Hitch boosted Quinn up the wall. When Scot reached the top, Hitch handed him their two guns and the paratrooper bag with plastic explosives inside it. Then it was his turn to scale the wall with Quinn's help. The younger man jumped down and hit the ground with a soft thud. Hitch passed him their belongings again and then followed. They ducked behind the stand as a German guard passed by. Quinn motioned his pal to stay close. They zig-zagged through the city. Avoiding guards all the way. Hitch almost felt lost but trusted that Quinn knew where he was going.
They stopped at a house. It was regular looking just like all of the others. Quinn put his ear to a wooden door. Not a sound came from it. He gently rapped out three quick nocks succeeded by one long one. It echoed back from the other side. The door opened and a woman dressed in Arab clothing cautiously peered out. When she spied Quinn, relief flooded into her face. The two men entered the house and shut the door behind them.
"I was getting worried" she said in a whisper as she sat at a table. Hitch put on his wire-rimmed glasses.
"Sorry about that. This is Hitch. The rest of his patrol is cornered by the Germans out in the desert" Quinn said to her.
"Suzette Jennings at your service, Private." She reached over and shook his hand.
"You must be Quinn's partner" Hitch commented as he sat on a rickety chair. The woman gave him a sharp nod.
"I was planing on having the rest of the patrol here to help. It would have gotten done a whole lot quicker but there isn't anything we can do about it now. Hitch and I are just going to have to set the explosives on are own tonight" Quinn informed her, getting back to their mission.
"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but you can't" Suzette interrupted. Hitch asked why.
"Because the Jerrys have your team here. Dietrich brought them in about an hour ago."
"Are you sure sure?" Quinn questioned.
"One of them was a fellow country men of mine. He walked with a limp. The other two were Yanks and the one with a bush hat acted like the leader. Two sergeants and a private. Sound about right to you?" She made it a habit to notice every thing that went on there.
Hitch groaned and Quinn buried his face in his hands. Things kept getting worse.
"We do have a back up plan, don't we?" Hitch asked expectantly. Quinn's face fell.
"I don't have a plan C. Used the back up one already."
"What do you mean you already used it?" Suzette demanded. She hated it when no one told her everything.
"I had it all set up for the whole team but we got cornered. Just the two of us could leave without the Germans radioing ahead. Then I planed it so we could do the mission and leave. Only now the rest of the them are being held here. I didn't think all of this would happen. It was going to be simple. Have everything timed, get it done and beat it. In other words I don't know what to do now." Quinn ran a hand through his hair. The mission was unraveling right in front of him.
"I might be able to help you. I have to clean out that office anyway" Suzette said after a while.
Quinn gave her a slight smile. He always could count on her when things were going wrong.
"Well let's hear it" Hitch said.
Tully looked up as Troy angrily kicked the wall with the toe of his boot. The Germans had surprised them by coming around the back of the building and there were too many of them to fight off. They had been taken to Essitadt, interrogated by Dietrich and put in a cell. They hadn't giving up anything except their names, ranks and serial numbers. Which Dietrich already knew.
"Troy there is no use getting mad. There was nothing we could have done" Moffitt said. He was stretched out on the bottom bunk. Troy started pacing the floor.
Tully was leaning against the wall, a matchstick hung from his mouth. "Moffitt's right Sarge. We couldn't have done anything."
"Ya I know..." he stopped. A young woman came in with a tray of food. Nothing special just bread and water.
She said something in arabic. Moffitt asked a question but she ignored it and repeated the saying again.
"What did she say?" Troy asked when she left.
"Eat for a bullet can blow up a wall" Moffitt said. He had a funny look on his face.
"Must have lost something in the translation" Tully commented, not giving it a second thought.
The Englishman didn't agree. She had made a point to stress the word bullet. It made him think.
