Bad Love Strikes Read online

  Bad Love Strikes

  Kevin L. Schewe, Md, Facro

  Published August 2019

  Broken Crow Ridge

  Imprint of Jan-Carol Publishing, Inc.

  All rights reserved

  Copyright © 2019 Kevin L. Schewe, Md, Facro

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, either living or dead is entirely coincidental. All names, characters and events are the product of the author’s imagination.

  This book may not be reproduced in whole or part, in any manner whatsoever without written permission, with the exception of brief quotations within book reviews or articles.

  ISBN: 978-1-950895-09-0

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2019947891

  You may contact the publisher:

  Jan-Carol Publishing, Inc.

  PO Box 701

  Johnson City, TN 37605

  [email protected]

  jancarolpublishing.com

  DEDICATION

  I have been a board-certified cancer specialist practicing radiation oncology for 32 years as of July 1st, 2019. I am the youngest of three children and have two older sisters, Kathy Williams and Denise Bourg. As a cancer doctor, I know firsthand that cancer can indiscriminately affect anyone at any time. In December of 2016, cancer hit home for our family when my sister Kathy Williams was diagnosed with stage III, triple-negative breast cancer (a particularly virulent type). Kathy bravely accepted her diagnosis and steadfastly endured nearly six months of very intensive chemotherapy, followed by a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery. She then worked hard at physically and mentally recovering from all of her treatments. I am pleased to report that she has been in a complete remission and cancer-free since late summer 2017.

  For as long as I can remember, Kathy and I have shared a love for any story that involves time travel. Two years after her diagnosis of breast cancer, in early December 2018, I read the story of the Phantom Fortress and became inspired to write this book based on time travel. I actually started writing on January 14th of this year; many days later, I realized that I had started writing on Kathy’s birthday. Therefore, it is only fitting and right that I dedicate this book to my sister Kathy Williams, who has been—and will continue to be—an inspiration to us all.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  For 32+ years I have worked on the front lines of cancer care as a radiation oncologist in private practice. Receiving a diagnosis of cancer and then facing the realities of staging, treatment, side effects, and recovery are challenges that are larger than life. Living with a cancer diagnosis after treatment requires a new view on life and life’s priorities. I want to acknowledge the thousands of patients that I have cared for these past 32+ years—all of whom have taught me valuable lessons of life and have shown me courage beyond measure, sacrifice, love, humility, victory, the real-life occurrence of miracles, and acceptance. I am thankful to all of these patients, their families, and their loved ones; they have shown me, and continue to show me, the meaning of life here on earth.

  AUTHOR’S FOREWORD

  RECOMMENDED ACTION FOR ALL YOU TIME TRAVELERS OUT THERE!

  In order to get the full sensory effect of traveling through time with the Bad Love Gang, I highly recommend that you download the 21-song soundtrack listed on the next page by using your iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, or Amazon Prime account. Alternatively, you could use YouTube to play each song as you are reading. As each song is introduced throughout the novel, take the time (no pun intended!) to listen to the music and enjoy the full effect of being an honorary member of the Bad Love Gang. This recommended action will be especially enjoyable during Chapter Fifteen, The Fun Part of the Flight, when each Bad Love Gang time traveler has their favorite “road song” played while the group travels into danger aboard the B-17G Flying Fortress carrying the moniker Bad Love. Do not be shy or afraid to break out and dance or to simply tap your feet as the music moves you!

  Bad Love Strikes will make you feel like a teenager again and will transport you back to 1974 and 1944 as you learn about time travel, the origins of Area 51, the discovery of exotic matter, the Manhattan Project to build the world’s first atomic bomb, the air war over Europe in WWII, and the Holocaust that started in Chelmno, Poland, at the very time of President Roosevelt’s famous Day of Infamy speech, launching America into WWII. Happy reading, and remember: “Live dangerously, have fun, don’t die!”

