Chapter 16

As they talked, they heard a helicopter approach and land close by. Ames’ aide got out, followed by Kevin Murphy who was carrying a cardboard box. He ran up and saluted Kelly who then looked at him carefully. His eyes still showed black, but there was now only a Band-Aid across the bridge of his nose. He saluted Ames and said, “General, your lunch, sir!”

He opened the box and Kelly started to laugh. In the box were a dozen wrapped hot dogs. She helped herself and passed the box around. Solov took one, as did Carlson. Ames grinned and helped himself.

Katrina was looking baffled but took one, too. She was the first to speak. “Colonel, I do not understand. Did they fly in... frankfurters?”

Kelly shook her head and grinned, “Katrina, I’m afraid so. General Ames commands the U.S. 82^nd Airborne Division. I guess it comes from jumping out of airplanes. You land on your head a few times and your brains get a little scrambled. But they’re nice guys, really.”

She looked over and motioned to Kevin Murphy who came running over. “Kevin, I would like you to meet Katrina Solov. Her father is a dear friend of mine.”

Murphy looked at the Russian girl and smiled. He held out his hand and said, “Miss Solov, I’m very glad to meet you.”

Katrina was looking at Kelly’s uniform. “Colonel...”

Kelly interrupted her by saying, “Katrina, please do me a big favor? The name is Kelly. I’m younger than you are, so please call me Kelly.”

Katrina smiled and started again. “Kelly, are you not wearing a paratroop badge also? It looks like Lieutenant Murphy’s.”

Kelly grinned at him and said it was. “But Katrina, girls aren’t nearly so clumsy. We’re smart enough to land on our feet, not on our heads. Kevin, how are you feeling?”

Katrina looked at him and made a face. “Oh dear, you’ve been injured! What happened?”

Kevin looked at her wryly and said, “Miss Solov, I made a terrible mistake. I got into a fight with America’s top unarmed-combat specialist. The result was a broken nose. I didn’t do too well.”

“But, Lieutenant, what brute could have done that to you? And what happened to him? He assaulted a superior officer!”

Kevin looked increasingly chagrined. “Katrina ... may I call you Katrina?” She nodded eagerly and he continued, “There are only three things wrong with that statement. First, he’s not a brute. He’s only five feet nine and weighs about 120 pounds ... about 50 kilos or so. Second, he’s not a he; he’s a she. Third, she outranks me. And in addition, I was grossly out of line when it happened. My behavior was atrocious!”

Katrina looked even more puzzled. “But Kevin, I don’t understand. You said the best unarmed-combat specialist. It must be a man and a brute to do such a thing to you! Who did it? Who is this person?”

“Katrina,” Kevin answered sheepishly, “‘this person’ is Kelly Jackson. Incidentally, I had help, for all the good it did me. There were three of us. We all ended up on the floor unconscious.”

Katrina wheeled on Kelly, “Kelly ... this can’t be true!”

Kelly had been trying to conceal a grin while Kevin’s story unfolded. Finally, she nodded and said, “I’m afraid it is true. I was a brute; I admit it. I did apologize to you, Kevin, didn’t I?”

He grinned at her and said, “You sure did. Kelly, don’t forget. You still owe me a dance!”

Kelly had an idea. She went to Carlson who listened, smiled, and nodded. Then she went to Jim Ames. “Jim, thank you so much. It was delightful! And thank you for saving my life. I owe you and your men more than I can ever say, let alone repay. All I can say is, I’ll always remember.”

Ames just shook his head slowly. “It’s another Kelly story! Damn it, Kelly, you can too repay! You can come over sometime and clean up my quarters. Then we’ll be even. You leave us all the shit details: burying the Russian dead and preparing the POW lists. Hell, my clerks are beginning to hate you. But if you clean up after me, we’re even.

“Kelly, I guess you don’t understand this review we just had, even yet! I know you know a Captain Williams in the 7^th Armored Cav. His unit led the armor. You saw German and British units, too. They were also spearhead units. They were paying tribute to the girl who saved their lives!

“I realize you’re a high-school dropout, so you don’t know anything about military matters,” he said with an eyebrow raised. “Airborne units are first-line assault troops, too. Casualties in assault units normally run very high. Do you know what our casualties were? Do you?” he demanded. Ames had his face only inches from hers.

