The Helping Hand Raid
By:AliasCWN
Chapter 8
After it got dark Troy began to plan their escape. He was hoping that the guards would come to check on them before the shift change. He loosened a leg on a stool next to the cots and waited for an opportunity.
Cantrell had been quiet since their talk. Troy hoped that the private would cooperate once an opportunity presented itself. It was in no way a foregone conclusion. With his belligerent attitude Troy couldn't tell if he was thinking of helping or trying to come up with a way to break out all by himself. Moffitt and Tully were still out there but Troy wasn't sure if they would be able to get onto the base. He wasn't going to sit around and wait for them. He was determined not to risk any more lives than necessary to escape.
He looked over at Cantrell but the private appeared to be asleep. He decided not to wake him until he needed his assistance. He began pacing the cell again.
"You're going to wear a hole in the floor."
Troy turned to glance at the reclining figure of his present cellmate. "I thought you were asleep."
"Just thinking."
"About what? Dancing girls?"
"Dancing girls? Is that what you think about at times like these?" Cantrell sat up to watch Troy.
"No." Troy laughed. "Hitch might, and maybe Tully, but not me."
"They think about dancing girls when they're about to be shot?"
"Sometimes when they're getting shot at." Troy confirmed. "Tully swore he saw a dancing girl doing the lindy right in the middle of a fight with some renegade Arabs." Troy laughed at the memory.
"You like your men don't you?" Cantrell sounded almost wistful.
"Yeah, I do. I respect every one of them too. They're good men." Troy admitted. "Good soldiers."
"They like you too."
Troy looked over at Cantrell and smiled.
"So have you come up with a plan yet?"
"I'm hoping a couple of guards will come in to check on us pretty soon." Troy held up the leg he had taken from the stool. "If I get their attention, can you knock them out with this?"
Cantrell took the leg and checked it for weight. "Yeah, I think so."
"Don't pull your punches." Troy warned. "If you're tempted to hold back just remember, they're planning on shooting us in cold blood."
Cantrell looked over at Troy and nodded.
"Sit back down on your cot and wait for me to get them distracted. Don't make a move until I say so." Troy ordered.
The guards made their rounds not long after Troy gave Cantrell his instructions. They came down the hall laughing between themselves. Troy waited until they were almost there to start choking. He held his throat and sagged to his knees. The guards looked at him and then at each other. One of them motioned for Cantrell to do something. Cantrell shrugged his shoulders and remained where he was.
One of the guards motioned for Cantrell to move to the rear of the cell. He got up and moved around the edge of the wall until he was behind Troy. The guards produced a key and opened the cell door. One of them bent over Troy while the other one watched Cantrell. Troy continued to choke as the guard pounded him on the back. Holding his breath, the sergeant rolled onto his side, falling against the guard who was watching Cantrell. The guard stepped away and Troy kicked him in the stomach. "Now" He ordered as the second guard realized it was a trick and started to get to his feet. Cantrell stepped forward and hit the guard over the head with the wooden leg. He spun and hit the guard that Troy had kicked before he could catch his breath and yell for help.
Troy jumped to his feet and checked both guards. He was grinning when he stood up. "Grab their weapons and let's get out of here."
Cantrell picked up a fallen rifle and followed Troy down the corridor. They paused at the door to the room where the guards gathered. Troy took a quick peek and motioned for Cantrell to run across the doorway. He followed a moment later and they continued toward the outside door.
Troy again took the lead and opened the door a crack to make sure there was no one out there to see them leave. Giving Cantrell the all clear signal the two men slipped out the door and ran for the patrol car Troy had marked as their escape vehicle. They had just reached the car when a voice floated out of the dark. Troy turned to face the German soldier standing in the shadows.
"How rude of you old man." The soldier said in a very familiar tone. "After all of the trouble we went to to rescue you, you couldn't wait for us? And if I'm not mistaken, you're planning on stealing our car too."
"You're late." Troy smiled. "Where's Tully?"
Moffitt turned to look as another German soldier ran toward them. "I believe that's him coming now."
"Then let's not wait around to be missed." Troy suggested. "We only knocked the guards out."
"Tully left them a surprise when they open the door." Moffitt explained as he climbed into the patrol car. "He rigged a grenade to the door. When they open it they are going to get a bang out of the surprise."
"That will alert the entire base." Troy answered. "We'd better be gone by then."
"The gates are heavily guarded." Moffitt warned as Tully slid into the driver's seat. "We decided a little distraction would ease our passage through the gate. There are grenades in that bag on the seat. Feel free to help out any time you get the chance."