  SOUNDTRACK TO BAD LOVE STRIKES

  1. “Born to Be Wild,” Steppenwolf (1968)

  2. “Let’s Twist Again,” Chubby Checker (1961)

  3. “In the Year 2525,” Zagar and Evans (1968)

  4. “Incense and Peppermints,” Strawberry Alarm Clock (1967)

  5. “I Can See Clearly Now,” Johnny Nash (1972)

  6. “A Horse with No Name,” America (1971)

  7. “Takin’ Care of Business,” Bachman Turner Overdrive (1974)

  8. “California Dreamin’,” The Mamas & the Papas (1966)

  9. “C’mon and Swim,” Bobby Freeman (1964)

  10. “Help!” The Beatles (1965)

  11. “You Keep Me Hanging On,” The Supremes (1966)

  12. “She’s Not There,” The Zombies (1964)

  13. “Travelin’ Band,” Credence Clearwater Revival (1970)

  14. “Burning Love,” Elvis Presley (1972)

  15. “Secret Agent Man,” Johnny Rivers (1966)

  16. “Goldfinger,” Shirley Bassey (1964)

  17. “Fly Me to the Moon,” Frank Sinatra (1964)

  18. “Me and Mrs. Jones,” Billy Paul (1972)

  19. “Theme from Shaft,” Isaac Hayes (1971)

  20. “Shambala,” Three Dog Night (1973)

  21. “Never Been Any Reason,” Head East (1975)

  MAIN CHARACTERS

  THE BAD LOVE GANG FROM OAK RIDGE, TENNESSEE

  1. Kevin “Bubble Butt” Schafer

  2. Nathan “Bowmar” Williams

  3. Brianna “Cleopatra” Williams

  4. Jimmy “Goondoggy” Blanchert

  5. Billy “Willy” Blanchert

  6. Donny “The Runt” Legrande

  7. David “Crazy Ike” Eichenmuller

  8. Karen “Crisco” O’Sullivan

  9. Frankie “Spaghetti Head” Russo

  10. Gary “the Pud” Jacobson

  11. Aaron “Meatball” Eisen

  12. Paul “Waldo” Thompson

  ADDED BAD LOVE GANG FROM THE 1944 RESCUE MISSION

  1. Jack “Bucky” Smith

  2. Darby “Pumpkin” Nelson

  THE 13 RESCUED HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS

  1–3. David, Sarah and Hannah Lieb

  4–5. Vadoma and Barsali Loveridge

  6–7. Asher and Avigail Goldberg

  8. Benzion “Ben” Kaplan

  9–13. Daniel, Mazal, Zelda and Rhoda Roth, as well as Mazal’s mother,

  Rachel Soros

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  THE DISCOVERY OF EXOTIC MATTER

  CHAPTER TWO

  THE MANHATTAN PROJECT AND THE WHITE HOLE PROJECT

  CHAPTER THREE

  THE PHANTOM FORTRESS

  CHAPTER FOUR

  THE BAD LOVE GANG ASSEMBLES FOR ADVENTURE

  CHAPTER FIVE

  THE BAD LOVE GANG STUMBLES ONTO DESTINY

  CHAPTER SIX

  THE TIME MACHINE

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  TIME TRAVEL IS BOTH REAL AND POSSIBLE

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  MISSION PLANNING

  CHAPTER NINE

  READY FOR LAUNCH

  CHAPTER TEN

  THE RESCUE AT CHELMNO, POLAND,

  PHAS
E I: GETTING TO THE CHURCH

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  THE RESCUE AT CHELMNO, POLAND,

  PHASE II: GETTING TO THE COTTAGE

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  THE RESCUE AT CHELMNO, POLAND,

  PHASE III: GETTING TO THE PLANE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  THE B-17G FLYING FORTRESS NAMED BAD LOVE.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  BAD LOVE TAKES TO THE SKIES

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  THE FUN PART OF THE FLIGHT

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  THE DANGEROUS PART OF THE FLIGHT

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  THE MOST DANGEROUS PART OF THE FLIGHT

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  THE FLIGHT TO FREEDOM

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  THE FLIGHT TO DESTINY

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  MISSION COMPLETED

  CHAPTER ONE

  THE DISCOVERY OF EXOTIC MATTER

  “The only reason for time is so that everything

  doesn’t happen at once.”

