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

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

By Suzie2b

The assignment was recon. Intelligence wanted information on a newly spotted German battalion that had set up what appeared to be a permanent camp in the hills close to allied territory. Too close as far as High Command was concerned.

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The Rat Patrol had left the base at Ras Tanura on Thursday, taking one full day to get to their destination. It was now five days later.

The first two nights were used to scout the area around the camp. Checking on sentry placements, how many, when they change, etc. The next three nights were used to map out the camp itself.

Troy laid out the map he'd been drawing over the course of their stay. He had cut the large German camp into three pieces, going in each night to what was needed to map a section. This was to be their last night. "We have one piece of the puzzle left." Troy used his finger to trace the area they needed. "We'll go in on the south side this time. We should be able to get into camp by coming over that low hill."

Moffitt said, "Something tells me they're getting suspicious. Like they're expecting something to happen."

"Yeah, I notice that too. They doubled the guards last night."

Hitch asked, "They don't have any reason to think we're out here, do they?"

Moffitt replied, "I shouldn't think so, but we can't be positive."

Troy nodded. "This is our last night. Moffitt and I will take this last area for the map." He looked at Hitch and said, "I want you and Tully to go to the tent where they're working on their strategies. Pick up whatever you can. Charts, maps, plans, the works."

Tully said, "But they'll miss that stuff if we take it. I thought we didn't want them to know we've been here."

Moffitt took a small camera out of his pocket. It had come in handy on more than one occasion. "Use this. Take pictures of everything you can."

Hitch took the "spy" camera. "Won't we need light for this?"

"There'll be someone on duty to man the radio, so there should be a lantern." Moffitt took two syringes out of another pocket and handed them to Tully. "One shot of this and the radioman will be out like a light in less than a second. Just don't let him see you coming and he'll never know what hit him."

Tully nodded and put the drugs in his pocket. "What's the second one for?"

"Just in case."

Troy said, "We'll go in at midnight.

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At the appointed time, Troy, Moffitt, Hitch, and Tully made their way down the hill to the perimeter of the camp. The guards were on their normal rounds, so they were able to get into camp without a problem as they'd done before. Then they split up.

From where they'd hid next to a halftrack, Hitch and Tully made their way to the logistics tent. The flap was down, but not tied. As it moved with the slight breeze, they could see light inside and knew someone was there.

Hitch and Tully ducked down and watched the guards as they passed each other to continue on their way. The two Americans quickly went to the tent and peeked inside. A lone radioman sat with his back to them, headphones covering his ears. Silently Hitch and Tully slipped inside as Tully retrieved one of the syringes from his pocket. He pulled the cover off the needle and crept up behind the man at the radio. In one smooth jab Tully plunged the needle into the right side of the base of the German's neck and pushed the drug into him. Just as Moffitt had said, the radioman fell to the floor in less than a second.

Hitch tied the tent's flap so it wouldn't reveal them as they worked. Tully took the lantern off its hook and set it on the table. They started their project without a word between them.

Troy and Moffitt had gone in the opposite direction. They quickly slipped past guards and took down every detail they could to add to the map. When they were finished, they headed back to leave the way they'd come in, hopefully meeting Hitch and Tully along the way.

Having finished their task, Hitch and Tully made sure they put everything back exactly as they'd found it. After Tully hung the lantern back on its hook, they untied the tent flap and slipped outside. They were nearly out of camp. If it had been daylight, they could've seen Troy and Moffitt moving cautiously in their direction.

A voice in the dark said, "Halt!" Hitch and Tully slowly turned to face the German guard, who gestured with his rifle. "Hände hoch!"

The privates put their hands up as other guards came running. Hitch and Tully were being patted down as Troy and Moffitt watched, waiting for any possible opportunity.

Their machine guns and knives were confiscated. The camera was found on Hitch. As the guard began to question him about it in German, Hitch lunged forward and grabbed the camera out of the surprised guard's hand. Before anyone could stop him, he threw it as hard as he could into the darkness. Rather than shooting the private for his actions, the guard stepped forward punched Hitch hard in the gut, sending him to his knees with a gasp.

The syringes were found in Tully's pocket as the camp commander arrived on the scene. "I am Lt. Colonel Hartmann and you both are now prisoners of war." He took the syringes and looked at them. Hartmann discarded the empty one and looked at Tully as he questioned, "What is in this?"

Tully shook his head slowly. "I don't know." Which wasn't a lie.