Troy nodded and reached for the bag. He palmed two grenades and prepared to blow the gate. Moffitt and Cantrell lifted their rifles and waited for the gate to come into sight. The explosion behind them let them know that their escape had been noticed. They blew through the gate while the guards were still trying to decide what was happening.
Tully kept the patrol car moving while Troy filled them in on what had transpired with the base commander.
"You're participation in our escape may convince him that I was lying." Troy smiled.
"You should have said something chap. We would have let you escape all on your own. Wouldn't we Tully?"
"Sure Doc, we could have been lying in the sand getting a suntan instead of stealing cars and blowing up gates." Tully grinned at his sergeant.
"Or watching dancing girls." Troy suggested.
"You know where I can find some?" Tully asked eagerly.
"Not off hand." Troy laughed.
Tully shook his head in disappointment. He listened as Troy finished his story. Finally he pulled into a wadi where two jeeps sat covered in tarps.
"You salvaged the other jeep." Troy cried in surprise. "Does it run?"
"Like a top." Tully nodded. "The engine was overheated but the block wasn't cracked. We just let her cool down and filled the radiator. She does have a few bullets holes in her that weren't there before."
"I saw what happened Troy but we couldn't reach you in time. They were hauling you away before I could get to my jeep and tell Tully what had happened."
"That's all right." Troy responded. "I was hoping you wouldn't reveal yourself. That commander told me more than he would have if he had known you were still out there." Troy looked over at the jeep. "There is one thing I need to do."
"What's that?" Moffitt looked at the jeep too.
"Tully, can you repack the jeep? Put everything back where it belongs."
"Sure Sarge, but I put it where it was supposed to go the first time."
"I know, but it got moved. I couldn't find the extra ammo when i needed it. Find it and put it back where it belongs."
Tully nodded.
"Cantrell, help him."
"Right Sarge."
Moffitt and Tully looked over at Troy's driver in surprise. Not only had he agreed to help, but he was calling Troy 'sarge' instead of 'sergeant'. Troy saw them looking and smiled at them.
The jeep was quickly repacked. Troy could hear Tully explaining to Cantrell where things went and why they put them there. He smiled in the dark at the change in the redhead.
When they were finished Tully walked over to where the sergeants were talking. "All finished Sarge."
"Thanks Tully. And thanks for coming after us."
"Any time Sarge. You'd do the same for us."
Cantrell was standing off to the side watching the exchange. Troy noticed him and called him over.
"We need a new plan of action." Troy indicated Moffitt. "We've been talking. Watching the convoys isn't giving us any answers."
"You want to follow them?" Tully asked.
"We want to sneak up and peek inside." Troy corrected.
"Are you nuts?" Cantrell squeaked. "We just got away from those guys."
"But we haven't completed our mission." Troy answered. "We have a job to do."
"But they will be expecting us."
Troy shrugged. "We know they're waiting for us. It doesn't change anything. Headquarters still wants that information."
Cantrell looked around at the others and realized that he was the only one with any objections. Nodding slowly, he waited to hear what the sergeant had to say.
"We'll have to locate another convoy. Once we do we'll follow it until it camps for the night. Moffitt and I will go in while you and Tully guard the jeeps."
Cantrell nodded.
"We'll take a quick peek and get out before we're discovered."
"You hope." Cantrell grunted.
"We hope." Troy repeated as Cantrell blushed at being heard.
"Let's get some sleep and go hunting tomorrow."
The camp got quiet as everyone turned in. Cantrell was on watch when he heard a sound behind him. Turning he heard Troy announce his presence.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Cantrell grunted.
Troy laughed.
"What's so funny?"
Troy shook his head. "That's what Tully and Hitch always say when we ask how they're doing.otch always say
They can be hanging on by a thread and they will say they're fine." Troy shook his head again. "It's become sort of our own private joke."
"I'm not hanging on by a thread."
"You're not fine either." Troy countered. "You went through a lot today. It's okay to need time to come to terms with all of it."
"You don't seem to be bothered by it."
Troy shrugged. "We've been caught before. It's never relaxing but it's not always so tense either. There are some Germans who can be counted on to treat prisoners according to the Geneva Convention. That commander was not one of them."
"I guess it did shake me up a bit."
"Nothing wrong with admitting that."
"I was surprised too."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I wasn't expecting Moffitt and Pettigrew to come back. They got away. Why would they come back?"
Troy looked back at the camp and the two figures sleeping near the jeeps. "I told you, they're good men, good soldiers. We take care of each other. They were doing what we always do. We don't leave anyone behind."
"Would they have come back if I had been alone?"
"You're not alone." Troy insisted. "You have us. And yes, they would have come back."
Cantrell nodded. He wasn't sure why he believed it, but he did.
