Sonofabitch!

Those certainly are some buh-lets. buh-lets.

Those are fucking 105mm field howitzer rounds!

He took out a pencil and paper and started writing down the stenciled markings. This took some effort, and he had to go back and forth between holding the binocs and writing with the pencil. Then he read back over what he had written and peered again through the glasses to confirm he'd gotten it right.

He looked at Fuller.

"Think you can find your way back to the apartment?"

Fuller pointed to his nose.

"By scent," he said, grinning.

Canidy looked over at the other warehouse. Antonio Buda was helping wheel a manual lift that carried a crate out through the big doors. Canidy nodded in Buda's direction and said, "Should I share that with our new friends?"

"We'll just keep it our little secret," Fuller said, smiling.

"And you'll just keep your hands to yourself when you get there."

"Okay, okay."

Canidy handed Fuller the paper and Fuller read it:

TOP SECRET.

OPERATIONAL IMMEDIATE.

5APR43 1500.

FOR OSS WASHINGTON EYES ONLY GEN DONOVAN; OSS ALGIERS EYES ONLY CAPT FINE.

BEGIN QUOTE.

NO ANTACID REPEAT NO ANTACID BURNED OR SUNK IN PORT.

NO KNOWN REPEAT NO KNOWN ANTACID ASHORE.

AMMO FOR SMALL ARMS AND FOR HOWITZERS FOUND. CRATES LABELED 8MM MAUSER AND SONDERKART. 6LE.F.H.18 T83 10.5CM.

AMMO AND FUEL CANS BEING ONLOADED SHIP. DESTINATION UNKNOWN.

MORE TO FOLLOW.

JUPITER.

END QUOTE.

TOP SECRET.

"When you're done, after you get the confirmation," Canidy said, "burn the message."

"Right."

"Then get some rest, and I'll see you there as soon as I can," Canidy added. "No telling what's coming next."

[ONE].

Villa del Archimedes Partanna, Sicily 1720 5 April 1943 Dick Canidy, sound asleep on his back, was startled awake by a loud, high-pitched cry.

As he sat upright, struggling to get his bearings, there was a raucous flapping of wings as a score of seagulls took flight.

Canidy was up about a hundred yards on a ridge of the hillside that overlooked the Villa del Archimedes. The villa was another five hundred yards, give or take, to the northwest.

A cobblestone roadway had been constructed on the ridge, along with a stone wall two feet tall at the lip.

For whatever reason, he'd thought earlier, he'd thought earlier, the goddamn Krauts or Wops took it out of play by taking a chunk of it, probably with more of those 105mm rounds from a field howitzer. the goddamn Krauts or Wops took it out of play by taking a chunk of it, probably with more of those 105mm rounds from a field howitzer.

What remained of the wall provided for nice concealment, not to mention a place to fall asleep. And it served as a solid platform for the bipod of Canidy's Johnson light machine gun.

Now Canidy thought: Dammit! I fell asleep! Dammit! I fell asleep!

Not surprised. I was exhausted.

He watched the birds disappear into the distance.

I probably disappointed those flying rats.

They were hoping for another tasty snack of eyeballs.

He shook his head, trying to shake the numbness he felt.

Jesus! That was a close call!

If I'd slept through till it turned dark...

Canidy had an almost-due-west exposure, which was exactly what he wanted-bright light to help mask the brightness of muzzle flash-but the brilliance of the sunset was forcing him to squint.

If I'd slept past dusk, the damn muzzle flash would've looked like a Fourth of July fireworks show....

He looked over the wall and down.

The ridge afforded Canidy one helluva view. In the distance was Cape Gallo, the northernmost point. To the northeast was Mondello, and he could make out the crescent beach where they had landed with the folding kayaks.

And here, below his feet, was Partanna...and the Villa del Archimedes.