  —Albert Einstein

  June 17, 1942 at 10:00 PM local time, Nevada desert: Area 51

  Second Lieutenant Jack “Bucky” Smith was assigned to a special U.S. Eighth Air Force operation tasked with pushing the aerodynamic limits and air battle characteristics of the new Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress, which had recently arrived on the scene in the spring of 1942. He and his crew had just test landed their B-17F after sunset at Area 51 (AKA Groom Dry Lake), which was then known as Indian Springs Airfield. The Indian Springs Airfield had been rapidly constructed and immediately brought into service by the U.S. Army Air Force about one month after Pearl Harbor was bombed in December 1941. The airfield was constructed on Groom Dry Lake, a salt flat in the southwestern Nevada desert that was remote and mainly known to the U.S. military involved in its origins. The airfield supported B-17 Flying Fortresses, B-25 Mitchells, and T-6 Texans trainer aircraft. Indian Springs was “officially” used for air-to-air gunnery training, and as a divert field for Las Vegas Army Airfield. On this Wednesday night in June 1942, something happened that forever changed the course of history for Indian Springs Airfield in the remote southwestern Nevada desert, altering the destiny of Second Lieutenant Jack “Bucky” Smith as well.

  Bucky was a good student and athlete, a 1936 graduate of West High School (Denver’s second oldest high school) and a 1940 graduate of West Point. His uncle had taught him to fly a Boeing-Stearman Model 75 biplane in the summer of 1934, and he was forever hooked on being a pilot. After graduating cum laude from West Point in May 1940 as a second lieutenant, he immediately joined the U.S. Army Air Corps (USAAC). On June 20, 1941, the U.S. Army Air Corps became the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF). The U.S. Eighth Air Force was activated on January 2, 1942; Bucky was then working for the Eighth Air Force. He was celebrating his 24th birthday on this very day and had spoken to his parents by a long-distance telephone call earlier that afternoon, before his scheduled six-hour long test flight. The B-17F four-engine heavy bomber his team was tasked with testing was an improved model, upgraded from its predecessor, the B-17E. Although there were many improvements, the main difference between the E and F were the wider Hamilton Standard paddle-blade propellers, fitted to the F model to give it better performance. The B-17Fs were on a tight upcoming delivery schedule, due to begin arriving in England in August 1942. They were destined to fly in the air war against Nazi Germany throughout 1943 before being replaced by the further-improved B-17G Flying Fortresses, beginning in late 1943.

  Bucky’s six-hour B-17F mission that day had included a high-altitude bombing run, simulated air-to-air combat with multiple hostile “enemy” fighter aircraft trying to “shoot them down,” and various high-speed dive, recovery, and turn maneuvers. Finally, close to finishing the tests, they had just completed a trial night landing at 9:30 PM local time. Just as they reached the end of their final landing approach to touch down on the salt flat runway, there was a moment of sheer panic as their electrical systems seemed to temporarily short out. Bucky was born with nerves of steel (which is how he ended up in special ops), and ignored the electrical problem while he finished the landing. The electrical problem had seemed to fix itself while they taxied to the hangar and ground maintenance, parking for the night. What they didn’t know at the moment was that all electricity had been temporarily interrupted in a one-hundred-mile radius.

  Planes and crews were coming and going on a nearly nonstop basis in the early days of World War II at Indian Springs Airfield. Although he was young and only a second lieutenant by rank, Bucky was the ranking officer on site that fateful Wednesday night. One of his enlisted ground crew friends, Army Sergeant Jamie Gray, was sitting in a nearby jeep and chain smoking from a pack of Chesterfields. His dog Rusty was a border collie, a breed known for their ability to withstand heat and being able to work in harsh conditions. Bucky walked up and said “Hi” to Rusty, who was resting in the back seat, and playfully scratched his ears for a minute. Bucky then sat in the jeep’s passenger seat and said, “Hey, Jamie, we had a little scare on landing; all our electrical systems temporarily went down, but they came back up while we taxied.”

  Jamie replied, “That’s crazy, because—no bullshit, Bucky—the whole base went completely dark for a few minutes! Some of the guys said that the Nazis or Japs were bombing Nevada, and I told them to cut that crap out!”

  Jamie offered Bucky a cigarette and Bucky started to say, “You know I don’t smo—” At that moment in time, the sky over Groom Dry Lake lit up as brightly as the light of a summer day, only to be followed by a thunderous explosion and what felt like an earthquake, followed by darkness again. In the distance, on the salt flat property adjacent to one of the long new runways under construction, they could see what appeared to be a glowing site of wreckage. The few enlisted support personnel on duty at that time of the evening, along with Bucky and Jamie, jumped in their jeeps and trucks to go check out what they all assumed was a plane crash.

