The Value of Trust
By: AliasCWN
Chapter 1
The trucks were scattered along a trail nearly a mile long before they found the final battle site. Both jeeps circled the burning vehicles slowly, looking for signs of life. All the bodies they found were lifeless, not a survivor to be found. The drivers pulled the jeeps up next to each other and stopped to let the sergeants talk.
"There aren't nearly enough bodies here to account for the men that were reported to be on this convoy." Jack Moffitt looked at the list in his hand and counted the names.
"It looks like they took prisoners." Sam Troy remarked as he studied the tracks leaving the scene. "There are three trucks missing, along with the extra men."
"They could have fit the missing men into just two trucks. Why did they need three?" Moffitt puzzled over the extra truck, wondering what they had missed.
"Maybe they put wounded in the third truck Sarge." Hitch suggested, popping a bubble and looking around at the wreckage from the battle.
"It's possible." Troy conceded, eying the list. "How many men were on the convoy?"
"Fifty-five." Moffitt answered. "Ten trucks, two drivers each, and thirty-five replacements headed for various units."
"All right, let's check the dog tags and see who is missing. Once we radio the Major and let him know what we found, we'll follow the tracks and see if we can find the missing men."
"The wind is gonna blow those tracks away long before we get done here Sarge." Tully called from his seat in his jeep.
Troy sighed, realizing that Tully was right. "All right, Hitch and I will finish up here; Moffitt, you and Tully follow the tracks and see if you can spot those missing men. Be careful."
Tully nodded solemnly, watching Moffitt hand the list to Troy.
"Let's go Tully." Settling himself into the passenger seat, Moffitt pulled his goggles down over his eyes against the dust.
Troy and Hitch watched them go before they turned to the task of identifying the dead. They were finished and putting the last of the bodies into the rear of a truck when Tully and Moffitt returned. Troy wiped the sweat from his forehead and walked out to meet the approaching jeep.
Tully pulled up next to the sergeant and shut off his engine. Troy nodded at him before turning to Moffitt.
"Well?"
"We found them Troy. They are at a German base about thirty-five miles from here. They have the prisoners confined to an area surrounded by barbed wire. There are quite a few guards and they look ready for us." The Brit warned.
Troy glanced toward the trucks where Hitch was closing the tailgate. The blond let the flap fall back into place as he hurried to get away from the coppery smell of blood and the rank odor of decomposing bodies.
"The Major wants us to bring the bodies back to the base."
"What about the prisoners?"
"You said they're ready for us?" Troy waited for Moffitt to nod. "Okay, we take the dead back to be buried or sent home, whatever the Major decides to do with them. Maybe by the time we get back they'll have decided we aren't coming and they'll relax."
"You're the boss." Moffitt agreed with a tired smile. "Even if they move them, we know where the processing center is located."
Troy grinned. "Yeah, and I vote that someday we go there, hit them hard, and free all the prisoners."
"They have a lot of troops at that base Troy." Moffitt cautioned, not sure if Troy was really serious.
"They all have to sleep sometime." Troy grinned again. "The rest we could handle." He continued confidently.
"Shall we wait for orders before we go that far?"
Troy shrugged. "It was just an idea. Maybe I can sell it to the Major after this mission."
"I doubt it." Moffitt sighed. "He seems like the type who wouldn't do anything without orders from above."
"Well, if we aren't going to go raid the processing center, or rescue the prisoners, we need to get these bodies back to the base. They aren't keeping well in this heat." Troy turned to look toward the truck. "I think I'll let Hitch drive the truck." Troy turned to Moffitt with a grin on his face. "He's been getting a little mouthy lately."
"You ask for it Troy, you did tell him to speak up if he had a problem." Moffitt retorted.
"Yeah, but somebody has to drive the truck. Are you volunteering Moffitt?"
"No, no, not me." The British sergeant threw up a hand. "I much prefer to ride in my jeep, thank you very much."
"Tully won't want to do it either; he doesn't like driving the trucks." Troy went on to explain. "That leaves Hitch." He looked at Moffitt with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Why don't you go tell him?"
Moffitt smiled slightly, the smell from the truck reaching his nose. "It's your idea, you tell him." Holding his nose, Moffitt climbed back into his jeep and had Tully move it upwind of the truck.
"Hitch!"
Mark Hitchcock slid out of his seat to answer Troy's call. He still looked slightly nauseous from loading the bodies. "Yeah Sarge?"
"You're driving the truck back to the base, I'll take our jeep."
Hitch stared at his sergeant for a moment without speaking.
"Is there a problem?"
"No Sarge. Somebody has to take them back so they can be sent home." Pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, Hitch tied it over his face before he approached the truck.
Troy smiled to himself; he'd have to find a way to make it up to his driver for giving him the grisly job of driving a closed up truck of decomposing bodies across miles of desert under a hot sun.
Starting the jeep, he led the way toward the British base to return their dead.