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

Another Day in Paradise

By Suzie2b

It was early. The sun was barely a glow on the horizon. Charley had left Tully and Hitch at the mess hall after breakfast to walk to headquarters. She had to pick up the package she was to deliver to Major Benning at the stronghold base near al-Quds. When she got there, instead of the expected envelope, she received a message to report to Captain Boggs' office.

When she got to the outer office Charley saw that Corporal Green wasn't at his desk. She went to the Captain's door and knocked. A moment later the door swung open and Sergeant Moffitt was smiling at her. Charley returned the smile easily as she walked in and said, "Hi, Jack."

"Good morning, Charley."

As she crossed the room, she smiled at Troy. "Hi, Sam."

"Morning, Charley."

She stopped in front of the desk. "Good morning, captain. I got a message that you wanted to see me."

Captain Boggs indicated the chair behind her. "Yes, Charley. Please have a seat." The captain sat down as he said, "The convoy you were to go with has been reassigned."

"Am I still going to the base at al-Quds?"

"The information is too important to wait, so I've assigned Troy and his men to get you there and back." Captain Boggs looked at her with all seriousness. "I have to admit, I don't like sending you out on this one, Charley. Two of the desert tribes have banded together and declared war."

Charley frowned. "On us, sir?"

"On us, the British, Germans, Italians … it's a war against war. None of our convoys have been attacked … at least not yet. It's just been patrols. Apparently they don't feel that convoys are a threat. So I was confident about sending you. When I had to reassign that convoy, I wanted to pull you and send James."

"But we've been through this before, captain. They run around the desert causing issues for a while, then they give up and disappear."

Moffitt said, "We've been keeping our eyes on them for a while now. Their leader is Amir al-Husseini. A violent and cruel man who has driven a force of nearly two hundred into a frenzy."

Troy added, "And we haven't been able to locate their camp yet."

Charley's eyes showed her concern and Captain Boggs said, "I can still send James, but he doesn't have the experience or confidence yet that you do. I'm going to let you decide whether or not you should go."

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Charley knew what would happen if they were captured. A quick execution could only be hoped for. Then she said, "I'll go, captain. It's my job and it wouldn't be fair to James. He's not ready for this."

The captain nodded. "Thank you, Charley."

Boggs gave her the package and dismissed the three of them. As they started down the hallway toward the stairs, Troy said, "Now all I have to do is explain this to Tully."

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

In the motor pool Hitch looked up from his comic book and saw Troy, Moffitt, and Charley. "Looks like we're going to have company today."

Tully turned and saw the trio walking toward them. "She's supposed to go with that convoy." For some reason he suddenly had a bad feeling.

When they reached the jeeps, Troy said, "Charley's convoy was reassigned. We're taking her on her mission."

Tully said quickly, "To al-Quds? No way! I didn't like the idea of her going with the convoy, but at least she'd have more protection than just us and two jeeps!"

Charley said calmly, "Captain Boggs gave me a choice…"

"Well, you just march yourself right back there and tell him you've changed your mind! You're staying here!"

Charley sighed, then took Tully's hand and led him a short distance away. "Look, if I don't go, the captain will assign James to do it…"

Tully nodded. "Fine! Let James go then."

Charley argued, "James hasn't yet been on a mission without a convoy. He doesn't yet have the experience being in the open. He's used to having a truck wrapped safely around him."

Tully swung his arms for emphasis. "Then this is a good time for him to learn!"

Charley's eyes flashed angrily has she poked a finger into Tully's chest. "I don't want his first mission in a jeep to be his last!"

Tully took a breath and pulled her into his arms. "All right. I don't like it though." That feeling was still pulling at the hairs on the back of his neck.

Troy, Moffitt, and Hitch had watched the exchange between the husband and wife. It had been fairly animated on both sides, but when Tully pulled Charley into a hug, Moffitt smiled and said, "So, we're off to al-Quds with Charley then."

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

The sun was low in the sky when the jeeps pulled through the gates of the base. The trip had been unremarkable, having seen nothing of either German patrols or Amir al-Husseini's people.

Troy and Moffitt went with Charley to report in and deliver the package. Major Benning's aide assigned them quarters for the night. Then they met Hitch and Tully at the mess hall for dinner.

When they were walking out after their meal, Hitch said, "Want to go into town for a beer?"

Tully looked at Charley, who shrugged with a smile and nodded. Tully said, "Sounds good to me."

