The Bavarian Gate By John Dalmas

Getting out of the building was not so straightforward. The exit had a screen door, and a sentry was posted by it. If the door were suddenly to open beside him, it seemed to Macurdy the sentry would surely see through the spell. For just a moment he considered using a choke hold on him, but slipped instead into a quiet ward, unhooked a window screen, let himself out, and pushed the screen shut behind him.

Leaving behind a round-eyed patient, who despite seeing the screen open, then close, had failed to see anyone doing it. The spell was better than Macurdy realized, better than Varia’s had been, or Maikel’s.

Once away from the hospital, he deactivated his cloak, and following Roy’s instructions, found the road to camp without any trouble. He didn’t even need to walk far before an airborne lieutenant in a jeep picked him up. “What regiment, sergeant?” the lieutenant asked.

“The 509th, sir.”

“Ah. Them.” The officer shifted out of neutral and started down the road. “I don’t smell any booze on you, sergeant. What’s the story?”

“I’ve got a girlfriend, sir. She doesn’t drink.”

“Did you use a pro kit? We don’t want men hospitalized with VD.”

“She’s the daughter of a French major, sir. We hope to be married.” The lieutenant’s eyebrows raised, and Macurdy felt pleased with himself. It wasn’t the sort of lie he’d think of, ordinarily. He felt as if he could do anything that night.

At the company area, he walked into the orderly room-a tent–and wakened the CQ, who stared at him as if he were a ghost. “Manny,” Macurdy said, “I’m back. Got my transfer cancelled. Can you get me into Supply? I need my jumpsuit and gear.”

“Jesus, sarge, you took me by surprise! I can get you into Supply, but I don’t know where anything is there.”

“That’s all right. Let me in and I’ll find it.”

He did. He’d been prepared to take anything that fitted, but there was his own jumpsuit and helmet, with his own name on them. After putting them on, he folded Roy’s khakis, put them in a pillow case and left with it. Stopping at the orderly room tent, he thanked the CQ before leaving him mystified and unsure. He hadn’t asked Macurdy about his leg, but Doc Alden had supposedly said it looked like a blood sausage the size of a duffel bag. And that had been only-how long? A week ago? Week and a half?

Macurdy then went to the 505th’s bivouac-it wasn’t farwent to the regimental CQ, learned where he could find Roy Klaplanahoo, then went there and woke him. As planned, Roy had gotten Keith’s boots and a set of his khakis, which he gave to Macurdy. Macurdy gave Roy his khakis back, put Keith’s in the pillow case, then shook hands with his old friend and started back to Oujda and the hospital.

It was a fairly long hike, with time to think. He preferred that Keith not know about the cloak; it might spook him, and the ward in the middle of the night was no place for explanations. Then he remembered Varia that first night: They’d walked hand in hand, and he could see her just fine despite the spell; they’d both been inside the cloak. So hopefully physical contact would do it; contact and his own intention.

By the time he got there, his right leg was tired, and it was getting daylight. He’d have to wait till the next night to spring Keith. Finding a place to hide out promised to be tricky, because he wasn’t sure the spell would persist if he slept. He waited by the door until the morning shift came in, and went in half a stride behind an army surgeon.

Then he snooped some rooms that were not wards. One held big bags of clean linens, and on top of one, a surgeon was having sex with a nurse; they never noticed the door quietly open and close. When they were done, they tidied themselves, then quickly dressed, kissed, and departed. Watching them had stimulated Macurdy. He wished he was back in Nehtaka, in bed with Mary.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *