Disclaimer: The Rat Patrol is not my property. They come out to play sometimes, then I send them home.

Chain Gang

By Suzie2b

Charley had just returned to headquarters to finish up her daily deliveries when she ran into Troy after he'd handed in his and Moffitt's reports on their last mission. "Hi, Sam. You guys just get back?"

Troy looked at her with confusion as he replied, "No, we got back yesterday. Midafternoon."

Now it was Charley's turn to look confused. "Where's Tully?"

"He and Hitch were going to get the jeeps in for service… He didn't make it home, did he?"

Charley's confusion turned into fright. "No, he wasn't there when I woke up this morning."

Troy frowned. "Okay, you finish up you deliveries and sign out. Go home and wait for me there. I'm going to check with Moffitt and Hitch."

Nearly an hour later there was a knock on the door. When Charley opened it Troy and Moffitt were standing there. She looked down the hall and asked, "No Tully?" She looked again. "Where's Hitch?"

Troy said, "They're both missing."

Charley paled and Moffitt put an arm around her to turn her back into the apartment. He said, "Let's go sit down and think about this."

Troy closed the door. "No one has seen them since we got back and there's no sign that Hitch made it to his quarters."

Charley trembled slightly as she sat down at the table. "What could've happened?"

Moffitt said, "I overheard Tully tell Hitch that he was going to go to the market in the Arab quarter before going home. He didn't say for what. Hitch offered to go with him, just to keep him company. Sam and I left them in the motor pool to take care of the jeeps."

Troy said, "We wanted to let you know we're headed over to the market to look around."

Charley stood up. "I'll go with you."

"No, it would be better if you stayed here."

Charley shook her head. "You can't expect me to just sit here and wait."

Moffitt looked at Troy. "She's right. There's no harm in her coming along."

Troy sighed as he nodded, "All right. Just make sure you don't wander off. I don't want to lose you too."

The market was busy. Moffitt and Charley asked the merchants in Arabic if anyone had seen the missing privates, but no one had. However, one woman told them that her husband had gone missing along with some other men and women. She suggested that Hitch and Tully might have been among them.

Then Troy spotted a very familiar red kepi on the table of the merchant next to the woman. He snatched it up and asked the man, "Where did you get this?" Of course the man didn't understand, so he grabbed Moffitt. Troy held up the kepi and said, "Ask this guy where he got this."

Moffitt frowned. "That looks like Hitch's." Troy nodded and Moffitt turned to the merchant. "من اين لك هذا?"

The man said, "وجدته فى الشارع هذا الصباح."

"اين? الشوارع?"

"سوف يظهر لك."

As the merchant called his son over to take over the sale of their wares, Moffitt told Troy and Charley, "He's going to take us to where he found it."

Troy, Moffitt, and Charley followed the man for about two blocks. When they stopped, he pointed to the ground next to a wall and said, "وجدته هنا."

Moffitt translated, "He found it here on the ground."

"هناك اشخاص اخذوا امس من المنطقة. الرجال والنساء عربى."

Charley said, "He says there were people taken from this area yesterday. Men and women. Both Arabic and American."

Moffitt said, "Do you think Hitch and Tully got caught up in something?"

Troy looked at the kepi in his hands. "Could be. Let's go talk to Captain Boggs."

After explaining what they'd found out, the captain said, "I've got reports here that we've got five men, other than Hitchcock and Pettigrew, that didn't show up for duty today and can't be located. At first I was thinking that for some reason they went AWOL together, but now you tell me this and it makes a little more sense."

Charley said, "No one is admitting to seeing who took the people, sir. They just say that their family members have disappeared and there were Americans among those taken."

Captain Boggs said, "I'm going to do some checking and see if there are any reports of unusual activity."

##################

Midmorning the next day Troy and Moffitt reported to Captain Boggs' office. The captain went to his map and said, "Spotters have reported that the German's are building a road through this range of high hills…" He circled a location with his finger. "Here. Probably attempting to make a new supply route." He turned back and looked at the two sergeants. "They also saw what appeared to be slave labor doing the work. It was described as a chain gang."

Troy frowned. "And you think that's where our missing people are, sir?"

"The spotters couldn't get close enough to see if there were any Americans among the prisoners, but I'm willing to guess there are." Boggs handed a map to Moffitt. "Here are the coordinates. Go check it out."

Troy and Moffitt were on their way out when they met Charley coming out of an office. She looked at them hopefully and asked, "Any news?"

Troy nodded. "We've got a lead. We're going to check it out."

"I'm coming with you."

Moffitt smiled slightly. "That's not a good idea, Charley." He pointed to the packages and reports she carried. "Besides, you have work to do here."

Charley quickly said, "I can get James or one of the others to take care of my deliveries. Please let me come."

Troy sighed at the look on her face. "No. It's going to take the better part of the day just to get where we're going. We can't be sure how long we'll be out there." Charley opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off with a growled, "No, Charley! That's final."

Charley looked on despondently as they walked away. She headed down the stairs behind them, then went to the office where dispatches and other deliveries were picked up by couriers. One of the other couriers, Terrence Colby, was at a desk doing some paperwork and looked up when she walked in. He asked, "Everything okay, Charley? You look upset."

Charley sighed. "I'm okay, Terrence. It's just…" She looked from the bundles in her arms, then back at the young man at the desk. "Would you do me really big favor?"

Terrence smiled as he stood up. "Sure. What can I do for you?"

##################

The jeeps skimmed the desert floor as they headed for the hills to the west. As the ground got rougher the closer they got to their destination, there were many holes, bumps, and rocks. It was impossible to miss them all, and after bouncing over yet another obstacle, Moffitt heard a muffled cry from the back. He slowed to a stop and got out. Troy pulled up next to him and asked, "What's the matter?"

Moffitt put a finger to his lips and walked around to the back of the jeep. There he saw a mound beneath a blanket that he didn't remember being there before. He reached in and yanked the blanket back. His eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Charley!"

Troy jumped out of the other jeep and hurried to Moffitt's side. He looked down at the young woman lying on the floor of the vehicle, anger plain in his voice as he glared at her. "What in the heck are doing here?"

Charley's voice was a frightened whisper as she said, "I had to come."

Moffitt reached down to take her hand. As he helped her out of the jeep, he frowned as he said, "This wasn't a very smart thing to do."

Charley started brushing the dust off her clothes. "I'm sorry. I just couldn't let you come without me."

Troy handed her a canteen. "What would you have done if we ran into a German patrol?"

Charley took a drink of water, then said, "I could've manned the 50."

Troy fought the urge to shake some sense into her. He put his hands on his hips as he said, "When did you hide in the jeep?"

"When the gas tank was being filled. The guy doing the pumping had his back to me."

Moffitt sighed. "Well, what's done is done. We don't have the time to take her back."

Troy continued to look at her menacingly as he said, "Get in the jeep. Let's go."

##################

At the coordinates they received from Captain Boggs, Troy told Charley to wait with the jeeps while he and Moffitt checked the area and warned her, "You move more than a foot away from this jeep and I'll tie you to that seat. Understand?"

Charley looked at him with wide eyes, a contrite expression on her face. She nodded and said quietly, "I promise."

Troy and Moffitt hiked to the top of a hill. Sure enough, there was a road being built and there were chain gangs doing the work.

Troy stared through his binoculars and said, "Looks like they've been doing some blasting and letting the prisoners clear the debris."

Moffitt was seeing the same thing. "Any sign of Tully and Hitch?"

"Not yet. I see five other Americans though. I'm willing to bet they're the ones missing from Ras Tanura."

Moffitt suddenly pointed and said, "Look there. That's Tully. And Hitch is with him."

Troy shifted to look where Moffitt was pointing. "Yeah, that's them all right."

"Now how are we going to get them and others out and stop the Germans from building this road?"

Troy checked for guards. "They've got the area locked down."

