"You wanta back off on that, a little bit, Kirby?" Littlejohn asked worriedly.
"Lemme 'lone." The Irishman slurred, as he took another jolt out of the bottle.
"That stuff tastes like paint thinner." Littlejohn looked at Cage, who shrugged. The three of them had settled at a corner table. Doc had sat down with one of his medic cronies to talk shop. They hadn't had any liberty in weeks, and the giant knew he needed to sit down and write some letters home. But he just couldn't make himself do it. So much had happened in the last month, none of it good –
"Papa!" the child cried, running into the bar, and trying to climb up on the man's lap. The man backhanded him into the floor, and Cage and Littlejohn both started to get up.
"Hey!" Doc yelled. "What's the matter with you?" He stood up.
A very beautiful woman yelled something at the man and caught his arm, trying to make him quit drinking. The man just hit her with his fist.
Cage and Littlejohn were both moving, Kirby was already too drunk to know what was happening. Doc picked the child up off the floor, thrust him into Littlejohn's arms, caught the woman gently, and handed her to Cage, and then yanked the man off the barstool and started hammering away.
Littlejohn looked at Cage in shock, even as he folded the child in his arms where he couldn't see. The Cajun, speaking softly to the woman, headed her for the door. They took the pair outside, and Littlejohn smiled at the little boy as he handed him back to his mother.
Doc had the man down, beating his head in the floor. The two GI's looked at each other, shrugged, and watched for awhile.
"Come on, Doc. You can't kill him." Littlejohn said, and casually reached down and caught the medic's arm. He wasn't expecting Doc to take a swing at him, and the blow made him turn loose in shock.
"Doc! That's enough!" Cage's effort got him a fist in the face. He looked at Littlejohn resignedly, and they both waded in and grabbed him, just as the MP's burst thru the door.
There was no one there! Saunders looked at the front of the bombed out building in concern. This was where he'd told the squad to meet when their 12 hour pass was up.
"Where are your men, Saunders?" Hanley demanded. "We have –" he stopped, when they heard snoring. Coming from the alley. Saunders expected to find all the squad waiting against the back of the building with someone standing guard.
They walked around, and there was Kirby sprawled on the ground in front of some garbage piles, clutching his BAR. Only Kirby. He lightly kicked the sole of the private's boot.
"Oh, honey. Let me sleep." Kirby groaned, caressing the BAR.
"KIRBY!" Saunders said loudly.
"What? Huh? Oh SHIT!" Kirby jumped to his feet, lost his balance, and fell into the pile of trash.
Saunders and Hanley each grabbed an arm and pulled him upright. "Kirby, where is the squad?" The lieutenant demanded.
"It really ain't a good idea to make Doc mad." Kirby slurred. He was very hung over, and Saunders waited a minute before turning him loose.
"Where is Doc?" Hanley tried again.
"Aid station."
"If those damn Doctors have tried to steal one of my medics again -" Hanley turned and stomped back toward the aid station.
"It really ain't a good idea to make Doc mad." Kirby repeated.
"What happened?" Saunders asked.
"Ask Cage." Kirby stumbled, blinked hard, and put both hands to his face. "God my head hurts."
"Where is Cage? Where is everybody?" Saunders demanded, out of patience.
"Don't know." Kirby shook a finger at the Sarge. "Ol' William G ain't no fool. It really ain't a good idea to make Doc mad."
"What did you do to Doc?" Saunders asked, steering Kirby toward the aid station. It didn't look like he was going to get a coherent statement out of him.
"Not me!" Kirby protested. "He really shouldn't 'a hit Littlejohn though."
"Who hit Littlejohn?"
"Doc. He started a fight." He suddenly looked confused. "Shut up, Kirby!" he made a motion as if zipping his lips and throwing away the key.
"Doc started a fight?" Saunders said incredulously.
"It's really not a good idea to make him mad." Kirby said again. "Ol Doc's got a temper."
"Littlejohn didn't kill him, did he?" Saunders asked, wondering if he should just drop Kirby and run to the aid station.
"Was supposed to be quiet." Kirby said. "I was supposed to be quiet and let Cage tell. You won't let him kill me, will you, Sarge?"
"Why did you come back by yourself?"
