Someone's Watching You
By: AliasCWN
Chapter 1
"Hey Tully, Hitch….hi."
"Hey Danny." Tully Pettigrew looked up from checking the tire pressure on his jeep.
"How are you doing?" Hitch called.
Danny Prentiss walked over to where Hitch sat on the fender of his jeep.
"You letting Tully do all the work again?"
Hitch laughed. "Whenever I can."
"He's not kidding either." Tully grinned at the blond as he straightened his back. "Last week he left me to get all of the supplies while he flirted with one of the new nurses."
Hitch just shrugged as Danny smiled at them.
"So what are you doing over here Danny?" Hitch asked seriously. "We don't see you over this way very often."
"I had an errand to run and I saw you drive in as I was headed back to the barracks. My friend here," Danny pointed to another soldier who stood quietly behind him, "wanted to meet you guys. He says he has been hearing stories about you guys ever since he landed in North Africa."
"He doesn't believe them, I hope." Hitch laughed again. "Most of those stories have changed so much that we don't even recognize them, and we were supposed to be there when they happened."
Danny shrugged as he motioned his friend forward. "You'll have to ask him, I just said that I could introduce you. This is Jed Gardner. Jed, this is Tully Pettigrew and Mark Hitchcock; half of the Rat Patrol."
"The working half." Tully grinned as he offered his hand. "At least one of us is working."
Hitch slapped Tully on the shoulder as he hopped off his jeep to shake hands with Gardner. "I do my share. Who picked up all the supplies Serge requisitioned today? And I already checked my own jeep."
"Do you check your jeeps every day?" Gardner asked as he shook the blonde's hand.
"Yep, especially if we're going out soon; we have another patrol this afternoon."
"Where are you guys headed?" The question sounded off-hand, almost like an afterthought.
Tully and Hitch exchanged looks, their natural caution kicking in.
"Don't know. Serge hasn't told us yet." Hitch answered cautiously. "He'll let us know when he gets here."
"Better you than me." Danny grinned. "It's way too hot to be out in the sun getting shot at."
"It's always too hot to get shot at." Tully corrected. "I'd rather go out and come back in with no new holes in me."
"I hear you." The conversation had taken a disturbing turn and Danny tried to steer it in another direction. "Are you guys going to be around on Saturday for the baseball game? I hear the teams that are playing have some big rivalry going; it could be a good game."
"We should be here, there are no guarantees," Tully answered, "you know Serge."
"We gotta go Danny, here comes Serge." Hitchcock interrupted the conversation.
"We need to get back too." Jed replied uneasily. He eyed Troy as he approached. "I have some things that I need to get done." He started to walk away, not waiting for Danny.
"I thought that you wanted to meet the Rat Patrol." Danny hurried to catch up to Jed. "Sergeant Troy is their leader. Don't you want to meet him?" Tully and Hitch watched them walk away, puzzled as to why Jed suddenly seemed to be in a hurry to be somewhere else. He kept glancing over his shoulder, watching Troy.
"Who was that?"
Tully turned to find Troy standing beside him. "Danny Prentiss brought a friend around; said his name was Jed Gardner. The guy seemed nice enough but he's a bit strange." Tully glanced in the direction the two men had taken. They were nowhere in sight. "Danny said he wanted to meet us; said he'd heard a lot of stories about us. I guess you scared him off, he took off the minute Hitch said you were coming."
"Me?" Troy laughed.
"He saw you and he suddenly needed to be somewhere else." Tully grinned at his sergeant. "You do have that effect on people."
"Yeah." Troy scoffed. "More than likely he was afraid you'd ask him to help fix the jeep."
"No way Serge! I don't let just anybody work on this baby." Tully patted the hood of his jeep affectionately.
"Here comes Moffitt." Hitch called.
"Let's get moving then, if we hurry we can get back before dark." Troy slid into his seat.
"Where are we headed Serge?" Hitch questioned.
Troy looked up in surprise. Usually the privates waited to be told; they seldom cared to know ahead of time.
Hitch shrugged at his look. "Jed asked and we told him we didn't know. It just occurred to me, we don't know."
"Does it matter?"
Hitch shrugged again. "Not really." He didn't wait for an answer. The two privates slid into the driver's seats and waited for the order to pull out.
Troy and Moffitt smiled at each other, not sure what had just happened. Troy nodded to Moffitt and gave Hitch the directions to lead their way off the base.
The sergeants leaned back in their seats and enjoyed the ride. This close to the base, they felt relatively safe. The drivers kept their eyes on the desert, avoiding the rocks and watching the terrain ahead of them. The dunes around them were shallow ones but they were plenty deep enough to conceal trouble. Even this close to the base, the Arabs were a constant threat and a real danger.
