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

A Flight to Forget

By Suzie2b

It was nearly 1pm and Charley was finishing some paperwork in the couriers' office when the door open. She looked up to see Captain Boggs' aide Corporal Leeland Green. Charley smiled and said, "Good afternoon, Leeland. Can I help you with something?"

The corporal said, "I'm glad I caught you, Charley. Captain Boggs wants to see you as soon as possible."

"Okay. Let me finish this up and I'll be there in about five minutes."

When Charley was seated in front of Captain Boggs' desk, he said, "I need you to go to Benghazi."

Charley gave a nod. "Yes, sir. When do I leave?"

"Immediately."

"This late in the day? We won't even make it to the oasis at Tira before dark."

Captain Boggs said, "It's important these documents get to Captain O'Conner in Benghazi ASAP."

Charley looked at him incredulously. "But that would mean…"

The captain interrupted with a slight smile. "You'll be flying." He handed the thick package to her. "You'll meet the plane at 1400. Corporal Green will take you home to get what you need to stay overnight in Benghazi and then take you to the airfield."

Corporal Green dropped Charley at the airfield. She looked around as she walked toward the office. There were only two planes there at the time—a small Fokker Super Universal and an only slightly bigger Ford Trimotor. She wasn't too thrilled with either of them.

Charley handed her orders to the lieutenant seated at the desk. He looked at her, then at the orders. After making sure all "I's" were dotted and "T's" were crossed, the lieutenant turned in his chair and looked at a pilot who had his back to them as he stared out the window. "Hey, captain, your passenger is here."

When he turned, he looked to be in his mid to late 30s with dark hair, slightly ruddy face with frown lines around his mouth, and hard dark eyes. He seemed to not even notice Charley and his brow furrowed as he walked forward. "Where?"

The lieutenant smiled. "Right in front of us, sir."

The captain's eyes suddenly focused on her and he said, "The courier we're picking up is a woman?"

"Looks that way to me, captain." The lieutenant handed him the paperwork. "Everything's in order."

As he looked the paperwork over and moved around the desk, he introduced himself, "I'm Captain Steve Andersen. Your name's Charley Pettigrew?"

"Yes, sir."

"I don't see a rank here."

Charley said, "I'm with the volunteer services."

The captain looked at her as he handed her the orders. "With a name like Charley, I wasn't expecting…"

"Yes, sir, I get that a lot."

"Well, let's go see if the plane's been refueled."

Charley nearly had to run to keep up with Captain Andersen's long quick strides. When they arrived at the smaller of the two planes, the captain called, "2nd Lieutenant Calhoun! Front and center!"

A man the polar opposite of the captain hurried around the plane. He was younger than the captain with light, sandy colored hair, blue eyes, and a tanned complexion. "Right here, cap."

"This is Charley Pettigrew. She's with the volunteer services and the courier we're taking to Benghazi."

A smile lit the lieutenant's face and made his eyes twinkle when he looked at her. "Pleased to meet you, Miss Pettigrew."

Charley smiled as she put her hand out. "It's Mrs. Pettigrew, lieutenant, but people call me Charley."

Calhoun took her hand, obviously being conscious not to squeeze too tight. "Well, Charley, I suppose you'd better call me Ed … seeing that you're with the volunteers and all."

Charley sighed as she looked past him at the airplane. "This is what we're going to Benghazi in?"

"Yep. A Fokker Super Universal. She's a beauty, don't you think?"

Charley looked a bit worried. "Yeah … a real beauty."

Ed chuckled softly as he asked, "Afraid of flying?"

Charley replied, "Afraid of heights."

Captain Andersen said impatiently, "Is she ready to fly, lieutenant?"

Ed said quickly, "Yes, sir, cap."

Charley boarded the small aircraft ahead of the two men and sat in one of the six seats. "Am I the only passenger?"

The captain passed her on his way to the cockpit without a word, but Lieutenant Calhoun said, "Yep. You and a sack of mail."

