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“Goddaroans

“Three, four ly “Send your corporal”

“Stick’s foot is swollen to twice its size Nettles,” Cole says, disgusted He looks again at Rio, and she actually turns around to see if he’s perhaps looking at someone behind her But no, there’s only a tree behind her And it’s not a curious or idle stare: Cole isher

“Richlin,” Cole says at last “If that leg of yours is okay, you are about to volunteer”

17

RAINY SCHULTERMAN—SALERNO, ITALY

It is hot where Rainy walks as well, two hundred and fifty miles almost directly north from Gela Beach, Sicily, and perhaps a mile south of the outskirts of Salerno

Rainy and Cisco huddle on the beach until the sun rises, not wanting to look suspicious walking in the dark Then they cliht as a ruler toward the town

At first the only traffic is a couple of Fiat trucks, both coreat bundles of what look like reeds They walk far behind a donkey cart for a while, keeping pace with it until they see that it is stopped at a roadblock ahead

“If I had a gat, I’d get up close and let ’e arrogance during the hours since they left the Topaz But there’s an edge to his swagger now, a defensive, angry edge

Humiliation

“We wouldn’t win a gunfight,” Rainy says with frayed patience She had not liked Cisco on first , she had frankly hated hi to earn a second chance “Theyaround the countryside looking for us”

The pistol strapped to her inner thigh chafes cruelly, and she bitterly resents having to wear the dress Alht size and tend to crush her toes with each step

“So what do we do?” Cisco demands “You’re the know-it-all”

“We have papers”