The Alliance
By:AliasCWN
Chapter 1
"So those are your orders Sergeant. Find that Sheik Abdul Sarharan, and find out what he's up to."
"Why does headquarters think that this Sheik Sarharan is going to be a problem?" Troy asked.
"Apparently there have been rumors going around that he wants us out of his desert. Our sources say that he's trying to stir up the local population against us too." Captain Boggs explained.
"There are several leaders who would like to see us gone." Moffitt joined the conversation. "Some of them have followers who are more than willing to stir up anger against us."
"This Sheik Sarharan is one of those." Captain Boggs replied. "According to our sources he has somewhere around one hundred followers who are ready to start their own little holy war."
"Are they friendly with the Germans?"
"We don't know." The Captain answered Troy's question. "Maybe you can find out for us while you're watching him."
"What do you want us to do about this sheik if he is planning something?"
Captain Boggs looked at Moffitt when he answered. "Whatever will solve the problem, within reason. Don't go making any deals without clearing them with headquarters first."
"I've heard of this particular sheik." Moffitt admitted. "He's a radical. I doubt that there is anything short of our leaving that he would accept."
"Well as much as I'd like to accommodate him and leave this inhospitable place to them, that is not an option. So it sounds like a deal of any kind is out of the question." The Captain guessed.
"That would be my opinion." Moffitt agreed.
"Okay, go find out what he's up to and convince him that it's a bad idea."
"Does headquarters have any idea where we should begin looking for this guy?"
"Right about here." The captain walked to the map and pointed to a small village behind the German lines. "Our sources say that the sheik is hosting some sort of meeting in that village."
"Is he trying to convince others to join him in his holy war?" Moffitt asked.
"We don't know. Our sources haven't been able to find out what the meeting is about or even who was invited."
"How much do you want to bet that Faisal will be there? He dropped out of sight after our last meeting with him." Moffitt reminded the others. "After our fight at the ruins he lost most of his supporters. His losses were so heavy going up against so few that his followers decided that he was a poor leader."
"Dietrich and his men helped us beat them off." Troy remembered. "If Faisal is involved they probably don't like the Germans either."
"Find out." The captain ordered.
"Yes sir." Troy responded. "We'll get on it right away."
"I'll see you when you get back." The captain sat down at his desk and picked up some reports that he needed to read.
Troy and Moffitt turned and left the office.
"What do you think?" Troy asked as Moffitt led the way to the motor pool.
"They won't talk to outsiders about this meeting. We won't be able to disguise ourselves and mingle with the crowd either."
"Do you think you could find out where the meeting is taking place before it happens?"
"It's possible. That part will be known, even to those not planning to attend. What do you have in mind?"
"I was thinking about trying to get a microphone in there and recording the entire meeting." Troy admitted.
"That would tell you what they are planning but not who was involved. There is no guarantee that we will be able to identify the participants by voice alone."
"Do you have a better idea?"
"Not a better idea," Moffitt replied, "just an addition to your idea."
"Go on."
"After we plant the microphone we hide close by and photograph everyone who enters or leaves the meeting."
"All right." Troy agreed. "I guess we'd better go back and tell the Captain that we're going to need some special equipment."
Hitch and Tully were waiting by the jeeps when Troy and Moffitt arrived with their arms full of the specialized equipment. They climbed to their feet and watched as the sergeants stowed all of the new gear.
"Cameras and recording devices." Hitch noted. "Are we going to make a film?"
"Something like that." Troy answered.
"Can I be in it?"
"I have a feeling you would not enjoy it Hitch." Moffitt smiled at their youngest member. "We're filming a meeting of Arabs whose sole purpose is to destroy us."
Troy threw Moffitt a warning look before glancing around to see if anyone was near enough to overhear. "Let's move out, the Captain wants us back with this information yesterday."
"Don't want much do they?" Tully asked around his matchstick.
"They only give us these assignments because they know that we can get them done." Hitch declared confidently.
