“I had planned to do just that, James.”
[SIX]
Soldier’s Field Army Airfield
Nuremberg, American Zone of Occupation, Germany
1705 24 February 1946
Lieutenant Tom Winters came out of the hangar and helped Cronley and the 26th Infantry guards push the Storch inside.
“I drove your Horch out here. Was that the right thing to do?” Winters asked.
“Since Casey is otherwise occupied, fine. But do I detect an agenda?”
“I have to ask for a favor.”
“Shoot.”
“Can Barbara stay at the Mansion until we get quarters?”
When Cronley did not immediately reply, Winters went on.
“There’s a hotel for transient junior officers. A madhouse.”
“When is she coming down?”
“She called just after lunch. She said she’d thought things over, that her place was to be with me, supporting me in whatever I want to do, and that she doesn’t want me to go to General White.”
“Well, as my mother often told me, women have a God-given right to change their minds.”
“Thank God! Remember what Lee said before he went to surrender at Appomattox Court House? ‘I would rather die a thousand deaths’? I felt that way about going to Sonthofen.”
“When is she coming?”
“She’s going to drive down tomorrow morning. It’s only about a hundred miles. All autobahn.”
“All autobahn covered with ice and snow,” Cronley said. “Let me tell you, Lieutenant Winters, what your commanding officer, ever mindful of the welfare of his subordinates, is going to do. We are going to rise with the roosters and fly you to the Compound and you can drive your family down the snow-covered autobahn. And I’m going to tell the ladies resident in the Mansion to prepare suitable quarters for your wife and Thomas H. Winters the Fourth.”
X
[ONE]
Near Soldier’s Field Army Airfield
Nuremberg, American Zone of Occupation, Germany
1710 24 February 1946
“Where the hell are we going?” Cronley asked when, on leaving the airfield, Winters took a left turn. “The hotel’s thataway.”
“Casey Wagner found a shortcut and told me.”
—
Two minutes later, Cronley said, “Christ, it’s narrow, winding, and cobblestone.”
“And will save us fifteen minutes getting to the hotel.”