The Rome Escape Line by Sam Derry
Author:Sam Derry [Derry, Sam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Military, United States, Europe, General, Germany, Special Forces
ISBN: 9781839741166
Google: KPnCDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
Published: 2019-12-06T16:07:42+00:00
8. Homing Pigeon and Caged Lion
BEAMING all over his benign face, almost bouncing with excitement, and obviously bubbling over with delight, Monsignor OâFlaherty burst into my room, thrust a scrap of paper towards me, and commanded, âJust read that, me boy!â
It was February 14, but I had scarcely expected that it would bring me a Valentine. Uncertainly, suspecting some sort of a prank, I unfolded the paper, and immediately recognized the small, neat writing.
Back in Rome [it said]. Where the hell are you? Only consolation for my sore arse will be when I see your smiling face.
JOHN
I could not believe it. Was John Furman really back in Rome? âItâs true all right, me boy,â grinned the monsignor. âIâve seen him with my own two eyes, and talked to him as I am talking to you now.â
âBut this is marvelous news! It seems like a miracle!â
âIt is that,â Monsignor OâFlaherty agreed. âBut I think John rather helped it on its way.â
âNothing could surprise me less. How did he manage it this time?â
âTook a leaf out of your book, so far as I can gatherâhacked a hole in a train, and jumped out. Then he and another chap named Johnstone rode bicycles here up and down mountains from the other end of Italy.â
âThat explains his cryptic comment,â I laughed. âMonsignor, do you know, these last few days Iâve been thinking of myself calling on Johnâs wife, and telling her that he got shot as a spy or something, because of a job I let him in for. Not the sort of thing one looks forward to, I can tell you. But I should have known betterâI should have known they could never hold a chap like John for long. How is heâapart from the complaint he mentions?â
âFurious because he canât get straight in to see you,â answered the monsignor. âBut seriously, I imagine all this unorthodox traveling has not done his dysentery much good. He needs a bit of building up, and a few nights in a comfortable bed.â
Meanwhile Furman and the other man were having their first good meal for weeks. I wished I could have gone with the monsignor to see them, and half hoped he might suggest some means of smuggling me out of the legation, but I was a prisoner, not just as a matter of expediency, but also as a matter of honor. It was practical common sense that I should not allow the cloak to slip from the secret of my existence while 2500 escapers and evaders, scattered in and around Rome, depended for the maintenance of their freedom on the organization. There was also the information service, which was of some value to the Allies, and I had to remember that a moment of carelessness on my part might lead to such extreme measures as the expulsion of the British Minister, the closure of the legation, and the collapse of the whole organization. It would not have been hard to talk the monsignor into lending
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