Kelly could only shake her head. She could see that Jim was very upset.

“Kelly Jackson, our casualties were three! Not three thousand. Not three hundred. Three! We lose far more than that in a training exercise! Kelly, we value our lives, too! Can’t we be grateful to you? Just once?”

She held out her hand and he took it. She gripped his firmly and said, “We’re still going to do lunch, Jim. My treat. Promise?”

He grinned and nodded.

Then she said, “Jim, can I borrow Lieutenant Murphy for a while? It’s important. I really need him now.”

Ames looked at her quizzically. “You’re going to take Murphy off my hands? What do I have to do to make it happen?” Then he grinned and said, “Kelly, you can have him for as long as you want.” He turned to Kevin and said sharply, “Lieutenant Murphy!”

Kevin ran up and saluted smartly. “Lieutenant Murphy, sir!”

“Murphy, you’re assigned temporary duty — TD — to Colonel Jackson. You are under her orders until released. Understand?”

Murphy grinned broadly when he heard the orders. “Yes, sir!” He saluted the general smartly and then wheeled to face Kelly. He saluted her even more smartly and said, “Lieutenant Kevin Murphy, reporting as ordered, sir!”

It was all Kelly could do to keep a straight face. She smartly returned his salute and said, “Carry on, Lieutenant. I’ll give you your assignment in a short time. Now let’s get back to the Solovs.”

As they walked slowly back to where Katrina and her father were waiting, she whispered to Kevin that the assignment was very important and could help to quickly end the war. He looked at her with amazement showing in his face. He asked what he had to do and was told just to be himself. They rejoined the Russians.

Kelly looked at her watch and said, “It’s almost time for dinner. Katrina, do you need to change? Or you, Uncle Mischa?” They both shook their heads, and Kelly took them over to the Officers’ Club.

She thought that peace had really returned to this part of Germany. Not only was the O-Club running flat-out with a packed house, but there was even a dance band hired to play for the evening. Although protocol dictates there is no saluting in the club, Solov noticed how all the officers they encountered stood at attention as she entered and walked by. Carlson had made reservations for them. Kelly walked into the cocktail lounge where they were seated at a quiet table.

Katrina looked around at the Allied officers enjoying themselves in the bar. She was astonished at the informality. Turning to Kevin she asked, “You are one of the ruling class in the United States, Kevin?”

Kevin looked at her, startled. “Ruling class? Katrina, first, there is no such thing. Second, my father owns a hardware store and my mother is a school teacher. Does that sound like ‘ruling class’ to you?”

“But you’re an officer! You must be ruling class.”

“There is no ruling class in the States, Katrina,” Kevin said. “Honest!”

Marshal Solov was watching the exchange with amusement.

Katrina was looking puzzled. “But there must be!” she insisted. “There always is!”

Solov spoke up. “Katrina, they’re right ... as usual.”

Turning to Kelly, he said, “May I change the subject? That review ... and the presentations ... were very impressive. I happen to know the awards you received are the highest awards for gallantry those nations can award. In your words, Kelly, they don’t give them with every package of tea.

“Then the troops: Of course, I recognized your 82^nd Airborne. I saw armored cavalry. Kelly — and Katrina — I was seeing top-line assault troops. I promised nothing I saw or heard today would ever be used against you or your country. I reaffirm my promise and want you, Katrina, to give your word, too.”

Katrina looked startled but did so.

Solov looked pensive and spoke as if he were thinking out loud, “The Victoria Cross, the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, and the Medal of Honor. Three of the highest military awards in the world. From three governments ... but awarded at a single ceremony. I can only conclude that your action, Kelly, was so dramatic it was considered to be of incalculable value to all three governments.

“Then the assault troops: Now why would they show affection ... No! love ... for a very young colonel? The obvious answer is you did something that was of great value and earned their intense respect. “The obvious answer? The breakthrough! Kelly, you made it happen. You probably engineered the whole thing, didn’t you?”

Kelly started to say that things were being blown out of proportion when Kevin interjected, “Marshal, I understand that this whole conversation is confidential. Am I correct?”

Solov agreed that it was.

“Marshal, Katrina ... you could be here for ten days and never get anything from Kelly. Sir, I’m sure you guessed some of it and saw even more. Kelly planned the breakout and then made it happen. She took out your general commanding the reserve troops just after he gave the order for the line divisions to execute a ‘double-gate’ maneuver but before he could order the reserve armor into action. Your front-line units pulled back opening a huge gap.