Hitch's jeep was in the lead with Troy still giving him directions. Tully swerved off to one side to avoid the dust kicked up by the other jeep. They raced side by side, relaxed but alert. Tully grinned at Hitch as the blond looked over at him. He gave him a little wave, glad to be on the move instead of sitting around camp. The base was several miles behind them, getting further away by the minute. Moffitt, in the passenger seat, was watching for planes. The Germans had been sending them over the base on occasion, keeping everyone on their toes. Tully swerved around a rock, careful not to turn too sharply, but Moffitt gripped the dash out of reflex anyway.
Hitch glanced over again and suddenly his eyes got big behind his goggles. Tully saw his expression just as Hitch yelled a warning.
Moffitt heard the yell and turned to look at Hitch. Then he turned to look past Tully to the dunes they were passing. Two lumbering halftracks were coming around the dune aiming right for them.
As Tully stomped on the gas the gunner in the halftrack opened fire. The jeep jumped ahead and Tully pushed it as hard as he could. He swerved right and then left, making them a dodging target rather than one in a straight line. Still, the bullets were coming way too close for comfort.
Moffitt grunted and leaned to the side, falling against Tully's right arm. He quickly pulled himself upright and got a grip on the seat to keep his balance.
Tully glanced over at him, worried, but Moffitt waved him on. They continued dodging, one way and then the other, while pulling ahead of the slower, heavier vehicles. Tully could catch glimpses of Hitch's jeep out of the corner of his eye. Troy had climbed into the back and was returning fire with his 50. The other jeep was keeping pace, staying far enough away to make separate targets. They outdistanced the halftracks after what seemed to be a long chase. At a signal from Troy, Tully followed Hitch's jeep into a wadi well clear of the ambush site. The two jeeps rolled to a stop and Troy jumped from his jeep to run to Moffitt's side.
"I'm all right Troy." The Brit was quick to declare. "The bullet just grazed me; I lost my balance for a minute." He pulled his shirt out to show where a bullet had passed clean through.
Troy pulled Moffitt's shirt up to reveal a long, bloody gash across his ribs. Tully handed him a cloth and a canteen so he could clean the wound. Moffitt pulled away with a groan as the cloth touched the broken skin.
"You're right. The bullet cut a line across your ribs but it didn't penetrate; a bloody mess but not serious. We're close to home; we'll just wrap it up and get you back to the medics. They can take care of it better than I can anyway." He taped a clean pad of gauze over the wound and wrapped more gauze around the ribs.
"We ran right into that ambush." Tully drawled from his position by the jeep.
"They waited for us to pass before they started out; it almost worked." Hitch added. He was on top of the wadi watching for the halftracks.
"Almost?" Tully looked up at Hitch. "They got Moffitt."
"They could have got all of us." Troy growled. "We were lucky to spot them before they opened fire. If they had had more time to aim, it could have been a lot worse."
"That's an odd place for halftracks to wait in ambush. They could have been spotted by one of our planes or run down by one of our patrols. They don't usually sit around that close to the base." Moffitt listed the concerns that had occurred to all of them. They worried that the unusual behavior of the halftracks was a prelude to another offensive.
"We'll have to report this to the Captain. He may want to send out more patrols to keep an eye out for more ambushes." Troy finished packing the medical kit and tossed it to Tully to tuck under his seat. "Let's head back."
Back at the base:
"They were just sitting there waiting Sir. They hit us as soon as we passed the wadi." Troy had reported to Captain Boggs as soon as they had dropped Moffitt at the medical tent. "I've never seen them this close to the base before today."
"And you didn't see any other activity?" The Captain asked.
"No Sir. We circled back that way and found the tracks they made going in; they were alone."
"Odd." The Captain remarked, his face thoughtful. "I'll increase the patrols and warn them, we'll need to keep a sharp eye on all the convoys, coming and going." Troy watched as the Captain considered all the possible options at his disposal. "Is Sergeant Moffitt going to be all right?"
"Yes Sir." Troy responded. "I left him with the medics but they said he'd be fine. They are going to give him some antibiotics and tape him up."
"Good, good, I want you to go out again and see if you can find any more sign of troop movements toward our lines." The Captain stepped to the map he had hung on his wall and eyed the lines marked on it. "If they are making a move, I want to know about it."
"Yes Sir, we'll head out as soon as Moffitt is done at the hospital."
The Captain was still staring at the map with a worried expression when he dismissed the sergeant.
The motor pool:
"Hi guys. Are you back already?"
