Iron Cross

At 3 pm on February 19, in Porto Angra, Azores.

A hotel called "Hot Springs" is operating normally. The owner, Tom Philip, is a well-known capable man. After taking over this hotel on the verge of bankruptcy 25 years ago, he has made unremitting efforts and now has become a well-known hotel in Porto Angra. Although the hotel is not luxuriously decorated and the facilities are not advanced, the warmth and home-like feeling created by the painstaking efforts have made many guests very satisfied. It is also a landmark building in Porto Angra.

But not many people know that even Tom's wife and children who live with him day and night do not know his details - he was originally an intelligence officer of the British MI6. 25 years ago, at the end of World War I, he received this task and was sent to Porto Angra. Even the capital for the acquisition of this hotel was all paid by MI6 - the shrewd boss would not spend money in vain, but told him clearly that his salary for the next 20 years has been fully advanced in advance, and he must make a profit by running the hotel to maintain his own life.

After receiving the mission, he was very excited and kept repeating the contact code given by his superiors, fearing that he would forget it. While he was running the hotel carefully to get cover, he was looking forward to someone coming to contact him. He thought he would get the mission soon, but there was only disappointment waiting for him. As time went by, he became more and more skilled in running the hotel, but his excitement became calmer and calmer.

He lurked in Hero Port, running the hotel carefully, gradually getting it on the right track and the business flourishing. He married and had children, started a family, and integrated everything he had into this city. Day after day, year after year, he was waiting for the contact signal, but Great Britain never took the initiative to contact him, as if he had never existed. One year, he really couldn't stand this torture, and secretly returned to the UK under the name of visiting relatives. He found that many of his classmates who had trained together that year had disappeared, and the boss who gave him the task and personally gave him the code name "Crow" had died of the Spanish flu that broke out shortly after the end of the war-he was completely out of touch.

Time passed quietly for 20 years. Tom gradually changed from a young man full of youthful vitality to a middle-aged uncle. When his children left Heroismo to study in Portugal, he became a completely forgotten pawn. In 1938, just one week before Germany entered Austria, Tom's mission expired in 20 years. His superiors told him that if no one contacted him within 20 years, he would automatically leave MI6 and be free. Except for not revealing this secret, he could do whatever he wanted. But he didn't give up. He knew that there were spies from other countries on the island, and he could even vaguely distinguish some of them. Many people stayed in his hotel at the beginning, but many of them left in a hurry. He saw these spies change wave after wave, but he had never seen anyone lurking for such a long time like him.

He was a little uneasy these two days. The results of the recent Anglo-German North Sea Battle had been announced all over the world, and it also caused an uproar in Heroes Harbor: Germany vowed to sink a large number of warships of the Royal Navy, including 4 battleships and 8 cruisers, and its own losses were not great; Britain announced that it had sunk 2 German heavy cruisers, severely damaged the main battleships such as Tirpitz, Scharnhorst, and Zeppelin, and also sank some small warships, and only lost some old warships, which was a negligible loss.

Because the Germans could not produce strong evidence, the photos published in the newspapers were also very blurry, and the results they announced were too sensational, so not many Portuguese believed it. On the contrary, the results announced by the Royal Navy seemed more appropriate. Everyone agreed that the Germans were completely lying or bragging.

Due to the professional sensitivity of a spy, Tom instinctively realized that there was a problem: if the Germans were trying to lie, they would not have to make up such absurd results. There is only one reason to explain this kind of news: the Germans did have so many achievements, or even if there was a discrepancy between the achievements and the real situation, the Germans thought the difference was not big and within their tolerance. He had been thinking hard, but soon gave up - he had already left MI6 and was now a genuine Portuguese, so why bother about these things?

The noise coming from the direction of the dock caught his attention. The sound became more and more, and louder and louder, as if there was a big mess.

"Luis..." he asked the child playing football in the yard, "Why is there so much noise outside? What happened?"

"Sir, I don't know, I'll go and see."

Less than 10 minutes later, Louis rushed into the hotel like the wind and said to Tom, who was checking in for the passengers, "Sir, there are ships! No, warships! There are many warships on the dock! I heard they are Germans."

"What?" He was shocked.