Andersen called, "Flight check, lieutenant!"

"On my way, sir!"

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

When Tully got home after patrol, he found the note Charley had left him on the table. It read:

Dearest Tully,

Captain Boggs has sent me to Benghazi by plane. Not my favorite mode of transportation, but the up side is I'll be home tomorrow.

All my love,

Charley

Tully sighed, then grinned at the idea of his wife, with her fear of heights, flying the five or so hours to Benghazi. He decided to wash up and go to the mess hall for dinner instead of his plan to go to the café downstairs with Charley—he really wasn't in the mood to eat alone. He was sure someone he knew would be there.

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

Charley had buckled herself into the seat, pulling the belt tight enough to nearly cut the circulation off in her legs. She closed her eyes and gripped the armrests as the plan bounced along the sandy runway. When she felt the plane tilt as it rose into the air, Charley cracked open her eyes and let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She loosened her grip a bit. Hesitantly, she glanced out the window, even though she knew it was a mistake, and watched the ground fall away. With a small gasp, Charley pushed herself into the seatback as she stared straight ahead and resumed her white-knuckled grip.

Luckily the flight was smooth and after about an hour, Charley had relaxed slightly. She didn't loosen the seatbelt, but she did manage to let go of the armrests. And as long as she didn't look out the window, Charley figured she'd be all right. She took a book out of her satchel in hopes that reading would take her mind off things … like thoughts of the wings falling off and crashing.

They were not quite half-way through the flight when shells started exploding all around the small plane. Charley shouted up to the cockpit, "What's going on?"

2nd Lieutenant Calhoun shouted back, "Anti-aircraft guns! Hang on, things are gonna get bumpy!"

Captain Andersen fought to control the plane and maneuver around the explosions. Then one of the shells blew up directly in front of them. Black smoke and fire shot from the engine as shrapnel hit the front of the plane. The windscreen cracked and then shattered. They were going down.

When Charley opened her eyes, it took a second to remember what was happening. She was slumped in the seat, her head hurt, and her entire body felt like she'd fallen down a very long flight of stairs. Then she heard a voice call out, "Mrs. Pettigrew! Answer me!"

Charley straightened up in the seat and unbuckled the seatbelt. "I'm here Captain Andersen!" She stood up too quickly and the dizziness sent her to her knees.

Andersen said, "Are you hurt?"

Charley took a breath as her vision cleared. "I'm okay, sir." She slowly got to her feet and reached for the ladder that led to the cockpit. When Charley popped up between the seats, she said, "Are you two all right?"

"Calhoun died when the windshield blew. I got pinned when we hit the ground and the front end crumbled."

Charley looked with horror at the dash that was pushed into the captain's lap. "Pinned? Tell me what to do to…"

Andersen looked at her, his face cut and bleeding, and said, "I'm not leaving this plane." He saw the panic rise in her eyes. "Listen to me … do you have a gun?" Charley nodded. "Good. There are canteens in the back along with some K-rations. Take what you can carry and get out of here."

"I can't just leave…"

"You can and you will. The Germans saw where we went and they'll be coming to check for survivors. I don't want them to find any." The captain pressed a compass into her hand. "We managed to get a distress call out, but I'm guessing you have an hour, maybe two before the Germans get here. Get as far away from here as you can. Head northwest. You can't walk to Benghazi, but you can find someplace to hide and wait for help. Now go."

With tears in her eyes, Charley went down the ladder and hurried to the rear of the plane. She found the case of K-rations and put several boxes in her satchel, then gathered the canteens around her neck. There were also several blankets, so she grabbed one. She looked at the bag of mail. Charley tested the weight before she pushed the blanket and a pair of binoculars inside, then slung the drawstring over her shoulder. She glanced up at the cockpit one last time before she opened the door and went outside.