Tully and Hitch looked up from their jeeps to see Private Gardner walking toward them.
"Looks that way." Tully answered sarcastically. There was something about the way that Gardner ask that rubbed him the wrong way.
Jed Gardner kept walking until he was standing right next to the jeeps. "How'd your patrol go? You're back pretty quick."
"The patrol was about normal." Tully answered warily. "We met a few halftracks and then we came home. Nothing special."
"Anybody hurt?" As Gardner asked the question his eyes sparkled with excitement.
Tully didn't answer as Hitch came around the front of the jeep. It was Hitch who answered the question. "Just a scratch, why?"
Gardner shrugged his shoulders. "Some of the guys said they saw you head straight for the medical tent. I was just curious is all."
"You're not one of those guys who likes to hear all the gory details, are you?" Hitchcock's voice had become quiet; his tone was calm but his eyes had darkened with anger. "If that's what you want, you'd better leave."
Gardner threw his hands in the air. "No, no, I was just wondering if anyone got hurt. Don't get all mad at me. I thought Danny might ask and I wanted to be able to tell him if he asks."
At what he considered a reasonable explanation, Hitch calmed down. "Sorry, things are just a bit crazy right now."
Gardner nodded his understanding. "Are you going to go back out?"
"Probably, the Captain is going to be curious about those halftracks."
"They wouldn't send you out right away, would they?" Gardner seemed surprised.
"As soon as possible, I bet." Hitch answered.
"Here comes Serge and he's got Doc with him." Tully called. "Looks like they're ready to roll."
"Well good luck." Gardner ducked between the jeeps and went out the back of the motor pool, avoiding the sergeants.
"What was that all about?" Tully followed the other man's departure with his eyes. "Did you see how quick he took off when I said Serge was coming?"
"I saw. There is definitely something strange about that guy." Hitch had watched Gardner's hurried departure too. "I wonder how long Danny has known him." He decided that he needed to talk to Danny Prentiss alone, and soon.
"Ready to roll?" Troy called as soon as he was close.
"Yeah Serge, we're good to go." Tully answered. "How are you feeling Doc?"
"A bit stiff but fine otherwise." The British sergeant answered with a smile. "Shall we try this again?"
"Without the bullets flying, if you please." Hitch pleaded.
Troy nodded and climbed into the jeep. "Let's shake it, the Captain wants answers."
This time Troy directed them out of the camp in a different direction. He planned to make a big circle around and approach the ambush site from the other side. As they rolled through the base, headed for the other gate, Tully thought that he saw Jed Gardner watching them. He turned for a second look but there was no one there.
They cleared the base and started their circle. As they reached the wadi, Troy had them split up and look for tracks before approaching. As before, the tracks suggested that the halftracks had been alone in the ambush. After following the tracks in reverse for a distance, Troy decided that there was nothing pointing to the vehicles having been part of a group. Still puzzled, Troy ordered them to complete their recon so they could get back to the base. The rest of their patrol was uneventful, the two halftracks being the only German activity they found. They searched the area around the base for the entire day, wanting to be sure that they didn't miss anything. It was getting dark when the jeeps rolled past the guards on the perimeter of the base.
Hitch waved at the sentry as they rolled past, getting a nod in return. He frowned suddenly as he noticed some furtive movement near some vehicles behind the guard. Swinging his jeep over that way, he tried to locate the figure he thought he'd seen lurking in the shadows.
"What are you doing Hitch?" Troy demanded of his driver.
"I saw somebody hanging in the shadows over here."
"Who?"
"I don't know Serge; I wanted to see if I could get a better look." The blond shook his head as he scanned the empty street. "I guess they left."
"Well let's get back to the motor pool; I want to see Captain Boggs before he leaves for the day."
Hitch nodded and pulled his jeep back onto the main road through the camp. He quickly caught up with Tully who had stopped to wait for him. Giving his friend a nod, they continued on to the motor pool.
"Service the jeeps and get them ready to go out again. We'll meet at the mess hall and grab something to eat before we turn in."
The two privates nodded and turned to their jeeps. Troy and Moffitt began their walk to the Captain's office.
"Isn't that the private who was talking to Tully and Hitch this morning?" Sam Troy spotted a soldier leaning against a wall watching them.
Moffitt glanced around but the soldier had hurried away. "I don't see anyone, but then, I didn't see anyone talking to Tully and Hitch this morning either." The Brit answered honestly.
"He took off as soon as he saw me coming; Tully said that I scared him off."
Moffitt smiled, "You do sometimes have that effect on people."
Troy smiled and shook his head. "That's exactly what Tully said."
"Great minds think alike." The Brit added with a mischievous smile.