The Sleeping Beauty Raid-Chapter 9

"How are they Doc?" Hanley knelt on the floor next to Doc and ask the question quietly. They'd been on the road for over an hour and most of the squad had fallen asleep.

"Holding on Lieutenant. The sargent seems to be breathing easier." Doc checked the pulse of his patients again. The rough road made it difficult to do anything for the injured men without causing them discomfort. He had to fight to keep his balance in the rolling truck.

"What about your German patients?"

"They're holding on too. So far so good Lieutenant."

"Another couple of hours should see us home. Just do your best." Hanley tried to reassure the medic. Tired, the lieutenant found a seat on the hard bench and leaned on the canvas behind his back and head. The mission was over, all they had to do was get home. 'Yeah, that's all.' He thought to himself.

"Hey L.T." Saunders called from the cab of the truck. " We're coming up on out meet point. The underground should be here by now."

"Okay Sargent. Just follow procedure."

The sargent had the driver stop the truck and flick the lights. They waited impatiently for someone to contact them. When a civilian walked out into the road, Saunders went to meet him. They talked for a minute before they headed to the tailgate of the waiting truck.

"Sargent Troy."

Troy crawled over the tailgate to talk to the two men. The brief conversation was hushed. Troy apparently convinced the man that all was well because he was handed a folded stack of papers. When the meeting was over, Troy turned to Hanley.

"These, Lieutenant, are the locations of every outpost and roadblock between us and home. We should be able to get around most of them. There is one that might be a problem though."

Hanley took the papers gratefully. "We can make good time if we can get around them. I hope you thanked them."

Troy nodded. "We did a little job for them on this mission. The Germans took an artifact from one of the local churches. A valuable and irreplaceable object. We got it back."

The lieutenant handed the papers to Saunders. "Make good use of these Sargent."

"We'll do our best." Saunders smiled. His shoulders slumped with exhaustion but there was a new spring in his step.

"Sam." Moffitts' weak voice barely carried over the racket of the truck.

"I'm here Jack." Troy gripped the hand of his friend as he knelt next to him.

"How's Hitch?"

"Still out. Doc is keeping a close eye on him."

Moffitt tried to sit up.

"No, stay down." Troy pushed him down on the floor.

"We go it. We got it all." The Brit rolled his head to locate the blond. He found him on the other side of the truck with Tully sitting beside him. "Hitch did a great job. You should be proud of him." Moffitts' eyes rolled back and his head rolled to the side.

"I am Jack. I'm proud of both of you." Troy whispered to his unconscious friend.

They rode in silence as the truck carried them closer and closer to their own lines. Occasionally they would take a side road to get around a roadblock or an outpost. Hanley was starting to think that they may have missed them all when Saunders called to him again.

"Lieutenant, we have a roadblock coming up. There isn't any way to miss this one. We're going to have to crash it."

"No!" Hanley responded. "It's too dangerous. They have an outpost close to here. If they hear the shooting they'll be on to us. We can't outrun them without putting our wounded at risk. There has to be a way to do this without shooting."

Saunders looked at Pettigrew. "Maybe there is, Lieutenant, maybe there is." They pulled the truck off the road and into the trees. "Maybe Sargent Troy could help."

Troy was puzzled but he nodded without hesitation.

"We're going to make some slingshots." Saunders held up some long pieces of rubber inner tube. He smiled mischievously. "I took it from the wrecked truck. Care to help Sargent?"

Using the materials on hand, they made two slingshots, one for Billy and one for Littlejohn.

"Do you have enough material to make a few more?" Cage and Kirby had watched the proceedings with interest. Not wanting to be left out, they decided that they needed slingshots too.

They made two more.

Saunders led his men toward the roadblock. They carried knives and slingshots and pockets full of pebbles. Before they moved in Saunders warned his men of some possible problems.

"Troy warned me that you cannot shoot through helmets. The slingshots are not powerful enough. You need a killing shot. You need to take them by surprise. Once we lose that advantage they have the edge."

The men listened and took the advice to heart. It was a determined group of men who followed their sargent into battle. As they moved into position, Tully Pettigrew joined them. With acknowledgements all around, they went to wage a primitive war.

Picking off those least likely to be missed first, they took them out one by one. To try to prevent a miss, they doubled up on each target. Each shot was taken from as close as possible. The tactics worked. They took the entire German staff by stealth and cunning without raising one alarm.

They finished checking for survivors. Saunders sent someone to destroy the radio. Kirby and Sawyer returned with three wounded Germans. Doc patched them up and they were prodded to the truck.

Saunders was smiling at their success as he approached the truck.

"Where's Melnick?" Cage was looking around for the other man.

"I haven't seen him." Billy answered.

"He was behind me when we headed for the outpost." Littlejohn added. "But he didn't have a slingshot so he couldn't take part in the attack."

"I saw him drop behind us as we moved in." Everyone turned to Kirby.

"When?" Saunders snapped.

"Before we moved in." Kirby repeated.

"Then where is he now?" Hanley ask.

Saunders spun and stalked to the truck. At the tailgate he pulled the canvas aside and peered in. With a curse he climbed into the rear of the truck. The others looked in to see Melnick sprawled unconscious on the floor between Hitchcock and Moffitt. Moffitt held a pistol pointed at him.

Saunders took the pistol from his shaking hand and patted him on the shoulder.

"What happened?"

"He tried to kill Hitch. I woke up and he was trying to suffocate him." Moffitt looked ready to drop. I managed to knock him out." The Brit smiled weakly. "I'm glad you showed up. I'm afraid I'm no match for him right now."

Saunders turned to his men and in a cold voice he began giving orders. "Tie him up. Make sure it's good and tight. Doc, check on Hitchcock." He moved out of the way so Kirby and Sawyer could reach Melnick.

Melnick was roughly pulled out of the truck, bound, and thrown back in. The hands that helped him were none too gentle. The new wounded German prisoners were helped into the back with more care than Melnick received.

Chip debated putting Troy and Pettigrew in the cab to avoid any trouble with Melnick. Both men looked ready to commit murder themselves.

"Hitchcock is alright Sarge. Mofitt must have woke up just in time." Doc finished checking the private. Concerned for the first two wounded Germans, he checked them too.

"Are they okay?" Hanley shared the medics' concern.

"Yes Sir, but there are fresh bruises on the Lieutenants' face. Melnick must have tried to kill him too." Doc pointed out the bruises.

"Maybe Hitchcock saw him and he decided to get rid of the witness." Sawyer suggested. "He tried to get me to promise not to tell headquarters that he wanted to kill them earlier."

"We'll turn him over to the MPs and tell them what happened." The lieutenant glanced around at his men. "Let them deal with him."

"Can we shoot him if he tries something?" Littlejohn, a little too eager, ask for all of them.

"Only if he tries something." Hanley stressed. He looked at the faces around him and realized that to a man they were hoping Melnick would make a wrong move.