A Better Rat Trap
By:AliasCWN
Troy and Moffitt were waiting in their tent for their drivers to join them. Having just returned from a patrol, they had showered and changed and were about to meet to go share some down time with a drink of two.
They heard them before they saw them. The two privates were carrying on a hushed conversation as they approached the tent. As Troy and Moffitt stepped out to meet them they caught them with their heads together, deep in discussion about something.
"Everything okay?"
Both privates looked up guiltily.
"Okay, what gives?" Troy demanded when no one answered his earlier question.
"Someone has been in our quarters." Tully explained. "Things were moved."
"And somebody was sitting on my bed." Hitch added. "You could see the indentations where they sat."
"Anything taken?"
Tully looked at Hitch and they both shook their heads. "Nothing that we noticed anyway."
"Perhaps they were looking for something." Moffitt suggested.
"What?" Hitch asked. "It's not like we have anything of value in there."
"I wouldn't know. Have you any other ideas as to why someone would bother your quarters?"
"No." The blond admitted.
"Maybe we should ask around and see if anyone saw anything." Troy suggested.
"I guess we could do that. It's weird though," Hitch looked thoughtful, "no one has ever bothered it before, why now?"
"Have you had any trouble with any angry boyfriends lately?"
Hitch frowned. "There was that one guy last week who seemed upset because he thought that I was dating his girl."
"Were you?"
"No, I was seeing her roommate."
"Did you explain that to him?"
"Yeah, and I thought that we had it all straightened out. But I'm not seeing the roommate anymore either."
"Perhaps a spurned woman?" Moffitt suggested.
"Naw, it was a mutual decision. Besides, it's not like there aren't a hundred other guys ready to step up and take my place."
"The female mind is hard to understand, especially when the heart gets involved." The sergeant suggested wisely.
"I don't know Doc, it doesn't seem right; Tully's stuff was moved too."
"Are you worried enough to investigate right away or can it wait until tomorrow?" Troy asked.
"It can wait Sarge." Hitch answered.
"We're not worried," Tully assured them, "we're more mad than worried. Whoever is messing with our stuff ought to be worried."
"Perhaps we should find out what is going on before we start making threats." Moffitt urged.
"That wasn't a threat Doc, just a warning."
"Well, if you're not too concerned, maybe we can still go get that drink. Then we'll head back to our tents and get a good night's rest. Maybe we can think more clearly in the morning."
"Okay Sarge, but we're going to get this guy." Hitch promised.
"Tomorrow Hitch, for tonight, let's try to relax." Both privates nodded and followed their sergeants to the local bar.
The next morning they met for breakfast. The privates looked pleased with themselves as they entered the mess tent.
"What have you two been up to?" Troy demanded suspiciously. "Did your visitor come back?"
"We heard a sound outside after we turned in but we didn't see anyone when we went out to check." Hitch responded. "It could have been the guy returning. Maybe he didn't know that we were back from our patrol."
"That's possible but hardly likely." Moffitt argued. "We don't have a regular schedule, and our routine is not exactly predictable, but it would be fairly easy to find out when we return to the base. It's not like we try to keep it a secret."
"Moffitt's right." Troy agreed. "If someone is sneaking in there it would make sense for them to keep their ears open and know when we are on base. They obviously know that we are gone a lot. But the whole base probably knows that we are back by now."
"Maybe he thought that we were still at the bar."
"That makes more sense." The British sergeant admitted.
"So what did you do?" Troy asked. "You look way too pleased with yourselves to have let the matter drop."
"We brushed the floor of the tent to erase all of our tracks. Whoever goes in there is going to leave tracks in the sand." Tully grinned proudly.
"One set of army boots out of how many?" Troy scoffed. "How are you going to find who owns that particular boot?"
"It's a start Sarge."
Troy frowned but he didn't want to belittle their efforts. Rather than discourage them, he remained silent. After all, it seemed harmless enough and he didn't foresee any problems arising from it. Hitch and Tully checked their tent repeatedly during the day but no footprints marred their neatly swept floor.
They went out twice more in the following week and each time they came back to find things disturbed in their tent.
"There aren't any footprints." Hitch exclaimed in disgust after the second time.
"Maybe they're sweeping the floor when they leave." Tully shook his head. "I don't get it. I asked around, no one has seen anything."
"Maybe he only comes in at night."
"You aren't missing anything are you?" Tully looked around the tent one more time. He still hadn't discovered anything missing; things were just moved around, not much, just enough that he noticed.