Moffitt was checking too and said, "There are armed Arabs moving about freely as well. That must be how the prisoners were spirited away. The Germans must be paying Arabs to kidnap villagers to do this work. Somehow some of our people got taken as well."

"This time they picked the wrong guys to mess with."

They returned to the jeeps and Troy was satisfied to see that Charley was still sitting in the jeep where they'd left her. She asked, "See anything?"

Troy nodded. "Listen to me. The Germans are building a road through these hills. They're using prisoners to do the work on a kind of chain gang. Hitch and Tully aren't the only Americans there. After I make a call to headquarters to let Captain Boggs know where you are, we're going to figure a way to get them out of there."

Moffitt said thoughtfully, "After you make that call, I may have an idea."

##################

After it was dark and the prisoners were taken to the holding pen, Troy and Moffitt headed down to the perimeter of the camp. They quickly found what they were looking for and returned to the jeeps, where Charley waited on the hood of a jeep with a machine gun across her lap. When she saw them, she asked, "Did you find one?"

Moffitt smiled as he held up the robes they'd taken off the Arab look out before they hid the body. "With these I'll be able to go in tomorrow."

In the morning Troy found Charley on the hill with binoculars. "What are you doing up here?"

Charley lowered the glasses and said, "I wanted to make sure Tully and Hitch were okay." Troy took the binoculars and checked the men that were working. She thought for moment, then said, "I noticed something else too."

Troy didn't look at her as he asked, "What's that?"

"Well, Jack's plan is to go down there and act as one of the people that carry water for the prisoners to drink, right?"

"Yeah. He wants to get Tully's master keys to him."

Charley said, "Take a good look, Sam. Every one of those people carrying water buckets is a woman." Troy frowned and quickly checked. She was right. "Jack can't do it. He'd be noticed right away."

Troy looked at her. "Okay, so he doesn't do the water. He can still get to Tully with the keys."

Charley shook her head. "I've been watching for nearly two hours now. The German guards won't let anyone near the prisoners except for the women with the water."

Troy suddenly realized what she was saying. "No! Absolutely not!"

"What other choice is there, Sam?"

When Moffitt was told this revelation, he was none too happy. "We can find another way. We can't let her go in there."

Troy said, "I'm open to suggestions. We can't just barrel in. With the prisoners chained together and penned up the Germans won't hesitate to kill them rather than let them be rescued. We have to get those keys to Tully."

The sergeants looked at Charley and Troy said, "You're sure you want to do this? We can work something else out."

Charley sighed. "There isn't time. I can do it."

"All right." Troy looked at Moffitt. "Get her ready."

With a pair of scissors from the med kit and a little work, Moffitt and Charley were able to get the oversized Arab garment to fit her petite frame, more or less. With the extra material that was cut from the bottom, Moffitt fashioned scarves to hide her hair and face, leaving just her eyes uncovered.

When they were finished, Moffitt stepped back and said, "Well, I think that's the best we can do. You know the plan?" Charley nodded as he took two keys out of his pocket. "It's going to be one of these that will open those shackles."

As Charley took them, Troy said, "You keep your head down and don't make eye contact with anyone other than Tully and Hitch. Don't do anything foolish. Deliver the water and the keys, then get out of there."

Charley took a nervous breath. "Don't worry. I can do this."

Troy managed a small smile. "Who are you trying to convince? Us or yourself?"

"All of us I hope."

##################

Charley went down and around to where they'd observed the women come and go with their buckets. There was a waterhole where muddy water was scooped into the buckets. She waited in hiding until several women showed up for the hourly water run for the prisoners. There was one guard on duty to watch the women, but he seemed more bored than anything else. As the women filed by, picking up buckets as they went, Charley fell in line at the end and followed suit.

She followed the women out into the work area and started giving a tin cup of water to each of the prisoners. When she finally got to Tully, Charley let the keys fall from her hand into the cup of water before giving it to him. As he started to take a sip, she whispered through the scarves, "Drink it all."

