“As soon as they spot the flare of your exhausts the welcome will get hotter!” Stan shouted back.
Loading up was only a matter of seconds, but the Germans on the hill and those charging down into the field had the Mosquito located and began pounding the lower end of the field. O’Malley headed into the barrage and hopped her off without getting a direct hit. They circled overhead and then swung south. Stan was seated across from O’Malley.
“Have a nice trip?” O’Malley asked with a grin.
“We did,” Stan answered.
“I hear there’ll be a flock o’ tinware waitin’ for you when you get in.” O’Malley continued to grin. “The boys are bettin’ ten to one that you all got shot. I’ll be richer than Rockefeller when I get back.” He chuckled to himself.
“Right now we could do with something to eat,” Stan said as he leaned back and closed his eyes.
“Colonel Benson has a banquet spread for you. Have Allison get on the radio and tell him to put it on the table, and have him order me two apple pies.” O’Malley opened the Mosquito up another notch as he thought of the pies.
Stan clicked on the intercom and got Allison. He felt, at the moment, as though he could stand a vacation, but glancing back he saw a great fire raging with an intensity that lighted the sky for a hundred miles. The Germans were destroying the historical city of Naples. There would be no vacation.
