The Rules in Rome by A. L. Sowards

Author:A. L. Sowards
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Covenant Communications, Inc.
Published: 2017-03-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Six

It took Bastien a few hours to fix the motorcycle Gracie had crashed. When he finished repairing it in the hotel parking lot, his hands were filthy, but he couldn’t find his handkerchief to wipe them off. He finally remembered he’d given it to Gracie to use as a bandage. Maybe I should carry more than one. He needed to return the picnic baskets to the kitchen but decided to wash up in his room first. When he heard someone whistling “Lili Marlene,” Bastien knew Heinie was just around the corner. He waited, his key in the lock.

“Adalard, hello.” Heinie looked over Bastien’s civilian clothes. “I’m surprised you got leave today. There was a big meeting they wanted everyone to attend about anti-partisan warfare. As if engineers need to worry about that. Wasted day.”

Had Bastien known a meeting was scheduled on that subject, he wouldn’t have taken leave. “No one told me.”

“You’re lucky. Most of it was listening to a long-winded Italian talk about coordinating our efforts. His German was horrible, but he wouldn’t use a translator. Then he had us all examine those four-pointed nails—as if anyone with half a brain can’t tell their primary use is sabotage—and had us look at all the parts of a captured radio set—as if we’ll run into those on the street.” Heinie rolled his eyes. “If you ask me, the main problem is the Italians. They won’t admit it, but their security is practically nonexistent. I guess they’re overreacting about a shootout a few days ago. They lost one man, and a second was injured.”

“I didn’t hear about a shootout.”

“Not much to hear,” Heinie said. “A pair of agents followed someone they suspected to a meeting with another Gappisti. One of them must have noticed they were being tailed. They led the agents into a building and ambushed them.”

“Do they have any leads?”

“Not unless the injured agent recognizes them. He’s in the hospital, so he’s unlikely to find them anytime soon.”

“Did they decide anything about how we’re to work with the Italians in the future?” Bastien tried to appear uninterested, but he was cursing himself for missing such a huge intelligence opportunity.

Heinie shrugged. “I almost fell asleep, so I pretended to take notes and wrote a letter to Maurleen.”

Bastien laughed, even though he wished Heinie had taken real notes so he could borrow them.

“What did you do instead?” Heinie asked.

“I tried to teach Concetta how to ride a motorcycle.”

“How did it go?”

Bastien frowned. “I don’t think she likes motorcycles.”

Heinie grinned. “Well, nobody’s perfect.”

“I know, but I was hoping it would go a little better than it did. She crashed hard enough that she’ll be feeling it for a few days. I wanted it to be fun for her, but I think I blew it.”

“I did that once with Maurleen. We used to go hiking together all the time. Once, I packed egg-salad sandwiches for lunch, and it turns out she hates hard-boiled eggs. But she still let me kiss her good-bye that night.

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