I'll Be Seeing You by Eileen Charbonneau

Author:Eileen Charbonneau
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: world war ii espionage, falling in love with a married woman, hero and heroine of different cultures, historical novel set in wartime spain, native american soldier and white woman, native american soldiers in world war ii, navajo code talker, new york in 1940s during the war, world war ii suspense
Publisher: Books We Love Ltd.

Chapter 12

The moon came out from behind a cloud. The prison loomed ahead, an ancient stone structure growing out of serene countryside.

Captain Lomax ordered Ingrassia to stop the car. Behind them, the truck followed suit and emptied. The men peered through binoculars.

“Porta Coeli, men.”

“What does that mean?”

“Gate of Heaven,” Luke translated. “It was a monastery, once.”

“Looks like Luna Park at Coney Island,” Private Ashton said

“Yeah, but darker,” Frank offered. “These spoil sports turned off all the lights on the Electric Tower. And this place is bigger, isn’t it?”

Captain Lomax grunted. “Not big enough to hold the men we came for.”

“Naw, not that big,” Sergeant Havlish took up his leader’s signal. “Hell, Sing-Sing wouldn’t be that big.”

“Or Leavenworth,” Corbett chimed in. “Not that I’ve ever been there, of course.”

Luke looked toward Nantai and wondered if these Americans, so used to their freedoms, caught the scent of what he felt pulsing off the place. Or was their joking was a guard against it: that despair, centuries deep and imbedded in the night air?

“Well, our ship awaits. Let’s relieve one of General Franco’s monasteries turned into prisons of its crowded conditions,” their captain commanded.

Luke was glad he was not Captain Lomax, the brash, smiling man with wheat-colored hair, who believed that everything was possible.

“Lieutenant Kayenta,” he summoned, “help me figure something out. Who do you suppose sat where in these vehicles?”

Luke looked into the windows of the large car, thinking of the belegaana class system and catching the scent of hair pomade and cigar smoke. “The German leader and a driver here,” he guessed. “The rest in the truck, maybe.”

“Sounds right. Let’s have our drivers do the talking. Ingrassia, exchange clothes with Mort, we’ll need to make you one of the Spanish-speaking Germans.”

Ingrassia gave a half smile. “Well, I’m coming up in the world.”

Good plan, Luke thought, although he wished Nantai, their remaining Spanish speaker, had gotten the job, so they would be closer to each other.

“Lieutenant,” Lomax told Luke, “we’ll keep their attention on you as much as possible. Ingrassia, you’ll instruct the gatekeepers to make sure we’ve got the right man. As they’re verifying his identity, do what you can to find out where our prisoners are.”

“Right, Captain.”

“Lieutenant Riggs,” Lomax turned his attention to Nantai now, “I’m leaving the truck and the rest of my men in your hands. We’re the scout vehicle. You’re backup force and getaway. You and Sergeant Havlish will remain with the truck. Once we come back, do your level best to get us on the road to San Sebastian and that beach.”

Cast in the middle of the larger team, Nantai looked out of place and alone. As Ashton, and Corbett took places in the back of the truck, Nantai climbed into the driver’s seat beside his fellow disguised German, Sergeant Havlish. Luke walked over, stood on the running board, touching his clan brother’s coat sleeve, so at least they would both share the contamination of the dead German.

“We can do this, Monster Slayer,” he said quietly in Dinè.

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