Tully made eye contact and immediately knew it was Charley. Without giving anything away he drank the water down and felt the keys slip into his mouth. Then Charley took the cup and whispered, "Tonight." Then she moved on to Hitch.

Tully took a moment to pull his kerchief out of his pocket and wiped his sweaty face, pushing the keys into it with his tongue. Then the kerchief went back into the pocket and he went back to work. He glanced at Hitch after Charley left him for the next man in line. They gave each other a worried but hopeful look.

When they were finished, the women returned to the waterhole to drop off the buckets. As soon as the guard looked away, Charley stepped out of line into the cover of the hillside.

Troy and Moffitt met her when she returned to the jeeps. Troy said, "Good work. It didn't look like anyone was suspicious of you."

Charley started to get out of the Arab clothes and breathed a sigh of relief. "They seem to be ignoring the women. Apparently they don't think any of them will even try to escape."

Moffitt said, "The chances of a woman escaping is pretty much zero. Where would she go with no transportation or supplies? Not to mention the fact that the Arabs in the Germans pay would only go out and bring her back for a beating." He stashed the clothing in the back of a jeep. "Now we just have to wait for dark."

Troy, Moffitt, and Charley ate their K-ration dinner as they watched the prisoners. As soon as it was too dark to work, they were herded back to the pen and fed their once daily rations.

##################

Tully ate his meager ration of bread, a small piece of tasteless mystery meat, and water. When the generator was switched off for the night and the lights went out, the prisoners were expected to lay down. The Germans didn't care if they slept or not, but there was to be no movement.

Tully laid down on his side with his back to the guard outside the pen. He retrieved the kerchief from his pocket and unfolded it to reveal the keys. Tully took one of them and pulled himself into a tight ball. He put the key in the lock of the shackle on his left ankle and tried to turn it. It wouldn't budge. He then tried the second key and was rewarded with a soft click. Seconds later he was also free of the shackle on his right ankle.

Slowly and carefully Tully crawled on his belly to where Hitch was. He put his hand over Hitch's mouth to wake him and showed him the key. Once Tully had freed his friend, he whispered close to Hitch's ear, "Stay put. I'm going to free the other soldiers."

One by one Tully crawled to the other five Americans and removed the shackles from their ankles with instructions to stay where they were. They would know when it was time to move and would be expected to help the others.

##################

From his vantage point and with binoculars, Troy could just make out Tully's dark form crawling across the ground to free the men. He returned to the jeeps and said, "Okay, it looks like Tully and Hitch are free, and Tully's working on getting the others loose. Let's move."

They drove the jeeps around to where the road had already been cut into the rock and led into the hills. Moffitt parked his jeep out sight and joined Troy and Charley as Troy told her, "Remember, when the trucks comes out, you follow 'em and stay close. Moffitt and I won't be far behind."

Charley nodded. "I'll be ready. Good luck."

Troy got into the back of the jeep to man the 50 caliber machine gun and Moffitt got in behind the wheel.

##################

As soon as they heard the jeep and first shots from the 50, Hitch and Tully were on their feet. They ran to the pen's gate. Hitch reached through the wire and grabbed the guard in a choke hold before he could react to what was happening. Tully retrieved a key from the pocket he'd seen the guard put it in and quickly had the gate opened.

Both the Germans and the Arabs opened fire on the jeep as it roared through the camp. With a quick signal Troy let Hitch and Tully know to head for the German trucks.

The Arab prisoners that were still chained together tried their best to follow the Americans to the trucks. Not all of them would make it. Tully, Hitch, and the other soldiers got as many into the back of the trucks as they could while the melee continued around them. Hitch yelled to Tully over the din, "You take this one! I'll drive the other!"

As the trucks rumbled to life and headed for freedom, they heard an explosion as Troy threw a grenade into the Germans blasting supplies. The ball of fire lit the hillsides surrounding them.

As soon as Charley heard the explosion, she started the jeep and waited for the trucks to appear. When they did, she was off.