"They threw one of my shirts on the ground. I guess they got hungry because I had saved two biscuits from supper to eat later, they're gone. I had planned on eating them after I got off duty." Hitch took another look around. "It's a good thing that I'm not starving."
"That gives me an idea. Maybe we can flush them out."
"How?"
"You're friends with a couple of nurses aren't you?"
"I'm not using a nurse as bait." Hitch answered in a huff.
"That's not what I was thinking." Tully was still grinning. "Do you think that they would give you some laxatives?"
"Why, I'm not constipated?"
"I heard a rumor that we are having cupcakes for dessert tomorrow. If we mixed the laxatives in the cupcake maybe our hungry friend would give himself way by hogging the latrine."
Hitch started to smile. "I'll ask."
They set their plan in motion and had just placed the cupcake next to the beds when they got the message to report to the jeeps for another patrol. Smiling to themselves, they headed out, leaving the cupcake in plain sight.
When they returned two days later the cupcake was still there, untouched. The same couldn't be said for their belongings.
Tully's bed had indentations in the tight top cover. His shaving kit was scattered across the floor and his spare blanket was half off the foot of the bed.
Hitch's blankets were all bunched up in the middle of the bed. His paperback books were shredded on his pillow. The lantern left sitting on the stand between the cots was lying on the floor. Its glass was broken, shattered into tiny pieces.
"Darn! This is getting out of hand!" Hitch immediately went to work cleaning up the broken glass.
"We need a different plan." Tully agreed as he bent to pick up the remains of the lantern.
"Like what, hire a guard?"
"Naw, it hasn't gone that far yet."
"I was kidding Tully; you aren't seriously considering it are you?"
"I told you," Tully answered, "it hasn't gone that far yet."
"How far has it gone?" Hitch eyed his fellow private with concern. "Nobody's been hurt yet and nothing is missing. It's just some things moved and a few messes to clean up. A broken lantern is really no big deal."
"I'm not planning on starting a war here Hitch, but this is getting old."
"So what are you planning?"
"I was thinking more along the lines of a trap, a 'rat' trap you could call it."
"Because we're rats?"
Tully shrugged. "Or because we're trying to catch the rat who keeps doing this."
Hitch looked around the tent. "You know, it could be a rat. The only thing missing is food and things are just moved, not gone. You could even call that bundle of blankets on my bed a nest of sorts."
"It would have to be a pretty big rat." Tully grinned as an idea occurred to him. "You aren't suggesting that Sarge and Doc are doing this are you?"
Hitch looked surprise at the question but then appeared to give it some serious thought. "No," he finally said, shaking his head, "maybe the first time or two, but not this many times. Besides, if it was a joke, they wouldn't have actually destroyed anything." He looked pointedly at the shredded books and the broken lantern in the garbage.
"So where does that leave us?" Tully wondered.
"Trying to invent a better rat trap I guess." Hitch answered with a shrug.
"Tully. Hitch."
"We'll be right out Sarge." Tully called from inside the tent.
Troy and Moffitt paused outside as Hitch burst through the doorway, looking behind him as he stepped out.
"Sorry Sarge, I didn't realize you were so close." Hitch pulled back just before he ran into them. "Tully will be right out."
"What are you lads up to?" Moffitt asked with an amused twinkle in his eyes.
Hitch saw the twinkle and squinted at him suspiciously. "Nothing Doc." He hurriedly explained. "We're just cleaning up our tent."
"Another mess?" Troy asked, trying to see past his driver.
"No, nothing like that." Hitch answered. "At least not since this morning. We told you about the broken lantern?"
"You did." Troy acknowledged. "And about the shredded books. So what happened this time? I think that it might be time to take this to Captain Boggs. If this keeps up someone is going to get hurt."
"Nothing else happened Sarge, honest."
Just then Tully emerged from the tent. "Hey Sarge, all set to eat?"
"We've been ready, we were waiting for you. Is everything all right?"
"Fine Sarge."
Troy glanced from one private to the other but neither one was giving anything away. Resigned to waiting them out, he turned and headed across the base.
"Sergeant Troy."
"Yeah, what is it?" Troy looked up from his meal to see one of the clerks that worked for Captain Boggs standing behind him.
"The Captain wants to see you."
"I'll be right there."
"The Captain wants to see all of you." The clerk clarified, his eyes on the two privates.
"What?" Hitch demanded when the clerk kept staring at them.
"The Captain said 'all of you'." The clerk repeated.
"We got the message." Troy told him. "We'll all be right there."
With a curt nod the clerk walked away, almost running into a table as he looked back over his shoulder.
"I wonder what's gotten into him." Troy wondered aloud as he watched the messenger stumble out the door.
