Typhoon Ace: The RAF Defence of Southern England (A Harry Rose Novel Book 3) by Russell Sullman

Author:Russell Sullman [Sullman, Russell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lume Books
Published: 2020-09-23T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

The tea came boiling hot in a tin pail, strong and sweet, the sausages and slices of bread incongruously stacked in a soup tureen.

Granny whooped and slapped two of the plump and oily bangers between bread and took a bite, chewing ferociously. “Mm, just what the doctor ordered! Come on lads, tuck in!”

Rose’s stomach roiled, and he took a small sip from his tin mug to try and settle it. The others gathered around the food and began to eat quietly, the rasping whisper and hiss of the hot stove loud in the near silence.

Outside a Sabre coughed a muffled bark and growled into vibrant and pulsating life as the mechanics ran it up a couple of times before cutting it again.

It’s nearly time.

He checked his pockets again.

The revolver stuck into his left flying boot felt heavy and strange, but Granny had insisted they all carried one – “Don’t even think of having a gun battle with Jerry, chaps, it’s for handing over to Jerry if you are likely to be captured. If you give ’em something, they’ll be happy that you didn’t have a pop at them and that they got a souvenir. They get a story to tell over the sauerkraut and schnapps, and you’re less likely to get a slap or have your balls whipped off!”

He had held up one finger. “But, if you are rescued by the Resistance, then use it to shoot rabbits and elks, or whatever it is they have in France, until you get sent back to us. Or give it to ’em, they’ll be so grateful the Resistance popsies might give you a shag or two.”

Molly’s photograph and the little pink bear shared their pocket with an emergency pack, which was about the size of a paperback and packed tight with helpful goodies such as sweets and a fishing line, and he checked that nothing had slipped out in the thirty seconds since he had last checked.

Cox came up to him, sausage sandwich in one hand, and held out a fork on which had been impaled a glistening sausage, fried a dark brown and dripping with fat. “Flash?”

Rose made a face and shook his head, but his wingman frowned disapprovingly. “Don’t sod about, mate. You’ll be hungry later, so get it down your neck, will you?”

He sighed and took the fork, nodding his thanks to Cox, but wanting to be outside in the cool night air, amidst the comforting fragrant blend of rain and grass and fuel, the dark roof of cloud above.

The sausage was oily and fatty and tough, but he pushed it down with big mouthfuls of tea.

It was true what they said.

War is hell.

*

The Typhoons were lined up on the field, facing the coast already, and they took off at full throttle, the pairs of fighters rising into the first gloom of dawn, staying low in line astern until they reached the coast, the barrage balloons of Exeter a distant smudge in the still darkened sky to starboard,

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.