“Say—I just thought of something,” he said. “As a big shot I wouldn’t be traveling around without a staff or a few orderlies.”
“It is a little unusual,” Scotti said. “But you’re out to check up on things personally. You’re dropping in on sentries without any warning. In our Army, a private, or even a corporal, might wonder about such a thing, but German soldiers aren’t taught to wonder. They don’t bother to think, especially in the presence of a high officer. And with the plan we’ve got arranged they won’t have time to think much.”
“All right,” Max said. “I just hope these guys react the way we expect them to.”
“If they don’t, you all know what to do,” Scotti said. “I don’t like the idea of gunfire at this crucial moment, but if we have to—well, we have to.”
They set off about nine o’clock, leaving Scotti alone in the cave. He was propped up near the entrance with a sub-machine gun across his knees, two others near at hand, and several boxes of ammunition within reach. After the others had left, he looked through the darkness after them for a long time. Then he angrily brushed away the tears that kept coming into his eyes, and reached out and banged his broken leg.
Scotti Looked After the Others
“Why did that leg have to break?” he demanded. “I ought to be there with my men and here I sit—”