Smoke

By: AliasCWN

Chapter 3

Moffitt led the way with Tully keeping an eye out behind them. The closer they got to the building that housed the German headquarters the heavier the security became.

Afraid that even a whisper would alert the guards, Moffitt communicated with Tully using hand signals. They narrowly avoided being spotted by more than one guard as they crept through the streets to their destination. As they got closer Moffitt made the decision to go up. They knew from experience that most soldiers didn't look up to search for an enemy. He picked a roof and Tully helped him reach it. Taking both weapons and placing them carefully out of the way, he leaned down and offered Tully a hand to climb up after him.

Tully scrambled up and dropped flat as a sentry turned the corner. The guard looked both ways before he stepped into the alley. Tully made a mental note to thank Moffitt for choosing the roof. They waited, perfectly still until the guard turned the next corner and disappeared. Tully looked at the sergeant and pretended to wipe his brow. The sergeant smiled and nodded his agreement.

Aware that the guard was still nearby, the two men tested each step carefully before shifting their full weight. When they did move they transferred their weight slowly, listening for any tell-tale sounds. The sergeant picked the path while Tully made sure that they weren't observed. It was another nerve wracking trip in slow motion.

As they crossed to the third and final building Moffitt motioned for Tully to move over next to the window. The window he indicated was open to let in the cool night air. Inside ragged snoring sounded like someone sawing wood. Occasionally the snorer would pause and roll in his sleep before the snoring would continue.

Tully grinned at his sergeant as he listened to the sounds coming from inside the room. He could just imagine what Sarge would say if any of them snored like that. Really, it wasn't funny, since a snore like that would bring danger in any number of forms while they slept, but Tully was amused just the same.

While he waited for Moffitt to give the order to go in he again checked to make sure that they hadn't been seen. He supposed that any sound that they made now would be attributed to the sleeper snuggled in his bed inside the room. He decided that they would have to be extra careful not to wake their noisy friend since someone might take notice of the sudden silence. Just then Moffitt bent down and ducked through the window. The sergeant slipped through the window with barely the sound of clothing rubbing on the window frame.

Tully looked around outside while Moffitt listened for an alert from inside. The sleeper continued to snore without interruption. A hand came out and waved Tully inside. His entrance was as smooth and quiet as the sergeant's had been before him. The room's occupant slept on oblivious to the danger that crept through his room.

Tully slid his knife from its sheath and followed the sergeant out into the hall. As the door shut behind them the sleeper again rolled and paused in his snoring. Both men tensed, expecting an alarm, but after a moment the snoring resumed.

The light in the hall was dim, just enough to walk the passage without tripping over the rugs or banging into the small tables spaced along its length. Tully brushed against a large vase on one table and barely kept it from smashing to the floor. Moffitt gave him a warning glance just as he bumped into the next one. There was a small sound as Moffitt caught the vase with both hands. The fine porcelain rang like a chime as it banged against the metal of the machine gun the sergeant held one- handed.

A voice called out sleepily, asking who was out there. Muffling his voice, Moffitt called back that he was just the guard checking the halls. The voice demanded that he do it more quietly. Moffitt apologized and motioned for Tully to keep moving. They found the stairs and crept down them cautiously. Moffitt expect to find a guard at the bottom of the stairs but the room was empty. He led the way to a set of carved double doors. Trying the handle, he found it locked. He pulled a set of lock picks from his pocket and quickly opened the door.

The two men slipped inside and locked the door behind them. Tully stayed by the door as Moffitt searched the room. He found the safe encased in an elaborately carved cabinet that looked more like a liquor cabinet than a safe. He gave Tully a thumb's-up when he found it.

The next ten minutes passed slowly as Moffitt tried in vain to open the safe. After yet another failed attempt he looked at his watch and shrugged his shoulders at Tully.

Tully waited for the sergeant to decide what he wanted to try next.

"We need to find someone to open it." The sergeant whispered as he rejoined Tully.

"If we wake the snorer everyone will notice the quiet." Tully warned.

"I was thinking more along the lines of waking our light sleeper." Moffitt admitted. "Why take a chance on waking more than we need."

"Do you think he'll know the combination?"

"Most likely." Moffitt answered. "From the tone he used with me it's fairly certain that he's one of the higher ranking officers on this base."

"How do you want to do it?"

Moffitt smiled. "He did warn me to be quieter. I should think that if I were to repeat my earlier mistake it would not only wake him, it should bring him out to take my name for future punishment."

"We'd better use the name of someone from the base just in case he knows the names of all of his men."

Moffitt smiled at Tully's suggestion. "What's the name of the cook? No one knows the name of the cook unless he's a private cook."

"Unless he's a lousy cook." Tully corrected.

Moffitt picked up some papers off of the desk and read through them. "There's a Private Leicher who is on report for drinking. That officer might recognize the name but I doubt that he would know the man."

"That should work. We'd better get moving, Sarge and Hitch are going to start worrying. They still need to free the prisoners and that may take them some time too."

"Yes, morning will be here before we know it. All right Tully, back up the stairs where Private Leicher will once again face being on report."

"Poor guy." Tully grinned. "Lead the way Doc."

The plan worked perfectly. Moffitt banged on the same vase that he had bumped earlier. The same sleepy voice called out to him asking him what he was doing. Moffitt smiled at Tully and answered the question, sounding like he had been drinking. When the angry officer stormed to the door to confront him Moffitt was ready. He distracted the officer while Tully knocked him cold.

The officer fell into Moffitt's waiting arms. Between the two of them they managed to carry the unconscious officer back to his bed and tie him spread-eagle to the bed posts. Tully found a pitcher of water and wet a cloth to use to bring him around.