"You told me if I was AWOL one more time, I'd be digging latrines for the rest of my life."
Saunders chuckled. At least thathad sunk in.
"I dug enough ditches for General Taggart. I don't ever need to pick up a shovel again." Kirby stopped. "I had coffee with him once."
"WHOA!" Saunders thought. "Kirby,what did you drink last night?" Then he realized, Kirby was crying.
"Kirby, pull yourself together. Hanley's not in the mood for any shenanigans this morning."
"Well he should have told Doc that yesterday." Kirby wiped his face on his sleeve. "Do you think you could get one of the nurses to give me some aspirin?"
"You can go in and ask."
Kirby shook his head, groaned. "That old battle ax told me if I came in there again she'd have me put in the brig."
"Sit." Saunders said, pointing to the makeshift bench.
Kirby collapsed onto the wooden seat, and Saunders went inside and asked a nurse for some aspirin. Then he heard Doc yelling. "I wish I'd killed the son of a bitch!"
"Ah. Ma'am - he's one of mine too -" Saunders ran a hand thru his hair. "I need to straighten him out before he gets court martialed -"
"Nobody is going to hurt Lee." The older Lieutenant who'd been typing a report stood up. "Is that aspirin for Kirby?"
"Yes ma'am." Saunders said, wondering how she knew their names.
She gestured to the younger nurse, and she took the aspirin and a glass of water out to Kirby. Saunders followed the Lieutenant back into the ward.
"Lee, we wish you'd killed the son of a bitch too. But please stop yelling. We have wounded in here." She chided.
Doc turned red. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant Brown."
"Doc, the man you beat up was our maquis contact." Hanley said, looking at the Frenchman several beds over. He, like Doc, was handcuffed to the bed.
"I still wish I'd killed him." Doc said.
"Doc, we needed the information he had. Do you know how much trouble you're in -"
"None." Said Lieutenant Brown. "Lee didn't do anything."
"Ma'am -" Doc started, surprised she would lie for him.
"Tell me what happened, Doc." Hanley said tiredly.
"Well, Lieutenant, I guess I'm fighting this here War too. I just don't carry a gun. I thought I was standing up for everything my Daddy taught me was right. And one of those things was that a man never hits a woman or a child." He was getting mad again.
"He's a drunken, wife beating piece of trash." Lieutenant Brown said. "He broke his wife's arm the last time."
Two MP's strolled in the door. "We came to take our prisoner." The Sergeant made the mistake of smirking at Lieutenant Brown.
"Over my dead body." She said, looking at Saunders side arm.
"You do not have any authority in here." Captain Duncan walked in from the next ward. "The next time Lieutenant Brown tells you NOT to handcuff somebody, you listen to her. Get them off this man now, or you can explain to Lieutenant Walters why you lost another set."
The Sergeant tried again, "This man is under arrest."
"Fine." The Captain said. "He can serve out his sentence here. I need him. There is no sense in him sitting in the brig. Lee, do you have your Bible?"
"Yes sir." Doc said.
"Sadly I have two men in the next ward who really need to talk to you."
"Yes sir." Doc said resignedly.
"Sergeant, I do not like repeating myself. Unchain this man NOW, and get out of my hospital."
"Yes sir." The MP said, moving quickly.
"Doc, you can't -" Hanley started.
"I won't leave the hospital." Doc just looked tired and sad. "They really do need me. They're always short handed."
"Do you know where the rest of the squad is?" Saunders asked.
"Cage and Littlejohn took the lady home. They were afraid her husband might try and hurt her again. I didn't know how bad I beat him." Doc glowered at the unconscious man in the bed. "I do wish I'd killed him."
"Doc -" Hanley said, rubbing his forehead unhappily, wondering how he was going to keep the medic from being brought up on charges.
"It's alright, sir. I did it. I'm not sorry." Doc followed the Captain into the next ward.
"Young man - "Lieutenant Brown started.
Kirby jumped up and saluted her, tripped over his own feet, and nearly fell. "Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry, ma'am -"
"SIT." She interrupted him, and sat down on the bench.
Kirby eyed her warily, but he sat down too.
"You do know that I could have had you -" she stopped at the look on his face, horrified.
