“Is that your sturmbannführer?”
Canidy got his answer when Nola grunted derisively.
“That is Müller,” 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.
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…”
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 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 s until the twenty-round clip was empty.
There were men—Müller’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.