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

R and R

By Suzie2b

The Rat Patrol rolled through the gates at the base at Soqotra late in the day after a particularly grueling five-day mission. Hitch and Tully waited outside with their packs while Troy and Moffitt reported in with Major Carson. When the sergeants left headquarters, they had quarters for the four of them. First order of business was showers and clean clothes, second was food.

As they sat in the mess hall with their meals, Hitch asked, "Did the major have an assignment for us?"

Troy replied, "Not yet. He said he would contact Captain Boggs. We'll check with him in the morning."

Tully sighed. "At least we'll have one night to sleep in a bed."

Moffitt said tiredly, "We deserve a night that includes sleep without interruption."

Troy looked at the dark circles surrounding the eyes of his men and knew his own eyes looked the same. He agreed and said, "I don't know about you three, but after I finish eating I'm going to bed."

"That sounds like an excellent idea to me."

Hitch and Tully both agreed as they tried to stifle their yawns.

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

In the morning Troy and Moffitt rose before the two younger men in the upper bunks. They left quietly to have breakfast before talking to Major Carson.

When the sergeants didn't find Hitch and Tully in the mess hall after their meeting with the major, they went back to their quarters. Neither private had moved in the ninety minutes Troy and Moffitt had been gone.

Troy nudged Hitch. The private groaned as he opened his eyes. Troy smiled and said, "Morning, sunshine."

Hitch turned onto his back with a yawn. "Is it morning already?"

Moffitt woke Tully and said, "Are you going to sleep all day?"

Without opening his eyes Tully said, "I'd like to make a go of it."

Hitch sat up and let his legs dangle over the edge of the bunk. "Did you talk to Major Carson?"

Troy said, "Yep. He's sent a message to Ras Tanura. I imagine it'll be up to three days before we get an assignment."

Tully finally opened his eyes. "Are we doing patrols out of here?"

Moffitt smiled. "Nope, the major is giving us the time off."

Troy said, "A little R and R will do us some good." He looked at his privates pointedly. "Both of you stay out of trouble."

Hitch yawned. "Sure, sarge. No problem."

Tully closed his eyes and said, "Can't get in trouble if I'm sleepin'."

Moffitt smiled. "Good point. Sweet dreams."

Troy and Moffitt decided to leave their men to sleep the day away if that's what they wanted. As the sergeants left their quarters, closing the door silently, Tully was already snoring quietly and Hitch flopped back down on the mattress, barely getting the blanket over himself before falling asleep.

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

The only reason Hitch and Tully finally got up was because they were hungry. It was nearly 1pm when they walked into the mess hall for lunch. It was crowded and after getting their food, they looked for a place to sit.

Not seeing any chairs where they could sit together, Hitch said, "Let's go outside."

Tully nodded and followed his friend out the door. They found a low wall in the shade where they could eat and watch the activities going on around them.

After a minute, Tully swallowed and said, "Any ideas?"

Hitch took a sip of coffee and shook his head. "Not yet. How 'bout you?"

"We could join the flag football game we saw on the way to the mess hall."

"My ribs are still sore."

Tully nodded. "You're lucky nothing got broken in that little hand-to-hand you got into with that German. We can see if they have a horseshoe pit."

Hitch shrugged. "Yeah, okay."

After they'd finished their lunch and returned the dishes to the mess hall, the privates wandered the base in hopes of finding something to do that wouldn't get them trouble with Troy.

There wasn't a horseshoe pit, but they did find a makeshift basketball court—a bottomless bushel basket tied to a flag pole and a soccer ball. Hitch and Tully joined the pick-up game that was going on until Hitch's side started to bother him.

After a short rest, Hitch said, "Why don't we check out the marketplace."

Tully gave a nod and said, "Sounds good."

They had little trouble finding the daily market in the Arab quarter. Like most it was set up in the center of the town from dawn to dusk. Hitch and Tully slowly walked among the things on display. There were fruits, vegetables, mystery meat laid out in the back of carts, where children stood waving palm fronds in an effort to keep the flies away. There were also spices, bags of rice and beans, hand-made knickknacks and jewelry, and some unidentifiable products they didn't ask about.

Tully purchased two rings made from some sort of metal with fancy etchings on them. He slipped them into a shirt pocket as Hitch asked, "What're you going to do with them? Give them to Charley?"

Tully smiled. "Nope, these are for my sisters. They can put them on chains to wear as necklaces if they don't fit their fingers."

What the Americans didn't see as they walked away was two Arabs walk up to the hawker Tully had bought the rings from. There was an argument and the man who had sold the rings admitted it was one of two Americans that had made the purchase. Americans in the Arab quarter shouldn't be too hard to find.