Canidy had been looking down with the binoculars, waiting and watching -and snoozing- -and snoozing- since he had come back alone from the apartment, where he'd left Frank Nola with Jim Fuller and retrieved the Johnny gun. since he had come back alone from the apartment, where he'd left Frank Nola with Jim Fuller and retrieved the Johnny gun.

Having left the warehouse where the cargo ship was still being loaded, Nola had walked with Canidy the five kilometers to Partanna. There he'd pointed out the hillside to Canidy, somewhat needlessly as the looming rock was as hard to find as an angry zit on the forehead of a teenager.

They had followed the roadway up to where the hole had been blown into it and then sat watching the coarse-stone villa for more than an hour.

Canidy had had the binoculars to his eyes and was studying the big electrical power generator on steel skids that had been put beside the villa. It had a diesel engine with a manufacturer plaque that read MANN MANN. And there was a wooden pallet covered with jerry cans, a few lying on their side, empty.

Ah, the well-labeled Wehrmachtkanisteren kraftstoff, Wehrmachtkanisteren kraftstoff, the "armed forces cans" of "fuel." the "armed forces cans" of "fuel."

And my favorite part: Feuergefahrlich Feuergefahrlich ..."flammable." ..."flammable."

Nola tapped Canidy on the shoulder, then pointed out the dust cloud being kicked up on the dirt road by a car approaching the villa.

When the car, a 1940 Alfa-Romeo sedan, had gone through the gate in the stone wall surrounding the villa and pulled to a stop, Canidy trained the glasses on the driver's door. It opened.

"Well, look at who we have here," Canidy said.

He handed the binoculars to Nola.

"Is that your sturmbannfuhrer?"

Canidy got his answer when Nola grunted derisively.

"That is Muller," Nola added needlessly.

"I've seen enough," Canidy said. "Let's go. I need my Johnny gun."

The Alfa-Romeo was still at the villa when Canidy had returned alone, but now it was parked for whatever reason near the generator.

Maybe they refueled it while I was gone, Canidy thought. Canidy thought.

He looked at the sun and figured he had maybe a half hour till sunset, and that this was the last of the brilliant light before it started turning softer.

He peered through the sights of the Johnny gun and thought, "If you want something done right..." "If you want something done right..."

When fired, the muzzle of the automatic tended to walk upward from left to right. So he put the bead of the tall front sight just to the left and a little below the dozen Wehrmachtkanisteren kraftstoff Wehrmachtkanisteren kraftstoff that were on the pallet beside the generator. that were on the pallet beside the generator.

He took in a deep breath, then let out half of it as he squeezed his trigger finger.

The Johnny gun began to bark, the first of the ten-round burst kicking up dirt as it stitched a line of lead toward the generator.

Canidy paused a moment, holding his position and aim, and wondered if he had hit anything other than ground.

Dammit!

He squeezed the trigger again and the Johnny gun responded with another series of bam-bam-bam bam-bam-bam s until the twenty-round clip was empty. s until the twenty-round clip was empty.

There were men-Muller's-running out of the villa now.

Damn diesel is slow to blow.

He pulled the empty magazine from the left side of the weapon.

He put in a fresh one-and one of the Kraut jerry cans exploded.

The men ran back inside the villa.

Not sure that's a wise decision...

And then another jerry can erupted.

And then four or more went up at once, like a string of firecrackers.

Very loud firecrackers.

The fire from the multiple explosion hit the main fuel tank of the Mann engine. It caught, and that fireball blew off the boards that covered the windows of the villa.

And then the first of the Composition C-2 inside cooked off.

The concussion that followed was so severe that Canidy instinctively ducked behind the low wall, covering his head and ears.

God, I love this job!

[TWO].

Palermo, Sicily 2020 5 April 1943 Canidy had hid in a cave until just after dark before making his way back to the apartment. When he got there, he found only Frank Nola and Jim Fuller.

"Where's the girl?" he said.

Fuller shrugged.

"She left when Frank and I went upstairs," Tubes said.

She's not off telling anyone about us, is she?