“We poured six armored divisions through the hole. You saw representative units from all of them today. Our casualties were extremely light. Nothing, really. Kelly then picks off anyone at the reserve headquarters who looks like he might get things moving again. The reserves never moved! I was the first man to reach Kelly. We brought in the entire 82^nd to back her up. She was there with her fiancé on the ground, unconscious. The whole area was littered with bodies. There were about eighty. All with what we call the Kelly Jackson trademark: bullets in the brain. Marshal, she beat you ... all by herself!”

Katrina was looking at Kelly in awe as Kevin told the story.

Kelly was very red-faced when he finished. “Kevin, all I tried to do was keep my head down, and I didn’t even do that very well!”

Kevin looked at her quizzically and continued, “She didn’t do that very well. No, she got nicked by shrapnel. Marshal, what she did do — and I heard it on the command communications net — was ask Jim Ames who commands the 82^nd to ‘do lunch.’

“Sir, I don’t know if you’ve ever heard that expression. It’s used in business and society circles in the States. She also asked him how he drank his coffee and ... with bullets flying all around ... made sure she had a cup prepared just the way he likes it when he arrived. I saw her do that. I get there and her first words to me were, in an accent straight from the American South, ‘Why Kevin Murphy, I do declare! I didn’t know you were invited to this ball, too. You simply must save me a dance!’ Sir, that’s exactly what she said to me.

“Then Ames arrived, and Kelly handed him the cup of coffee as she passed out from loss of blood. She had been nicked in the shoulder by shrapnel, and her shirt sleeve was saturated and dripping with her blood. She was still smiling, sir, as she lost consciousness. That’s what it was all about, Marshal. I don’t know what you call it in the Red Army, but we call it gallantry of the highest order!”

Marshal Solov looked around the room quickly. They were seated in a darkened corner of the lounge and the room was quiet. Satisfied that no one was watching them, he sat up straight and gave Kelly a meticulous salute. She was startled.

He said, “Lieutenant, I knew Kelly was a remarkable girl when I first met her, but I had no idea how truly remarkable she could be. And I don’t believe she did, either.” He smiled at Kelly, and his smile was very warm. “In fact, I don’t think she either understands it or really believes it herself.

“Lieutenant, I believe I heard you say that her fiancé was unconscious?” Kevin said that was correct. “I think she was just protecting him. You were, Kelly, weren’t you?”

“Yes, sir, I guess I was,” she admitted sheepishly. “Uncle Mischa, I love him desperately!”

Solov looked at her closely and then looked at his daughter. “Katrina, I think there is something you should say to Kelly.”

The pretty Russian girl was blushing with chagrin. She said, in English, “Kelly, I don’t know how to apologize to you. I couldn’t even do it in Russian! I have heard stories my grandfather told about the Great Patriotic War and the acts of heroism that occurred. But I have never heard a story such as this. And I said you were the mistress of a general! Papa said it all. You have medals for heroism ... the highest awards in the world ... that you earned by your actions. Can you forgive me, Kelly?” When she finished, tears were streaming down her cheeks.

Kelly smiled and said, “I was just trying to keep my fiancé alive until I can marry him. In the meantime, let’s eat!”

They went to their table in the dining room and ordered. The orchestra was playing and Kevin asked Katrina to dance. The girl was startled but agreed with a warm smile. They went towards the dance floor, and Kelly watched them move. As she expected, Katrina moved like a trained dancer. She decided the girl and Kevin made a very handsome couple.

As she was watching, Solov started to speak to her softly. “Kelly, I have been thinking. I’m on the wrong side in this war. I told them the venture was stupid ... criminal, in fact. They wouldn’t listen! Now they are going to destroy the Rodina — Mother Russia. I don’t know how it’s been going over the last few days. I do know since the breakthrough, we’ve been getting crushed. Kelly, I think I see your hand in this, too. Time after time, the Allies launch an attack, and our troops in position fail to go into action. You’re taking out our senior officers simultaneous with the attack...

“Of course! It has to be you! You understand our structure: Everything is top down. And you read Russian. I heard you refer to Grandfather’s book. It doesn’t exist, except in Russian! You’ve studied it, haven’t you?”