‘They keep following me,’ answered Bob flatly.
Liam looked back over his shoulder at them: a grimy ragtag army of soldiers and civilians.Beyond them he could see the crisp white field was dotted with grubby prisoners fleeing thecamp in all directions.
‘The captain did it again!’ cheered one of the fighters.
‘Let’s hear it for Captain Bob… hiphip…’
The men chorused ‘hooray!’, several of them firing their guns again insupport.
Liam leaned closer, lowering his voice. ‘CaptainBob? You told them you were an army officer? Jay-zus… thatwas clever.’ He was genuinely impressed with the initiative Bob had shown.‘I’m proud of you,’ he said, slapping him on his broad back.
‘I have told them nothing,’ Bob replied. ‘They have decided to call me thisname.’
‘Hey! You!’
Liam turned round. A dozen yards behind, catching up with them, was a small weaselly-lookingman, who looked like the sort of dodgy debt dealer his mum had once warnedhim about.
‘Hey, kid! Don’t be crowdin’ the captain like that. You want face-time withhim, you come talk to me first, all right? He don’t need to be troubled by no peskylittle kid wantin’ an autograph.’
Liam looked at the other fighters behind him, their eyes still glazed with the exhilarationof battle, panting plumes of winter breath and gazing at Bob with an intense…fierce…
What? Fondness? Love? No, it wasn’t that… It wasmuch, much more. It was awe.
‘Hey, kid!’ said the weasel in the suit. He jogged over. ‘You wanna joinCaptain Bob’s Freedom Force? Is that what you want? Then come talk to me back at the camp. The name’s Panelli, Vice-captain Panelli. I’m the second-in-command around here. I’ll sortyou out with some food and a gun — ’
‘Uh… no, that’s OK. I don’t want to join your Freedom Force.I’m just — ’
‘Then if you ain’t joinin’ the force, kid, you better scram. We got us somemore raids to plan, a war to fight. An’ Captain Bob needs time to rest up before heleads us against them Krauties again.’
Liam looked up at Bob. ‘This isn’t what we’re here for, is it? To fightKramer’s army?’ he asked, ignoring Panelli.
‘You are correct,’ replied Bob. ‘Mission priority now is to return homewith acquired data.’
‘So, how are we going to do that?’
Bob considered the question for a moment. ‘I have no available plan. Suggestion: weawait a signal from the agency giving us further instructions.’
‘We just wait for them to call us?’
‘Affirmative.’
‘Hey!’ cut in Panelli, grabbing Liam’s arm. ‘Hey, stop that! Whatsorta weird talk is that yer saying to the captain?’
Liam spun round angrily, shaking off his hand. ‘Please! Can you leaveus alone? We need to talk!’
Panelli looked at them both suspiciously. ‘I heard you say something about an agency signal? You some kinda spy? Some kinda enemysympathizer?’
‘What? No!’
‘You sound sorta funny to me. Got some kinda accent going on there. What do you think,men?’
‘Oh, for cryin’ out loud! I’m Irish!’ replied Liam. ‘I’mnot a flippin’ German spy!’
Liam looked up at his support unit. ‘Bob, tell them I’m your friend.’
‘He is my friend.’
Panelli looked surprised. ‘You… you know thiskid?’
‘Affirmative. I know him.’
‘So… so, what’s the deal? You family orsomething?’
Liam shrugged. ‘Yeah… that’s right. We’re family, aren’t we,Bob?’
Bob cocked an eyebrow, uncertain what to say. Then, after a moment: ‘This is the one Ihave been looking for,’ his deep voice rumbled.
Panelli suddenly looked unhappy with that, jealous that his self-appointed status asBob’s right-hand man had seemingly been undermined by some scrawny kid.
‘So, Captain Bob… you been looking for this kid, an’ now you found him.What does that mean for me… us?’ he asked, a look of growing concern on his face.‘Do we… do we still follow you?’
Bob frowned and looked down at Liam for guidance, again unsure what to say.
Good grief. These guys… they think he’s some sort of asaint.
He almost giggled at the ridiculousness of it.
‘Tell them, Bob. Tell them exactly what we’re doing.’
‘We are awaiting a signal.’
‘A sign?’ gasped the young corporal, standing just behind Panelli.
‘Yes… that’s it exactly,’ said Liam, ‘we’re awaiting asign.’
The word rippled around the gathered men, whispered with growing excitement and awe.
A sign. A sign.
‘Do you… do you m-mean,’ continued the corporal, ‘a s-sign from theLord?’
‘From the field off-’ added Bob helpfully. Liam elbowed him in the ribs andhe closed his mouth.
‘From the what?’ asked Panelli.
‘A sign,’ repeated Liam, ‘from, you know, from… beyond.’
Whispers spread like a breeze among the men. Liam spotted several anointing themselves withthe sign of the cross.
‘Beyond,’ uttered the corporal, wide-eyed.
‘That’s right,’ said Liam, trying to keep his voice even and his lips fromcreasing, ‘from… you know who.’
A silence settled over the men.
At that moment a scudding cloud happened to pass out of the way of the sun, sending a burstof dazzling rays down on to the snowy ploughed field, bathing Bob in a warm light. The fuzz ofcoarse nut-brown hair growing on his coconut-like head seemed to glow for a moment, glow justlike a halo.
A collective gasp passed through the gathered men, and one by one they began to kneel, eventhe weasel — Panelli — who Liam would never in a month of Sundays have thought wasthe church-going type.
Oh, just great. That’s all we need.
CHAPTER 64
1957, woods outside Baltimore
The soup sploshed into Liam’s bowl from a ladle smelled and looked almost asunappetizing as the gruel he’d grown used to eating in the prison camp.
He looked up at the man who’d served him. ‘Thank you.’
The man offered an awkward smile and tugged his cap politely. ‘Is there anything I canget for Captain Bob?’
Liam considered that for a moment. Bob was clumsy with a spoon. Chances were he’d endup dribbling the soup all down his front.
Not very inspiring. Not very saint-like.
‘Our leader would like some bread, if you got any.’
The man smiled, delighted to be of service. He rummaged in a backpack and produced a longloaf of stale bread. Liam nodded a thanks, tucked it under his arm and began to head back tothe tent before hesitating and turning back round to face the man.
‘Uh… our leader sends his blessings for the food.’
The man grinned broadly. ‘Thank you, thank you,’ crossing himself as he spoke.‘God bless him.’
Liam made his way across the camp, illuminated by the glow of a crackling fire and silvershafts of moonlight, lancing down between the branches of the forest. He nodded politely tothe others he passed, offering blessings from Bob along the way. Over thelast couple of days, the camp’s atmosphere seemed to have changed from being that of thesecret den of a band of patriotic freedom fighters to that of some kind of a monastery. Menwho’d exchanged bawdy jokes one day seemed pious and reflective now.
They believe Bob is some warrior angel sent down by God. What do youexpect?
Finally, reaching Bob’s modest lean-to, he ducked under a flap of cloth and steppedinside. ‘I picked up some bread for you. I’m afraid it’s not that usualhigh-protein vomit-like gunk that you normally ingest back in the field office.’