“General Bolero,” Allison snapped. “We would speak to him.”
The boys did not understand, but they caught the general’s name and had an idea. The guard protested but Allison thrust several papers at him. He had taken the papers from the officer’s pocket but had no idea what they were. When the man started to use a pocket flashlight to read the papers, Allison smashed the light out of his hand, roaring at him about the blackout.
The soldier was thoroughly cowed. He turned and started down the hallway with the boys close behind him. Tony had found the window barred on the outside and had joined the others. He nudged Stan as they halted before a door. It was the very room Arno had said his father would be kept in.
The guard unlocked the door. As it opened, a flood of light shone over the men. The general’s window had been boarded up, so he was allowed a light. He was sitting at a little table writing. Stan did not wait to see any more. He knew the guard was wise the moment he saw the raiders in the bright light. Their shoes and trousers gave them away as well as their faces. Stan had moved along very close to the guard. His arm went out in a perfect commando attack and before the guard had time to shout he was silenced and heaved into the room.
In an instant Tony was across the room and in his father’s arms. Arno stood beside them gripping one of the general’s arms. The general looked over Tony’s shoulder at Stan and Allison.
“I am honored,” he said.
“Turn out the light,” Stan ordered.
The general shoved Tony aside and switched off the light. “You have taken greater chances than you should. I am hardly worth the effort.”
When he had ceased speaking they listened. Several men were moving down the hall, talking in angry voices.
“That is the commandant of this post. I know his voice. He has with him a number of his officers,” the general said in a low voice.