"Perhaps we should find out." Lt. Colonel Hartmann took the cover off the needle and stepped up to Tully. He looked into the private's eyes expecting to see fear, but Tully was calm as he met the eyes of his captor. With a quick move the Lt. Colonel pushed the needle through Tully's sleeve and into his upper arm, then watched the young American's eyes flutter and roll back as he lost consciousness.

Troy and Moffitt knew they couldn't do anything at that moment, so they silently left to go back to their camp to plan a rescue.

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When Tully opened his eyes about an hour later, he found himself bound hand and foot with a splitting headache. He squinted and looked around the dimly lit tent, but Hitch wasn't there. Tully struggled to sit up, then began his quest to free himself.

Troy and Moffitt had made it back to their camp. Troy sighed with frustration and said, "There isn't anything we can do right now. I'm going to finish the map and think of a way out of this."

Moffitt nodded. "I'm going to find that camera before it gets light."

"Are you crazy? You'll never find it in the dark!"

Moffitt got a flashlight out of the jeep. "I'll use this and keep my back to the German camp. They won't see the light." At the look on his counterpart's face he said, "We need those photos, Troy."

The sergeant finally nodded. "Yeah, we do. Go ahead … just keep your head down and don't get caught."

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Moffitt had seen the direction Hitch had thrown the camera and guessed, from where he and Tully had been standing, that it had made it out of the camp. That would be a plus for Moffitt.

The sergeant went carefully to the area he was guessing at and clicked on the flashlight. It wasn't easy to look for a small brown camera, which was the same color as the ground, in the dark while also keeping an eye out for the German guards.

After nearly an hour, Moffitt got lucky. He took the camera and went back to camp.

Troy was leaning on a jeep, smoking a cigarette with a machine gun resting in his arms, when Moffitt appeared. "About time. I was beginning to worry. Did you find it?"

Moffitt took the camera out of a pocket. "Indeed I did. The lens is broken, but the body's intact, so the film should be safe."

Troy dropped the cigarette and ground it out under his foot. "Now we can concentrate on getting Hitch and Tully out of there."

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Tully knew there were guards outside the tent because A) he had heard them talking, and B) it would be stupid to think there wouldn't be guards. The Germans had been careful to remove anything from the tent he might use to free himself. Even the lantern was too high for him to reach with his tied hands.

It was starting to get light outside when Hitch was dragged in and dropped to the ground in front of Tully. The private had a bruised and swollen face. Tully waited until the two Germans left. He could tell that Hitch wasn't really unconscious by the way he was breathing. Tully leaned as close as he could and said softly, "Hitch, we're alone."

His swollen eyes opened as far as possible. Hitch looked up at Tully and whispered, "You okay?"

"Yeah. How 'bout you?"

"I'll live." Hitch managed to get himself upright as he said in a low voice, "They wanted to know what we were doing here with that camera and if we're alone."

Tully asked, "What'd you tell 'em?"

"I told them we were here taking scenic photos to send home to our families. And as far as being alone, I told them there's an entire American company of two hundred men out there just waiting to wipe them out."

"You what?"

Hitch shrugged. "Well, if I'd said we alone, they wouldn't have believed me. I figured if I was going to lie, I may as well lie big. When I got tired of them treating me like a punching bag, I decided to play possum until they finally dragged me out of there."

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As the sky lightened ahead of sunrise, Troy checked on Moffitt, who was on watch. "Anything happening?"

Moffitt nodded. "Hitch and Tully are in that tent there."

"How can you be sure?"

"Other than the guards, Hitch was brought back a few minutes ago. It looked like he's been interrogated and beaten."

Troy looked at the two guards at the tent's door. "No sign of Tully though?"

Moffitt said, "Not yet, but there's no other logical place he'd be."

As they watched, Lt. Colonel Hartmann appeared and started giving orders. It wasn't long before a scout column was rolling out of the camp.

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Hitch and Tully heard voices outside. Hitch laid down and pretended to still be unconscious. Four guards came in and while one untied Tully's ankles the others held their rifles on the prisoners. Tully was hauled to his feet and escorted out.

When Hitch was sure he was alone, he opened his eyes and sat up. He had to find a way to free himself. Looking around the tent he saw a table with a couple of chairs and the lantern that was out of reach. Hitch said to himself, "Not much for decorating, are they."

He scooted himself over to the crudely made table. After a short search, he found what he was looking—a nail that was sticking out of a joint where a leg met the tabletop. With a little effort he got the table onto its side and began to saw the ropes against the nail.