Troy shook his head. "Nope. Not tonight. I don't want any of you to go off base before we leave in the morning."

Hitch complained, "Ahh, sarge, al-Quds is just a few miles from here."

Moffitt agreed with Troy. "And some of Amir al-Husseini's army could be out there in the dark just waiting for someone to make that run. You'd be targets."

Troy said, "There's a bar here on base. Go have a beer or two and then get some rest."

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

At 0500 hours there was a loud knock on the door that startled both Tully and Charley awake. Tully stumbled groggily through the dark room and pulled open the door to find Sergeant Troy standing there, who grinned as he said, "Morning, sunshine. I want to be on the road at daylight. So get dressed and meet us in the mess hall."

Tully yawned, "Right, sarge." He shut the door and flipped on the light. "We stayed up too late last night."

Charley groaned at the sudden light, then looked at Tully as he returned to sit on the bed. She started to laugh and said, "I can't believe you answered the door like that."

Tully gave her a sleepy, puzzled look. "Like what?" Then, as Charley continued to giggle, it suddenly dawned on him and he looked down. He hadn't pulled on his boxers before opening the door. "Yep … definitely stayed up too late."

After breakfast, Hitch and Tully made sure the jeeps were ready to go while Troy and Moffitt checked the map. According to headquarters a German patrol had been hit by Amir al-Husseini's people the day before and they wanted to be sure to stay out of that area.

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

The drive that morning had been as uneventful as it had been the day before. It was just after noon when they stopped for a break at a waterhole. They had only been there long enough to get out of the jeeps when Tully went down with a yelp of pain and an arrow embedded in his leg.

Troy swung around, pulling his pistol as he moved. One clean shot and the Arab with the bow was dead. That would've been great except there were another twenty on horseback surrounding them with both bows and rifles.

Charley took a step to go to Tully, but Moffitt held her fast by the arm and whispered, "Don't move."

Two of the Arabs walked forward and collected the machine guns along with Troy and Moffitt's side arms and Tully's knife. Another moved to where Tully lay on the sand. Without a word he bent down and yanked the arrow out of the private's thigh. It had happened so fast all he could do was gasp with pain and try to staunch the blood flow with his hands.

Charley pulled carefully out of Moffitt's grasp and moved to Tully with the sergeant following. They both knelt and Moffitt quickly used his ascot to wrap Tully's wounded leg.

One of the Arabs pointed to the jeeps and said, "انكم جميعا فى السيارات."

Moffitt looked at Troy and translated, "He wants us to follow them in the jeeps."

Carefully, the sergeant and Hitch got Tully into the passenger seat of one of the jeeps. Moffitt got in behind the wheel and Charley got in back. Troy and Hitch got into the other jeep. An Arab armed with a rifle got into the back of each vehicle. The rest surrounded the jeeps.

It took a good two hours to get to the place the Arabs were calling home. The ruins of an abandoned village. As they were escorted through the village, the Rat Patrol and Charley saw women and children among the warriors. They also saw both American and German vehicles left haphazardly throughout the village.

They were halted in front of one building and instructed to get out. Moffitt and Hitch helped Tully hobble inside behind Troy and Charley. They could hear the jeeps being driven away. They were told to wait and one of the Arab guards disappeared into another room.

As they waited, Tully said quietly, "I need to sit down. I'm gonna pass out."

Moffitt looked around and saw a chair. "Let's get him over there."

As they started to move, one guard blocked them and told them not to move. "لا تتحرك."

Moffitt told him calmly that the private needed to sit down. "انه يحتاج الى الجلوس."

The Arab looked at Tully, then at the chair. He walked over, grabbed the chair, and threw it out the door.

Tully said, "That's okay. The floor will do fine."

As Moffitt and Hitch lowered the wounded private to sit on the floor, a tall, dark, bearded Arab entered from the other room followed by the guard. "I am Amir al-Husseini." He looked at each of the five prisoners with his eyes lingering on Charley, whose stare didn't waver. "Who is in charge here?"

Troy stepped in front of Charley. "That would be me. Sergeant Troy—U.S. army."

Amir al-Husseini smiled slightly as he said, "No, sergeant, I am the one in charge here … and I suggest that you…" He looked at each of the prisoners. "…as well as your people remember that." Amir al-Husseini watched as Charley moved to Tully and knelt behind him so he could lean back on her. "You appear to have a wounded man, sergeant. I will see to it he is attended to." He looked at Tully. "Is she yours?"

