so.”
Before Owen could respond, Sherrilyn had slapped her hand down on the table. “In fact, there’s every reason not to try another rescue-with simple sanity heading the list of those reasons. Estuban, are you really serious? Do you really think we can, or should, try to spring Frank and Giovanna again? Hell, they’ll be waiting for us this time.”
“Sherrilyn, as you so eloquently point out, they were waiting for us this time. They were probably far more certain that we would try at least once than they are that we will try again.”
“And how does that do us any good? They kicked our asses around the block, Estuban; what makes you think they won’t do it again?”
“I can’t answer that until we see what the Spanish do next. But we can be sure of this: we need to stay close to Frank and Giovanna, if we’re going to be able to act effectively. We no longer have a radio operator in Rome, we no longer have an observation network via the lefferti or Nasi’s former agents, and we can no longer trust nor should we further impose upon the Jews of the Ghetto. In short, we have to gather our own information, now.”
“Which is simply another way of saying that we’re all alone, from here on,” Sherrilyn mumbled. “Damn, the odds just keep getting better and better, don’t they?”
Miro folded his hands and looked her straight in the eyes. “Until we get on site and see things with our own eyes, we really can’t assess what the odds of success are. For the second matter, we are talking about Tom Stone’s son and daughter-in-law. By electing to come on this mission, you implicitly promised him to get those children back; I explicitly promised him the same. Since you started as a volunteer, it is your business if you go with us on a second rescue mission. But I will. Alone if I must.”
“You will not go alone,” Owen announced.
Miro looked down the table, surprised. “Colonel, your continued commitment to the rescue mission is very welcome indeed. I suspect it will prove crucial. But this intensity of resolve-why? This is not your fight, after all.”
Owen Roe O’Neill ran a surprisingly fine-boned hand through silvering red hair. “I’m not about to give an answer that would allow a sassenach to accuse me of typical Irish romanticism.” He checked for, and saw, the friendly smile on Thomas’s face before he continued. “So let’s leave it at this: you’ve the right of this fight, plain and simple. Besides, that bastard red hat who’s dangling these two newlyweds like butterflies over a furnace needs to be shown that there are limits to what even a would-be pope may do. I’ve suffered through enough scenes of Spanish ‘justice’-legal and clerical-in my time. I’ll not stand by and watch more of it meted out to innocents. Enough is enough.”
Thomas was repressing a grin. “Owen, my partner Liam Donovan is a bog-hopper like you, so I’m quite accustomed to the way you Irish use your supposed romanticism to conceal shrewd underlying practicality. What else is driving you?”
Owen grinned sheepishly. “Caught as red-handed as only an O’Neill can be. Very well, here it is: you’re the future.” He looked around at their surprised glances. “Come now, I’ve told true, so you’ve no right to act as though you’re puzzled. You know exactly what I mean: up-time ideas and ways are remaking the world around us. Hugh O’Donnell-the earl of Tyrconnell over Sean Connal-visited your Grantville and saw it plain enough. He brought back new tactical training, the idea for the pepperbox revolver, and proof that Madrid was using the Wild Geese as a pawn in a greater game-a pawn they were ready to sacrifice, former promises of honor and repatriation notwithstanding. Hugh O’Donnell woke us up-those who were willing to listen.”
Owen sighed. “I wasn’t among that number, not at first. But you know the saying: the late-come convert is the most ardent believer. I’ve not only seen what you can do, but who you are, what you value. My oath is to Isabella of the Low Countries, but here and now, I’m casting my lot in with you. There: is that plain-spoken enough?”
Miro did not know what to say; he merely nodded.
Thomas was smiling, however. “It’s said that the support of honorable men is the greatest adornment of any cause. You have just become the diamond at the pinnacle of our cause’s tiara, Colonel O’Neill.”