Charley had walked about fifty yards away from the plane when she stopped and turned to look back at it. There was a sudden muffled bang and a flash as a gun went off in the cockpit. Tears streaked her cheeks as Charley stared at the plane for a minute, then turned around and checked the compass before running into the desert.

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

Tully awoke to someone banging on the door. Groggily he rolled out of bed as he reached to turn on the lamp and look at the clock. It was 3:30am. There were several more insistent bangs and Tully said loudly, "Hold on! I'm comin'!" He went to the door in his boxers and when he pulled it open, Tully found Corporal Green. "What's going on?"

The corporal quickly said, "Captain Boggs wants to see you immediately. I'll wait in the jeep out front while you get dressed."

In the captain's office Tully joined Troy, Moffitt, and Hitch. He noticed worried looks on their faces as Boggs said, "I was just explaining the situation to the others, private. There was a message from Benghazi about an hour ago. There was an SOS from a plane late yesterday that was struck by flak from German anti-aircraft guns and was going down. Captain O'Connell was expecting a plane with Charley on board with a delivery. It never arrived."

Tully tensed as his breath caught in his chest. "Why'd they wait so long to call you, sir?"

"The SOS was cut off before they could give their coordinates. Captain O'Connell and his people were trying to figure out where to start the search." Captain Boggs handed a piece of paper to Troy. "There are two possible areas. This one is closer to us, so I want you to head out as soon as possible."

Moffitt asked, "What about the other coordinates, sir?"

"Captain O'Connell is sending some people to check it out."

Before leaving headquarters, Moffitt and Troy checked the coordinates against the latest maps. When they met Hitch and Tully at the jeeps, Troy asked, "Are we ready to go?"

Hitch said, "Yeah. Tully and I got the jeeps restocked and gassed up first thing when we got back yesterday."

"Good. It might take more than a day to get to the coordinates the captain gave us to start the search." Troy noticed that Tully was lost in his own thoughts. "You okay, Tully?"

He looked at the sergeant, his emotions plain on his face. "Charley hates flying. She says, 'If humans were meant to fly, God would've given us wings.'"

Moffitt said, "I'm sure the pilot was able to get the plane down in one piece. We'll find it … and if we don't, Captain O'Connell's people will."

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

Charley had run until she couldn't run any farther and finally stopped to catch her breath. She took several swallows of water as she looked behind her at the tracks she'd left in the sand. Charley sighed, knowing that if the Germans wanted her, they'd be able to find her. She capped the canteen and checked the compass. After adjusting her course, she started walking.

It wasn't long before she saw something in the distance. Charley got the binoculars out of the mail bag to check out the craggy hills jutting up out of the sand. It wouldn't take her too far off course and it was possible there could be some cover there.

It was dark by the time Charley reached the hills. She had wrapped the blanket around her shoulders against the cold darkness. With the help of the moonlight she was able to find a place out of the wind among the rocks. With the mail bag as her pillow Charley fell into exhausted sleep."

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

The Rat Patrol drove through the early morning darkness until they had to stop to gas up the jeeps. The sun was up and was rapidly heating the air. Tully was anxious to get going again when Hitch looked at his friend's worried expression and asked, "How's it going, Tully?"

The private sighed. "It's goin', I guess. Just wondering if Charley's hurt, if there's water…"

"I'm sure the pilots are taking care of her."

Tully looked at Hitch. "But what if they died in the crash and she's all alone? What if there weren't any survivors?"

Hitch put a hand on Tully's shoulder. "You can't think like that. You have to believe she survived."

Tully finally nodded. "Yeah. Charley's strong. I'm sure she's just waitin' for us to show up. But after this is over, I'm going to have a talk with Captain Boggs about never letting her off base again."

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

Charley awoke with a headache. In fact, she hurt all over. As she moved, she groaned softly and took stock of herself. She found bruises on her arms and when she checked the pain she felt across her hips, she found a dark purple bruise that had to have been caused by the seatbelt. Charley's back, shoulders, and neck were terribly sore as well.