Tully scowled. "Yes … and I suggest you all stay away from her."

Amir al-Husseini chuckled. "We shall see." He looked at his men and said, "وضعهم مع الاخرين, ساقه."

Moffitt and Hitch got Tully to his feet and they started to follow their guards outside. Amir al-Husseini suddenly noticed Charley's satchel and he asked if she'd been searched, "وفتشت المراة?"

One of the guards shook his head and told his leader that women should not be carrying weapons.

Amir al-Husseini grew angry, "ودائما اقول يجب ان تفعله? استخدام بعض المنطق!"

The guard quickly reached and pulled Charley aside. He patted her down, spending a little too much time in certain areas, then rooted through her satchel. Finding nothing he pushed her back towards Troy and said, "لا علاقة."

Amir al-Husseini nodded and they were taken away.

They were taken to another building directly across the street that had its two windows shuttered and boarded up. A door was unlocked and the five of them went inside. They didn't have time to notice the other four across the room before the door closed. After they were left in the dark room, a match was struck. The small flame lit the wick of a lantern that hung from a nail. Standing before Troy, Moffitt, Hitch, Tully, and Charley were four German soldiers.

One of the German's stepped forward and said, "I am Corporal Weber."

Troy stepped up and said, "Sergeant Troy. We heard that a German patrol was attacked yesterday."

Weber nodded. "We are what is left of that patrol."

After having gotten Tully on the floor against a wall, Moffitt said, "We weren't aware they were taking prisoners."

"This is a recent development. We have no idea why we are here."

Hitch took the lantern and moved it to where Tully was sitting. As Charley removed the ascot and tore open his pant leg, she said quietly, "Amir al-Husseini said they were going to take care of this." The bleeding had stopped, but Tully was hurting. "Try to relax. Hopefully someone will be here soon." She stood up and said, "Sam, can I have a word please?"

Troy walked over to where Charley was standing. "What is it?"

Charley whispered, "When I was behind Tully in the other building I hid my pistol and the extra clip in his waistband under the back of his jacket."

Troy smiled. "Good girl. We'll leave it there for now, until we figure a way out of here."

Corporal Weber said, "This is not a time for secrets, sergeant."

Just then they heard the door being unlocked. When it swung open bright daylight flooded in making everyone squint. An older woman holding a tray walked in behind a guard. The guard said, "انها هنا لمساعدة المصابين."

Understanding what was said, Moffitt nodded and indicated Tully with his hand. The woman stepped around the guard, who remained at the open door, and went to the injured private. Charley knelt next to her and watched closely as she cleaned the arrow wound with water. Then opened a small ceramic jar with salve in it. Using her fingers the woman spread the salve in and around the wound, ignoring Tully's hiss of pain. Then she wrapped his leg with a length of cloth. As she replaced the lid on the jar, she said, "الم يتوقف قريبا."

Charley nodded and said thank you. "شكرا لك."

The woman stood with the tray and left. The door was closed, leaving only the lantern to light the room. Charley mopped the sweat from Tully's brow with her kerchief and said, "She said the pain will subside soon."

Troy took the lantern and crossed the room to hang it on the nail again. He said quietly, "We have a weapon. We just need a plan to get out of here."

Troy went to one of the boarded up windows and pushed against the shutters.

Corporal Weber said, "We tried that last night, but they are sealed tight."

Hitch was looking around and said, "Charley, are you still carrying a flashlight with you?"

She started going through her satchel. "Yeah, it's right here."

Charley handed the flashlight to Hitch, who turned it on and shined it up at the ceiling. Troy and Moffitt joined him. Troy asked, "What did you find?"

Hitch said, "Looks like a trapdoor."

"Let's check it out."

Corporal Weber turned to one of his men. "Kasper, die ihm helfen, die Tür zu erreichen." As the tall German moved toward Hitch, the corporal said, "Kasper will help you reach it."

With Hitch sitting on Kasper's shoulders he was able to reach up and free the latch that held the trapdoor shut. Then he easily pushed it open. "It leads to the roof, sarge."

Troy gave a nod. "Great. Close it up. We'll wait for dark."

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

Hours passed slowly in their small, dark prison. The lantern was extinguished to conserve fuel. Troy lit a match to check his watch. It was 4pm.

