CHAPTER II
SPECIAL TASK
The sympathy of the boys in the officers' mess was wasted upon O'Malley. He was not impressed by the advanced rating he had missed, nor was he jealous of the new and shining bars and oak leaves his pals were wearing. He had checked in and been assigned flight leader of a flight of three planes whose task was special work. All that interested O'Malley was that he was due to head out over the Mediterranean Sea with the nose of his Lightning pointed toward Italy.
"Sure, an' I'll have Benito captured by the time you birds go into action," he told the gang.
O'Malley's exact duties were not very clear, nor was his crew a reality. No men had been assigned to him and he had no flight orders, but he had the assurance of the captain at operations that he would be on his way in a short time. If O'Malley had any suspicions as to the sort of work Colonel Benson had laid out for him, he did not show them. He was in exceptional good humor.
When he was called in by Captain Marks at headquarters, he dashed to the operations room as fast as he could. The captain smiled as O'Malley sprawled into a chair.
"I understand we are about to start an invasion of Italy," the captain began. "The details are a military secret, but it's coming and right away. There's some spade work to be done and you are to handle a hot assignment."
O'Malley's big mouth spread in an eager grin.
"The commander has assigned you to this job because he feels you are specially fitted for the work." The captain beamed, but there was a look in his eye that made O'Malley sit up and wipe the grin off his face.
"And what may it be?" he demanded.