The Rat Patrol was on another mission to find out what the Germans were planning. The base run by Captain Hans Dietrich was once again their target. The assignment, raid the Captain's office and photograph his plans and his maps.
Things had gone well once they reached the German base. Better than well actually, it had been easy. The Captain, or maybe his security officer, was getting lax in his efforts when it came to base safety. The guards had been scattered and ill-positioned, so much so that Moffitt had remarked that they could probably walk away with half the base without the Germans noticing until it was too late.
The privates had guarded their escape route while the sergeants had searched the Captain's office. Hitch and Tully had been surprised to see their sergeants return after only a short time.
"What's wrong Sarge, couldn't you find anything?" Hitch asked as soon as they were together again.
"Find anything," Tully snorted, "they weren't even gone long enough to break in."
"We did get in." Troy growled with a frown. "And we got everything we came for….and more. Let's shake it."
The four of them left the base and drove until Troy was satisfied that they were far enough away that the Germans wouldn't stumble over them by accident. Camped in a wadi for the night they took turns on guard while the others slept.
Early the next morning they were preparing to start another day. The privates were preparing their breakfast after going over the jeeps. Troy was on watch while Moffitt took a few minutes to read over some documents he had taken from the Captain's desk.
"Hitch!"
The blond dropped the hood on his jeep before answering the summons. He glanced at their small cook fire to be sure that the food wouldn't burn. The others had been giving him grief over their over-cooked meals and he was trying to do better. "Tully, will you keep an eye on things?" Tully looked up and nodded wordlessly before going back to digging through the gear in the rear of the jeep. Hitch walked across the camp to where Moffitt sat on a rock. "Yeah, what do you need Doc?"
"Relieve Troy on guard; tell him I need to talk to him right away."
"Everything all right Doc?"
"I don't know." The Brit answered, looking down at the papers. "Just give Troy the message for me."
"Right Doc." The blond picked up a weapon and went to relieve the sergeant and give him the message.
"What is it Moffitt? Hitch says something is wrong." Troy appeared a moment later and headed straight for the other sergeant. He eyed the papers that Moffitt held. "Does it have something to do with those?" To him they looked like any of the other papers that they had taken from the Germans on any number of occasions.
"I took these from Dietrich's desk last night."
"Okay?"
"This one says that Dietrich is away attending some meetings and won't be back for several days." Moffitt held up one of the pages.
"Well that explains the lax security." Troy joked. "While the cat's away the mice will play, or at least slack off."
"This time it is the rats that have been busy." Moffitt answered soberly.
"As long as we benefit from his men getting lazy what do we have to complain about?" Troy eyed his second in confusion. "What's wrong? You aren't feeling guilty because we raided his office while he was away, are you?"
"Hardly." Moffitt smiled.
"Then what's bothering you?"
"These." Moffitt held up the rest of the papers. "I didn't think that they would be very valuable because, well, if they were important you would think they would have been locked in the safe." The sergeant shrugged his thin shoulders and looked unhappy. "I took them more out of curiosity than for any other reason."
"Curiosity killed the cat." Troy grinned. "Good thing we're rats." His teasing smile died as he noticed that Moffitt wasn't smiling in return. "Oh come on Moffitt, you said yourself that you didn't expect them to be important, so why get so upset when you find out they are worthless?"
"That's just it Troy, they aren't worthless."
"You mean we stumbled over something valuable? What is it?"
"I don't know."
Troy frowned in frustration. "Maybe you had better explain it to me."
Moffitt took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He took a moment to gather his thoughts before he began. "These appear to be reports sent to Captain Dietrich about an American office they have managed to turn. They claim he has been giving them classified information about troop movements and bases along with the latest battle plans."
Suddenly interested, Troy growled as he eyed the other sergeant. "Does it mention a name?"
"Not in so many words." The Brit answered. "That would be too easy. It does go into great detail about his qualifications and his past postings."
"So we can figure out who it is and nail the traitor? I don't have any sympathy for anyone who would betray his country." Troy crowded closer to try to see over Moffitt's shoulder. The writing was in German but he wanted to see the document for himself.
Tully chose that moment to walk up with two plates in his hands. "I heard what you said Doc, is it anyone we know?"
"I think so." Moffitt answered quietly.
"Who?" Troy demanded.
"Captain Boggs…"
"What!" Troy drew back, eyeing Moffitt, expecting him to burst out laughing at the joke. Surprise turned to anger and then to confusion as Moffitt continued to look serious. "Captain Boggs is no traitor!"
"The evidence is all here." Moffitt answered in a reasonable tone as he held out the packet for Troy. "There is more than enough to start an investigation, perhaps enough to convene a court martial."
"That dog don't hunt." Tully drawled quietly into the silence that followed Moffitt's statement.
"What?" Moffitt turned from Troy to look at his driver. "What are you talking about Tully? What dog?"
Tully smiled a bit sadly. "That's something Pa used to say when something didn't seem right. All of our dogs were hunting dogs. If one didn't hunt then there was something wrong with it. This doesn't make sense Doc, Sarge is right, Captain Boggs is no traitor."
"The evidence is right here in front of us Tully. I don't want to believe it either but it is right here in black and white."
"My dad used to say that paper would lie still for anything." Troy added thoughtfully.
"Meaning?"
"Meaning, I could write that the moon is inhabited by ten foot tall green men but that doesn't make it true."
"See." Tully smirked.
"What it does do is leave us with a dilemma." Troy continued. "If we turn these papers over Captain Boggs will be arrested and charged with treason. Even if he can prove his innocence his career will be tainted. At the very least he will be reassigned. In the meantime the entire base will be in turmoil and the real traitor will be able to continue helping the Germans."
"We can't cover this up Troy." Moffitt warned. "If it ever got out that we kept it to ourselves the Captain would not be the only one facing a court-martial."
"So what do we do?" Tully asked.
"First off," Troy growled, "I want you to forget you ever heard any of this conversation. I don't want you or Hitch involved in this." Troy held up a hand when Tully would have argued. "Moffitt and I will figure it out. There is no reason for all of us to risk our futures."
"He's right Tully, why don't you pack things up and get ready to leave while we work on this?"
"All right Doc, but you're both wrong."
"Wrong about what?"
"There are plenty of reasons why we should all be involved in this, the most important being that we are a team. What affects one of us affects all of us." Tully turned to walk away. "Eat your breakfast, I'll be back in a few minutes for the plates."
Troy frowned but Moffitt smiled as they watched Tully take a plate to Hitch on guard.
"He does have a point." Moffitt spoke softly.
Troy shook his head. "This could get messy; I don't want to drag them down in it too. We'll leave them out of the decisions so no one can blame them for anything that goes down."
"Tully already knows, he can't just un-know it, especially under oath."
"Darn it!"
"Precisely."
"Okay, once we decide how to handle this we'll run it by them. Maybe between the four of us we can make it work."
Moffitt smiled. "You know, they do come up with some good ideas every once in a while. They're both smart."
"Yeah I know, but they're both young and they don't have a lot of experience at this."
"This?"
"Playing the Army game where everyone covers their own a.. and protects their own careers at the expense of anyone below them." Troy explained.
"I don't think it's their careers they will be worrying about in this instance." Moffitt guessed.
"I know and that's what worries me. They'll be so concerned about clearing the Captain that they will leave themselves open for charges." Troy's eyes followed Tully as he packed up their meager supplies.
"Then I guess we'll just have to do what we always do." Moffitt sighed.
"What's that?" Troy asked as he tore his gaze away from Tully.
"Watch each other's backs." The Brit smiled. "We do have one advantage that the Captain can't claim."
"Like what?"
"We know who we can trust."