Armageddon_ A Novel of Berlin - Leon Uris [315]
He finally was able to get into the main building and found the office where Colonel O’Sullivan awaited departure. Sean, his mighty friend through battle after battle of nerves, was a shell of himself.
“Sean, are you going to be all right?”
“Why wouldn’t she say good-by to me ... why... why?”
Hiram Stonebraker’s personal Gooney Bird had been sent to take O’Sullivan to Frankfurt. An aide said the plane was in readiness.
“Can you make it?” Neal asked.
Sean nodded.
Beyond the building in the square the festivities were reaching a new pitch. They could hear an Army hand play “Stars and Stripes Forever.” They could hear the wild shouts and ovations of the Berliners.
Neal Hazzard walked slowly, supporting Sean. They entered the Gooney Bird. Neal waved the crew away. “The colonel has a virus. Stay away from him and let him rest.”
“Good-by, Sean,” Neal said. “God bless you.”
“So long, Neal,” he whispered.
A deafening roar burst anew from the crowd which had jammed into every possible space in the plaza before Tempelhof.
Oberburgermeister Ulrich Falkenstein had arrived with General Andrew Jackson Hansen.
Neal Hazzard pushed his way through the adoring mob to join them near the speaker’s stand, and when they saw him ascend the steps the hysteria of West Berlin burst anew. They ascended the steps together, waving to the multitudes.
“Falkenstein! Hansen! Hazzard!” a hundred thousand throats chanted. “Falkenstein! Hansen! Hazzard!”
For a terrifying second the three men stopped and looked at the sky as Tempelhof Tower cleared the Gooney Bird bearing Sean O’Sullivan.
The Gooney Bird passed above Ulrich Falkenstein’s flat. Ernestine watched it disappear and drew the curtain. She walked slowly into the kitchen, shut the door, pulled down the window, and drew the blind. She went to the stove, stood over it a second, her eyes transfixed on the gas jets. Her hand reached out and she turned them on. They hissed. Ernestine sat back in a chair as the smell reached her nostrils. She drank it in deliciously. And soon her eyelids grew heavy and she began to doze.
Judy Loveless held Hilde’s hands on a wooden bench at the Frankfurt Airport on the civilian side of Rhein/Main. Clint stood in front of them, his hands in his pockets. Tony imitated his father. Lynn sat on Hilde’s lap, sobbing.
“Hilde,” Judy said, “the offer to come and stay with us is always open. You know we mean it.”
Hilde smiled. “My father needs me. He has asked for me. It will be a terrible ordeal. And that foolish sister of mine went and lost her heart when I warned her not to.”
“And you, Hilde? What about your heart? Will you get over Scott?”
“We are two foolish sisters.”
“You must write to us.”
“I promise, Mrs. Loveless. Colonel, I am so glad you are going home.”
“Well,” he said, “Utah isn’t exactly home.”
“You and Mrs. Loveless will always have a home ... because there are the two of you.”
At the moment that life passed from Ernestine, her uncle stood before his people.
“Berliners,” he said, with a voice echoing over the mass, “we cannot express our gratitude by the mere naming of this place as the Airlift Plaza. We cannot tell what is in our hearts. The way we shall express our thanks to those American and British flyers who have given us freedom is to keep this city a fortress. I beg you now to all stand in silent reverence to those who have given their lives for Berlin.”
The Gooney Bird touched down at Rhein/Main. Colonel O’Sullivan was met and driven to the civilian side of the field where a MATS flight would return him to the States.
At that moment the loudspeaker called for German Nationals to board a Pan-Am flight to Berlin.
The scene around Hilde was filled with tears and embraces. When, at last, she was told she could delay no longer, she ran out a few steps and blew a kiss to the Loveless family.
Past the gate she was on the