X Support Your Local Sergeant

Rain and lighting. One hour on that road and all they had seen was rain and lighting. Newkirk kept the car on its lane as much as he could but the darkness ahead made him sleepy. The first miles were an easy straight line, and his eyelids closed involuntarily. Then, his mind drifted away. He shook his head and blinked in a desperate effort to keep alert.

"Hey, luv," he turned to Sabina. "You're not mad at me, are you?"

Sabina barely looked at him. She crossed her arms over the cup-and-ball and stared at the road.

"Come on, lass, talk to me," Newkirk blinked. He was sweating, and dizzy; his breathing was shallow and the tips of his fingers were numbed. He realized his brain was shutting down. "Tell me... Did you have any pets back home...?" He exhaled. "When I was about your age I had a cat... her name was Miranda... I found her... in an alley... near my... near me house..."

Sabina was actually paying attention to the story when she realized that some trees were getting too close.

Carter was asleep with his head against the window. He was dreaming of home. He could feel the early morning drizzle in his face and the sun in his eyes. The green in the mountains served as the canvas for the new flowers. It was always springtime in his dreams. He heard the birds singing and his mother calling him for breakfast...

"Carter!"

Sabina's desperate shout woke him as the car shuddered and shrieked. Within seconds, Carter saw Newkirk falling to one side while the car kept rolling uncontrollably down the road and towards the open field. The sergeant jumped half body over the driver's seat. He reached for the wheel with both hands. He managed to put the vehicle back on the road but he could not slow down.

"Brakes!" He yelled. "Hit the brakes!"

Sabina understood that he was talking to her. She got down on the floor and pressed the pedal with both hands. That gave Carter the chance to pull over to the shoulder of the road and stop completely. He took his time to breathe and loose his shaky hands off the wheel. He sat back for a moment.

"Everybody okay?" He turned to Dalibor. The man was pale but he nodded.

"That was too close, wasn't it?" The man shook his head. "He could've killed us all."

"Shut up," Carter said. "Sabina, you come here." He got out and went to the driver's seat. He pushed Newkirk to the passenger seat.

"I'm fine, I'm fine..." he mumbled. "Need time..."

"Just move." Carter shook his head. "Why do you have to be so difficult?" he whispered. "How do you feel? And don't say you're okay!"

Newkirk managed to straighten up on his seat before his head dropped back. "Fever is coming up again... Sorry."

Carter bit his lower lip. "It's not your fault. We'll take care of you when we get back to-"

"Home... when we get back home." Newkirk interrupted him before he mentioned the Stalag. Carter nodded and smiled. "And it's all right, Andrew... Everything is going just fine..." He slipped slowly to his left side until his head rested on Carter's shoulder.

Carter kept driving, staring frantically at both sides of the road, looking for an exit. "How much longer?" he wondered aloud.

"About half an hour for the exit to Schienbein Stadt," Dalibor answered him. "Are you sure you and your friend are up to finishing this mission? Maybe I should take my chances and run for the border."

"Oh, you wish. They are waiting for you in London and you'd better have something important to say. It'll take you all that you've got to get you off the hook," Carter said.

"Are you forgetting this girl's father? You'll be as good as dead the moment he gets to you."

"Be quiet! I won't talk to you anymore!" Carter tried to put his mind on something else. The road. Newkirk. Sabina. "Don't you worry, Sabina, we'll fix everything before we leave. You'll see your father very soon and everything will be all right."

Sabina smiled. "Thank you, Carter. Is Newkirk all right?"

"He'll be. He needs to rest, that's all." He kept driving with one hand while his right hand went around Newkirk's shoulder. "Hang on, buddy. We're almost there."

"I'd suggest you continue all the way to Freihalleberg. You can take your friend to the hospital there," Dalibor said. "He won't last much longer in Schienbein Stadt."

"Why don't you take a nap or something?" Carter tried to concentrate on the driving. "We don't need you to tell us what to do."