"I wonder."
Troy swung around to see Moffitt eyeing the privates with one eyebrow cocked.
"Don't look at us." Tully shrugged. "We were in our tent all day until you came to get us."
Suddenly suspicious, Troy turned on the privates. "Doing what exactly?"
Tully and Hitch smiled secretively.
"Building a better rat trap."
"Oh no." Troy groaned.
"Troy, something tells me that we shouldn't keep the Captain waiting." The twinkle was back in Moffitt's eyes as he rose from the table.
"But Sarge, nobody should have been in our tent." Tully was arguing as they approached the orderly outside of the Captain's office. They had just finished explaining their latest plan to their sergeants.
"The Captain is waiting for you." The orderly announced as soon as he saw them. Leading the way, he knocked on the Captain's door to announce their arrival.
"Come in." The Captain called. He was standing with his back to his window when they walked in. After coming in from outside, Troy had to wait for his eyes to adjust before he could read the officer's expression.
"You wanted to see us Captain?"
"In a minute Sergeant, first I have a question for your privates. What the devil were you thinking?!"
"Sir?"
"That snare you set in your tent….what were you thinking?"
"You know about that Captain?" Tully asked in a whisper.
"I know about it Private! I sent an orderly to find you and let you know I wanted to see you. He couldn't find your sergeants so he checked your tent. When you didn't answer he thought that you might be asleep so he stuck his head in your door."
"He didn't." Hitch gasp.
"He did." Captain Boggs assured them. "He's over at the infirmary getting checked out as we speak." The Captain looked at Troy. "Did you know about this?"
"No Sir." Troy admitted. "I knew they were up to something but I didn't know what. I knew someone has been entering their quarters and leaving messes for them to clean up."
"And why haven't I heard about this?"
"Nothing was ever taken Sir; they just made messes and moved things around. It's just irritating to know that someone has been in your personal stuff while you're out on patrol."
"I see."
"No one was supposed to get hurt Sir." Hitch explained. "It was meant more to scare them than anything."
"Well it worked. Corporal Burns was so startled that he threw himself backwards out of the tent and hit his head."
"Is he going to be all right?"
The Captain sighed. "He's going to be fine. I sent him to be checked out more as a precaution than because there was any real injury. I suppose that there was really no harm done. It might be nice if you were to apologize to him though."
"Yes Sir." Both privates answered, looking suitably chastised.
"If there are any more incidents I want you to notify the MP's immediately."
Both privates nodded.
"All right Sergeant," the officer turned his attention back to Troy, "I have a new assignment for you. There is a convoy coming in tomorrow. I want you to go out and meet it and escort it back here. Their present escort will stick around until you arrive to take over." The Captain picked up a paper off of his desk. "These are the coordinates. The officer in charge is a Captain Beauregard. I understand that you're already acquainted so he will recognize you."
"Yes Sir, we've met."
"Good, get started, I'll see you back here tomorrow."
The convoy was exactly where their orders said it would be. Captain Beauregard was surprised and pleased to see them. Troy was glad to have the captain in charge because the officer responded well to any suggestions he made concerning the safety of the convoy. Because he did accept Troy's suggestions, they were able to avoid the German convoy that had been sent out to head them off. Using a slightly different route than originally planned, they had by-passed the German ambush. By the time the Germans realized what they had done, they were long gone. The convoy arrived at the base unscathed.
"Take the jeeps to the motor pool and we'll report to Captain Boggs. We'll meet you at your tent." Troy and Moffitt went off with Captain Beauregard while Hitch and Tully took care of the jeeps.
"That's it." Tully drawled, stowing the last of the newly filled gas cans. "Ready to head to our tent and see if our visitor was back?"
"I guess so." Hitch agreed. "I hope we don't have to call the MP's."
Hitch was the first one to stick his head into the tent. He froze in the doorway, blocking Tully's view. "Uh, Tully."
"Not again." Tully groaned. "We gotta catch this guy."
"I don't think it's a guy."
"What? I thought that you said that there weren't any jilted lovers."
"I don't think that I ever dated this one." Hitch replied as he stepped through the door.
Tully followed, eager to confront whoever was trashing their tent. His eyes scanned his own bunk before turning toward Hitch's bed.
"Well I'll be." A big smile covered his face as he stepped closer. "She's a beauty isn't she?"
"Yeah, yeah she is." Hitch smiled.
Curled up in a nest of blankets in the middle of Hitch's bed was a green-eyed beauty. The cat looked up and meowed at them before turning her attention back to the five little balls of fluff busily nursing.