The Fighting Agents (Men at War 4)

Lennox nodded.

It was, he realized, the first order Whittaker had given him that was not open to suggestion or argument.

"I think I'm going to go up to the bridge," he said, then added without thinking about it, "if you don't need me?"

"No, go ahead," Whittaker said absently.

Commander Lennox had just reached the ladder to the conning tower when the Klaxon sounded and the speaker's voice came over the loudspeakers:

"Japanese aircraft ninety degrees three miles! Dive! Dive!"

[FOUR]

Drop Zone Aspirin near Pecs, Hungary

It. Hank Darmstadter walked down the slanting floor of the C-47 to where Canidy knelt, with his ear to the chest of It. Commander John Dolan, USNR.

"Is he dead? "he asked softly.

Canidy straightened, still on his knees, and nodded.

"What the hell were you thinking of, sitting down?" Canidy asked.

"He had an attack just before we landed at Cairo from Vis," Darmstadter said, and then answered Canidy's question: "I couldn't kick the equipment bags out myself."

Two of the parachutists appeared at the door of the aircraft. They had stripped out of their black coveralls and except for the carbines they held in their hands looked like civilians.

"Jesus!" one of them said when he saw Dolan.

Canidy got off his knees and looked around the cabin for something to put over Dolan's body. He saw nothing.

"Give them the equipment bags," Canidy said to Darmstadter, then turned to the team.

"Take them into the woods. I don't suppose there's an ax in there?"

"Whole fucking kit of engineer tools. Even a power saw," one of them replied as Darmstadter lowered one of the long, padded bags onto his shoulders.

"And C-2?" Canidy asked.

"Hundred pounds of C-2, in two-pound blocks," the parachutist said as he headed for the cover of the pine forest, staggering under the weight.

The second parachutist took a bag as the other two members of the team trotted up.

"The lieutenant's in pain," he said.

"Pretty bad. Should we give him morphine?"

"Not yet," Canidy said.

The parachutist gave Canidy a dirty look.

"Christ, he hurts! They never should have made him make this fucking jump!"

"He's not dead," Canidy said.

"We'll be, if we don't get this airplane out of here before it's spotted."

Then he looked at Darmstadter.