  It was not what it seemed.

  As they started their drive to the crash site, Bucky estimated that it was about 2–2.5 miles away. Groom Dry Lake (Area 51) was a bit lower in elevation at 4,409 feet than Bucky’s “mile-high” home town of Denver, Colorado. The property measured approximately 3.7 miles from north to south, and 3 miles from east to west at its widest points. Two trucks and a pair of jeeps were driving parallel to each other down the salt flat, barreling along with their headlights beaming, kicking up billowing clouds of dust behind them as they all headed directly to the wreckage site. Bucky had left instructions for the staff remaining at the base to place a call to Las Vegas Army Airfield to see if the flight had originated from there, and to alert them that a plane had crashed at Indian Springs Airfield. They needed to be prepared to send an investigative team to document and deal with whatever had just happened.

  It was a beautiful, clear, still, star-filled June evening in the Nevada desert, and the temperature was hovering at 75 degrees. As they drove down the salt flats in their open-air army jeep, Jamie flicked his last cigarette away, looked at Bucky, and said, “Happy birthday, buddy. I guess you won’t be blowing this candle out tonight!” Bucky smiled and answered, “I’m sure you could blow it out with all your hot air, Jamie! For some reason, I don’t have a good feeling about this. I have been scanning the sky, the horizon, and surroundings in front of and around us while you have been driving, and have I yet to see any sign of parachutes. This might be an ugly scene up ahead.” He looked back at Rusty, who was alertly sitting up and enjoying the ride, all eyes and ears at this moment.

  As they all approached within a couple hundred yards of the site, it became apparent that this was not a plane crash. When they got about one hundred yards away, Bucky motioned for everyone to stop. There was no debris field—but there was a single large, glowing object, craft, vehicle, or vessel adjacent to a future runway under construction. The object had crashed at a slight angle and created
a large crater in the desert floor, partially obscuring their sight of a portion of the lower aspect of the craft’s structure. Oddly, there was no fire burning, but the crash site was glowing white with a bluish tint that seemed to be emanating from some material extruding from several cracks in the hull of the damaged vessel. Bucky had better-than-perfect 20/20 vision, and could see the vague outline of what he thought could be a person examining the damage to the outer hull. Jamie offered Bucky a pair of binoculars that were under his driver’s seat. Just as Bucky looked through them at the subject examining the outer hull, the subject seemed to look directly back at him. The bluish color reflected off its slightly-built body. In its oval, slightly almond-shaped face, large eyes appeared to blink at Bucky and Jamie; from a rather small mouth came a very high-pitched shrill noise that carried through and past their position. Rusty let out a continuous, primitive-sounding canine howl like never before, taking both Jamie and Bucky by surprise. Bucky watched as the subject quickly started moving toward an opening in the hull.

  Just as the subject started moving, the vehicle’s shape began to change. While disc-shaped flying objects had been intermittently observed and recorded since the Middle Ages, the first recorded use of the term flying saucer for an unidentified flying object (UFO) had occurred in the United States exactly twelve years prior to this night, on June 17, 1930. On that night, people in Texas and Oklahoma witnessed a bright red glow that was described as a “flaming flying saucer,” and may have been a comet or meteor. What Bucky and his small team of enlisted soldiers were looking at from one hundred yards away was a metallic-appearing space craft that glowed white, and the blue tint was emanating from the material that was leaking or extruding from breaches in the hull due to crash damage. The vehicle was comprised of two circular or disc shaped hulls; the larger, lower disc was vertically connected to a smaller upper disc by a funnel shaped structure. Bucky’s B-17F Flying Fortress had a wingspan of nearly 104 feet, and he guesstimated that the diameter of the lower disc exceeded that width by 20–30 feet, while the upper disc was slightly less than 100 feet in diameter. This made the vehicle very large, but not exactly massive in an unearthly way. The vehicle’s shape was changing; the middle of the funnel shaped structure connecting the upper and lower discs telescoped as the upper disc moved upward, creating more separation between the two discs. The middle of the funnel structure simultaneously began to glow a brighter blue and make what was at first a soft whirr. It was certainly a sight to behold, and like nothing that Bucky or his group of enlisted men had ever seen on earth in this life.