a couple of inches. Then he saw Jack’s shape transform and become pantherlike. The German walked right across the shadows without noticing a thing. He went around the front of the launcher and started to fumble around with a belt. He stumbled and laughed out loud at himself before tilting his head toward the sky and urinating. Em could hear the urine hit the ground. He saw Jack crawling out from under the launcher. He had his knife in his right hand. He was still low to the ground. The German kept on urinating. Em wanted to tell Jack to hurry up. He glanced back toward the fire and saw someone heading toward him and the rear of the launcher. Sergeant Cannon mirrored Jack’s movements. Em and Captain Murphy retreated to the other side of the launcher.
The German that was urinating in front of the launcher turned in Em’s direction, and just as he was about to scream, Jack pounced on him and sliced his neck in one swift movement. Em saw the German drop immediately. He never got to make a sound.
He turned to see Sergeant Cannon as he emerged from under the winch on the back of the launcher. The German reacted quicker than the one in the front of the launcher and got to make a sound before Sergeant Cannon broke his neck with the fastest hold and snap Em thought possible.
What am I doing here? Em’s mind was racing, but he told himself to calm down. After all, the three left at the fire were surely about to alert the other crew. When Em fell to his knees to look under the launcher toward the fire, he only saw Jeff dragging one body under the launcher. The other two unfortunates were lying lifeless beside the fire. The one who had stumbled earlier once again had his boot in the fire. Em reminded himself to never get on Christian Jefferson’s bad side. He had taken care of five out of seven of the unfortunate Germans.
“We only have a few minutes now, so nobody get squirrelly. Jeffrey, take Jack and Em and go over the top. Me, Philip, and Murph will go through the crevice. Don’t hesitate. Try to isolate them and show no mercy, fellas.” Jeff took off through the crevice with the colonel and the captain in tow.
“Start climbing, men.” Sergeant Cannon led them up the hill.
Em turned to see the fire still burning and the dead Germans surrounding the launcher. Em wished they could decommission it so it would never launch a death missile again.
The sergeant and the two airmen reached a vantage point high above the second launch site. They looked toward the crevice and were not surprised when they saw no movement coming from that area.
Em counted only six men. They were acting much different than the first group. It was all business over here. All six of them were continuously trading information. Em thought that none of them would be going to the bathroom until after the launch. The launcher was huge, but Em could not believe the size of the rocket. It had to be fifty feet long and five feet wide. It rose above the launcher and pointed toward the sky. The fins on the tail protruded beyond the sides of the launcher. They had to be twelve feet wide. Right away, Em did not want that rocket launched. The Germans seemed methodical. They seemed unaware of the destruction they were about to cause.
Em also knew that this was not going to be as easy as the first site. He looked once again toward the crevice and noticed at once the movement in the shadows at the far end toward the front of the launcher. He tried to make out the shapes but only saw slight movement among the evergreens. He knew right away that it was time to move. Jack and Sergeant Cannon were already descending the hillside. The six of them just might be going in guns blazing, Em thought.
When the Germans reacted to movement on the hillside, Em expected gunfire. He was astonished when it did not come. He could not believe how comfortable the Germans had let themselves become. When the six Germans were all looking toward the hillside, Jeff took care of one of them. He just happened to be the unlucky one in the back. When the others turned, Philip and Murphy pointed guns at them. When one of them screamed, Philip shot him. The shot rang louder than thunder. That’s when all hell broke loose.
The four other Germans raised their hands in the air, but when another one emerged from a tent that was just inside the forest, chaos erupted. Jeff was fighting one of the Germans, and Philip and Murphy had to retreat from the gunfire coming from the one who had come from the forest. Sergeant Cannon, Em, and Jack were running toward the rear of the launcher. Each of them held a gun in their hand now. Jack was running toward two of the Germans that headed behind the launcher. Em and Sergeant Cannon followed him. The lone German who stood near the fire was holding his stomach, and blood was dripping from his fingers. He had a look of shock on his face.
Captain Murphy and Colonel Roth had rolled under the launcher and come out the other side. The two Germans running from Jack ran straight toward the colonel and the captain. The Germans stopped and once again raised their hands. All of a sudden, it was quiet again. The Germans started talking. Philip poked one of them with his gun. The Germans got quiet.
Sergeant Cannon raised his gun and whacked one of the Germans over the head. He fell like a dead tree. Before the other could react, Jack whacked him. He too fell on the ground. Movement from under the launcher startled the five of them.
Then Jeff rolled to a stop at their feet. “I got two of them, and another was shot by his own guy. The other two got away. The one with the gun went up the hill. I am going after him. You need to track the other one down before he gets to a radio. What are your plans for these two?”
Without saying a word, Sergeant Cannon led all but Jeff away from the unconscious Germans. Em did not look back.
Sergeant Cannon said they had to disable this weapon and get its location to the Allies. The technology of one of these things was much more advanced than the Allies had thought, he said. Philip said he and Captain Murphy would get back to the truck and use the radio while Sergeant Cannon and Em and Jack took care of the Germans.
Two hours later, all six men were standing beside their truck with quite different looks on their faces. Jack was so full of adrenaline he could not calm down. Jeff was quiet and looked deep in thought. Captain Murphy was talking to Sergeant Barnes in the truck again, and Colonel Roth and Sergeant Cannon had their heads together discussing their situation. Em felt the overwhelming need to write but resisted. He knew when he got the chance to write, he would probably edit some of the things that had just happened.
When Sergeant Cannon had tracked down the frightened German who had fled the launch site, he never even tried to surrender. This made what they had to do a little easier. Em still had not had to fire his weapon or use his combat training against an enemy. He was not quite sure of how this made him feel.
Jeff did not even need to explain what had happened with him and the shooter. To all their amazement, no one else had showed up. Something else had to be happening. The Germans would not be so careless with their weapons unless they had something else going on.
The seven of them climbed back into the truck. Colonel Roth radioed their location. Em knew the launcher was still operational, but maybe the army could get to it and either destroy it or take the rocket and learn more about the technology.
Em was still sitting in his bunk thinking about that night and the following two days.
The truck made its way toward the monastery. They did not encounter any resistance. When the monastery opened its doors and the truck drove through, the monks began to work. One directed Sergeant Cannon to drive the truck into one of the large buildings while the others directed the airmen into the cathedral in the center of the compound. They were hurried into the back of the cathedral and through a long narrow passageway. To Em, it felt like he was descending. He could feel the temperature rising. The cathedral had felt cold and damp, but now he felt dry and cool. He was not uncomfortable.
Before he passed through the door, he smelled the bread. His stomach began to roar. The monks led them into a small
