[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
lots of questions. I told him I'd assumed the medics had moved you, but that I
wasn't surprised; those cocky bastards in the 509th would do anything." Keith
laughed again. "He told me you'd gone back to the 509th and gotten your
jumpsuit, or someone had gotten it for you. The guy who'd been on CQ there
said you'd walked in as if you'd never been hurt. The docs here said you
couldn't have walked anywhere, in or out, for three or four months. The CID
guy thinks there was a conspiracy by your buddies to spring you, but where the
hell they stashed you was a mystery. They're probably checking all the
whorehouses inOujda. That's where guys would hide somebody."
Macurdy didn't laugh. Keith had given him food for thought. He hoped no one
got into serious trouble over this.
On the road back to camp, they'd thumbed a ride, in a jeep with two officers
from the 504th, heading back to camp from a bout in a presumably better class
of brothel. They'd drunk enough they weren't worried about anything, and if
they heard any strange stories the next morning, weren't likely to remember
the two sergeants, or at least wouldn't volunteer it. They didn't even ask
Macurdy why he was in his jumpsuit, which in town was "out of uniform."
Meanwhile Macurdy and Keith learned something from the officers: the 504th's
1st Battalion was to ship out that morningthe officers didn't say where to-and
the rest of the division was sure to follow shortly.
They were let out at the 505th's area, and went to Keith's pup tent. Keith
crawled inside, but Macurdy sat outside briefly, and with his pocket stiletto
picked away at his 509th "Gingerbread Man" unit patch until he got it off.
Then both lay waiting for sleep, each silently considering the morning to
come. Belatedly, both felt ill at ease about it. Getting out of the hospital
had been the easy part; if the MPs had been at the 509th so quickly after
Macurdy's disappearance, they'd be at the 505th by breakfast.
They should, Keith thought, have holed up somewhere for a day or two before
coming here. Maybe they still should. But then he thought to hell with it;
he'd stay and see what happened. Shitl Here he was, walking around. They
wouldn't hardly take him back to the hospital and put another cast on him, for
chrissake. Even the army wasn't that stupid. They might take him away, but
he'd be back before the day was out.
Hell,he told himself,something like this is so weird, they won't even put it
in my service record. They'll be afraid to.
Macurdy wakened at dawn, and went toRoy's tent to see if he could get hold of
Page 72
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
some mess gear. A guy inRoy's squad had gotten arrested inOujdatwo nights
earlier for slugging an MP officer, soRoyloaned Macurdy his.
They were sitting on the ground eating breakfast when the MPs arrived with
the company commander, who spotted Keith and took the MPs to him. The three
sergeants got to their feet as the C.O. approached, Macurdy wishing he dared
cloak himself. As it was, there he stood, less than four feet from Keith, with
the name Macurdy above his left breast pocket, and stenciled on his helmet. It
seemed to him he might as well be wearing neon lights and an alarm bell.
But when the MPs took Staff Sergeant Fred Keith away with them, Macurdy was
still there, ignored.
Except by the C.O. "Sergeant," he said ominously, "I don't believe I know
you." He peered at the name on Macurdy's helmet. "What's your outfit,
trooper?"
The name on the C.O.'s helmet was Szczpura, and he had a trace of accent. The
scars on his face, and the broken nose, suggested years in the prize ring;
probably, Macurdy thought, as a middleweight. And almost certainly he'd never
seenWest Point. OCS probably. His mien as well as his aura reflected not only
competence but integrity, a man who acted according to his convictions.
So Macurdy sketched out the whole story for him, except for the invisibility
spell, with Roy Klaplanahoo supporting the parts on healing. "It looks like
the 505th could be leaving here without one of its platoon sergeants," Macurdy
finished, "and I'm a good one. I jumped at Youks les Bains, and was in on the
capture of Tebessa and Gafsa." He neglected to say there'd been no Germans at
either of them. "I've done recon patrols of German and Italian outposts in
Tunisia, fought at Faid Pass, and commanded a jump in German territory to
rescue a couple of our people. And got them out alive." He paused, then added
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]