She moved slowly, trying to work her sore muscles. She took the binoculars and went to the highest point she could get to. Charley scanned the desert for any signs of life. There was nothing.

Charley searched the hills for anything useful. She found a better place to set up her camp. There was plenty of scrub and a dead tree that she could burn if she had to spend another night out. However, that was about it. There wasn't any water, so she'd have to take it easy with what she had. She did have the K-rations, which she could make last, so she wouldn't starve. Charley's stomach growled and she realized how hungry she was. She went back to get her things.

Her new camping spot was well hidden, much like where she spent the night, but this one was higher and there was a good sized flat area with some shade. She ate half of one of the K-rations, then packaged the rest up for later and set the book of matches aside. Charley took two swallows of water before placing everything in the shade. Then she set about trying to stay busy.

She arranged rocks into a ring for the fire she planned to have that night and was gathering wood when she saw movement in the distance. Charley hurried to place the wood on the stack she'd made and got the binoculars. Going up to a high spot she kept herself out of sight as she looked out at the vehicles coming her way. She gasped when she saw the swastikas. Charley went back to camp and got her pistol and an extra clip out of her satchel. She stayed hidden and watched the German column.

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

They were making good time and during a quick break Moffitt announced, "If we keep going like this, we'll be in the search area ahead of schedule."

Troy said, "We skipped breakfast so we should eat something while we're stopped." He tossed Tully a K-ration box. "You're on watch."

Tully caught the box easily. "Right, sarge."

Once the private was out of earshot, Troy asked Moffitt, "How's he holding up?"

Moffitt opened the canned meat as he said, "As well as can be expected. He's very tense and barely acknowledges anything said to him. I suppose he's trying not to think about the possibilities."

"Yeah, can't say I blame him. If that was Diane out there, I'm not sure how'd I'd be doing."

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

The German column came right up to the base of the hill. Charley held her breath and stayed out of sight. She didn't think they were looking for her, since her footprints had luckily been obliterated during the night. She could hear them discussing the plane crash and the dead pilots they found. They said nothing to indicate they thought anyone else had been in the plane. They stayed for nearly an hour, then drove off to the east.

As the day wore on, Charley ran out of things to do. She decided to read to pass the time. She searched through her satchel, but couldn't find her book. Then Charley remembered she'd been reading it before the shelling started, and hadn't had a chance to put the book away before the plane was hit. She scowled as she leaned back on the rock in the shade. Charley sat there feeling sorry for herself for a bit, then her eyes went to the mail bag. She pulled it onto her lap and opened it.

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

They found the crash site as the sun was getting low in the sky. Troy and Moffitt went in, leaving Hitch to wait with Tully. Moffitt went up to the cockpit while Troy checked the rest of the plane.

Moffitt came down and said, "Pilot and co-pilot are dead. The pilot was pinned under the dash. Looks like he took his own life rather than suffer a slow and painful death."

They went outside and Troy said, "There's nothing here to indicate Charley was on board."

"But we know she was. Could be she struck out on her own."

"You saw those tracks same as I did. There's a good chance she got picked up by the Germans."

Tully shook his head. "If she saw the Germans coming, Charley would've hid her package. Let me go in and take a look around."

Troy hesitated. "She could've been injured, maybe even unconscious when they got to the plane." He knew the look in the private's eyes. "All right. Go ahead."

Tully took his time searching. When he came out, he said, "Nothing."

"That just means she had it when the Germans found her."

"I don't think so. There's an opened case of rations with three boxes missing and there's no water anywhere on board."

Moffitt said, "You're thinking she took what she could and walked away."

Tully nodded. "I know her, sarge. If she was able, she would've gotten outta here while she could."

Hitch said, "She had to know there's no way she'd be able to walk to Benghazi."

"She knows that someone other than the Germans would come looking for the plane. Charley would've gone as far as she could and then looked for cover."

Troy looked around and said, "There isn't much of that around here."