Saunders, starting to exit the building and retrieve Kirby to help him look for the rest of the squad, froze.
"The army was in such an all fired hurry to shoot me for something I didn't even do, the first time they court martialed me, I thought if I really did something -" Kirby stopped, swallowed hard. "I can't go home."
"Who did you lose?" Lieutenant Brown asked gently.
At first she thought he wasn't going to answer her. He turned his face away to hide his tears. "My buddy Eddie." He choked. "He was a good man. He was going somewhere. Him and my sister was gettin' married, and Ruthie, she'd been takin' French lessons cause Eddie promised her they could live in Paris after the War was over. And me, I'm just a bum. They tell me I'm gonna wind up knifed in a ditch, and they're probably right." He swiped at his eyes. "All the good men I know keep gettin' killed, and poor Beck gets his arm blowed off -" he broke down and put his face in his hands and started sobbing.
"Kirby, you are not a bum. A slightly foolish young man, maybe. It took a lot of guts to do what you did." She hunted in her pocket. "Beck's wife sent me a picture. Look."
Kirby wiped his eyes on his sleeve. "Man, she's pretty. Is it a little boy, like Beck wanted?"
"He got his little boy. And his wife is very glad that he's coming home. And I know she will appreciate the money you sent her."
Kirby turned beet red. "You'll ruin my reputation."
"You are a good man, Bill Kirby. I don't know who told you otherwise, but they were wrong."
"Thank you, ma'am."
"If you'd let me in on your little joke, I wouldn't have slapped you quite so hard."
"I'm sorry. But if you hadn't hit me, they wouldn't have paid me."
She laughed, patted him on the shoulder. Then she opened the locket she had around her neck, and showed him the picture inside.
"Is that your husband?" When she nodded, with a sad look in her eyes, Kirby realized the man was dead. "I'm sorry, ma'am." Crying again. "Does it ever quit hurting?"
"No, Kirby. But it does get easier. And after awhile you start remembering the happy things." She patted his shoulder again.
"They said my sister won't even come out of her room. She sits and looks at Eddie's picture and cries all day. She got fired from her job -" Kirby gulped. "I sent money home for them, but I couldn't write to her. I'm a coward."
"No you're not. Those tall tales you make up about yourself are nothing compared to what you really do out on the battlefield. Beck told Captain Jampel how brave you were."
"Hell, I'm the getaway man, that's my job." Kirby shrugged.
"If I was twenty years younger." Lieutenant Brown smiled at him.
"I like older women." Kirby said, grinning at her thru his tears.
"Kirby, you will never learn." Saunders thought. He had no idea what Kirby had done to the woman, but it seemed to have netted him a good bit of money that he had given away.
"Write to your sister, Kirby." Lieutenant Brown put her hand on her heart. "Write what's here. She'll understand."
Saunders shook his head tiredly. As long as Kirby was running his mouth, everything was fine. When he suddenly became quiet was when you had to watch him. He'd rejoined the squad about ten days ago, against Doctor's orders, after being shot. He'd told Saunders he was afraid he'd lose the BAR if he stayed out longer, and that's all he'd said.
"Hell!" McCall had retorted. "You think I'm gonna fight you over this heavy ass gun, you're crazy!"
Kirby had just snatched Bertha from him and cradled her lovingly in his arms. Luckily, McCall was as fastidious with his weapons as Kirby, or there may have been a fist fight right there.
"Kirby, stay here." Saunders said. He could afford to be charitable today. He really didn't need the Irishman and one of the nurses had told him where Cage and Littlejohn probably were.
"I can walk, Sarge." Kirby stumbled to his feet, caught the side of the building to hold himself up.
"Doc is in A LOT of trouble. Don't you go stirring the pot and making it worse." Saunders said sternly. "Unless Lieutenant Hanley tells you otherwise, you stay right there on that bench and wait for me. Clear?"
"Okay, Sarge." Kirby said, slumping back on the bench and closing his eyes.
Saunders rapped lightly on the farm house door, and was surprised when Cage opened it. But what surprised him more was the nasty welling bruise on the Cajun's cheekbone. Kirby had said that Doc hit Littlejohn. Maybe he was confused. Littlejohn looked up from the chair he was repairing, and the Sarge gasped at his split lip. Doc had hit both of them? And they hadn't killed him!
