“Sir, Corporal Navarro–”
“Corporal Navarro has another one now. Sergeant Shanks of Hades squad is down with the shakes. He won’t be needing his Thompson for a while. Get used to killing with 45-caliber slugs, Mennonite. And I mean killing. Not pretty paper folding or looking for a bunch more polite thank-yous.”
“Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir.”
“Stinking right it’s thank you, Sir, Mister Menno Simons man. Now get out of my damn sight. Patrol heads in-country at 0400 hours.”
“Sir, I–”
“Shut the hell up, Mennonite boy. Go work on your Jap tea time ceremony and make sure you have enough ammo for the patrol. Three hundred rounds.”
Any patrol on the Canal, as Johnny Strange growled the next morning at 0401 hours, was a crapshoot. Who the hell knew where Tokyo Joe was? Sergeant Brown of Titan sq
