The High Calling (33 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Skirmish Over France

“Come in, Brodie.” Parker stood up from where he had been working at his desk. “I’ve been hearing some good things about you.” The squadron had been out on a sortie when Parker had returned to take up his duties early that morning. He motioned toward the chair. “Have a seat. I want to hear all about it.”

Brodie grinned broadly as he sat down. “Well, I guess you heard. I hit the Glory Road.”

Parker laughed. “Well, I didn’t hear it put exactly like that, but some of the men told me you’d become a Christian. I think that’s wonderful, Brodie.”

“I’ve got a long way to go, Skipper. I don’t want to make a pest of myself, but to tell you the truth, I feel like catchin’ guys who are just walkin’ around and tellin’ ’em what it’s like to be saved. I never knew it could be like this.”

“Tell me all about it,” Parker said. He sat down and listened as Brodie spoke of his experience. When he had finished, Parker said, “So Meredith is all right?”

“Just has to do a little healin’ up.”

Parker looked at the American with a question in his eyes. “You know, I always thought that you might have wound up marrying Katherine.”

“I tried hard enough, as you well remember, but she had the good sense to send me packin’. But Meredith is different. She’s gonna marry me one of these days, even if I have to hog-tie her.”

Parker laughed. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”

“How are you feelin’? Your eyes okay?”

“They’re fine. That rest did me a lot of good.” He hesitated, then said, “We’ve got an unusual mission coming up, Brodie.”

“You mean somethin’ besides shootin’ down Germans?”

“No, we’ll be doing that but in a different way. We’ll be flying cover for a bomber group that’ll be going to hit the Luftwaffe airfield in France.”

“That’ll be different.”

“That’s right. Always before we’ve had the advantage in range. When the 109s come over here, they only have ten or fifteen minutes’ fighting time before they have to scoot back. This time we’ll be doing about the same. I want to talk to every man in the squadron about conserving fuel. I don’t want anybody running out over Germany or over the Channel coming back.”

“I’ve been wonderin’ when we’re gonna get equipped with auxiliary gas tanks. That way we could go deep into Germany as escorts.”

“They’re not perfected yet, but they will be someday.”

The two men sat talking quietly, and finally Brodie got up and said, “Well, I’m goin’ back to see if I can get a bunch up to go to church Sunday mornin’. They’re already startin’ to run when they see me comin’. I heard Al Tobin say, ‘Look out! Here comes that religious nut!’”

“You just live the life and they’ll respect you, Brodie.”

****

The mission turned out to be more difficult than any of the pilots had imagined. They joined a group of thirty Lan- caster bombers and did some maneuvering to confuse the Germans. When they were over the target, Parker called, “Look out! Here they come dead ahead!” Enemy planes were rising to meet them. “We’ve got to keep ’em off of the bomber boys until they drop their loads, so heads up!”

The fight that ensued was as fierce as anything Parker had
ever seen. The 109s kept coming into the fight, their engines snarling and guns firing, and Parker and the others had to continually keep an eye on their fuel gauges.

Brodie found himself on the tail of a 109 and gave it three short bursts. It caught fire at once, but just as Brodie broke away, he ran into three 109s that had made him their target. It took all of his skills and acrobatic flying to get away from them.
I’m lucky these Spits have a much shorter turning radius than the 109,
he thought. He glanced over and saw that Sailor Darley and David Deere were fighting for their lives against a swarm of 109s.
We’d better get out of here quick!
He joined in the fray, conserving ammunition as much as possible, but finally he saw that they were overwhelmed.

“Red Leader, Red Leader, I’m about out of ammo, and fuel too!”

No reply came over the radio, which was unusual. Parker was always quick to answer when he was called.

“Has anybody seen Red One?” Brodie demanded.

Archie Kent-Wilkins spoke up. “He got hit, I think.”

“Did you see him go down? Where is he?” Brodie demanded.

“I don’t know. I think he might’ve been hit, but I was in a fight and I couldn’t keep my eye on him. But you know Parker. He’d call back if he could.”

