CHAPTER VIII
ESCAPE
The three Yanks were sitting on their balcony restlessly watching theactivity in the German camp below. They were beginning to wonder ifGeneral Bolero ever meant to release them from their promise. His sonsstill remained at the villa, but they never mentioned the war. SuddenlyLorenzo burst out on the balcony. He halted and lifted both handsexcitedly.
"Italy has surrendered!" he announced. "You are free men!"
Before the Yanks could reply, Arno and Tony rushed in. They were veryexcited.
"This is the hour we have waited for," Tony shouted. "Now we will driveout the Black Shirt Fascisti and the Germans." The younger brothersembraced each other and danced up and down. Lorenzo smilingly watchedthem. Slowly he turned to the three surprised Yanks. "My family--wehave fought against the big-talking Mussolini. We belong to the societyFree Italy."
"Great!" Allison exclaimed.
O'Malley was already headed for the door.
"Wait!" Lorenzo shouted after him. "I must tell you some things."
O'Malley halted and turned toward the door. "Sure, an' all I want is toget back into this fight."
"I am sure you do," Lorenzo said. "And I am going to help you."
"Good," Stan said.
Lorenzo took a fat package from his pocket. It was the package hisfather had given him. He held it out to Stan.
"Here are the locations of all German bases in Italy, the positions ofbatteries, the supply routes used, and all the military maps you willneed. This is very important information."
O'Malley was staring at the package. "Sure, an' it's of no use now withItaly out o' the war. We'll be headed for Germany."
Lorenzo shook his head. "I'm afraid it is not so easy as that. Germanyhas as complete control of Italy as she has of any conquered country.The Germans will be helped by our Black Shirts, who know they will betreated badly if they do not stay in power." He spread his hands wide."Every officer like my father will be hunted down. We will be hunted.Today we dress as civilians and go north to destroy Nazi rail lines andsupply dumps."
Stan took the packet. "Have you any suggestions for our getting out ofItaly?"
Lorenzo smiled. "My brothers and I will have no use for our Nardifighter planes. Perhaps after the war we might be repaid with anAiracobra."
"'Tis a foine set o' brothers ye are," O'Malley cried. "Lead me to thoseNardi ships."
"They are in a woods north of the villa. On the hunting acres of theBolero estate there is a runway the Germans have not found. I will leadyou to your planes. But we had best hurry as the Germans are taking overeverything." He spread his hands wide and shrugged his shoulders. "Youknow how efficient the Germans are."
"You will go nowhere," a harsh voice said.
The boys whirled toward the wide doorway leading to the balcony. FourGerman soldiers with tommy-guns stood glaring at them. A youngster withan officer's insignia on his shirt spoke.
"We have heard what you said. You are spies and will be dealt withquickly."
Lorenzo was in front of Stan. He whispered, "Over the balcony rail.There is a large shrub to land on. Take the path leading from thekennels. Cross the ridge. There is no road to the field."
"You, stop talking!" the German officer shouted.
Stan did not hesitate. He did a backward flip. As he went over therailing he saw flame flash from a machine gun. He caught a glimpse ofLorenzo sagging forward, his hands gripping his stomach.
The next instant he had plunged into a large bush which broke his fall.He lay beside a rock wall in a ditch. Vaguely he knew where the kennelswere. Tony had taken him back to see the dogs one evening after dark.From above he could hear the officer bellowing down to the men he hadleft below. He hoped the Germans had felt so sure of their quarry thatthey had not surrounded the house.
Reaching a corner he discovered a guard there. The man was looking up,listening to his commander's orders. Stan hit him hard in the back witha knee and slapped a viselike grip around his neck. The man sagged downwithout a murmur. Stan stripped off the fellows cartridge jacket andgrabbed his tommy-gun. He was glad the Germans had equipped their houndswith rapid-fire guns.
Leaping forward he reached the back of the house. There he halted. Thesquad cars were in the back yard, two of them. Four men stood at theback door listening to the shouting above. Stan saw the kennels and sethimself to blast a path to freedom.
Suddenly he heard a wild yell from above. It was O'Malley and Stan couldtell the Irishman was seeing red. There was a fight in progress up onthe balcony. Machine guns chattered savagely. Stan felt suddenly sick tohis stomach. The boys were up there mixing it barehanded with fourGermans armed with machine guns.
The guards at the door whirled to leap into the house. Stan's submachinegun burst into flame and he swept a pathway of death across the ranksof the Nazis. They went down in a writhing mass, one of them rolling offthe steps and crawling away on his hands and knees, leaving a bloodypath behind him.
Stan leaped for the back door and plunged into the house. He wentthrough the spacious music room and up the wide stairway leading to thebalcony like a charging tank, his submachine gun at his hip, his eyeslike cold steel.
Leaping through the doorway he swept the room with his gun. O'Malley andAllison and Tony were crowded back against the wall. O'Malley wasbleeding profusely from a wound in his shoulder. A broken chair lay onthe floor and beside it lay a dead German. Lorenzo lay on the floor faceup. He was dead, but there was a smile of triumph on his lips. Arno hadsagged down into a chair. He, too, was bleeding from a head wound.
