Griffin W.E.B. - Honor Bound 01 - Honor Bound

And after the first flare run, meanwhile, the crew of the Reine de la Mer would not only be alerted but would have time to man the heavy machine guns and the Bofors cannon—if they weren't already manned.

And there would be enough light from the first-run flares to illuminate the Beechcraft. When the second flare run started, the Reine de la Mer would be prepared for it.

It was unpleasant enough to dwell upon what heavy machine bullets would do to the fuselage, wings, and gas tanks of the Beechcraft without considering what would happen inside the aircraft if 40-mm exploding projectiles struck it and sympathetically detonated Tony's homemade (quarter-inch cotton rope impregnated with nitroglycerine) primercord, and thus set off a dozen flares.

"Well, what the hell, Clete," Tony said. "It will be a spectacular way to go."

[FIVE]

Maria-Teresa's father almost ran to greet Tony when he stepped inside the Ristorante Napoli; and he treated Tony like royalty when he bowed and scraped him to a table.

"I'm profoundly sorry, Se?or Pelosi, that Maria-Teresa is away at the moment," Se?or Alberghoni announced in a rush to Tony, once he was seated. “She certainly would have been here for you if she had known you were coming. But she has gone to confession at the Church of San Juan Evangelista. That's not far away, as you know. She'll certainly return shortly, and she'll be delighted to see you. And remorseful that she was not here when you were kind enough to call at the restaurant.

"In the meantime, would Se?or Pelosi like a glass of wine and a little something to eat?"

The "Se?or Pelosi" business made Tony uncomfortable, and so did the bowing and the scraping, but that wasn't as bad as when Maria-Teresa's father wept and kissed his hands after Maria-Teresa gave him the paid-off mortgage.

"Grazie," Tony said. "I'd like a glass of wine." Half a bottle of vino tinto and a huge platter of vermicelli with a mushroom-tomato sauce later, Maria-Teresa still hadn't shown up. So Tony decided to walk over to San Juan Evangelista and wait for her. He didn't want to say what he had to say to her with her father hanging over him anyway. Maybe he would meet her on the street.

But he didn't meet her on the street. And when he went inside the baroque church, he didn't see her there either. Maybe she took a back alley or something on her way back to the ristorante.

A priest was sitting outside one of the confession stalls. It wasn't that way at home. When you went to confession there, you couldn't see the priest. Maybe you could recognize his voice, or he could recognize yours; but you couldn't see him and he couldn't see you.

What the hell, he doesn't know who I am.

He entered the confession stall and dropped to his knees.

"Bless me, Father, for I have sinned."

"Habla espanol? Italiano?"

Tony switched to Italian.

Aside from not going to mass, the only sin he could think of was one that had been troubling him since he was thirteen years old.

"Father, I have been having impure thoughts. About a specific girl."

Priestly interrogation brought out that he had also been guilty of the sin of Onanism in connection with his impure thoughts about the specific girl. He received a brief lecture on forcing impure thoughts from his mind and the harm that self-abuse inflicts on the body and the soul; and then he was given absolution and a relatively minor penance.

He left the confession stall and dropped to his knees before a larger than life-size statue of Saint John the Baptist, lit a votive candle, and asked God to make it easy for his mother and his father and his brothers to understand if he didn't come through the business with the Reine de la Mer. And he asked Him not to let them mourn so badly. And then he stood up.

When he turned around, he saw Maria-Teresa standing by one of the enormous pillars. Her head was covered with a shawl.

Jesus Christ, she's beautiful!

"I saw you come in," she said.

"I was looking for you."

"What are you doing here?"

"I told you, I was looking for you. Then I went to confession."

"I thought you would come," Maria-Teresa said. "But not here."

"Excuse me?"

"What do you want, Anthony?"

"I want to talk to you for a minute. Can we go get a cup of coffee or something?"

"To the ristorante?"

"Not to the ristorante."

"There is a caf? near here."

He took her arm on the street. She didn't shrug it away, but she didn't seem to like it much, either.

They took a tiny table in a small, crowded cafe, and a waiter came and took their order. Tony was going to order coffee, but changed his mind and asked for a glass of vino tinto. He asked Maria-Teresa if she wanted a cake or a dish of ice cream or something, but she said no thank you, all she wanted was coffee.

"Do you want me to come with you, Anthony?" Maria-Teresa asked.

"Come with me where?"

She shrugged. He understood.

"Jesus Christ, no! Nothing like that."

"Then what do you want?"

He reached inside his jacket, came up with an envelope, and handed it to her.

2ndLt A.J. Pelosi, 0-538677, CE

Army Detachment

Office of Strategic Services

National Institutes of Health Building

Washington, D.C.

Military Attach?

U.S. Embassy

Buenos Aires

Argentina

'What's this?"

'If you don't see me again in a week," Tony said, "I want you to take that to the U.S. Embassy. You know where that is?"

Maria-Teresa shook her head no.

"What is this?"

"It's in the Bank of Boston Building," Tony said. "There will be a Marine guard."

"A what?"

“A Marine guard. Sort of a soldier. You tell him you want to see the Military Attach?. He'll probably ask you why, and you tell him that it's about an American Army officer."

"An American Army officer?" Maria-Teresa asked, now wholly confused.

"Yeah. Look here." He pointed at the envelope. "That's me, up in the corner."

"That's you? I don't understand."

"Maria-Teresa, for Christ's sake, just listen to me. You give this to the guard and tell him you want to see the Military Attach?"

"Why don't you just give him this letter yourself?"

"I may not be here."

"You're leaving Argentina?"

"Yeah. Maybe."

"And not coming back?"

"If I leave, I won't be coming back."

"Where are you going? Back to the United States?"

"Something like that."

"What's in the envelope?"

"A couple of letters."

"What kind of letters?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. If I don't come back, there will be some money for you. But to get the money, you have to take this letter to the Military Attach?."

"I don't want any more of your money. What are you talking about, giving me more money? This is crazy."

"Goddamn it, if I go away, I won't need any money, and I want you to have it."

"I want to know what's in this envelope," Maria-Teresa said firmly.

"Help yourself. They're in English; you won't know what you're reading."

She opened the envelope and took from it two sheets of paper.

Tony was right. She couldn't understand much of either of them.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

28 December 1942

To Whom It May Concern:

Through: The Military Attach?

U.S. Embassy

Buenos Aires, Argentina

I desire to change the beneficiary of my National Service Insurance from Mrs. Pasquale Pelosi, 818 Elm Street, Cicero, Illinois USA, to Miss Maria-Teresa Alberghoni, c/o Ristorante Napoli, Boca, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Anthony J. Pelosi 0-538677

2nd Lieut CE, AUS

(On TDY from Army Detachment

Office of Strategic Services

National Institutes of Health Building

Washington, D.C.)

* * * * *

December 28, 1942

Somewhere in Argentina