valley of clear blue. Stan sliced through the cloud close beside him.
Garret was trailing a little now.

"Three Stukas cruising, four points right," Allison grated. "Three
Stukas. Don't let one of them get away or he'll come back again."

Instantly the Spitfires broke formation and Allison went plummeting
down, his Merlin roaring wide open. His twisting flight was an amazing
show of cold skill. Stan peeled off and shot after him. He was sure
Allison had picked the Stuka on the right so he took the one on the
left, leaving the center bomber for Garret, who wasn't getting in as
fast as he should.

"Easy, a cinch!" Allison's voice roared out of Stan's headset. "Here's
one for Tommy."

Stan saw his Spitfire lay over on her side and slice down upon the
Stuka, her eight Brownings drilling flame and lead. The startled crew of
the bomber immediately came to life. They had been craning their necks,
looking for slow crawling freighters headed into port. They sent the
Stuka into a nose dive, spewing bombs to lighten their load, but they
were not fast enough. Stan saw the right wing of the big raider rise,
then whirl away. The Stuka spun out of the square space in his
windscreen doing grotesque loops.

Ahead lay Stan's target and his thumb pressed gently on his gun button
as he roared down. His Brownings opened up and he saw the Stuka stagger
and swerve as he thundered past in a hissing dive. Coming up he noticed
that Garret's Stuka was streaking away toward the south with Garret
making a feeble try at coming up under the big ship.

"Missed a dead target," Stan said grimly. "He hasn't fired a single
burst."

Then Allison's voice cracked in over the air. "Messerschmitts up above
in the big cloud. They're coming down. Seven in all." His words snapped
off in a sputter of crackling static. Stan nosed up and saw the seven
fighters diving upon Allison. Then he heard Allison's voice again.

"Better let me have them. Keep clear!"

Stan yelled into the flap mike. "Coming, Allison."

He gave the Spitfire all she had and the Merlin wound up beautifully,
lifting him up to meet the fighters diving out of the cloud above. As he
went up he looked for Garret. At that moment they sure needed all of Red
Flight. He spotted Garret diving for a great thunderhead.

"The scum," Stan snarled. He shot the words into the flap mike without
realizing it.

It did not seem possible that Allison could escape from the deathtrap.
The Stuka setup ha