“That’s nice of you, old man,” Allison said in a soft drawl.
Then Arch Garret began to tell how good he was, and how many Messerschmitt One-Tens he had knocked off in coast combat. He spoke loudly so that all in the room could hear. After listening for a few minutes, Allison yawned and got to his feet. Without a word he walked away.
Stan was sure Garret hadn’t had all the experience he claimed. One thing was certain: Stan knew the new flier would soon have the gang down on him. He listened silently to Arch Garret’s talk while he finished his waffles and coffee.
“I’m from the United States,” Garret said. “I was the best test pilot Lockheed ever had or ever will have. Spinning those Yank jobs was too slow for me. I had to have action.” Garret smoothed a closely cropped little mustache and swelled out his chest.
Stan pretended to be dumb, but he was looking Arch Garret over very closely. He knew every ace test pilot Lockheed had had in the past five years. He was sure Garret was lying.
He was about to ask some questions when the intersquadron speaker began snapping and clicking. A voice filled the room.
“Red Flight, all out! Red Flight, all out!”
“That’s us,” Stan said as he jumped to his feet. “Sorry, you’ll have to miss your coffee.”
Arch Garret’s manner changed at once. He quit bragging and seemed to be a little nervous as he got to his feet.
“Where are we headed?”