Richard F Dee

The Wrong Lieutenant Tyree Richard F Dee

North Africa, December, 1942. Lieutenant Junior Grade, James Morgan Tyree - an uncommonly cautious young man - is suddenly handed sealed orders stamped TOP SECRET. He is whisked away from his current command - Quonset Hut 32A, US Navy Supply Depot, Casablanca - and hustled aboard a B 25 bound for Algiers. An hour into this flight Tyree finally finds opportunity to open his mysterious orders. Two Pages. The first is typed and headed Allied Joint Command, Operation Torch. It states: Lieutenant M. J. Tyree is relieved of present duties and reassigned, temporarily, to British 8th Army Long Range Desert Group, Patrol T2. Lieutenant Tyree must make all haste to join Patrol T2 in Algiers, Algeria no later than 1700 hours, December 2. The second page is hand written apparently in haste. "Ho Jamie, Hope this reaches you in time. We are headed for the back-blocks short one driver. So here is your chance to see action again. For this bitty hooha we can commandeer most anything and any bod we want. Your lucky day. Cpn. Stitch". After reading these through three times Lieutenant Tyree is appalled to realize there has been a terrible mistake. These orders were intended for one M. J. Tyree, a genuine daring-do war hero. All that follows for J. M. in this "bitty hooha" behind enemy lines is the result of some junior clerk's too casual search for an unusual name. And all that follows soon hangs by a thread. Untried J. M. and the New Zealand veterans of T2 Patrol must extemporize often on "Plan A" or all will be lost. A war story with all the ingredients of a good yarn. Action galore, unexpected turns, colorful characters including: feisty female protagonists, a Mafioso hit-man, a sensuous Mata Hari madam. Plus the Quintessential back-blocks Kiwi male - cocky, supremely competent in all he takes on, be that poaching wild pigs on moonless nights or shepherding a greenhorn Yank through a desert war's deadly holocaust.