Presidential Mission by Sinclair Upton;

Author:Sinclair, Upton;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Media

VII

An exhausted art expert went back to his hotel and fell asleep to the sound of several kinds of gun fire. That was just before dawn, and he slept for two or three hours. He was awakened by a tap upon his door, and when he opened it, there was Denis de Bruyne, haggard, red-eyed, and in a terrible state of depression. He had been in the battle at the Préfecture, and had made his escape by jumping out of a back window. Since then he had been roaming the streets, not daring to go to his home. So many of his friends were in the hands of the enemy, the Vichy gangsters, and Denis could see no possibility save that they would all be shot.

Lanny brought him inside and locked the door, and they discussed the situation in low tones. Lanny didn’t think it could be as bad as his friend feared. “They know the Americans are coming, Denis.”

“But where are the Americans?” burst out the other.

“You haven’t seen any of them?”

“Nobody has seen them that I can find out. They are shooting some guns, but they don’t march.”

“You may be sure they have their orders, Denis. Their first objectives would be the airports, and the installations of heavy guns. As a military man, you know that they would make certain of such objectives before they started marching down a city boulevard at night.”

“That may be true; but then, they should not have told us to go into action at midnight.”

“Murphy told you; and Murphy is not a military man. The commanders will necessarily be guided by what they find ashore. I thought I heard shooting from the direction of Maison Blanche.” This was the larger of the two airports of Algiers.

“I heard it also from the Blida airport. I suppose the defenders would have to fire a few volleys to satisfy their sense of honor.”

“How many Americans do you think they will have to kill in order to satisfy their honor, Denis?”

It was an unkind question. The capitaine, in a state of extreme exhaustion, made no attempt to wipe away the tears which welled into his eyes. “Lanny, you know how I feel about it. I am in despair, because I am so impotent. Several times I have been on the verge of going to the authorities and pleading with them. Every decent Frenchman has a love for America buried somewhere in his heart, ever since your war with England when we helped you in good friendship. But these Vichy people have the hearts of rats, and they would probably throw me into jail.”

“Whom did you think of going to, Denis?”

“To Darlan.”

“Darlan!” echoed the astonished P.A. “Of all men!”

“He is the one who can prevent a war, or stop it if it has started.”

“You don’t think Giraud can do it?”

“Not a chance in this world. I have talked about him with scores of our officers, and they all say they would pay no attention to him.”

“And Juin cannot control them?”

“Juin would never dare to give an order contrary to Darlan’s.

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