"You seem pretty sure of yourself." Troy growled.
"Not me Sarge, us." Hitch answered. "We're a team."
Moffitt smiled at the vote of confidence while Tully chewed on his matchstick and shook his head. Troy growled and turned away. Hitch winked at the others and tried to look innocent when Troy looked back at him.
"So what are we going to do with that equipment?" Hitch asked once they were clear of the base.
"There's a chance that some of the Arab leaders are going to try to start an uprising against us. It seems that some of them don't like us."
"Fair enough." Hitch answered without taking his eyes off the road. "We don't like some of them either. Remember that Faisal guy?"
"As it turns out, he may be one of the guests at this party we're going to crash." Troy replied with a grin.
"You don't say." His driver remarked.
"I do say."
Hitch looked over at Troy's teasing tone and smiled. Turning back he blew a bubble and let it pop with a satisfying snap.
"Hey Sarge?" Hitch spoke again after being quiet for several minutes.
"Yeah?"
"Do you suppose Tully will see another dancing girl doing the lindy while we're on this mission?"
Troy smiled at the reference to a claim Tully had made while they were pinned down by Faisal and his tribesmen. "I sure hope not Hitch; that last one got Tully shot."
"Yeah, but it was only a graze." Hitch answered.
"This time it might be worse. Let's forget about the dancing girls and just concentrate on getting the job done."
"Okay Sarge, but I sure would like to see one of those dancing girls."
Troy laughed and slapped his driver on the shoulder. "Drive."
"I am driving Sarge."
Troy leaned back in his seat and thought about Faisal. Moffitt knew the chieftain and was certain that he couldn't be bargained with under any circumstances. If he attended the meeting it would stand to reason that the others who attended had no interest in making any deals either.
It was nearly dark when Tully pulled his jeep up alongside so Moffitt could talk to Troy.
"There are a series of wadis ahead that might make good campsites." Moffitt yelled across the jeep.
"Might?"
"We're getting close to our destination Troy. If the meeting is going to take place soon then there is a very real possibility that some of the attendees will be camped in the area. Any of those wadis could already be in use."
"And a good chance that the occupants won't be friendly." Troy finished for him.
"A very good chance I'm afraid." Moffitt answered with a nod.
"Is there any place out here where we can camp? Some place we can defend?"
"Only the wadis." Moffitt replied. "We could keep going."
"In the dark? No thanks. If those guys hear our engines they can set up an ambush and we would never hear them until it was too late. We'll camp in the open if we have to, at least then we'll be able to see them coming." Troy glanced up at the sky. "The moon will be bright tonight; they won't be able to sneak up on us in the open."
"We should move away from the road then." Moffitt suggested. "Any travelers will stick to the road when there is one."
"Hitch, head across the open desert, we'll pick out a camp before it gets dark."
"Right Sarge." Hitch spun the wheel and left the road with Tully right beside him.
The going was harder so they had to slow down but Troy wasn't in any hurry. He wondered if it was possible to set up a camp in the open that wouldn't be spotted by any Allied hating Arabs. There was no doubt in his mind that any group going to the meeting would jump at the chance to attack four lone Allied soldiers."
Moffitt called his name and Troy twisted around to see what the other sergeant wanted.
"This should be far enough."
Troy looked at the desert that surrounded them. There were patches of brush scattered all around them as far as the eye could see but they were far enough apart that it would be easy to spot anyone trying to sneak up on the camp. "Okay, we'll set up our camp here."
"We should park the jeeps close together." Moffitt suggested as Tully rolled to a stop. Hitch heard the suggestion and wheeled his jeep over closer to Tully's.
"Do you have any ideas on how to protect the camp?"
"I do actually." Moffitt nodded with a quick glance around. "I suggest we throw the nets over the jeeps and try to disguise them as a rock formation. It won't fool anyone during the day, but for tonight, it just might do the trick. In all likelihood any of the bands headed for the meeting have already camped for the night. We will just have to be up early so that no one stumbled upon us when they begin their travels again."