There was no time to delay. No one except Kent-Wilkins had seen anything of Parker, and Brodie had a sinking sensation as the Spitfires started herding the bombers back over the Channel.

“Didn’t anyone see anything?” Brodie asked on the radio.

“I didn’t see any parachutes,” Sailor said. “We’d best go back to the base before we get bounced by some more 109s.”

Brodie was half tempted to go back and look, but he knew that was hopeless. He would be instantly gobbled up by the 109s.

****

The hospital was busy, and when Brodie went to Meredith’s room, he found her sitting up in bed, with Kat in the chair beside the bed.

“Brodie, it’s good to see you,” Kat said.

“Hello, Kat.” Brodie went over and took Meredith’s hand. “How do you feel?” he asked stiffly.

“Oh, I’m fine.” She could sense immediately that something had happened. “What’s wrong, Brodie?”

He pulled off his hat and twisted it around in his hands. “I’ve got some news that’s not good.”

Kat straightened up. “What is it?” she asked quietly.

“It’s . . . it’s Parker. He didn’t make it back from a sortie over France.” He stumbled as he gave them the bad news and finally said almost angrily, “None of us really saw anything. We were outnumbered about five to one, so we were all pretty busy.”

“No one saw him go down?”

“Archie did, but he didn’t see the plane crash,” he said quickly. “And none of us saw any parachutes.”

Kat went numb. She started to stand up, but her knees felt too weak to hold her. She wanted to ask Brodie so many questions, but she instinctively understood that he had no solid answers to give. Finally she found the strength to collect her thoughts and get to her feet. “I’ll leave you two alone. I have to get back to the mission. I’m glad you’re all right, Brodie. And it’s wonderful news about your becoming a Christian.”

“Don’t give up, Kat,” he said. “He most likely crash-landed the Spit. He’s probably been taken prisoner by this time. It’ll take a while to find out where he is.”

Kat tried to smile, but it was with an effort. “I wonder if they’ll send someone to tell his family.”

“I suppose they will. They always do.”

Kat turned to leave, but Brodie stopped her. “You know, I haven’t read much of the Bible, but I remember hearin’ that somewhere in there it says if two or three people agree on somethin’, it’ll be done.”

“That’s right,” Meredith said quickly. “It’s in the Gospel of Matthew, the eighteenth chapter. Let me see.” She took her Bible off her bedside table and opened it. “Here it is in verse nineteen. ‘Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.’”

When she had finished reading, he said, “Well, I reckon we’d better do just that. Come on. Let’s get to prayin’. God can do anythin’.”

The three joined hands and prayed for Parker, each one of them in turn, and when they said amen, Kat’s eyes were moist. “It’s times like these when you need faith. When the sun is shining it’s easy, but doubt comes when things don’t look too good.”

“Well, I’m believin’ God’s gonna take care of our boy,” Brodie said.

Meredith reached up and took his hand. “We’ll all remember that.”

Kat turned to leave, but Brodie stopped her once more. “Oh, I guess you’d better hear this too.” He took Meredith’s hand and held it. “Meredith and I are kind of tentatively engaged.”

“Tentatively engaged? What kind of engagement is that?” Kat asked as she smiled at the two.

“It means we’re goin’ until we get a red light, but for me right now it’s green as grass.”

“Congratulations. I know you two will be very happy.” She went over and kissed Meredith and then Brodie on the cheek. “You see? If you’d had your own way, you would’ve married me long ago and I would’ve nagged you to death by this time. I’m happy for you both. I’ll see you later. I’ve got to go.”

****

Kat had not known whether to go talk to Parker’s parents
or not. She thought perhaps it would be better to wait for the official news. But finally she called the station and an officer there told her that someone had gone out in person to give the news.

She could think of nothing but Parker, and finally she felt strongly that she needed to be with the family. She left the mission and hired a cab to take her to Benleigh. It was expensive, but she felt it was the right thing to do.

She paid the driver and walked up the front steps. She rang the doorbell, and Parker’s mother answered it.

“Come in, my dear,” Grace said, her face frozen in misery.

Kat stepped inside and put her arms around the older woman. “It’s going to be all right,” she said. “God’s going to watch over him.”

