“Shoot the sonofabitch, Alois'”he said.
Alois looked confused.
Canidy gestured.
“Bang! Bang!” Canidy shouted as he mimed the action.
Alois looked confused, but he raised his shotgun and looked to Canidy for approval.
“Right! Yes! Ja! Schlessen!”
The shotgun barked, and the can erupted. Canidy felt droplets of kerosene in the air.
Alois looked at Canidy, as if he was afraid he had misunderstood him and done the wrong thing.
Canidy smiled at him, then ran to him and reached for the shotgun. Alois debated for a moment parting with the shotgun, but finally handed it over.
Canidy found a puddle of kerosene, put the barrel to it, and fired the other barrel.
There was a dull flicker of fire for a moment, and then the kerosene that had vaporized when the can had erupted ignited in a whoosh. A thick cloud of black smoke quickly formed.
Christ, I hope they just haven’t given up! That somebody sees that!
The pine boughs were burning now, and noisily Canidy had just about decided that he could not hear the Twin Wasps at all anymore, when the Gooney Bird appeared, flaps and wheels down, right on the edge of a stall.
And then very quickly, surprising him, something fell–five somethings fell–from the door. And then the first canopy opened, and the second, and then one at a time all the rest, and five parachutes floated toward the ground.
The Gooney Bird pulled up its flaps and its gear and was gone.
A Gooney Bird! How the bell did they get a Gooney Bird this far?
Canidy ran toward the first parachutist, who was just about to touch down. He heard Alois plodding behind him.
The parachutist, a big guy, landed badly. He screamed.
Canidy ran to him “I broke my fucking ankle again!
“Janos said furiously.
“Jesus Christ!”
“Was hat ihr gesacht?” Alois asked in rough German.
“I said I broke my fucking ankle,” Janos said in Hungarian.
Alois smiled sympathetically, then stooped over and scooped Janos up in his arms like a baby. He looked at Canidy and nodded at the forest and then looked stone-faced at Canidy.
When there was no immediate response, he spoke to Janos, who translated:
“He wants to carry me into the woods, okay?”
Canidy nodded his head.
“Ja!”
The other parachutists were on the ground now, and they ran over to Canidy. They were all armed, he saw, with.30-caliber carbines with folding stocks.
“Who are you?” one of them demanded.
“That’s Major Canidy,” another said, recognizing him.
“Pick up your chutes and put them on the fire,” Canidy said.
“And then–” He interrupted himself. The sound of the Twin Wasps was back.
The equipment drop. Why the hell hadn’t the jumpmaster kicked that crap out the door after he dropped the jumpers?
The Gooney Bird appeared again over the cut-down area, its flaps and gear down again. He was now even lower than he had been before, when he’d buzzed the meadow.
If you stall it, friend, you’re going to land here in this meadow The Gooney Bird didn’t stall. But the pilot chopped the engines, and the Gooney Bird touched down. He bounced once, then stayed down, and Canidy saw smoke from the gear as the pilot braked it.
Dolan, you sonofabitch! If I had wanted you to land here, I would have said so. You’re too fucking old to be a hotshot pilot!
Canidy ran down the meadow and to the rear door of the Gooney Bird, and looked in.
And It. Commander John Dolan, USNR, lying on the cabin floor, looked back at him out of sightless eyes.
[TWO]
It was raining, and there had been fog, and there had been serious doubt that the Washington courier would be able to get in that day at all. Late the previous day, the ATE C-54 had managed to make it into Prestwick, Scotland, ahead of the front, but too late to try for London.
There had been a break in the weather, and an arctic blast of dry air moving down over Scotland had cleared the skies enough at 0950 for the C-54 to take off. But by then London had been socked in. The question had then been whether the break would close in again at Prestwick before the fog cleared at It was decided in the end to take off and head for London in the hope that it would clear.