A Yankee Flier in Italy Part 24

There's five of them, and they seem excited."

"How far down the hallway?" Stan asked.

"At the door," Allison answered.

The voice of one of the men lifted as he shouted an order. "He's calling in a squad of armed men from the gate," Allison said.

"It seems we are trapped," Arno said grimly.

"Can we go out the front way?" Stan snapped, turning to Tony.

"Yes. There is a side door and a front door. But we can't get back to our car because of the walls around the back plaza."

"Our tommy-guns and grenades are in the car," Allison said.

"We'll have to chance it and move fast. Lead off." Stan reached for the doork.n.o.b. Opening the door a little way he looked out. The five officers were standing in the doorway down the hall looking out into the night.

Stan stepped out, whipping his Colt from its holster as he went. "Down the hall!" he hissed. "Lead them, Tony. I'll cover your retreat."

The raiders and the general moved out and started down the hall. They had taken only a few steps, when one of the officers at the door turned around. He let out a startled shout. The others whirled. Stan covered them with his Colt. The distance was a full thirty feet, good shooting range for the forty-five.

"Get your hands up!" Stan snapped. The bore of his gun wavered over the stomachs of the officers and came to rest on a spot between the eyes of the colonel.

Amazement showed on the faces of the Germans, then hatred and fury.

"Fools!" the colonel grated. "You will all be shot as soon as the alarm is sounded."

Stan was moving backward. He grinned at the colonel and made a good bluff. His free hand slid into the pocket of his coat. "Perhaps," he said loudly. "But I have a grenade here, an American-made grenade. You know how much damage they do. I'm going to toss it right where you are standing just as soon as I get to the corner."

He knew at once that he had scored a hit. The Germans knew that tossing a grenade in just that manner was the way Rangers and Commandos worked.

Three of the men, those in the doorway, dived out into the night where they began shouting. The colonel and one other officer edged toward the door. Stan reached the corner and made a motion to jerk his hand out of his pocket. The two Germans dived for the door.

"Whirling, Stan raced down the hall. He was pa.s.sing a door when a hand reached out and jerked him into a dark room or hall, he could not tell which. Allison's voice hissed:

"Inside, we're going up on the roof." Stan heard the door slam and all was dark. "Tony knows how to go through a French window in this room out to a trellis. We climb the vines."

"But the general, he's pretty heavy," Stan said.

"The boys are boosting him up right now." Allison was dragging Stan across the room.

They went through the window and saw the stars above. Dark shapes loomed against the wall of the house where vines climbed up to the eaves. Stan and Allison started up the trellis. They could hear General Bolero puffing and grunting as Tony and Arno helped him climb upward.

Stan looked down and saw the top of the garden wall. "I'm going down after some grenades and a submachine gun," he hissed. Before Allison could stop him he had swung over the wall and was dangling in s.p.a.ce. The vines ended at the wall and Stan could not see what was below. He took a chance and cut loose.

Stan was lucky. He landed on top of a canvas-covered van. The padding dulled the thud of his landing. He sat up and listened. The yard below was filled with shouting and yelling. Boots pounded as men ran across the hard ground. Doors slammed and someone fired a pistol. Stan whistled but got no answer. Then he spotted his gang. They were crouching on the roof above. Stan whistled louder and saw a shape detach itself and slide down toward the edge of the roof. He was sure it was Allison. When the dark shape loomed directly above him he called up cautiously.

"There's a canvas-covered van right here. Get the men and have them drop off on top of it."

"Pretty far down, isn't it, old man?" Allison called back.

"Not too far," Stan answered. "We'll get to our car and blast our way out of here."

Allison moved back up the roof. In a minute he was back with the general and his sons.

"General Bolero coming down first," Allison called softly.

Stan moved back but got ready to help the general. A bulky form swung down from the roof, then fell, landing with a thud beside Stan. Stan helped the general to a sitting position.

"Are you hurt?"

"Only slightly jarred," the general a.s.sured him.

The others dropped off in a hurry. They crowded around Stan. "Now to get to our car," Stan said.

They slid off the back of the van. It was parked a yard from the wall of the house. Other vans stood beside it as closely as they could be packed in. The raiders moved along the wall, halting behind the last van. The car they wanted to reach was only a few feet away, but it was surrounded by a squad of men. Flashlight beams stabbed into the car and men talked excitedly.

Inside the house there was a great uproar as the Germans searched for the missing men. Tony chuckled, then whispered:

"Little Don Sachetti and I used to get spanked for sneaking through that window and climbing the trellis."

"We had better take over that car and our guns and grenades. This is the best chance we'll ever have. Most of the Germans are in the house," Stan said.

"Don Sachetti was executed yesterday. I think he would rest better if we tossed a few grenades through the windows of his home," the general said. "By all means let us proceed with the capture of the car and materiel."

"You drive, Arno," Stan ordered. "Fan out, boys, and start shooting when they spot us." He turned to the general. "Sorry, sir, that we do not have a gun for you."

"I will soon have one," the general answered grimly.

The boys spread out in the darkness along the side of the last van. They moved forward with automatic pistols ready. Stan picked his man, a burly officer with a flashlight. The Germans were so intent upon the arms they had found that they did not see their attackers until the boys were upon them. The burly officer was the one who sounded the alarm. He shouted loudly as he shot his light over the raiders. Instantly the boys opened up. With pistols flaming they charged. Stan saw the general leap ahead and tear a rifle from the hands of a falling German.

For a moment the action was furious, but the fire from the forty-fives was deadly and the Germans went down or leaped away. Stan located a sack of grenades that had been removed from the car. He took out a couple and tossed them over toward the big gate. The result was all that he had hoped it would be. A dozen armed guards had been standing at the gates under shaded lights, while the machine-gun crews outside were dragging their guns around to bring them to bear inside the yard. After the second grenade exploded with a roar Stan saw nothing at the gate at all except a pile of bricks where one of the entrance pillars had stood a moment before.

"Good going, but Tony has been hit," Allison shouted. "Better get into the car!"

Arno had the engine roaring while Allison and the general were sweeping the yard with tommy-gun fire. Tony lay on the floor of the car, shoved down to keep him clear of flying lead. From the shadows all around them bullets were whining. Stan slid in beside Arno. He could not find a tommy-gun, but he had the sack of grenades on his lap. Leaning out through the window of the car he began lobbing them at the windows of the big house. He hoped some of those he tossed would be incendiary grenades. Arno drove parallel to the house for a short distance to give Stan a chance with his grenades.

The car swerved as they pa.s.sed the door. Stan was able to plant a grenade into the open door and to add another before they straightened out for the charge at the gate. They hit the pile of loose bricks lying in the entrance and one tire exploded. The car wobbled and careened but shoved through the opening without turning over.

As they smashed through, Stan saw flames leaping out of the doorway. A gaping hole in the wall, revealed by the fire, showed where one grenade had done its work. They had charged ahead only a few hundred yards and were not clear of the driveway when they saw ahead of them a small tank and two trucks. Men on foot swarmed beside the vehicle. With a roar the whole driveway ahead burst into action. The careening car had been sighted. Arno twisted the wheel and they plunged through a hedge and down a steep bank where the car came to halt with its radiator smashed against the trunk of a tree.

"Get the tommy-guns and grenades," Stan snapped. "Get Tony out!"

Tony was already out. "I have the wound plugged," he said in a weak voice. "I'll manage."

"We'll help you along," Stan said. "You lead the way, Arno."

"I know best how to get out of here. I was here more than Arno," Tony said. "I'll lead you."

"Give him a hand, Arno," Stan said. "They're coming through the hedge up above."