Grace began to tremble, but she got control of herself. “Gregory’s in the parlor with the twins.”

“You haven’t told them anything, have you?”

“No.”

“That’s good. They don’t need to be in on this.”

The two of them walked back into the parlor, and the twins ran to her, their faces happy and their eyes dancing. “Story! Give us a story!”

“I will before I leave, but right now I need to talk to your grandparents.”

“You two go play in the playroom, and Miss Katherine will tell you a story pretty soon,” Gregory said.

As soon as the children were gone, Gregory said, “I’m glad you came, Katherine.”

“I didn’t want to intrude.”

“How could you do that?” Lord Braden got to his feet and came over and embraced her. The gesture touched Kat, and she squeezed him and whispered, “It’s going to be all right. God’s going to take care of us. I just know He is.”

The three sat down before the fire, and there was little to say. They all knew the details that were available, and it was
Grace who said, “I’m so glad you came, Katherine. We’ve missed you.”

A lump came to Kat’s throat. She was shocked to find out how much she had come to care for these two. Clearing her throat, she said, “Would you like for me to stay for a day or two?”

“Oh, that would be wonderful! Can you get the time off?”

“I’m not scheduled at the hospital until Thursday. I think this is something I really need to do. Let me go call my supervisor at the mission.”

Five minutes later Kat came back and said, “It’s all right. I can stay.”

Relief washed across Grace’s face. “You are so good with the children,” she said.

“Well, I’ll go tell them that story I promised them.”

When Kat had left the room, Gregory said, “There’s a young woman with a very compassionate heart.”

“She’s in love with Parker, of course.”

“Do you think so? After all this time? I knew he was attracted to her, but I didn’t know how she felt.”

“It’s written all over her face.” She glanced toward the door and whispered, “I’m so glad she’s come.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Eject!

As soon as the engine stopped, Parker knew he was not going to make it. The big Merlin engine had taken a short burst from a 109. At first Parker thought it would be all right, but then the engine coughed and the propeller began to windmill.

“Got to get away from this fight.” He had little control over the plane, but as it descended, he held on to the stick and managed to keep the plane in a controlled glide. He glanced in his mirror and saw that the squadron was engaged in a fierce fight, but apparently none of the enemy saw him slip away. He searched the earth below, trying to find a grassy field where he could land.

As his descent grew more erratic, he realized he wasn’t going to be able to land the plane. He released his seat belt and slid the canopy back, the wind roaring in his ears. He managed to turn the plane over, and he fell out as it did. He had heard of men getting caught by the tail, so he was careful to be well clear of the plane before pulling the rip cord. The chute opened, jerking Parker upward.

He could hear the snarl of the guns in the distance, but he was already several miles from where the action was taking place. As he floated down, he scanned the area for enemy activity. He was heading for an open field, which was always dangerous.

I’ve got to hide the chute and get away as fast as I can. I’m not about to spend the rest of this war in a German prison camp.

He tried to recollect everything he had learned about making parachute jumps, but all he could remember was to land with the knees slightly bent to take the shock. The ground came up very quickly, and he hit with enough force to drive him to the ground. Rolling over, he was dragged along with the parachute as it bellowed out in the wind. He got up and pulled at the cord to collapse the chute, then gathered it up as best he could and ran for the nearby woods.

He was almost there when a voice rang out, “Halt!”

Parker groaned bitterly but did as he was told. Two German soldiers were coming out of the woods to his left. He put his hands up when he saw the bigger German aiming a Luger at him.

“Englishman, you have killed your last soldier of the fatherland!” the man declared in heavily accented English.

Parker nodded wearily. “It looks like you’ve got me. I guess I’ll sit out the war in one of your camps.”

The big man sneered. “Nein, not in a camp. Your war is over right now. My two brothers were killed by the RAF, so now I do something for them.”

The smaller soldier spoke to his comrade in German, and Parker could only hope he was arguing against shooting him.

“Nein, Hans. I will shoot him myself. Why should he live when my brothers are dead? Say your prayers, Englishman.”