"Hitch! Tully! Get the nets! Anything else?"
"I wouldn't recommend a fire at all."
"A cold supper and no campfire. It's going to be a cold night with that clear sky." Troy blew on his hands as if he had suddenly realized that it was already getting cold.
"We might be able to chance a fire if we shield it with a tarp." Moffitt relented.
"No." Troy shook his head. "I don't want to risk it. We'll just have to wrap up in our blankets and tough it out."
They soon had the jeeps covered and Tully found packets of rations to hand out.
"I kind of feel like a duck on a pond out here." Tully drawled. "Sure hope no duck hunters show up to disturb our sleep."
"If they do they're going to find that these ducks shoot back." Troy promised.
"It seems to me that if we go and get ourselves into a fight, the only help that's going to show up will be on their side."
"I had that thought myself." Troy agreed.
"We going to stay and fight or run?"
"Run if we can." Troy replied. "We're likely to be outnumbered before any help shows up."
"At least they won't be able to get around us without being seen. I don't much like being boxed in, I like room to move." Tully admitted.
"If we're discovered we're going to move if we can Tully. I'd rather not fight at all. The ideal thing would be to get in and out without getting into a fight. Any fight we get into is going to be lop-sided with us in the minority and I'd rather not alert them to our presence here."
"Sort of like normal huh?" Tully grinned.
"Yeah." Troy snorted in amusement. "Just like normal."
"Only this time the opposition may be able to call for more help while it will only be the four of us." Moffitt explained as he joined the conversation.
"Us four have always been enough." Tully drawled. "More of them only means we have more targets; we won't have to aim as well."
Moffitt laughed at Tully's assessment.
"Don't get cocky." Troy growled. "You're starting to sound like Hitch."
"That's okay." Tully nodded. "I like Hitch."
"I like you too Tully." Hitch said as he brought his meal over to sit with the others. "What did I do now?"
"You're taking this assignment pretty lightly." Troy replied.
"No I'm not Sarge. Trust me; I know how dangerous this assignment is. That Faisal guy almost got us the last time we met. Now you're saying that there may be more tribes ready to join him, that doesn't sound good at all."
"Faisal?" Tully asked in surprise. "Is he going to that meeting?"
"Quite possibly." Moffitt answered.
Tully chewed on his matchstick for a moment. "We aren't going to invite them for breakfast again are we?"
"If we do we'll be ready with a full buffet this time." Troy promised. He glanced over at his driver. "Hitch was hoping to see a dancing girl doing the lindy out there though."
Tully glanced over at his buddy.
"I told him to be careful what he wished for, that last one got you shot." Troy added.
Tully absently rubbed the arm where the bullet had grazed him at the ruins. He could easily remember the sight of the Arabs running down the slope to attack them before pulling back and taking pot shots at them. It had been between rushes that he had gotten wounded.
"Eat your supper and turn in." Troy ordered. "It's going to be a cold night so bundle up. I'll take first watch, Moffitt second, Hitch, then Tully. We'll get up early and be on our way just after sun-up."
"Why so early Sarge?" Tully wondered.
"This camp is too easy to spot in the daylight. I want to be packed and in the jeeps if we see any Arabs. That way we may have a chance of getting out of sight in time to avoid a fight."
Tully nodded thoughtfully. Tully and Hitch bedded down near the jeeps where the engines were still giving off some heat. "There's room for you too Doc." Tully offered.
"No thank you." Moffitt answered with a smile. "I don't think it would be wise for all of us to be so close together. I'll find a spot on the other side of the jeeps."
"Do you think one of us should move?" Hitch asked.
"I think you're fine where you are." Moffitt answered. "I will be fine over here alone."
"You're gonna get cold." Tully warned.
