The days were turning cooler in late September, but the pilots at Eschborn, with nowhere to fly and nothing but time on their hands, refused to abandon their daily baseball game. Tommy was playing second base as the opposing team’s best batter, a line drive hitting left hander, stepped up to the plate. The first two pitches were low; the batter didn’t bother swinging.
But as the pitcher went into his windup for the third pitch, Tommy noticed something strangely different among the crowd of GI spectators near home plate. A plaid skirt danced in the breeze. Long dark hair framed a welcoming face.
She was smiling at him. Beaming, actually.
Sylvie…
The bat made a solid CRACK as it struck the ball, rocketing a low line drive at the distracted Tommy. He didn’t see it coming until it bounced right in front of him…
And then it went straight through his spread legs into right field. He’d never laid his glove on it.
And he didn’t care.
With the runner safe at first and his teammates screaming curses at him, Tommy trotted off the field yelling, “Sub!” He tossed the glove to a spectator who took over at second base.
He grabbed her in his arms as they dissolved into a long kiss. Then he asked, “Where the hell have you been, Syl?”
“France,” she replied.
“Oh, I know that. Maybe I should rephrase the question: what the hell were you doing there? Please tell me you weren’t on another mission.”
“No, I wasn’t on any mission,” she replied. “But do I have to explain it here on this baseball field? It’s not very private. Everybody’s watching us.”
They walked hand in hand to a bench beside the operations shack. They could be alone there.
“Okay, let me have it,” he said.
“I had to perform one last wifely duty, I’m afraid,” she began.
“You mean your annulment finally came through?”
“No. It was more final than that. I had to bury Bernard.”
Tommy was too stunned to reply.
“He was driving a French Army truck near Heidelberg,” she continued. “There was an accident. The truck overturned. They say he was dead before reaching the hospital.”
“Damn, Syl…I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. But I never realized how complicated it is to be a widow. There are so many forms…”
“Forms? For what?”
“His military pension, for one. But it’s such a paltry amount, hardly worth all that paperwork. I never realized, though, that he owned three houses in Alençon—the one we lived in plus two others. I thought they all belonged to his parents. Can you imagine the bastard never letting me know that?”
“From what you told me about him, Syl…yeah, I can imagine that. So now you own all that stuff?”
“Not exactly. In France, it seems the spouse must get in line behind half the deceased’s blood relatives before collecting her inheritance. To be honest, I don’t want any of it. But I’ll wait for the notaire to do his work. It’ll take quite a while…nothing ever happens quickly in France.”
“But you’re back now…for good?”
“Well, I do have a job here with you Americans. Much is going to happen with that job very soon, too. The OSS…it’s changing its name. We’re about to become the CIA. But you can’t tell anyone I told you this.”
“Yeah, I know the drill…super secret, loose lips sink ships, all that stuff. But CIA…what does that stand for, Syl?”
“Central Intelligence Agency.”
The name made him wince. “I don’t know…still sounds like spy stuff to me.”
“That’s because it is spy stuff, Tommy.”
“And you’re still going to be doing it, dammit.”
She smiled serenely and took his hand in both of hers. “What I’m about to tell you is secret, too,” she said. “I’ll be going to Washington, D.C., in the not-too-distant future. But not until everything cools down in Berlin and some semblance of order there returns.”
He began to ask why she’d be going. But then he realized she wouldn’t tell him, anyway.
She asked, “By the way, did you fly in that aerial grand tour?”
He didn’t have to answer. His triumphant smile told her he had.
“That must have been a very interesting day, Tommy. A magnificent bluff.”
She quickly changed the subject. “Is your brother okay?”
“Yeah, Sean’s fine. I was with him about a week ago.”
She pressed closer. “You know, when I go to Washington, maybe you could arrange to go back to the States, too?”
The smile lit up his face again. That sounded like the best offer he’d had in a long time.
*****
Author’s Note
EPILOGUE
Let’s return to actual history for a final moment. In December 1945, two events occurred which the readers of this piece of alternative history might find interesting and relevant.
In that month, General George Patton, still in Germany as 15th Army commander, was involved in a traffic accident. His staff car collided with a US Army deuce-and-a-half which had swerved into its path. The driver and another officer in the staff car were able to brace for the impact and emerged without serious injury. Patton, sitting in the back seat, failed to see the impending collision and was thrown forward against a metal partition. He sustained severe head and neck injuries which left him paralyzed from the neck down. Twelve days later, he died from a pulmonary embolism at a US Army hospital in Heidelberg, Germany.