"You don't know yet?" The guest who was about to check in laughed, "I knew before I came. The German fleet came and waited outside the port, asking to enter the port for supplies. The city government may not agree at first. The Germans raised their artillery and the planes began to take off, as if they were ready to fight. We were scared, but the Germans didn't attack us. The ship quickly entered the port and docked. Now the two sides should have reached a compromise."

The attention of other guests was also attracted to this. Someone asked: "Will they really fight?"

"No... We are a neutral country."

"What's the use of a neutral country? Didn't Germany attack the Netherlands and Denmark?"

"It's no good for Hitler to attack us. Do the Germans still expect to cross Spain to occupy us?"

"Then why doesn't the municipal government agree to let the German fleet dock for supplies? This is completely allowed according to the neutrality law."

"I guess they are afraid of offending the British..."

Others were arguing one after another, and Tom couldn't listen anymore. He told his wife to stay in the hotel and ran to the dock to see what was going on. The dock was already crowded with people. Everyone was attracted to watch the German fleet and point fingers at the majestic warships.

The rumors outside were correct. The German North Sea Fleet, which had been erratic and had not appeared for a long time, suddenly appeared outside the port of Heroes at around 1 pm and asked to enter the port for supplies and repairs. The Portuguese authorities instinctively refused, but faced with the guns of Tirpitz and the planes taking off from the two aircraft carriers as a demonstration, they finally didn't dare to say the word "no" and could only agree to the other party's request to enter the port. As a remedy, while accepting the German fleet to dock, the municipal authorities reported the emergency to Lisbon and the latter quickly notified the British side.

Like many people, Tom carefully observed the composition of the German fleet with a telescope. What was slightly different from what was published in the newspaper was that the German fleet seemed to be missing the Prinz Eugen and the Scharnhorst, but the Tirpitz, the Zeppelin, or another unknown aircraft carrier did not seem to have major problems as the British announced. After flying a circle in Heroes Harbor, German carrier-based aircraft landed one after another, and the technology seemed very skilled. Faced with this situation, Tom only felt his heart tightening.

The dock was full of people pointing and commenting, and there were also many people carrying cameras and rushing around taking pictures quickly. Tom knew that they were not spies, they were all well-informed reporters who were afraid of chaos in the world. They were worried that there was no big news - this news would definitely become the explosive headlines of tomorrow's newspapers.

His observation was right. The Scharnhorst had turned ahead of time halfway and was accompanied by two destroyers to the Spanish port for emergency repairs.

At night, many people heard the roar of the engine. Tom, who was worried, had an instinctive anxiety, but he didn't dare to go to the dock to see what was going on. After all kinds of worries and weighing the pros and cons, he made up his mind to take the risk to observe. He originally thought that the huge movement of the German fleet just now was preparing to leave the port overnight, but after careful observation, he found a terrifying scene: the unknown aircraft carrier was spitting out tanks and armored vehicles one after another, and then teams of soldiers with live ammunition ran out of the cabin.

He wanted to call, but it seemed as if someone was strangling his throat, and he couldn't make any sound. He could only stare with frightened eyes and observe carefully. Soon, he knew that the alarm was completely useless. The police and sentinels on duty at the dock also discovered the abnormality of the Germans. Although the weak Portuguese tried to stop them, they retreated after the Germans decisively opened fire.

All the key points near the dock were occupied by the German army. At dawn, everyone was surprised to find that the streets were full of German armored vehicles patrolling with live ammunition. All key institutions including the dock, warehouse, oil depot, telegraph office, and city government were controlled by the Germans. In a word, Hero Port was completely occupied by Germany.

Tom didn't need to go out to know what happened. The Germans were reading the order to implement the state of emergency over and over again through the loudspeaker, and announced that the curfew time was from 8 pm to 8 am every day. Then one order after another was issued and executed. All British and American cargo ships in the port were confiscated, but the ships of Portugal and other neutral countries were still safe and sound.

Although the Lisbon authorities immediately protested to Germany and even threatened to resort to war, the tone quickly dropped by noon that day: the border troops in the north and south reported that they had discovered German armored forces, and there was also intelligence that the Scharnhorst had docked at the port of La Coruña in northern Spain. Although Portugal was the leading navigator in Europe during the Age of Exploration and its naval power was also top-notch, it had long since declined and could not produce a naval power comparable to that of the Scharnhorst - they did not know that the Scharnhorst was actually seriously injured.

Now, the world's focus is on Angra do Heroismo...