Hitch and Tully were headed back to base when the same Arabs stepped out of an alley to block their way. One of them demanded, "أعطني الخواتم!"

They looked at each other, then back at the Arabs and Hitch said with a shrug, "We don't understand … sorry."

Hitch and Tully started to walk around the two men, but they sidestepped to block the Americans way again and the same one repeated their demand.

Tully shook his head with a frown and said, "We don't know what you're saying."

Again they tried to walk around the two Arabs, but this time Hitch and Tully were grabbed by the shoulders and spun around. Reacting on instinct the Americans threw the first punches, sending the Arabs back against a wall to slide down to sit on the ground in a daze. Hitch and Tully then took off at a run.

They slowed to a fast walk once they were back on base. Looking around, Tully said, "Doesn't look like they're following us."

Hitch nodded. "Yeah. I wonder what they wanted."

Tully shrugged. "Can't even take a guess. I'm heading to our quarters to write a letter to my sisters and get these rings in the mail."

Hitch followed Tully to their quarters and played solitaire while Tully wrote to his sisters. Then they went to the mailroom at headquarters for an envelope that Tully quickly addressed, inserted the letter, and rings. He sealed the envelope and used tape to make sure it stayed that way, then dropped into the outgoing mailbox.

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

That evening, as the two sergeants met in the mess hall for dinner, Troy asked, "Have you seen Hitch and Tully?"

Moffitt shook his head as he chewed and swallowed a bite of chicken and gravy, they said, "I went back to our quarters at about 2:00, but they weren't there."

Troy smiled slightly. "Well, they must be staying out of trouble. I haven't heard about anything happening … yet."

At that moment, Moffitt saw the two privates walk into the mess hall. He smiled and said, "I suppose we can get a rundown on their activities of the day."

Hitch and Tully got their food and easily spotted their sergeants. Hitch sat down next to Troy and Tully next to Moffitt. Tully said, "Evenin'."

Moffitt said, "And good evening to you both. Have a good day?"

Hitch started to salt and pepper his dinner as he said, "There wasn't much going on so we went to the market in the Arab quarter."

"Purchase anything?"

Tully replied, "I bought a couple of handmade rings to send home to my sisters. I even wrote out letter to them and got the package in the mail."

Troy asked, "What's planned for tomorrow?"

Hitch swallowed with a shrug. "Don't know yet."

Troy glanced at Moffitt, but didn't say any more.

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

After another good night's rest, the four of them went to breakfast together.

Between bites, Hitch asked, "So what's everyone doing today?"

Moffitt smiled. "First I plan on finding a barber. I'm feeling a bit shaggy. Then I thought I'd check out the marketplace you mentioned."

Tully said, "Steer clear of the mystery meat. It was a bit rank yesterday around those carts."

"Thank you for the warning, Tully."

Troy asked, "What about you two?"

Hitch said, "We're going to check on the jeeps. The mechanics said they'd 'get right on it', but we all know what that means."

Tully added, "If they haven't done anything yet, Hitch and I are gonna start on the repairs ourselves."

"Yeah, that should keep us out of trouble for a while."

When they'd finished breakfast, they parted ways. Moffitt to locate a barber, Hitch and Tully headed for the motor pool, and Troy … well, he hadn't mentioned anything and the others knew better than to ask.

In the motor pool, Hitch and Tully checked over their jeeps and discovered their suspicions had been correct – they hadn't been touched. So the two privates went to work and no one questioned it.

About an hour later, Hitch had replaced Bertha's radiator and was working on the belts. Tully was lying on a wooden dolly under Olive working on the transmission when he felt his legs being grabbed and he was yanked out. When he rolled to a stop, he was looking up at one of the Arabs he and Hitch had encountered the day before.

Tully quickly got to his feet and looked for Hitch, who was being held at knife point by the other Arab. The one standing in front of Tully said quietly, "أعطني الخواتم."

Tully frowned. "Sounds familiar, but I still don't know what you're saying."

Hitch commented, "It sounds like the same thing as yesterday."

The sergeant in charge of the motor pool saw the encounter and walked briskly over to the jeeps. "What are these two doing here?"

"Don't know, Sergeant Murphy."

Tully said, "This one keeps repeating the same thing, but we don't understand Arabic. And that one over there has a knife at my friend's side."

Murphy looked over at the other Arab as the knife was lowered and growled, "They know they're not allowed on base." He took the arm of the Arab who had confronted Tully. "Come on…"

The Arab jerked his arm free and said, "ويجب لدى الخواتم!"

Hitch said sarcastically, "At least he knows more than one sentence."

Murphy's men began to gather around in case there was trouble. The sergeant asked, "Does anyone understand what he's talking about?"

