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look better. He’d had a bath and been given a set of German fatigues. He had a bulky bandage over his left eyebrow and he stood with more ease.
    â€œI have to thank you, Major, for the bath and clothes—and the doctor.”
    â€œI’m sorry you were treated so badly. It was not my doing, of course.”
    â€œYes, I understand that.”
    Ritter suddenly felt at a loss for words. He studied the American’s face and liked what he saw. He’s the kind of man I’d like to have in my squadron, he thought. But he said, “Please sit down, Lieutenant. I have a question.”
    Luke sat down. “As you well know, Major, I’m only required to give my name, rank, and serial number, which I’ve already done.”
    â€œIt’s not about things like that. This is a personal question.” Ritter sat down and the two men faced each other across a wooden table. “I want to know why you didn’t shoot me when you had me in your sights.”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    Ritter grinned. “Well, that’s an honest answer, I suppose. I was a dead man. All you had to do was pull the trigger. How many of our planes have you shot down since you’ve been in this war?”
    â€œI’ve lost track.”
    â€œSome of the men you shot down no doubt died. I would be just one more.”
    â€œThe others weren’t helpless men in a parachute.”
    At a loss for words, Ritter rocked on the back legs of the chair. “I just don’t understand why you’re here.”
    â€œThat makes us even, Major. I don’t understand why you’re here either.”
    â€œI’m doing my duty to the fatherland. My family is military. I was called to the service and I obeyed. But you had no call to come. Your army was not called here.”
    â€œNo. We weren’t.”
    â€œThen why are you here?”
    â€œYou won’t like my answer, Major Ritter.”
    â€œLet me be the judge of that.”
    â€œI think Hitler is the most dangerous man on the face ofthe earth. I think he must be stopped, and this seemed to be the place to do my bit to stop it.”
    Ritter cleared his throat. “You Americans do not understand Germany. We must have our place in the sun. Lebensraum, we call it.”
    â€œLiving space. I understand that. The trouble is you move in on other nations, slaughter them, and then take their land from them.”
    â€œWe cannot argue politics. We will never agree.”
    â€œTell me this, then. There was a little village not far from here. There were no military targets there—no soldiers, no factories—nothing military. Just innocent civilians. You bombed it out of existence. Was that part of your duty to the fatherland?”
    â€œIt was unfortunate,” he said, looking down at his hands. When Ritter had learned about the huge number of civilian deaths in the town, he had felt horrible. That had not been their intent when they had set out that day.
    â€œThe woman I was going to marry lived in that village. So did her parents, her ten-year-old sister, and her eight-year-old brother. They’re all dead now, Ritter—all of them. Were they the enemy of the German Reich?”
    Ritter felt his face growing warm. “I cannot answer your question except to say that in a war innocent people sometimes get killed. You know that, Lieutenant.”
    â€œThey do when they’re caught in a battle, but that little village wasn’t in a battle. They were just going about their daily lives when all of a sudden the Condor Legion flew over, dropped bombs, and obliterated them.”
    When Ritter did not answer, Luke leaned forward onto the table, his eyes harsh. “Are women and children your enemies, Major?”
    â€œWar is not kind.”
    And then in a voice of steel, Luke said, “Neither am I, Major Ritter. If I ever get you in my sights again, I will treat you exactly as your Condor Legion treated