The '44 Vintage

impression that the second lieutenant was also doing his best to prove how second lieutenants ought to behave.

' Jee-sus!' Winston came out from behind his tree, dusting down his combat jacket. 'Jee- sus!'

'Sssh!' Grafenberg held up his hands again, listening.

Butler's stomach turned over.

'Oh—no—' began Winston.

They all listened. Finally Grafenberg relaxed. 'No . . . there were only two. Sometimes . . .' He shrugged. 'Sometimes there are four—or twenty-four. But we are lucky.'

'Well, you could have fooled me. But I guess you know better, mac.'

'Yes, I do know better. Sie haben Wichtigeres zu tun— so we are lucky.' Grafenberg looked at Audley.

'And now?'

As Butler turned towards Audley there was a sharp double crack behind him. Audley jumped as though he'd been shot.

'The Frenchman!' exclaimed Winston.

They all looked down the road towards the burning Kubel, from which the sound had come. Pierrot was bending over a body at the side of the road, fifty yards away, and as they looked at him he turned. For a moment he stared at them, straightening up slowly, then he started to run back down the road away from them.

Price, Anthony - [David Audley 08] - The '44 Vintage

Audley took a step forwards, fumbling at his holster, and then stopped as Pierrot left the road to zigzag among the trees.

'Yeah . . . that's right, Lieutenant,' murmured Winston. 'You can maybe run after him, but you sure aren't going to hit him with that thing.'

Audley watched the departing figure dwindle in the distance.

'So now we'd better stir our asses to get someplace else, huh?' Winston's voice was suddenly gentler and more encouraging—so much so that Butler looked at him with surprise. 'It'll take him an hour or two to find his buddies. We could still get lucky.'

For the first time Butler saw Winston not just as an American and a foreigner, but as a senior NCO who

—no matter what army he belonged to—had the job of jollying along young men like Audley when they no longer knew what to do. And it was his own plain duty no less to support the sergeant

'The car, sir—' he said quickly.

'—Isn't going anywhere,' snapped Winston. 'It's a goddamn miracle it got us where it did.'

Audley straightened up. 'And you're back with us, Sergeant?'

Winston grinned horribly. 'Seems I got no choice, Lieutenant sir . . . so—which way?' He pointed up the road.

Audley looked round, squinting up at the sun. 'South—then southeast,' he said.

'Yes . . .' Winston nodded patiently. 'But where to, Lieutenant?'

Audley stared southwards without answering, as though he hadn't heard the question.

Winston waited for a moment or two, and then moved round to block the subaltern's view. 'Lieutenant, we have to have some kind of plan, for God's sake. We have to know where we're going—or at least: we have to know whether we're still chasing the major or just running away from the frogs. So you tell us, huh?'

'Yes—' Audley roused himself. 'Yes, of course.'

'Okay.' The American paused. 'So?'

Audley drew a deep breath. 'About fifteen kilometres south of here— or it may be southeast. . . and it Price, Anthony - [David Audley 08] - The '44 Vintage

may be more than fifteen kilometres, but we should be able to pick up the signposts if we keep going . . .' he frowned.

'Yes?'

'There's a village called La Roche Tourtenay—it's off the road to Loches somewhere. And the Chateau Le Chais d'Auray is a mile to the west of it.'

'The chateau—? Is that where the major's heading?'

'No.' Audley shook his head. 'But that's where we're going, Sergeant.'

'Why there?'

'Wait and see.' Audley turned decisively to Butler. 'Get your Sten, Corporal . . . Hauptmann—I'm sorry about the handcuffs. But we'll deal with them when we get to Le Chais d'Auray.'

Sergeant Winston stood unmoving in front of Audley.

'You know this place—the Chateau Shay-dough-ray?'

'Yes, Sergeant.'

'You've known it all along?'