Everyone shook their heads.

Tully said, "Sergeant Moffitt is fluent in Arabic."

Murphy asked, "Do you know where he is?"

"I think so."

"Go get him."

Tully gave a nod and took off. First he went to the base barbershop. The barber told him the sergeant had been left about ten minutes earlier. Tully then headed for the marketplace.

He caught up with Moffitt just inside the Arab quarter. Tully called, "Sarge!"

Moffitt stopped and turned as the private slid to a stop. "What's wrong, Tully?"

"Not sure, but we need your language skills in the motor pool."

Moffitt followed Tully as they hurried back to where Sergeant Murphy and his men were holding the two angry Arabs.

When they stopped, Moffitt asked, "What's going on?"

Murphy said, "That's what we're trying to find out." He pointed to Tully. "He says you speak Arabic."

"Yes, I do." Moffitt looked at the Arab and asked his name. "ما اسمك؟" After the Arab answered, the sergeant said, "His name is Ahmad."

Murphy asked, "What does he and his partner want?"

"ما هو الذي تريده?"

Ahmad pointed at Hitch and Tully and explained, "لديهم حلقات زيد بن على، التي سرقت من المعبد الذي شيد تكريما له."

Moffitt nodded and looked at Tully. "He says the rings you purchased in the market are the Rings of Zayd ibn Ali. They were stolen from Zayd ibn Ali's temple."

Hitch asked, "Who's Zayd ibn Ali?"

"A highly honored Arab warlord from the 8th century."

Tully said, "But I don't have 'em, sarge. They went out in the mail truck this morning."

Moffitt looked at Ahmad and said, "الحلقات ليست هنا في هذا الوقت، ولكننا سوف استردادها وتقديمهم إلى هنا. لديك كلمة بلدي."

Murphy asked, "What did you tell him?"

"I told him the rings aren't here. However, we will retrieve them and bring them back to them."

Ahmad said, "لديك حتى غروب الشمس."

Moffitt gave a nod. "He's giving us until sun down. Tully, you and Hitch get these jeeps ready while I go find Troy."

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

When Moffitt returned with Troy, Ahmad stated, "وسوف نذهب معك."

Troy frowned. "What'd he say?"

Moffitt replied, "They want to come with us."

"That's not a good idea."

"Troy, I imagine, though they are trusting us to find the Rings of Zayd ibn Ali, they won't go so far as trusting us to come back with them. What would it hurt if they come along? We get to that truck, find the rings, bring them back here, and they're on their way."

Troy sighed. "All right." He heard the jeeps hoods drop and asked, "Ready to go?"

Hitch said, "All set, sarge."

"Okay, let's shake it. We checked on the way here and that mail truck is heading to Benghazi."

Moffitt quickly explained the situation to the two Arabs and the fact that they were coming along. Ahmad gave a nod and got into Moffitt and Tully's jeep while he motioned his friend Jakeem to get into the other.

The jeeps skimmed the desert sands side-by-side. The mail truck had at least a three hour head start. The wind had effectively covered the truck's tracks, so they took a direct course due north towards Benghazi.

As the two jeeps sped along, Troy and Moffitt scanned the horizon around them with binoculars from the back. Ahmad and Jakeem had never been in a motor vehicle before and were holding on for dear life. They had trouble comprehending how it could go so fast. With every bump, the two Arabs silently prayed to Allah to keep them safe.

Finally they came across some tracks in the sand and came to a halt. Moffitt examined the partially covered truck tracks and said, "It could be them. However, it's hard to be certain without seeing a tread pattern."

Troy said, "Yeah, but there aren't any other tracks around."

"Shall we continue on? I'd say these are about an hour old. Whoever it is, we should catch up to them soon."

"Okay, let's do it."

Less than an hour later, Troy spotted the truck in the distance and got Moffitt's attention to point it out. After seeing it through his binoculars, Moffitt gave a nod, and both sergeants gave instructions to their drivers.

Hitch and Tully quickly caught up with the mail truck. Hitch pulled up next to the driver and Troy told him to stop. Perplexed, the driver did so. He and his partner got out of their vehicle as Tully pulled to a stop next to Hitch and asked, "What's going on, sarge?"

Troy said, "You have a package in the outgoing mail you picked up in Soqotra. We need it back."

"Sorry, that can't happen."

Troy frowned. "And why not?"

The driver said, "Regulations state that once the mail has been picked up to be transferred, no one can touch it until it's at its destination. That would be Benghazi."

Troy's frown deepened and he sighed as Moffitt said, "We're only a couple of hours from there. Why not escort them in? Then we can search for the package."

Troy nodded. "Okay, it doesn't look like we have a choice. Let our Arab friends know what's going on."

