Cormack had run off so many names. Troy was writing them down and trying to find a mnemonic in two or three words that would fix a face in his mind. It struck him that the United States of America might have a little difficulty entering into a European war. It was too partisan a notion. Cormack had so far pointed out Lieutenant D’Amici – Troy had written down, short and ugly – Lieutenant Corsaro – short and handsome – Major Shaeffer – tall and broad, a bit like Johnny Weissmuller in Tarzan - two Sergeants Schulz – both as stout as Eugene Pallette – a Corporal Pulaski and a Captain Pulaski – they could have been twins – a Colonel Reininger – tall and thin, a bit Raymond Massey – a Captain Berg – utterly nondescript, his own mother couldn’t pick him out in a line-up, Troy thought – a Sergeant O’Connor and a Corporal Schickelgruber.
‘You’re kidding?’ said Troy.
‘Nope. Used to work with me in Zurich up to the new year. Absolutely won’t consider changing his name. Born Adolf Schickelgruber, he says, and he’ll die Adolf Schickelgruber.’
‘Adolf? His parents christened him Adolf?’
‘He’s in his twenties. Probably born in the last war. The only person who’d heard of the other Corporal Adolf Schickelgruber then was the paymaster in the Austrian infantry.’
‘Couldn’t you promote him? Anything but a corporal.’
‘Sure. If we live through this I’ll see to it personally. Hold on, here come another two.’
Troy peered out. A tall soldier and a short soldier were approaching, side by side. The tall one looked up at the sky and said something Troy could not hear or read. He’d bet they’d picked up the English habit of filling silence by talking inanely about the weather.
Cormack said, ‘Don’t know the tall guy, but I hate to tell you who the little one is.’
‘Let me guess, Corporal Mussolini?’
‘Close – that’s Joe Buonaparté. He accents the “e” and never fails to tell you there’s a “u” in his name. You’ve played this before, haven’t you?’
‘I’m grateful for the education into the great American melting pot, but I rather think this is getting us nowhere,’ said Troy. ‘There’s simply too many of them.’
‘I don’t see what else we can do.’
‘I can,’ said Troy. ‘We can set a trap for our chap.’
‘Trap? What sort of a trap?’