"I can use Troy's blankets on top of mine." Moffitt smiled. "He won't need them until he comes off guard duty and I have guard next."
"What are you going to use for blankets once you get off guard duty?" Hitch asked.
"I'll take yours." The sergeant answered. "When I chase you out your blankets will still be warm."
Hitch pulled his blankets higher and tucked them under his chin. "Okay Doc, I'll get them warmed up for you."
"Thank you Hitch, that's very nice of you."
Hitch grinned and rolled over and went to sleep.
"Do you really think that Faisal guy will be at the meeting?"
Tully's question carried across the night air even though it had been asked in a whisper. Moffitt paused to answer his driver. "It's a very real possibility. This meeting is supposedly an opportunity for the radicals to plot against the infidels they wish to drive out of their lands. Faisal and his followers have sworn to drive out all of the invaders, which include us."
"Never really thought of myself as an infidel." Tully drawled quietly.
"Anyone not born and raised here and a true follower of Sharia law are considered an infidel. The consider some of their own people infidels just for associating with us." The sergeant explained. "According to the extremists, anyone who has befriended us has turned his back on his homeland and his religion."
Tully nodded. "They don't have much tolerance for anybody who is different."
"Not much." Moffitt admitted. "They blame us for bringing our war here."
"Well they're right about that." Tully admitted. "But if I understand it right, these guys have been at war for hundreds of years. The combatants have changed but the war still goes on. They don't seem to get along with anybody."
"But that was between them. Men like Faisal believe that they have the right to fight over these lands but they don't like outsiders laying claim to any of it."
"Heck Sarge, we don't want it, we just don't want the Germans to have it."
Moffitt ignored the 'sarge' and tried to think of a way to explain the complex difficulties of the situation. "I don't know if they think we actually want it or not. They say we brought this war here and they want us to take it and leave."
"Pack it up and leave, just like that? Didn't they learn anything about war while they were fighting all that time?"
Moffitt shrugged.
"We're not asking them to help." Tully argued.
"Aren't we?"
Tully sat up, pulling his blankets around him. "What do you mean by that?"
"We hire spies and the Germans hire spies. Isn't that asking them to take sides?"
"No." Tully shook his head. "That's offering them a job. They can take it or leave it. If they accept, they work for us; they don't have to believe in our cause."
"But they work for us; to some it's the same thing."
"So what's the answer?"
Moffitt smiled and shrugged. "I have no idea. I'm not even sure I know what the real question is at the moment."
"So what so we do?"
"Just what we've been doing." The sergeant replied sadly. "We drive the Germans out and then maybe we can leave the desert to the Arabs."
"They'll still have wars." Tully stated.
"Yes, but we won't be involved anymore. They'll have to find someone else to blame. Their kind can never admit that they are part of the problem. The dynamics are complicated. There are feuds that go back a thousand years and no evidence that either side is ready to compromise."
"And I thought we held grudges in the mountains of Kentucky. We're amateurs compared to these guys."
Moffitt laughed. "You do hold grudges. I try hard not to make you mad at me, just in case. Perhaps it's the open space that keeps these feuds going. In Kentucky you are close enough that the sides run into each other quite often. They either kill each other off or come to an understanding. Here they are able to avoid each other until they can breed and raise more fighters to keep the hostilities going."
"You make it sound something like cock fighting. You breed the fighters, train them, and then put them together to battle it out, to the death usually."
"It is very similar." Moffitt agreed. "Many of these boys know they are expected to fight so they train from a young age. They learn to hate at a young age too."
"That ain't no way to live Doc."
"No, it isn't." Moffitt agreed. "But it is the only way that many of them know."
"And that's what we're up against here?"
"Faisal and his followers have declared a holy war against all infidels. They won't quit just because we don't want to fight them."
"Then we'd better be ready this time."
"I agree, and so does Troy."
"Then I guess we should get some rest. This could get tiring real fast." Tully declared. "Night Doc."
"Good night Tully."