Moffitt thought for a moment, then said, "There is one possibility." He went to the jeep for the map bag. He spread one on the hood as the others gathered around. With a finger Moffitt circled a symbol that indicated hills. "Right here there's a rocky set of hills jutting up out of the desert floor. If she got that far, Charley would have a place to hide."

Hitch said, "We could go take a look. If she's not there, we'll no doubt find her with the Germans in the morning."

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

Charley had spent the afternoon methodically sorting mail. She put the letters in alphabetical order by last name and in three groups—A-H, I-P, and Q-Z.

It was now dark. Charley had lit a fire and was sitting with the blanket around her shoulders as she ate. She looked at the three neat stacks of mail that were held down with rocks and wondered what she should do with them. She hated to just toss them back into the bag after all her work. Charley looked at the remains of meal. All that was left was the cigarettes and the salt tablets. By only eating half of a box at a time she had four meals left and two and a half canteens of water. Surely someone would find her before she ran out of supplies.

Charley awoke with a shiver. The fire was dying. She sat up with a yawn and placed some twigs on the coals and blew on them until flames caught, then she added some larger pieces of wood. Charley sighed and decided she wasn't sleepy anymore and sat with her back against the rock. She brought her knees up to her chest and pulled the blanket tight around her. She sighed as she stared into the flames.

She'd been dozing when Charley thought she heard something. It sounded far away. She listened for a time, but didn't hear it again. After putting another piece of wood on the fire, she laid down.

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

The jeeps had stopped a ways out from the hills. Moonlight cast an eerie indigo and silver light on the landscape. Troy and Moffitt stood on their seats and scanned the rocky shadow with binoculars. Troy asked, "See anything?"

Moffitt shook his head. "Nothing … wait. There is something."

"What is it?"

"A faint glow in the hills."

Tully stood up on his seat. "Let me have a look."

Moffitt handed him the binoculars. "It's about halfway up on the west end."

Tully quickly found the soft yellow flicker and said, "Looks like a fire."

"The only way there could be a fire would be if there's someone camped up there."

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

Charley hadn't been sleeping, but she laid there hoping she would, when she heard that sound again, only it seemed closer. She sat up with her pistol in hand and checked for the extra clip in her pocket, then she crawled over to the edge of camp to look over a boulder. Charley could see two sets of headlights coming her way. She couldn't make out what the vehicles were as clouds had shrouded the moon.

Not wanting to take a chance on being found before she knew who was there, Charley climbed higher and waited above her campsite. When the two jeeps stopped at the base of the hill, she thought she could make out the shapes of the 50 caliber machine guns and wondered if that was just wishful thinking.

Charley listened for voices, but there was only silence until she heard someone climbing up toward her camp. Then she heard someone else and nearly panicked as she thought, "They know I'm here. They're trying to surround me!"

Charley heard footfall as someone entered the camp directly below where she was hiding. Taking a chance, she clicked the safety off on her gun and cautiously peeked over the rocks. There was a man standing down there wearing an all too familiar hat. Charley blinked in surprise. "Sam?"

Troy looked up and smiled when he saw her. "Charley. We were hoping we'd find you here."

She clicked the safety back on and started down as Troy called out, "I've got her!"

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

It was decided to spend the rest of the night in the camp. In the morning they would head for Benghazi to deliver the package and get Charley's bruises checked out.

Hitch was standing watch at the top of the hill. Moffitt was asleep. Troy sat in front of the fire, still wound too tight to sleep. Tully was sitting against the rock dozing as Charley slept with her head in his lap.

Troy looked around at the small campsite Charley had put together. He was impressed. Troy caught Tully watching him and said quietly, "She did good."

Tully smiled and let his hand move lightly over her hair. "Yeah, she did."

"There's just one thing, though."

"What's that?"

Troy looked at the three neat stacks of envelopes with rocks weighing each down. "I can't wait to ask her about those."