Beneath a Scarlet Sky

Pino and Carletto make their way to Hotel Diana on the first of May after a night of drinking. Hitler had committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin along with his mistress the day after Mussolini and his mistress hung in Piazzale Loreto. Major Knebel greets Pino and Carletto inside the Hotel Diana and gives them two brand-new Thompson submachine guns. He tasks Pino and Carletto with “taking a friend of America to the top of the Brenner Pass” (465). Brenner is still at war; Carletto calls it a suicide mission, but Knebel calls it a challenge. When Pino asks who they’re taking to the Brenner, Knebel reveals that it’s Leyers.

Pino is shocked to see Leyers. Knebel tells Pino that “General Leyers is a hero” (466). When Pino tells Knebel that he witnessed the horrible things Leyers had done, Knebel responds that he can’t know if that’s true; he’s only been told that Leyers is a hero who deserves protection.

Pino agrees to drive Leyers, but only after he formulates his own plan for Leyers.

Pino and Carletto begin driving Leyers through American held checkpoints. They speculate about what Leyers is carrying in his valise, which is now handcuffed to his wrist.