"I know we're late, Sarge." Cage said. "I guess I should say we're sorry. But we're really not. Kirby did go back, didn't he?"
"We tried to get him to quit drinking that paint thinner he was guzzling last night." Littlejohn put in.
"Kirby, for once in his life, was exactly where he was supposed to be. Where's McCall?"
"He was with some ladies early in the evening." Littlejohn said. "Didn't he come back?"
Saunders shook his head. Hopefully the man was just passed out drunk somewhere. As long as he hadn't had another flashback and gone to pieces again. Having one somewhat delicate man in the squad was enough. Not that McCall had ever let them down in a fight. If Kirby cracked up too - well, if he did, they'd deal with it.
"Sarge," Littlejohn said carefully. "I know Kirby and I have our differences, but I really hate to see anybody hurtin' the way he is?" he'd made it into a question, like he was asking Saunders to do something about it without really coming out and saying it.
"I believe one of the nurses took care of that."
A young, pretty Frenchwoman entered the room. Well she would have been pretty if someone hadn't seriously damaged her face. She took one look at Saunders and jumped behind Cage.
"I'm sorry, ma'am." Saunders thought, clamping down on the raw fury he'd felt. Maybe he should go get Hanley so he would understand why Doc had attacked their maquis contact.
Someone rapped on the door and spoke in French and the woman answered. A small wiry man who looked a good deal like her entered, and they continued speaking for several minutes. Then she nodded and left the room.
"Thank you for helping my sister, Sergeant." The man said in English. "My brother in law -" he spat on the floor. "I have been trying to get her to leave him. He is a bad man. He -" he seemed to be searching for the words. "How do you say, plays both sides of the fence?"
"You mean he feeds information to the Germans as well?" Saunders asked. That could turn out to be interesting, and was something Hanley needed to know.
The Frenchman looked at Cage and Littlejohn, evidently decided something, and gave Saunders a packet out of his pocket. "I have been collecting information on Jacques doings. There are some maps here that may help you. The real maquis will contact you later, when it is safe to do so."
"Thank you." Saunders said, offering the man his hand. He didn't know what else to do, but that seemed to be right.
"How much trouble is Doc in?" Cage asked, as they were walking back into town.
"A lot." Saunders said. " I hope what's in this packet may help."
"We should have stopped him sooner, Sarge." Littlejohn said. "Except we both wanted to kill the man too."
"So do I." Saunders said. "And I didn't even see what happened." He headed for Hanley's office with the packet.
"Lieutenant, I don't suppose we could find some way to just sweep this under the rug, could we?" Saunders asked, knowing the answer was no, but asking anyway.
Hanley ran his hand thru his hair. "He could get a year in Leavenworth or more, and a dishonorable discharge. That would ruin him."
They heard a jeep pull up outside and men disembarking.
"Lieutenant, this guy says he's one of yours." One of the MP's said, as they herded McCall, wearing only his skivvies and barefoot, into Hanley's office.
"I'm sorry, sir." McCall said, red faced. "I got back as soon as I could."
"Mac, your feet are bleeding!" Saunders said, jumping up from the crate he'd been sitting on, and shooting Hanley a glance.
Hanley gestured for McCall to sit and he gratefully sank down on the crate.
"Don't you think you could have found the poor man a pair of pants?" he asked the MP in charge.
"I haul 'em in the way I find 'em."
"McCall, are you hurt?" Hanley asked.
"No sir." McCall bit his lip. "I got robbed."
One of the MP's started laughing and only shut up when Hanley glared at him. He lazily propped his rifle against the wall, and didn't notice the looks he got from Saunders and Hanley.
"We appear to have a bunch of women who specialize in robbing GI's operating in this sector. Haven't figured out if they're maquis who just want some better weapons, or collaborators."
"And why wasn't I notified of this?" Hanley demanded.
"We rolled into this sector yesterday, just like you did. I didn't get my briefing until this morning. Just before we found your man here. Who doesn't have his dog tags."
"I'm sorry, sir." McCall said again. "I really did try to get back."
Hanley's lips were twitching like he was just going to give up and laugh. The entire morning had been a disaster.
