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

Author's note: Another good idea from tullyfan!

Slingshot Maneuver

By Suzie2b

Hitch and Tully had been ordered to stay in the motor pool while Troy and Moffitt had a meeting with Captain Boggs about their next mission. The sergeants didn't want to have to go find them when it was time to go. That had been at sunup, just after breakfast. It was now 10am. The two privates had checked the jeeps and made sure they were restocked. Hitch and Tully hated the waiting. They were getting bored and antsy.

Tully sighed as he hopped off the jeep's hood and started pacing. "These meetings don't usually take this long. Wonder what's going on."

Hitch shook his head. "It must be a pretty big mission."

"Well, I can't just sit around like this. I'm goin' stir-crazy."

"Sarge ordered us to stay put."

Tully said, "I'm not leaving. Just gonna look around for something to do."

Ten minutes later he was back with a length of rubber cut from an old inner tube, a piece of leather from some vehicle's seat, a box of small ball bearings, and a broken ping pong paddle.

Hitch watched silently as Tully set the things in the back of the jeep and opened his toolbox. He cut and filed until the middle of the broken paddle was smooth and shaped like a V. He then cut the leather into a square with two holes in it. The rubber was cut to size and was fed through the leather square's holes. Tully then enlisted Hitch's help to hold the ping pong paddle while he tied each end of the rubber to it with twine he had in his toolbox.

Thirty minutes after beginning the project Tully had a fine looking slingshot.

Hitch grinned. "Are you going to try it out?"

Tully held the paddle and stretched the rubber experimentally. "Go set an empty oil can on that barrel over there."

Hitch jogged over and did as he was asked, then returned as Tully took a ball bearing out of the box. With Hitch standing next to him, Tully put the metal bearing in the pocket the leather square made. He held the paddle out in front of him in his left and pulled the rubber back. When Tully let the ball bearing fly it hit the oil can, sending it spinning up into the air.

Hitch gave a soft whistle and said, "That could be deadly."

Tully smiled. "Before my dad gave me my first huntin' rifle I used to hunt squirrels, quail, and pheasant with a slingshot I made myself."

Just then they heard a familiar voice say from behind them, "What are you two doing?"

Hitch and Tully both spun around to face Troy and Moffitt. Tully quickly put slingshot behind his back and said, "Nothing, sarge. Just waitin' like you told us to."

Seeing the guilty looks on the privates faces Troy put his hand out. "Let's see it."

Reluctantly, Tully gave the sergeant the slingshot. "I got bored." He shrugged. "So I found some stuff and made it."

Moffitt watched as Troy stretched the rubber. He smiled and said, "Looks almost as good as the one Troy made you."

Troy handed the slingshot back to Tully with a smile of his own. "Okay, our mission is to head south out to M sector."

Hitch asked, "What in M sector?"

Moffitt replied, "Spotters have reported that several large squads of Germans have converged in the area and we need to find out what's going on."

Troy asked, even though he knew the answer, "Are the jeeps ready?"

Both privates nodded and Hitch said, "All set."

"Okay, let's get going."

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When the Rat Patrol arrived at the reported position of the German rendezvouses there was no sign of them. However, there were signs that they had been there.

They stopped and got out of the jeeps and Troy said, "Tully, you're on lookout. The rest of us will take a look around. Maybe we can figure out which way they went."

After several minutes of unsuccessfully trying to determine where the Germans were headed, Tully called, "Hey, sarge! Come take a look!"

Troy hurried over followed by Moffitt and Hitch. "What do you see, Tully?"

The private pointed to a mound of sand about fifty yards away. "Looks like a grave."

As Troy and Moffitt walked out to the mound, Moffitt said, "I can't imagine why a body would be buried out here in the open desert. Normally, a more protected place would be found."

When they got there, Troy and Moffitt discovered, not a grave, but a body that had been partially covered by blowing sand. They pushed enough sand away to find that the person was an American GI. Cause of death—most likely the bullet he'd taken in the chest. He'd been there long enough for vultures to ravage his exposed face and hands before the sand had blown over the body.

Moffitt noticed something unusual and began to uncover more of the dead man. "Troy, look at this."

The soldier was lying on his back. Legs straight and together. Arms outstretched over his head.

Troy frowned. "It looks like he was purposefully put in this position."

Moffitt nodded. "And look at the direction he's pointing."

Troy stared out at the desert. "East. You think someone's trying to tell us something."

"We have nothing else to go on. And there are tracks, though we can't be sure if they're coming or going." Moffitt saw the hesitation on the other sergeant's face. "This man was obviously a prisoner. There could be others…"

"All right. Let's go see what we can find."

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They headed east. Hours later Troy called for a halt at the base of a sand dune. He and Moffitt went to the top with binoculars … and found what they were looking for.

Back at the jeeps Troy told Hitch and Tully, "There's a good sixty Germans there. Looks like they haven't been stopped long. They're starting to set up camp."

Hitch asked, "Any sign of prisoners?"

Moffitt nodded. "We counted five. They're shackled together inside one of the trucks."

Tully asked, "Can we get 'em out of there?"

"We're going to have to be very careful. This whole thing could be a trap. We don't know if that body we found was posed by the Germans to draw us in or not."

Troy thought for a moment, then said, "We'll keep an eye on things. It'll be dark soon. If things look okay, we'll go in."

Hours ticked by as they took turns lying on their bellies at the top of the dune. They watched tents erected and a radio moved into one of them. It was becoming obvious that they were intending to stay awhile.

11pm. Troy climbed the dune and joined Moffitt. "How's it going?"

"They're starting to bed down. There appears to be three guards moving around the perimeter of the camp and two more wandering among the tents and vehicles. There's one looking after the prisoners."

"Okay, we'll go in at midnight."

