The Last Mission by William Kennedy

Author:William Kennedy
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: world war ii, wwii, mission, b17, bomber, bombers, greatest generation, 8th air force, war birds, bomber pilot
Publisher: William Kennedy

Now

Arthur Lyons is waiting to pounce on me as soon as I enter the hotel dining room. He races to the end of the bar and has a scotch, neat, in front of me as I climb on the stool. “Heard you got back this morning,” he says in a tone that turns the statement into a proposition that needs confirmation.

“Seven o’clock into Gatwick,” I tell him.

“Back out to the old base?” he asks.

“In my room, mostly. Trying to make up the night’s sleep.” But then there seems to be no need for evasion, so I plunge into the truth. “I was finishing up Sergeant Browning’s memoirs that I read a couple of times during the flight.”

“Anything useful?”

“Yes, but a lot that was disappointing. I found out that the young woman I remember was really a police agent. Browning was using her to get information out of me.”

“Oh, dear” is all he can manage. There’s not much you can say to someone who has just found out that his best friend was using him.

“And then there was an address I was trying to find, but no one had a clue. Not even the postman.”

He tips his head to show his interest.

“Callaway Road. Or Callaway Lane. There was a row of flats. Two-story walkups, really, with leaded-glass windows. If I remember, they were not too far from here.”

Lyons looks puzzled, tests his stubble with his fingertips and then shakes his head. “Callaway…I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it. You sure of the name?”

I smile and nod. “I spent a whole day hoping to meet her at one of those flats. I’m damn sure of the name.”

“It was her flat?”

“Not hers. It belonged to a girl friend, and I don’t remember her name. They weren’t going to be home that evening, so they offered their flat to…us. We were planning to cook dinner for ourselves and dine by candlelight.”

He sees the disappointment in my eyes. “But…” he says, prompting me to tell him what went wrong.

“But the weather was going to clear over Germany, so we were scheduled for a mission that morning. Then, when the weather didn’t cooperate, we were held overnight and scheduled for the next morning.”

“And then it cleared,” Arthur laughs, rolling his eyes at the irony.

“No, it snowed in Germany the next day. We never took off. Maybe someone else got to bomb the damn place, but we never completed the mission. We just sat on the ground the next day. I didn’t get into town until the couple reclaimed their apartment.”

“So you and the young lady…”

“That’s an even longer story, Arthur. Too long for tonight. Besides, now that I know what she was up to, I don’t know how the story ends.”

Arthur is well experienced behind the bar. He knows enough to turn away and busy himself with the other guests and leave me with my straight-up scotch.

I have just finished the driest, most tasteless steak of my life when Herbert Little slides into the chair across from me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.