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

In Benghazi several men came out of the mail center to off load the sacks of mail for sorting. Tully hurried to the back of the truck and told them, "I need the sacks from Soqotra."

One of them said, "No can do."

"But it's important."

"The only way you can get into these sacks is with permission from Captain O'Connell."

Tully turned and called for Troy. When the sergeant got there, Tully said, "They won't let me look for the package, sarge. We have to get it okayed by Captain O'Connell first."

Troy gave a nod and said, "All right, let's go." As he and Tully walked away, he told Moffitt, "You and Hitch wait here while we go to headquarters."

They were admitted to Captain O'Connell's office and the captain said, "I'm really very busy right now, sergeant. Can't this wait?"

Troy said, "No, sir, it can't. We need your permission to go through the outgoing mail from Soqotra."

O'Connell looked up from his paperwork. "Why on earth would you need to do that?"

Troy looked at Tully, who replied, "Well, sir, we were in Soqotra waiting for word on our next assignment. Hitchcock and I went to the marketplace there and I bought two rings that I intended to send to my sisters Beth and Katy. I went and packaged them up with a letter and put it in the outgoing mail. The next morning Hitchcock and I were working on the jeeps when two Arabs told us to give them the rings, but the mail truck had already pulled out."

"I see. What's so important about these rings?"

Troy said, "The two Arabs say they are the Rings of Zayd ibn Ali and they were stolen from a temple, captain."

Tully quickly said, "I didn't know they stolen property, sir."

O'Connell smiled slightly as he reached for a blank sheet of paper. "I'm sure you didn't, private." He scribbled out a note and signed it, then handed it to Troy. "Give that to Lieutenant Charles at the mail center."

Troy took it and said, "Thank you, captain."

Back at the mail center, Troy gave the note to the lieutenant, who pointed to the four bags that were from Soqotra and said, "Those are the sacks you want."

Troy looked at Hitch and Tully. "Get started."

Lieutenant Charles shook his head. "Only one of them. Too many outside fingers otherwise."

"That'll take forever, lieutenant!"

"I don't make the rules, I just inforce them."

Troy sighed. "Okay, Tully, you're it."

The private grabbed a sack and dumped it on out on the floor. He went through the mail carefully looking for the envelope that had a bit of a bulge and his sisters names on it.

By the time Tully had gotten to the third sack, he was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall and there were envelopes and packages spread all around him. He pushed the mail off his lap and reached for the last sack with a sigh. Tully dumped the mail out and said, "It's gotta be in this one."

Troy, Moffitt, and Hitch had been watching the spectacle, and Moffitt said, "Let's hope so."

Hitch snorted and said, "After all this, let's hope those Arabs get back here for their rings."

Troy asked, "Where did they go anyway?"

Moffitt replied, "I don't really know, but Ahmad did say they would return shortly."

Tully suddenly grinned and held up an envelope. "Aha! Found it!"

Lieutenant Charles heard the excited exclamation and walked over to see Tully getting to his feet, sending the scattered mail … well, scattering. "I take it you found what you were looking for?"

"Yep, lieutenant, this is it." Tully looked around at the floor. "Sorry about the mess. I'll have it picked up in a minute."

"No, I'll have a couple of my men take care of it. I just need to see your ID." Tully got his ID out and when Lieutenant Charles was satisfied, he handed a clipboard to the private and said, "Sign at the bottom and get out of here."

As they walked outside, Tully tore the envelope open and slid the rings into his palm, then slipped them into the safety of his shirt pocket.

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

The Rat Patrol waited about ten minutes before Ahmad and Jakeem returned. Tully retrieved the two rings and placed them in Ahmad's hand. The Arab smiled broadly and showed them to Jakeem. Both praised Allah for the return of the Rings of Zayd ibn Ali.

Tully asked, "What are they saying?"

Moffitt smiled. "Let's just say they're happy to have the rings back."

Troy nodded and said, "Good. Now let's get going. It's going to be dark before we get back to Soqotra as it is."

Moffitt turned to Ahmad and Jakeem and told them it was time to go. Both Arabs took a step back and shook their heads. Moffitt asked them what was wrong, "ماذا بك؟"

Ahmad explained and Moffitt told them he understood and would tell the others. Ahmad and Jakeem bowed slightly and walked away.

Troy asked, "What's going on? Don't they need to get back to Soqotra too?"

Moffitt smiled. "Oh yes, they do. However, they want nothing more to do with the jeeps. Ahmad said they found a nice slow camel caravan to take them. Not so many bumps."

Troy, Moffitt, Hitch, and Tully laughed as they got into the jeeps and drove out of Benghazi into the desert.