A few minutes later the door swung open and they were blinded as sunlight flooded the room. Three Arabs armed with rifles stood in the door. The men were ordered to the other side of the room. Moffitt and Hitch helped Tully, leaving Charley where she was sitting on the floor. Then one pointed at her and said, "امير الحسينى تريد ان ترى المراة."

She stood up and started to back away. Troy asked, "What's he saying, Moffitt?"

"Amir al-Husseini wants to see Charley."

Tully pull free of the hands that were supporting him and said with an angry frown, "She's not going anywhere!"

Moffitt told the guards that Charley was going to stay where she was. Without another word one of them moved to where she was and grabbed her by the arm. As Charley struggled, another guard walked further into the room and pointed his rifle at Tully and told them he would be killed if she continued to fight.

Charley stopped and looked at Tully. She tried to sound convincing when she said, "I'll be all right. Just get out of here the first chance you get."

When the door was again closed Troy said, "We can't wait for dark. Hitch, get up on the roof. See where they're taking Charley."

With Kasper's help Hitch was able to scramble up onto the roof. He crawled over to the edge and watched Charley and the guards disappear into the building across the street. He crawled back and reported, "They took her into that building where we met Amir al-Husseini. There's not much cover up here, sarge. Everyone's going to have to stay low."

Troy nodded. "Right. Weber, tell your men to keep down once they get up there." As the corporal relayed the message, Troy turned to Moffitt. "Okay, you're next."

Once Moffitt was through the trapdoor, Troy and Weber helped Tully onto Kasper's shoulders. Then Moffitt and Hitch pulled him up onto the roof. The others followed quickly, but before Kasper was pulled up Corporal Weber said to him, "Bringen Sie die Laternen."

Kasper quickly handed the lantern up and Moffitt smiled as Weber took it, saying, "We need a little diversion."

After the last man was on the roof, another of the corporal's men moved to his side and told him he'd found a ladder. "Es ist eine Leiter."

Moffitt said, "Good. I'll go tell the others while you and your men help Tully."

Weber nodded as he lit the lantern, then reached through the trapdoor and threw it against a wall. It shattered and flames started to spread with the kerosene.

Moffitt got to where Troy and Hitch were watching the building across the street. He whispered, "There's a ladder. Weber's men are helping Tully down. The corporal has created a diversion downstairs. We'd better get moving."

When he reached the bottom of the ladder Tully retrieved the pistol and the extra clip from his waistband.

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

Charley was standing before Amir al-Husseini as he said, "You are a very fine woman." She remained silent. "Disrobe."

Charley's stare was incredulous. "No!"

Amir al-Husseini sighed patiently. "I need to be positive you are worth keeping. You will disrobe … now." Charley shook her head. "If you do not do as you are told I will send a man to kill your wounded friend."

With tears in her eyes Charley started to unbutton her blouse. Just as she was about to slip the garment off, they heard a lot of yelling outside and a guard rushed in saying, "وهناك حريق!"

Amir al-Husseini growled, "Fire?" To the guard he said, "البقاء معها." Then he hurried outside.

The guard turned to Charley and stared at her opened blouse. Seeing the knife in the sash around his waist she stared back at him and asked if he saw anything he liked. "رؤية اى شئ?"

Stupidly, the guard set his rifle aside thinking that this woman would not deny him. He walked up to her and opened Charley's blouse wider for a better view. She took a step closer and started to make like she was going to kiss him. His leering grin suddenly turned into a look of shocked pain as Charley thrust the knife she'd taken from him into his back. She pushed him away and didn't take the time to button up as she headed for the door.

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

Troy took the pistol and clip from Tully and looked at Moffitt, "You get Tully and the others out of here. Hitch and I will get Charley. We'll meet you outside."

Tully looked at Troy worriedly and said, "Keep her safe, sarge."

Troy gave a nod and he and Hitch moved out. Moffitt then led the way with two of the Germans helping Tully. They stayed out of sight, following the back alleys until Moffitt spotted their jeeps. He said to Corporal Weber, "Take Tully in one of those halftracks and get out of here. The rest of us will take the jeeps. We'll man the 50s and cause as much confusion as we can on the way out."

Weber nodded and quickly instructed his men what to do.

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

Troy and Hitch had made their way to the building next to the one that was on fire. They watched cautiously as a guard ran into the building Charley was in. Seconds later they saw Amir al-Husseini hurry outside and begin to shout orders. Another twenty seconds later they saw Charley run out the door into the street. She looked one way and then the other in a panic.

