American and a German ... to kill an Englishman.
Winston grinned at him. 'You did okay back there, Jack. But how the hell did you know he'd crack—the doc?'
How the hell had he known? He lifted the Sten. 'I had the gun, Sergeant. He didn't.'
Price, Anthony - [David Audley 08] - The '44 Vintage
That was what Rifleman Callaghan always said: The man with the gun always wins the argument.
21.
'When you think about it, it's rather appropriate,' said Audley reflectively, to no one in particular.
Butler had been thinking about it, but: that hadn't been his conclusion. He had thought, more simply, that it was a pity they couldn't see where they were being taken; but also that with the way his toes were already acting up it was a bloody sight better than foot-slogging. If the pigs really were being transported to market, at least their last journey was being made in comfort.
Sergeant Winston surfaced from out of his own thoughts. “What is?' he inquired.
'This.' Audley waved his hand around vaguely.
Winston looked towards the doctor. 'Yeah, I guess it is at that.' He grinned suddenly. 'We should be glad you aren't a garbage collector, Doc—'
'No.' Audley shook his head. 'I mean . . . this is how it all started —in an ambulance. This is how they brought the loot out of Paris in 1940—in an ambulance. And now us.'
'Uh-huh?' Winston shrugged. “Well, just so we get there in one piece is all I care about first. But it's what the hell we do when we get there that worries me, Lieutenant. You planning to gun the major down just like that—just wait for him to show up and let him have it? Is that it?'
Audley ran his finger nervously between his neck and his collar. The light coming through the frosted window beside him caught the sheen of sweat on his forehead. Happen he didn't like being cooped up blind in the enclosed space of the ambulance, thought Butler, and that sweat was a memory of old terrors. But much more likely it was fear of what was to come, which had been all airy-fairy talk until now, with the odds against it ever being put to the test of reality.
Trouble was, he could never see through the skin for sure, not until it was too late. All he knew was that Second Lieutenant Audley was a great talker, and clever with it—no doubt about that. But what he was when the words were all said and there was no more room for cleverness, that still remained to be seen.
'Is that it?' Winston repeated the question brutally, as though he sensed the same uncertainty in the subaltern.
And yet for all that maybe they weren't being fair, thought Butler. Because it was one thing to follow Price, Anthony - [David Audley 08] - The '44 Vintage
and obey, and another and quite different thing to decide and to lead, knowing that the burden of responsibility was on one's own shoulders, no matter whose finger was on the trigger.
He cleared his throat. “We could call on him to surrender first, sir,' he said.
Winston gave an angry grunt. 'Oh sure—we do that and we throw away the only chance we've got, which is catching the bastard by surprise.'
Audley's jaw tightened. 'We can still do that—if we can get into the chateau first.' He turned towards Dr. de Courcy questioningly.
De Courcy nodded slowly. 'Yes,' he said.
'Uh-huh?' Winston paused. 'And just how are you planning to do that, Doc?'
'It need not worry you, Sergeant. It can be done.'
'So it can be done—so it still worries me.' Winston paused again. 'So you tell me how, huh?'
De Courcy shrugged. 'Very well . . . the Germans will not leave until midday. In the meantime they will be on the alert—it is a time of danger for them, the moment of withdrawal—'
Winston raised his hand. 'I don't want to care about the Germans, Doc. They don't worry me. It's the major— he worries me. Because by midday he'll be sitting on the goddamn doorstep just waiting for the krauts to move out. That is, if he isn't there already—which he probably is. And the moment they do move . . . he's not the sort of guy to wait until the dust settles, Doc. They move out—he'll move in.'
The Frenchman half-smiled. 'And that is what I am relying on, Sergeant.'
Winston frowned. 'I don't get you.'
'That is because you do not know the Chateau of Pont-Civray.'
'You mean—there's a secret way in?'
'No, not a secret way.' De Courcy shook his head. 'But
'Then the major may be watching it—simply.'
'But there is no reason why he should.' De Courcy leant forward to emphasise his point 'To the west of the chateau, in the woods beside the river, there is a path. Once it was a carriageway to the West Lodge, Price, Anthony - [David Audley 08] - The '44 Vintage
but it had not been used for many years even before the Germans came. It is ... how do you say?—
'Overgrown—I get you. But if you're banking on the major not having cased the chateau—' Winston shook his