Then they heard a woman scream.
McCall grabbed the MP's rifle and took off running on his bloody bare feet for the aid station, with everyone else in pursuit. Then they heard another scream and two quick bursts from a BAR.
"Shit." Saunders thought. "I forgot Kirby."
The scream woke Kirby from a sound sleep and he fell off the bench. He could hear someone scuffling inside, and he ran in the building.
Doc was wrestling with a man with a knife, and Lieutenant Brown was beating the man in the head with a bedpan. Another man grabbed one of the young nurses, who screamed. Kirby shot him twice in the head without even thinking.
"MOVE!" he told Lieutenant Brown, and when she got out of the way, he smacked Doc's opponent in the back of the head with his rifle butt. The man went down like a ton of bricks, and Doc clutched his arm, which was bleeding badly.
"Everybody ok?" Kirby asked, looking at the young nurse and Lieutenant Brown, who was frantically trying to bandage Doc's wound. The guy that Doc had fought with the night before appeared to have been shanked, but neither of the nurses spared him a glance.
The young nurse looked like she wanted to faint, but she grabbed another roll of gauze off the supply cart and went to help Lieutenant Brown.
Running feet made Kirby turn back to the door with the BAR, and he laughed when he saw McCall in his underwear. And then he saw his bloody feet.
"Mac! What the hell! You're hurt!"
McCall, having suddenly remembered that he had no pants, turned purple.
"Sit down, Private." Lieutenant Brown ordered. "Kathy, check him out."
Saunders, Hanley, and the two MP's burst thru the door together to find that Kirby had taken care of the problem.
Cage, Littlejohn, and most of the men in camp burst thru the door about then. "Everything's under control. Go back to your posts." Hanley ordered.
Captain Duncan peered around the corner, saw that everything was indeed, under control, and went to check out Doc. "Can't have a future fine surgeon losing his arm to an infection." He said, then looked surprised at what had just come out of his mouth.
"I can't afford to go to school." Doc said to Captain Duncan.
"I'll help you." Kirby said, not noticing the incredulous looks he got from everyone except Lieutenant Brown, who smiled at him.
"How drunk is he?" Littlejohn mouthed at Cage.
"Have you reported this little escapade yet?" Captain Duncan asked.
"No sir. I keep getting delayed." Hanley said, wondering just how much longer he could stall.
"Well, get delayed some more. I need to tend to this wound, then I need to speak with Captain Jampel. Can you arrange that?"
"Yes sir." Hanley said, wondering what the man could possibly say that would help Doc.
"He's just unconscious." Littlejohn said, after checking out the man Kirby had clubbed. There was no need to check out the one that he'd shot. "This one's dead. I guess they thought he was gonna talk." Referring to the man Doc had fought with earlier.
"How bad are the feet?" Captain Duncan asked the nurse who was working on McCall, without looking up from Doc.
"Not as bad as Jenkins. Worse than Blackmon's." she answered.
"Got a few men here that you can compare notes with." Captain Duncan looked up and grinned at McCall.
"What happened?" Hanley asked Doc.
"That one shanked your maquis contact." Doc gestured to the man that Kirby had clubbed.."He tried to grab Lieutenant Brown and he and I got into it."
"Lee saved my life." Lieutenant Brown said, glaring at Hanley, "And that should account for something."
Hanley listened to Captain Duncan having a personal conversation with Captain Jampel, inquiring about members of his family. He had thought the man was going to help Doc. He had no idea where this was going.
"You said if I ever wanted anything -" Captain Duncan said. He listened another few seconds, then handed the phone to Hanley.
"Give him whatever he wants, Hanley." Captain Jampel said. "I assume it is in your power to do so."
"Yes sir." Hanley said.
"And I trust this conversation will go no farther."
"Yes sir." Hanley said. He gave the phone back to Captain Duncan, not understanding, but considerably relieved.
After Duncan ended his call, he glanced at Hanley. "I'd say you can have both your men back in about two weeks, barring infection setting in."
"How did you -" Hanley stopped. As long as Doc was off the hook, it really didn't matter.
"I'm a good doctor. I do, occasionally, manage to save people, even in this hell hole. One of them was Captain Jampel's son."