Many 3rd Army troops still loyal to Patton suspected that the death of their controversial former commander was actually the result of an assassination by either the American government or the Soviets. Though the collision was declared an accident by the American authorities, it was necessary to spirit the driver of the deuce-and-a-half out of Germany to prevent his lynching by conspiracy-minded GIs.
Also in December 1945, all American and Soviet troops permanently withdrew from Czechoslovakia, ending the multiple occupations that began with the Germans in 1938. A Soviet-aligned civilian government then took control of that nation.
About The Author
William Peter Grasso’s novels explore the concept change one thing…and watch what happens. Focusing on the WW2 era, they weave actual people and historical events into a seamless and entertaining narrative with the imagined. His books have spent several years in the Amazon Top 100 for Alternative History and War.
A lifelong student of history, Grasso served in the US Army and is retired from the aircraft maintenance industry. These days, he confines his aviation activities to building and flying radio-controlled aircraft.
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Email: William Peter Grasso
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More Novels by William Peter Grasso
Our Ally, Our Enemy
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1945. The war may be going badly for the Third Reich, but they continue to develop “super weapons” to throw against the Allies. As the Moon brothers—fighter pilot Tommy and tanker Sean—struggle with the myths and realities of defeating the new technologies, a new threat appears: their Soviet allies are intent on dominating Europe. But a game-changer still looms: in the mountains of Bavaria, the Germans are preparing a super weapon against which there is no defense.
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France, October 1944: Fort Driant may be a 19th century anachronism, but it proves itself an impregnable obstacle to Patton's forces as they fight to seize the city of Metz, a gateway to Germany. Another fortress—a Flying Fortress—may be the key to the fall of Fort Driant. The Moon brothers are in the thick of the battle as Tommy volu
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France, August 1944. In this alternate history WW2 adventure, American and British forces struggle to trap and destroy the still-potent German armies defending Normandy. But the Allies face another formidable obstacle of their own making: a seething rivalry between generals leads to a high-level disregard for orders that puts the entire campaign in the Falaise Pocket at risk of devastating failure—or spectacular success. That campaign unfolds through the eyes of two American brothers—one an idealistic pilot, the other a fatalistic tanker—as they plunge headlong into the confusion and indiscriminant slaughter of war.
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Jock Miles WW2 Adventure Series
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The American invasion of Biak promptly bogs down, and the GIs rename the debacle Operation Fishwrapper, a joking reference to their worthless maps. The infantry battalion Jock once led quickly suffers the back-to-back deaths of two commanders, so he steps into the job once again, ignoring the growing difficulties with his leg. When his Aussie wife Jillian tracks down the refugee mapmaker who can refine those fishwrappers into something of military value, the tide of battle finally turns in favor of the Americans. But for Jock, the victory imparts a life-changing blow.
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Port Moresby was bad. Buna was worse.
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Alternative history takes center stage as Operation Long Jump, the second book in the Jock Miles World War 2 adventure series, plunges us into the horrors of combat in the rainforests of Papua New Guinea. As a prelude to the Allied invasion, Jock Miles and his men seize the Japanese observation post on the mountain overlooking Port Moresby. The main invasion that follows quickly degenerates to a bloody stalemate, as the inexperienced, demoralized, and poorly led GIs struggle against the stubborn enemy.
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Unpunished
Congressman. Presidential candidate. Murderer.
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East Wind Returns
A young but veteran photo recon pilot in WWII finds the fate of the greatest invasion in history--and the life of the nurse he loves--resting perilously on his shoulders.
“East Wind Returns” is a story of World War II set in July-November 1945 which explores a very different road to that conflict's historic conclusion. The American war leaders grapple with a crippling setback: Their secret atomic bomb does not work. The invasion of Japan seems the only option to bring the war to a close. When those leaders suppress intelligence of a Japanese atomic weapon poised against the invasion forces, it falls to photo reconnaissance pilot John Worth to find the Japanese device. Political intrigue is mixed with passionate romance and exciting aerial action--the terror of enemy fighters, anti-aircraft fire, mechanical malfunctions, deadly weather, and the Kamikaze. When shot down by friendly fire over southern Japan during the American invasion, Worth leads the desperate mission that seeks to deactivate the device.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Novels by William Peter Grasso
Copyright
Author’s Note
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fou
rteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Epilogue—Author’s Note
More Novels by William Peter Grasso
This Fog of Peace (Moon Brothers WWII Adventure Series Book 4) Page 33