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The first smack across Tully's face left an angry red welt on his cheek. Lt. Colonel Hartmann said, "I will ask again. What were you and your friend doing in this camp with that camera?"

Tully looked up at the Lt. Colonel from where he was on his knees and said, "And I told you. We were taking pictures to send home." Another smack and Tully let out a soft grunt of pain, blood welled in the corner of his mouth. "You're gonna be sorry when our people show up to get us out of here."

Hartmann waved off the comment and said, "Yes, yes, your counterpart has told us all about the two hundred men waiting to attack. I have sent a scouting party out to locate them. We will be ready if they come. In the meantime you will answer my questions."

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Troy walked back to where Moffitt was making preparations to go in. "They just took Tully back to the tent with Hitch. They did a number on him, but he was walking under his own steam. How's it going?"

Moffitt nodded. "Nearly ready. It's a shame really. We took all that time and effort to map every possible detail of that camp … and now we're going to rearrange it all in one fell swoop."

Troy sighed. "At least we got those pictures. Command is just going to have to deal with the rest."

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Tully was pushed inside the tent. Hitch was sitting on the ground with his hands behind his back. As soon as the guards left, he was on his feet to untie Tully.

As the ropes fell away, Tully grinned and whispered, "I was hoping you'd find a way to get loose."

Hitch said, "Yeah, we're lucky the Germans aren't very good at carpentry. But it's not going to be easy to get out of here in broad daylight without weapons."

"I've got a hunch all we need to do is wait for Troy and Moffitt to make their move."

"Yeah, we'll probably be out of here by lunchtime."

Sure enough, less than an hour later they heard the first grenade explode. Then a jeep roared past the tent with the clamor of the 50 as it got off round after round.

One of the guards made it into the tent as his partner was cut down, but it would do him no good. Hitch sucker punched him before he even realized the prisoners were loose, and while he was bent over with his arms wrapped around himself Tully broke a chair over his head. The German fell face first to the ground and didn't move.

Tully grabbed the rifle and said, "Let's go!"

They made sure the coast was clear enough with the Germans preoccupied with Troy and Moffitt's attack. Then they made a beeline to get out of the camp to where the other jeep had to be.

However, as they ran through the camp, Lt. Colonel Hartmann spotted them. He called over the din, "This does not look remotely like a two hundred man company!" Then he took aim with his pistol.

Hitch felt a searing pain in the left side of his back and went down with a yelp. Tully spun around when he heard his friend's cry and looked directly at Hartmann. The Lt. Colonel took a shot, but missed. Tully took a shot and didn't.

Hitch was struggling to his feet as Tully threw down the rifle to lift his wounded comrade over his shoulder and headed for cover outside the camp.

When he got to the jeep, Tully lowered Hitch into the passenger seat and ran around to get in behind the wheel. When the jeep broke from cover, Troy and Moffitt were still raining havoc on the camp, but it wasn't long before Moffitt was driving beside him. And they easily made it around the returning scout column, which was in for a surprise when they got to their camp.

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They were in the cover of a waterhole. Moffitt was tending to Hitch's injuries while Troy helped Tully get cleaned up.

Tully winced as Troy dabbed alcohol on the small cuts on his face. "Sorry, sarge."

Troy looked at the private. "Sorry? For what?"

"For getting caught. The whole assignment's been botched."

"We take that chance every time we leave base, Tully. We knew they were getting suspicious that something was going on when they doubled the guards."

After getting the bullet out of Hitch's back and cleaning his bruised face, Moffitt gave the private a shot of morphine, covered him with a blanket, and told him to rest. Then he joined Troy and Tully, who asked, "How's he doing?"

Moffitt smiled. "He's lost a little blood, but not seriously. Luckily the bullet didn't go too deep. Looks like a few more yards and Hitch would've been out of range. How are you feeling?"

"A little sore, but I've had worse beatings."

Troy said, "You know, Tully, it's not like you and Hitch planned to get caught. It just happened. I'm just glad we were able to get you both back."

Tully said, "But the information is lost and that map you made is worthless now."

Moffitt took the camera out of his pocket. "Lens is broken, but I believe the photos are secure. We'll find out for sure when we get back to base."

Troy nodded. "Yeah, it's a good thing Hitch was able to grab the camera and throw it like he did. As far as the map goes, I'm not sure it would've given High Command anything to work with anyway. It's those pictures that are going to make the difference."

Moffitt grinned as he said, "A picture's worth a thousand words, you know."