The Hunter and La Cagoule

By Lee Conrad

A novelette. November 1936. Spain is in the midst of a civil war and Madrid is on the front line.Rafael Delgado has been sent to the city by the prime minister of the Republic to seek out and eliminate a member of the French fascist organization La Cagoule whose members have come to Spain to infiltrate the government. The goal of La Cagoule is to destabilize the Republic and help the rebel nationalists and their German and Italian fascist allies win the civil war. Madrid is under siege, bombs are destroying the city, yet Rafael Delgado and the brave defenders of Madrid fight back against enemies outside the city and within. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lee Conrad
• Release date: Feb 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215823644

Lee Conrad

Lee Conrad lives in upstate New York with his longtime love and their three rescue cats. His stories have appeared in Fiction on the Web, Literally Stories, Ariel Chart, Sundial Magazine, The London Reader, Books ‘N Pieces, Blood and Bourbon, Written Tales and The Blue Lake Review.

Book preview

November 1936

Madrid, poor Madrid. Her beauty and soul defiled by the beast.

It was an hour before the 11 p.m. curfew when the lorry carrying Rafael Delgado rumbled into the center of Madrid from Valencia, a bone jarring ride of 224 miles. The city’s wounds lay open and ugly. Bombs and shelling had turned it into a shamble of disemboweled buildings, debris, and gaping holes. A smell of death from bodies buried under the rubble hung in the air. Streetlamps that normally added brilliance at night were painted blue to keep the right-wing Nationalist rebel artillery on the Garabitas Hill from zeroing in on a target. Along with the curfew a blackout was in force. The only light was from the moon as it sparkled off broken glass from shattered windows.

Far away booms echoed as another round of bombardment from the nationalist forces hit the working-class district of Carabanchel at the southwestern edge of the city where loyalist forces of the Republic remained holed up after halting the rebels six days earlier on November 7th. 1936.

Rafael Delgado got out of the lorry and into a chilly wind blowing in from the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains to the north. While he was familiar with the streets of Madrid, the extensive damage from the shelling and bombing disoriented him. He looked around the deserted Gran Via in front of the fourteen-story white Telefonica Building as if a tourist and caught the attention of two militiamen patrolling the opposite side near an overturned streetcar teetering at the edge of a deep crater.

Halt! Stay where you are!

They came up to Rafael with rifles pointed at him. Inside the city danger lurked. The rebel nationalists claimed a ‘Fifth Column’ of supporters were ready to help when called upon. The militiamen suspected anyone out this late at night. One held Rafael in his sights while the other asked for identification and his pass. Rafael gave him both, laid his rucksack down, and stood confidently, his Astra 400 pistol snug in the shoulder holster under his sheepskin coat. Rafael was not a big man and when the militiaman shined his partially hooded flashlight towards him, he saw a dark, thin peasant face with a few days’ beard growth, intense brown eyes and black hair covered by a black beret. Rafael did not cower in front of these men. Just the opposite.

The militiaman looked at Rafael’s papers with his flashlight and then showed them to his comrade. They were part of the newly organized police force in Madrid organized by the Spanish Communist Party, the new power in the city.

What are the watchwords?

It must be ended, answered Rafael.

The other militiaman answered with the counter sign, It must be ended, forever.

All is in order, comrade major. He handed back the documents to Rafael.

Can you tell me, comrade, where is the office of the district commandant?

"You keep going down the Via a short way. Next block on the left. Look for the sentries.

Thank you, comrades. Salud!

Rafael raised his arm with his fist clenched tight in the salute of the republic and its allies.

The militiamen returned the salute and walked away.

One muttered, That is one you do not want to get on the wrong side of. They call him The Hunter. He is on our side but of no side.

"At some point he will have to choose, or he will