The Spymasters (Men at War 7)

Kappler then saw Canidy look at Müller on the stone floor.

“The sonofabitch did the same to Mariano,” Canidy said. “And probably to Frank. Who shot him?”

“It was a lovers’ quarrel,” Palasota automatically said, clearly fabricating the story on the spot. “Poor young Günther lost his head. Tragic.”

“Sorry,” Kappler then said, looking somewhat guilty. “I now realize you probably were hoping to have that honor.”

“No.”

“No?”

“Actually, I was looking forward to seeing the miserable sonofabitch suffer a very slow and painful death. . . .”

[THREE]

Room 802

Hotel Michelangelo

Palermo, Sicily

1645 1 June 1943

Dick Canidy watched as Andrea Buda came out of the bathroom carrying another bowl of warm water to the bed where Jim “Tubes” Fuller was resting.

Tubes remained very weak but now, after Andrea had worked with two girls for almost an hour solid, he was clean and his wounds dressed.

The first glass of water that Andrea had given him he had immediately thrown up. But now he was able to keep down a very diluted mixture of sugar and water.

He’s sleeping the sleep of the dead.

Or the damn near dead.

She’s doing the best she can—the best she knows—but this ain’t exactly the Mayo Clinic.

I want him back to the best treatment possible, and that’s Algiers, then London when he’s ready.

John Craig van der Ploeg, on crutches, entered the room and hobbled over to Canidy.

“Here’s the sub’s coordinates. Neptune is under way and standing by.”

* * *

Three hours earlier, when they had first brought Tubes to the room, Canidy had then stood with Ernst Beck, Oskar Kappler, and Jimmy Palasota at the window. They all looked down at the port, the four men passing a single pair of binoculars between them.

Canidy had another flashback to General Burford at Gettysburg.

“We have the high ground,” he said, “but no plan of attack.”

“We just can’t sit here waiting for the sub to show up, right?” Kappler said.

Canidy glanced at Tubes. “Right. Not good enough . . . fast enough.”

“I have an idea,” Beck said, pointing out at the harbor.

“Hijack the U-boat?” Canidy said, incredulous.

Beck shook his head.