Harry surprised them by speaking in a clear, firm voice. “I’m glad everyone is getting along so well, because we’ve got a hell of a task in front of us, now. And Estuban is right; we can’t let up and we can’t fail. Our promise to Tom is one factor. The pope’s personal and political attitude toward us is another. Remember, Urban married Frank and Gia. That probably makes them extra-valuable to Borja as prisoners; for him, toying with the two of them is like pissing in the pope’s own recently consecrated well. And no doubt Urban knows that and feels an additional responsibility to them. Either way, he’s going to judge us-our moral character, that is-partly upon our determination to do the right thing by Frank and Giovanna. If we walk away, he’ll have reason to wonder if we’re really as good as our word. But if we press on, no matter the difficulties-”
“-then he knows that when we talk the talk, we’ll walk the walk,” concluded Sherrilyn with a nod. “Okay; suicide mission or not, I’m in.”
Miro shook his head. “I do not believe in suicide missions. We have many hurdles before us, yes, but I refuse to see them as insurmountable.”
Thomas frowned. “Maybe they are not insurmountable, but some of them are unalterable. Time, for one. Unless I am much mistaken, we cannot wait for further reinforcements or specialty equipment via balloon from Grantville; that would mean a two week delay. Given the young Ms. Stone’s delicate condition, we cannot risk that. We must leave immediately.”
Miro nodded somberly. “That is regrettably true.”
Sherrilyn frowned. “That is regrettably our epitaph. As I count it, Owen has only six men left who aren’t already guarding the pope, and that includes the doctor. Thomas here has his four Hibernians. And the Crew is at half strength: there’s me, Harry, Donald, Matija, and Paul. George can’t be brought into the field, not yet. So, even though I was only a gym teacher, I’m still pretty sure that it all adds up to seventeen people. So tell me: how is taking seventeen persons to rescue Frank and Giovanna from a well-defended Spanish prison not suicide?”
Miro smiled. “The balloon arriving tomorrow will be bringing some answers to that question, Sherrilyn.”
“They’d better be great answers.”
“The first is that you can increase the size of our contingent by six: that’s how many additional Hibernians will be arriving.”
“Bloody good of you to let me know how you’ve decided to use more of my troops,” Thomas commented with one raised eyebrow.
“You’ll need to work that out with your partner, Liam Donovan-who negotiated a very good rate with Ed Piazza, I’m told. These six men were originally slated for the papal protection detail, but I think we have to divert them to this operation, now.”
Harry nodded. “Yeah. We need the manpower. Particularly men who are familiar and equipped with lever actions rifles and revolvers. We’ll need that volume of fire to offset our small numbers.”
“Damned straight,” agreed Sherrilyn. “And what’s the other good news?”
“Well, although there weren’t any other combat personnel ready to travel, we did know that we would need the very best equipment for our modest forces-”
“You had them stop in Chur and pick up the rest of the Crew’s gear?” Sherrilyn leaned forward eagerly.
“That, and more. While we were sharing the long road from the Val Bregaglia to Padua last month, Colonel North was good enough to review the various categories and models of ‘ready equipment’ he knows to be in reserve at Grantville-since so much of it is the object of his professional lusts. I was surprised to note that there was one weapon system he coveted that was still readily available to us in considerable numbers, so I decided to request ten copies of it, on the notion that you would all consider it a useful addition to our resources.”
Sherrilyn frowned. “What are you waiting for, Estuban: a drum roll? What did you whistle up for us?”
“Ten SKS’s. And, according to the people in Grantville, enough magazines and 7.62 x 39 millimeter ammunition to, I quote them, ‘fight the Viet Nam war all over again.’”
Sherrilyn actually pumped her fist up and down in time with her very extended, “Yyy-Esssss!”
Thomas North smiled and nodded. “Well done, Estuban, very well done.”
Owen stared. “A little explanation might be helpful for the down-time bog-hopper,” he put in.
North grinned. “Sorry. The SKS is a semiautomatic carbine. It uses the same round as a famous Russian assault rifle, the AK-47, which was the SKS’s successor.”
