Chapter 38: The Howl and the Commandos
The integration of "Sergeant Logan" into the loose-knit, hard-bitten ranks of the Howling Commandos was, to put it mildly, an exercise in contrasts. The Commandos, led by the tough-as-nails American Captain Samuel "Happy Sam" Sawyer (though he rarely lived up to the moniker) and featuring a motley collection of nationalities and specialties – like the derby-wearing Dum Dum Dugan, the dapper English gentleman Pinky Pinkerton, the Italian-American Gabe Jones, and the taciturn Frenchman Jacques Dernier – were already an unconventional unit. But Logan was something else entirely.
He was introduced as a "specialist attached from Canadian forces, an expert in close-quarters combat and wilderness survival," vouched for by shadowy figures high up in SOE (thanks to Elias's influence as "Mr. Blanchard"). His brooding silence, his feral aura, and the way he seemed to almost radiate danger immediately set him apart. The Commandos, used to eccentrics, still found him deeply unsettling.
"He looks like he chews nails and spits rust, Cap'n," Dum Dum Dugan had muttered to Sawyer after Logan's terse, monosyllabic introduction.
Sawyer, a man who valued results over pleasantries, just grunted. "Long as he can fight, Dugan, I don't care if he sleeps hanging upside down from a tree."
Their first joint operation, orchestrated by Elias through Major Davies, was a raid on a suspected Hydra communications relay station hidden in a remote, mountainous region of occupied Norway. SOE believed it was being used to coordinate U-boat wolfpack attacks in the North Atlantic, but Elias, based on fragments of intel Finch had decoded, suspected it was also a clandestine listening post for Hydra's more esoteric communications, perhaps even monitoring for "unusual energy signatures" or other "persons of interest."
The insertion was by night, via a British submarine surfacing in a freezing fjord. The Commandos, bundled in winter gear, were professionals, their movements practiced and efficient. Logan, seemingly impervious to the bitter cold, moved among them like a phantom, his senses already cataloging the harsh terrain, the scent of pine and snow, the distant howl of a wolf – a sound that brought a flicker of something ancient and wild to his eyes.
The approach to the relay station was a grueling trek through snow-covered mountains. Logan, to the Commandos' grudging admiration, moved tirelessly, often breaking trail through deep drifts, his animalistic stamina evident. He said little, his observations confined to curt warnings about potential ambush sites or the tracks of German ski patrols.
The station itself was a fortified blockhouse, nestled high on a windswept peak, bristling with antennae and machine gun emplacements, manned by elite Alpenkorps soldiers backed by a detachment of SS. A frontal assault would be suicide.
Sawyer laid out a plan for a coordinated attack: Pinkerton and Dernier to create a diversion on the western flank, Gabe Jones (an expert in demolitions) to plant charges on the main generator, while Sawyer, Dugan, and Logan led the primary assault team through a less guarded northern approach.