the beginning of the ritual extinguished then packed away and the chalk marks wiped away with damp cloths.  Tea and biscuits