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“I thought everybody knew that,” Bonehead said.

“Fuck you,” Lieutenant Winters said.

“Watch your mouth!” Mrs. Winters snapped from the backseat.

—

Lieutenant Colonel John J. Bristol, CE, was sitting in his jeep at the inner checkpoint waiting for Cronley to arrive at the Compound.

When he did, Bristol got out of the jeep and walked up to the Kapitän. Cronley rolled down the window of the driver’s door.

“I guess Claudette’s already told you,” Bristol greeted Cronley, “about the refrigerators?”

“Yes, she did.”

“We have a tractor trailer full of them from the Giessen Quartermaster Depot, none of which run on 220 volts DC.”

“So she said,” Cronley said.

“If you need a few of them right away . . .”

“I need two right away.”

“Okay. I can run temporary 110 lines from the power station this morning. Where do you want them?”

“Off the top of my head, one of them probably goes to wherever your cousin Barbara picks for her quarters.”

“My cousin Barbara?” Bristol said, and then looked into the backseat, where Claudette, Ginger, and Barbara were sitting.

“Jesus, Barb! I didn’t see you back there. Sorry. What the hell are you doing here?”

“First, I’m going to select quarters, and then I’m going to sit around waiting to be a mother.”

“You’re going to be in the Compound?” he asked, surprised.

“Hello, Jack,” Tom Winters said, leaning across Cronley to offer his hand.

“And this is Bruce Moriarty,” Cronley said. “He’s taking over Compound security. And Mrs. Moriarty.”

The men shook hands. Bristol said, “Lieutenant,” and Moriarty said, “Colonel.”

Mrs. Moriarty said, “I’m Ginger, who’s also going to need a refrigerator while I’m locked up behind barbed wire waiting to be a mother.”

“Speaking of barbed wire, Jim,” Bristol said, “now that we don’t really need it, we got a tractor-trailer load of that last night. Should I send it back?”

“If you’ve got somewhere to store it,” Cronley replied, “I suggest keeping it.”

“There’s a rumor going around that Dette—”

“Unfortunately, it’s not a rumor,” Cronley said. “She can tell you all about it while you’re showing the ladies the quarters. But right now, and I mean right now, Tom and I have to go flying. How about you follow us to the airstrip?”

[ THREE ]

Entzheim Airport

Strasbourg, France

1120 25 January 1946