##################

They drove until daylight started to make itself known, then Moffitt passed Charley to catch up with the lead truck. Troy hollered over at Hitch, "There's a waterhole in about five miles! Pull in there and wait for us!"

Hitch nodded and the jeep sped off to check if they were being followed.

At the waterhole, Hitch and Tully pulled to a stop. As Tully slid out of the truck's cab, he heard a familiar voice call his name. When he turned he had just enough time to catch the woman who leaped into his arms. Surprised, Tully started, "Charley? What are you…" But the rest was cut off by a kiss.

Charley disentangled herself and Tully set her on her feet as Hitch joined them. He looked at Charley and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Tully said, "I was just trying to ask her that myself." He looked at her. "I didn't even realize you were the one in the jeep behind us."

Charley smiled at them and said, "It's a long story for later. Right now, why don't you work on getting the shackles off of everyone?"

Hitch told one of the soldiers to keep watch while the other prisoners were taken care of.

Within thirty minutes Moffitt drove into the cover of the waterhole. They saw Charley and Hitch tending to any wounds while water was passed around.

Tully met them as they got out of the jeep and Troy asked, "How many did you get out with?"

Tully sighed. "Five Americans and twenty-four Arabs. That's less than half of the workforce that was there."

"Don't worry. I'm going to contact headquarters and let Captain Boggs know what's going on."

Moffitt got a second med kit and said, "I'm going to go give Charley and Hitch a hand."

After Moffitt walked away and Troy started to set up the radio, Tully asked, "Sarge, why did you bring Charley out here?"

Troy turned to face the private with a frown. "I didn't. She wanted to come along when we got word that you and Hitch could be part of that chain gang. I emphatically told her 'no'. She then decided to stow away in the back of the jeep. By the time we knew she was there it was too late."

Tully smiled. "Emphatically, huh?"

Troy shook his head with a slight smile. "Hey, I know some big words. How do you say 'no' to her?"

"I don't very often. Usually doesn't do any good when I do, but she seems to know when I'm serious."

After another hour, everyone piled back into the trucks for the trip to Ras Tanura. Troy ordered two the soldiers to drive the trucks so Hitch and Tully could drive the jeeps. There was a slight argument as to where Charley was going to ride. She wanted to be in the jeep with Tully, but he wanted her in one of the trucks in case they ran into any trouble. Charley finally relented and got into the cab of a truck.

##################

Back at base the Rat Patrol and Charley reported to Captain Boggs, who was not too happy with the young woman. He stood behind his desk and frowned at her as he said, "What were you thinking, Charley? First I find out that Terrence finished your deliveries the other day and then no one knew where you disappeared to until I got a message from Troy."

Charley said quietly, "I'm sorry, sir. It won't happen again."

"You bet it won't happen again! I'm seriously thinking about sending you back to the states!"

Tears welled in Charley's eyes and her voice trembled as she said, "Please don't send me home, captain."

Captain Boggs sat down and said, "I'll let you know when I've made my decision, Charley. Until then you're confined to quarters."

"Yes, sir."

"As for the rest of you. You did a good job out there. Troops are being sent to rescue the rest of the prisoners and destroy the road that was started. And I'm giving all four of you a forty-eight hour pass to give Hitchcock and Pettigrew a chance to recuperate."

Troy said, "Thank you, sir. They can use the rest."

The captain said, "Dismissed." As the others started to file out of the office, Troy and Moffitt stayed behind. When the door closed, Boggs asked, "Is there something else?"

Troy said cautiously, "Captain, we realize what Charley did was wrong and she should be punished … but she really was an asset out there. She did what she was told and did good work."

"What are you trying to say?"

Moffitt said, "Don't you think sending her home is a bit harsh, sir?"

Captain Boggs finally smiled. "I'm not sending her home. I want her to think about her actions and what the consequences can be. I'll let her worry about it for a day, then I'll let her off with a stern warning."

Troy breathed a sigh of relief and Moffitt said, "Thank you, sir."

Then the captain added, "I don't know if sending Charley away would be detrimental to your unit or not … but I'd rather not find out."