Troy stepped out and waved at her. As soon as Charley spotted him, he ducked back and she was off again. However, she was seen be one of Amir al-Husseini's men, who alerted the leader. Amir al-Husseini order his men to chase her down and bring her back.

As Charley rounded the corner where she knew Troy was, Hitch grabbed her by the hand and kept going. Troy peered around the corner and saw several armed Arabs running in his direction. He stepped out and fired, bringing down two of them. The third thought better of continuing the chase and ducked for cover. That's when Troy heard the unmistakable sound of the 50 caliber machine guns.

Hitch led the way to the place he and Troy had found to go over the wall. They scrambled up stacks of crates and barrels to the top of the wall. Hitch jumped down and got ready to help Charley.

Troy looked at Charley and said, "Okay, your turn."

She stared down at the ground … and froze. "I can't."

"I know you're afraid of heights, but there's no other way." Bullets ricocheted of the wall just under them. Troy grabbed her arm. "No time for this." He forced her to sit down, then pushed her off.

Charley gave a squeak of terror as she fell and clutched Troy's hand with both of hers.

Hitch stood below and shouted, "Let go, Charley! I'm here to catch you!"

Troy looked her in the eye. "It's not that far. You can do it."

Slowly Charley let her hands slip free of his and closed her eyes. Then she was on top of Hitch, who had stumbled back when he caught her. He smiled and said, "See, I told you I'd catch ya."

As Troy landed next to them, Charley started to stand up. "Thanks."

Troy pointed at the three vehicles coming towards them. The halftrack slowed just enough for Troy, Hitch, and Charley to climb in. Amir al-Husseini's men suddenly appeared on top of the wall, but the 50s took care of that issue before any of them could raise a rifle to shoot.

Charley quickly crawled over to where Tully sat with his back against the side of the halftrack. He greeted her with open arms that she went gratefully into. "Are you all right?"

Charley nodded against him. "I'm fine."

Tully gently pushed her back and started buttoning her blouse. "What happened? Did they…"

Charley shook her head. "Amir al-Husseini forced me to undress so he could see if I was 'worth keeping.' Thankfully, this is as far as I got."

As the jeeps and halftrack sped out into the open desert, no one noticed Amir al-Husseini climb onto the wall to watch them disappear in the distance as the fire burned and spread behind him.

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

An hour after their escape they pulled to a stop next to a hill. Tully was helped into one of the jeeps while Charley was lifted into the back by Kasper. Moffitt got the med kit and began to check Tully's leg. Hitch stood in the back of the other jeep to keep a look out.

Troy and Corporal Weber stood next to the halftrack as the other German soldiers climbed in. After Kasper hurried over and got in behind the wheel, Weber said, "If not for you and your men, we would not have escaped with our lives." He put his hand out. "Thank you, sergeant."

Troy took the hand easily and smiled slightly. "Without you and your men it would've been a lot harder getting out of there. Thanks for the help."

After watching the halftrack head out, Troy joined his men and Charley. "How's the leg, Tully."

The private shrugged. "It's a bit sore now. Whatever that stuff was that woman put on it really dulled the pain for a while."

Moffitt smiled as he started wrapping Tully's leg with a fresh bandage. "No sign of infection. I'd like to stitch the wound closed, but I've no way to thoroughly clean it first."

Tully managed a tired smile. "Guess that's just too bad for me."

Hitch called over, "Are we going to head back to base now?"

Troy replied, "It'll be dark soon. We'll find a place to hold up for the night and go home tomorrow."

Charley asked, "But what if Amir al-Husseini tries to come after us? We only have the one pistol."

"We've got the 50s. They'll keep us safe."

Moffitt taped the bandage in place and said, "Besides, Amir al-Husseini's got more to worry about then us at this point. He's got some damage control to do. That fire no doubt spread through the village. There will be a lot of disheartened people to convince to stay."

Troy nodded. "Okay, let's get going."

A half hour later they were safely in a wadi. Charley made them all a hot meal and they were settling in for the night. Moffitt took a jeep to the top of the wadi for first watch.

Troy watched Hitch clean up and stow what was used for dinner. He looked at Tully and Charley resting in each other's arms. Troy saw Moffitt silhouetted against a waning sky and thought to himself, "Just another day in paradise."