The three Germans had their backs to the door. The officer was wild withfury. He was shouting wildly.
"If I did not have orders to bring you in so that we can force you totell who your underground helpers are, I would shoot you all and leaveyou here to rot!"
"Put up your hands or you'll stay here to rot!" Stan snapped.
The Germans whirled about. As they turned, the two soldiers droppedtheir guns and elevated their hands. The officer came around with hismachine gun firing. Stan opened up and cut him down. The two men beganshouting:
"_Kamrad! Kamrad!_"
Stan backed them up against the wall. Before he had gotten them movedO'Malley and Allison had their tommy-guns. They stripped the ammunitionfrom the soldiers.
"Tie them up," Stan snapped. He turned about and saw that Tony and Arnowere kneeling beside their brother.
"We should go now. We cannot help him, but I shall see that he ismentioned in my reports as a hero in the cause of democracy," Stan saidsoftly.
The two brothers straightened and rose to their feet. They stood stifflyand saluted.
"We will show you the flying field," Arno said.
"We better get moving. Both squad cars made off and they'll bring backreinforcements. The drivers didn't happen to be armed or else theythought the place was garrisoned." Stan nodded toward Arno and O'Malley."Plug those wounds as you go along."
"I will get first aid and medicine from the cabinet in my room. I'llovertake you," Tony said.
They moved down the wide stairway, leaving the German soldiers wherethey would be rescued. Tony dashed off while the others, led by Arno,hurried out of the house and across the yard to the stables. Racingthrough the spacious barns they came to the kennels. By the time theyhad passed these Tony had caught up with them.
Pushing through a hidden gate in a hedge they came to a bridle path overwhich tall trees draped their branches.
"I say, a beautiful spot," Allison murmured.
"It has the smell of auld Ireland," O'Malley said wistfully.
"We are very fond of it," Tony said.
Arno was ahead, moving rapidly upward. They hurried along and caught upwith him. From then on there was no talking; the trail wound upwardsteeply, covered by a canopy of trees. Reaching the top of the ridgethey broke out into a forest. Arno led them to a spot where there was anarrow flight strip. Still they saw no planes.
Crossing the strip they entere
d a grove of tall trees and there stoodthree, trim ships. O'Malley yelped with joy. Stan looked at the craftcritically. They were Nardi FN 500's, obsolete in speed and fire power,but trim and sturdy ships just the same. Arno smiled.
"We built this secret field so that we could slip in at night withoutthe black-shirted Fascisti knowing where we had gone. We met often toplan the overthrow of Mussolini and his murderers."
"You landed here at night?" Allison asked in amazement.
"Certainly," Arno answered modestly.
"We could use you as a fighter pilot," Stan answered. "When you getthrough blowing up bridges and trains, you'd better join us. We'll vouchfor you."
"We will do that. We like very much to fly," Tony said eagerly.
"You will find the guns on the ship are serviced. The engine is 1200horsepower, you have two fixed guns firing through the prop and two gunsfixed in the wings. You can get three hundred and fifty miles per hourout of those ships," Arno spoke proudly.
"Yet they are not as good as the Messerschmitts or the Focke-Wulf," Tonyadded. "And I think you will have to fight your way home against theGermans."
"Sure, an' we'll show them a fight," O'Malley said happily.
"You have gas to reach Malta, but not much for fighting. It is best thatyou run fast for home," Arno advised.
"We'll do just that," Stan said, remembering the package inside hisshirt.
Tony and Arno helped them wheel the Nardis out on the flight strip. Theywere surprised to find another ship tucked away under the trees.
"Father's ship," Arno said with a catch in his voice. "But he has notbeen able to come for it."
"He'll come," Allison said, but he was not so sure the general wasalive. He knew the Germans would be ruthless in wiping out allanti-Fascist leaders in the territory they controlled.
The boys climbed up and got into the beautifully streamlined cockpits.They slipped into the Italian parachutes and got set. Arno and Tonyacted as ground crew and the engines were soon turning over smoothly.Stan checked his dials and made himself familiar with gun controls andequipment; he cracked the throttle and listened to the roaring surge ofpower. Then he throttled down and leaned out, waving an arm in a signalthat he was leading off. O'Malley and Allison answered the signal. Theyknew it was their job to see that Stan got through with his reports andmaps.
Stan kicked the throttle open and the Nardi roared to life, leapingforward with surprising speed. Stan hoiked her tail with an added blastof prop pressure and tested her. She lifted at once. Unburdened by thearmor plate carried by a Lightning or an Airacobra for the protection ofthe pilot and constructed of much lighter materials, she bounced off theground before half of the short runway had been covered.
Stan leveled off close to the tops of the trees. He wanted to make sureAllison and O'Malley got away, and so he did not want to stir up theswarm of German fighter planes on the big flying field just a few milesaway.
O'Malley came up and then Allison. They dropped into formation besideStan and he set his course by compass, straight for Sicily.
A Yankee Flier in Italy Page 8