"Well well Tully, we hit the jackpot, so to speak."

Tully paused to look at the sergeant.

"This is none other than Colonel von Ziegler, the base commander. If he doesn't know the combination I don't know who would."

"Good, let's get the dang thing and get out of here."

"Right. Let me gag him until we explain just what it is we want. It wouldn't do at all to have him shouting out before he understands the consequences."

Tully waited until the gag was in place before he woke the prisoner.

Colonel von Ziegler awoke with a start, confused at first. Then anger took over and he tried to demand his release. The gag prevented him from shouting but he tried anyway.

"Now now Colonel," Moffitt began. "Before we remove the gag we need to set some rules. First, we are in control here, what we say goes." Moffitt spoke slowly as if talking to a child. "Second, there will be no noise. Once we remove this gag you will answer our question and no more. Do you understand?"

The Colonel glared at them.

"We haven't much time Colonel so you will understand if we seem to be in a bit of a rush. We would like the combination for the safe downstairs."

The Colonel shook his head from side to side in refusal.

"That's too bad Colonel." Moffitt said sympathetically. "We were going to leave you to go back to sleep, but if you insist, we'll have to convince you to cooperate." Moffitt pulled a knife and held it over the Colonel's body. "Where shall we start Tully?"

"Like you said Sarge, we're in a hurry. Start big."

"But not too big." Moffitt decided. "We do want to be fair here. We should give him a chance to understand just how serious we are about this information." With that the sergeant brought the knife down on the Colonel's thigh.

The pain was intense but no sound escaped past the gag. The Colonel listened to the names mentioned with a sickening realization. He now knew who the men were who held him in their power. Colonel von Ziegler recalled Captain Dietrich's words of earlier. "Ruthless for the sake of the mission but not cruel for the sake of cruelty." Perhaps there was a chance that he could survive this nightmare. No one need know that he had given them the combination; he could claim that they had cracked the safe on their own. Besides, he told himself, they'd never make it off the base alive. His security was some of the best in North Africa; he had personally trained his hand-picked men to assure that fact. He didn't know how these men had gotten as far as they had but he was confident that they would soon be discovered and either captured or killed. He gave them the combination.

"Thank you very much Colonel." The British sergeant replaced the gag after his cooperation. "I'm truly sorry about the leg." It surprised the Colonel that the sergeant sounded so sincere. He got another surprise when the sergeant took the time to bandage the wound. "I'm afraid that this will have to do until you are missed and someone comes hunting for you Colonel. The bleeding has stopped and I'm sure that you will be fine. Just try to relax and get some sleep, it will be morning soon."

The Colonel pulled against his bonds but they were secure. He seethed in silence as the two enemy soldiers let themselves out of his bed chamber and headed down the hall. Any sound they made was covered by the snoring of his senior security officer in the room down the hall. Taking the sergeant's advice, the Colonel tried to relax as he listened for the alarm he expected to sound at any moment.

Back on the first floor, Tully and Moffitt used the combination the Colonel had given them to open the safe. While Tully stood guard Moffitt removed the sealed briefcase and checked the locks. "Still sealed, perhaps they haven't managed to get it open yet."

"Lucky for us." Tully drawled. "At least we won't have to chase those papers all over North Africa."

"I rather think that that would have proven to be a bit difficult." The sergeant admitted. He sounded distracted as he leafed through the other papers in the safe.

"Hurry up Doc." Tully warned.

"Yes, yes, I'm almost ready. Some of these other papers look rather interesting. I'm going to take them along for later. I can always use good reading material." Moffitt folded the papers and stuffed them into his jacket. He closed the safe door and twisted the knob to reengage the lock. Standing, he closed the cabinet to hide the safe. "All done Tully, it's time to leave."

Tully grinned; he'd been saying that for the last twenty minutes, at least. Turning the handle slowly, he stuck his head out to check for the guard. He quickly pulled his head in and closed the door as muffled footsteps reached his ears. "Guard's coming."

They both took up positions behind the doors where they would be hidden if someone pushed the doors open. The door handle rattled but Tully had locked it. There was a short pause and then the sentry continued on his rounds.

Moffitt smiled at Tully, a mischievous glint in his eyes. Tully couldn't help himself, he smiled back. The British sergeant truly did love the 'cloak and dagger' excitement of a mission. At a nod from Moffitt Tully checked the hall again. This time it was clear. The two of them made their way up the stairs and past the Colonel's room. Tully paused to listen at his door but all was quiet. Avoiding all of the vases and the other obstacles, they reentered the room where the snoring continued.

The Colonel never heard them pass his room and leave the building the same way they had entered. The guards still were not looking up so they too failed to detect the intruders. No one saw the shadowy shapes as they ran from one dark area to the next. And when two dark shapes slipped through the window of the supply building, no one saw them or the briefcase they carried.

"Troy! Troy!"

The muffled call brought Troy out of hiding. He rushed forward to let the others know that he was still there. "Over here." He waited until Moffitt appeared and then strained to see through the gloom to spot the briefcase. "Any trouble?"

"Nothing much." Moffitt answered. "We had to wake the Colonel to give us the combination to the safe but he won't be found before morning."

"All right, you go back to the jeep. If it starts to get light I want you to get out of here and get that briefcase back to headquarters. If we're not back, leave without us, we'll catch up." Troy shoved Moffitt toward the storm drain.

"I could stay behind." Tully offered.

"No Tully. If you can't outrun trouble Moffitt is going to need to man the gun while you drive. Get going."

Tully nodded and rolled his matchstick unhappily.

From where he stood guard Hitch waved as they left.