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Just before the appointed time Moffitt returned to the jeeps to hear Troy say, "We need to take out the guards without waking the entire camp."

After a moment's thought, Tully grinned. "What about my slingshot? I've still got that box of ball bearings."

"Okay, sounds good. Let's get ready to go."

The moon was waning and the darkness was nearly total because of it. They rounded the dune on foot to the edge of the camp. Tully fished a metal bearing out of his jacket pocket and prepared to take a shot. The German guard never knew what hit him when the bearing caught him just under the left eye.

Hitch and Moffitt quickly dragged the body out of sight as Troy and Tully moved on to get the next. This one required two hits. One in the back to get the guard to turn around and another to kill him.

By the time Troy and Tully had disposed of the body, Moffitt and Hitch had joined them. They moved silently around the perimeter of the camp until the truck with the prisoners in it came into view.

Tully took aim at the dozing guard outside the truck. He was leaning on the side of the truck with his head back. The ball bearing hit him square in the throat.

Troy led the way to the truck and while Tully and Hitch kept watch he and Moffitt checked on the prisoners. Troy quietly crawled inside and placed his hand over one of the sleeping soldier's mouth.

Eyes suddenly opened wide with a muffled, "Hey!"

Troy held a finger to his lips for silence and whispered, "We're getting you guys' outta here. Wake the others. Tell them to stay quiet and keep their heads down."

The soldier nodded and started to carefully move around to tell the others what was happening.

Troy went to the back of the truck and looked down at Moffitt with a nod. Then he caught Tully's attention to tell him to drive, but as the private turned, there was a loud crack and a bullet hit him in the back just under his left shoulder blade. Tully spun around and went down. Hitch fired a burst from his machine gun and nearly cut the German in half.

Moffitt got Tully to his feet and to the back of the truck as Troy yelled, "Hitch! Drive!"

Troy and Moffitt got Tully inside as bullets started ricocheting off the tailgate. Moffitt quickly crawled inside as the truck started to roll. They stopped long enough to pick up the jeeps and were able to disappear before the Germans were able to catch up to them.

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

The two jeeps and the truck finally stopped as the sun was coming up. A small waterhole with plenty of trees for shade and cover. The moment they were stopped Troy, Moffitt, and Hitch ran to the back of the truck with a med kit and lowered the tailgate.

Troy and Moffitt got inside, where one of the shackled GIs was pressing his shirt against Tully's bare back. The young soldier looked at them and said, "He passed out a while ago."

Moffitt knelt to examine Tully and Troy turned back to Hitch and said, "Get the bolt cutters. Get those shackles off." He went back knelt next to Moffitt. "How bad?"

Moffitt replied, "The bleeding has stopped, but the bullet is very close to his lung. He needs a surgeon."

Troy stood up with a sigh. He looked around at the men sitting on the floor of the truck. "Everyone okay?" As they all nodded, Troy asked, "Who's in charge?"

Hitch crawled inside with their bolt cutters as one of the men answered, "I guess that would be me. Corporal Roberts. Lieutenant Ramirez was killed along with the rest of our platoon."

Hitch cut the lock off and removed the shackle from the corporal's ankle. "How many of you were there?"

"Sixteen total. We were surveying when they hit us. Then they met up with two other squads the next day."

Troy asked, "Any idea what they're up to out there?"

Corporal Roberts shook his head as he stood up. "They weren't speaking English and none of us know German."

"What about the man we found shot?"

"That was Private Cory. The German guards in the truck with us kept talking to us. I think they were asking questions. They got angry when we stayed quiet and had the driver call whoever on the radio and we stopped. One of the guards removed Cory's shackle and forced him to stand up … then shot him pointblank in the chest. Like they wanted to make some kind of point. They made us drag the body out, but they wouldn't allow us to bury him."

Moffitt finished with the field dressing and said, "Is that when you posed the private's arms and legs to point east?"

The corporal nodded. "It was a long shot … but it was all we had. We were lucky they weren't paying enough attention to notice what I did."

Hitch finished cutting off the shackles and followed the men outside. Troy told him, "Give them K-rations and water, then go keep watch. We're heading out as soon as they're finished eating."

The private nodded. "Right, sarge."

Troy again knelt next to Moffitt as Tully groaned and opened his eyes. "What happened?"

The sergeants helped Tully to sit up and moved him to where he could lean against the side of the truck. Moffitt told him, "You've got a bullet in you back. It's near your lung, so don't move around anymore than necessary. There's a field hospital less than an hour from here."

Troy picked up Tully's shirt and jacket. The slingshot fell out of a pocket. When he picked it up, he smiled and shook his head.

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

During their brief stop Troy radioed headquarters to let them know where the German camp was and that they'd picked up five American prisoners, then they headed for the field hospital. One of Corporal Roberts men drove the truck with the rest of them and Tully in the back. Troy, Moffitt, and Hitch took the jeeps.

The corporal and his men were checked out by doctors and found to be in good condition. Tully was taken into surgery.

The next morning, when he opened his eyes, he saw Troy sitting next to him. "How's it going, Tully?"

The private looked at him groggily. "It's goin', sarge. The nurses keep shooting me up with something. I feel kinda numb."

Troy smiled. "Well, you just take it easy. We'll get you transferred to base in a day or two."

Tully nodded with a tired sigh. "Okay."

Troy picked up the slingshot from where he'd set it on the floor. He put it in Tully's hand and said, "You'd better hang onto this one. It might come in handy again some time."

Tully held the slingshot up to look at it and smiled slightly. "Thanks, sarge." Then he lowered his hand as he let his eyes slide closed and he fell asleep.

Troy sat there for a while longer, just watching his private sleep and hold the slingshot. Then he left to start on his report, satisfied that Tully would again heal up.