"Listen, I'm only telling you what is obvious. This young man' condition is deteriorating too fast. He's dying-"

"Don't listen to him, Andrew..." Newkirk made an effort to sit up. "He's just trying to find a way out... Bloody bastard... " He rubbed his temple with the talon of his hand. "You're lucky we have our orders... Any other day, I'd give you what you deserve."

"Oh, yes? And what is that? You believe what these filthy gypsies told you? They lie through their teeth..They're just deceivers. They are trying to blame me for something that they brought upon themselves. I wasn't even there."

"Are you denying your participation in the Einsatzgruppen?" Newkirk held his breath when the pain pierced his side. "It's in your files."

"I was with the Ustachi, local police. We provided order and support to Hitler's armed forces. They did all the job." Dalibor began to feel uncomfortable with the conversation. "I left them before things got out of control."

"Whatever you say, mate. You were there and did nothing, bloody same thing that if you'd pulled the trigger against those people yerself." He closed his eyes.

"Newkirk, you're exhausting yourself." Carter's concern grew. Dalibor was a bad person but he was not mistaken about Newkirk's condition. "Try to sleep, we still have some road ahead."

"I was just following orders," Dalibor insisted.

"Keep talking, and you'll see how much of a follower I am meself!" Newkirk snapped, whirling around. The sudden movement made his head spin. "Bloody hell."

Carter leaned one hand on Newkirk's shoulder. He could not do much to alleviate his friend's suffering. He knew that they both were scared, that the entire situation was getting way out of hand. But all would be over in a matter of hours. At least, that should bring some kind of relief.

Oo-HH-oO

Kinch came out to the tunnel and saw Corporal Harris keeping watch by the window. Kinch stood behind him and glanced outside.

"How's it going?" He asked.

"He's just completed his third round and he's still going," Harris said.

Kinch spotted Schultz walking backwards, with a candle in his hands and mumbling something. Considering all the mud, the constant rain and occasional thunder, Kinch could not help feeling a little guilty. Sergeant Schultz was a real trooper.

"Our contact at the grocery store says that he spotted Schultz on a scavenger's hunt for black candles and garlic and now he's walking around the Stalag thirteen times. How did you convince him to do all this?" Olsen said.

"We have to be grateful for Schultz. He believes everything that makes a little sense-"

"Here he comes!" Harris said.

Kinch signed for Private Dorian to get a bag from Hogan's office. He scattered its content over the bunks. Then, he opened the door.

"Sergeant, how's everything going?"

Schultz came in breathing heavily. He leaned his rifle on the nearest bunk and sat at the table. Harris offered him a towel.

"It's pouring outside. My candle went out." He finally spoke. "Is it working yet?"

"I think so. No more white guys have disappeared. Olsen and Tucker are still here, see?" The boys nodded from their bunks. Kinch went to LeBeau's bunk and got the red scarf and the beret. "And this just appeared here a few minutes ago."

Schultz got up and took the things in his hands. "Are you sure? These are LeBeau's, aren't they? How did that happened?"

"Harris found them, right?"

Harris glared at Kinch. He barely spoke to the German sergeant and now he had to lie to him. "Oh, yes, well... I just came by and there they were," he shrugged.

"Oh, my..." Schultz smiled. "I forgot the rhyme again... The cat mewed twice?"

(1)"Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd" Kinch quoted. " And you know the rest?"

(1)"Thrice and one, the head pig whin'd,"

"Hedge, Schultz, the hedge-pig," he nodded. "You still know what to do?"

"Ten more rounds walking backwards around the camp..." Schultz sighed. He got up very slowly and put his helmet on. "I wish there were an easier way."

Dorian came with a match and lit the candle. The sergeant took it in one hand and grabbed his rifle with the other one.

"That's what the captain of the Demeter said, remember?" (2) Kinch saw Schultz to the door.

"Oh, ja, that horrible story you told me... Those poor sailors..." he frowned. "I still don't know how I didn't read about that on the papers."

"Top secret, those things never go public." He virtually pushed the sergeant out. "Remember, not a word to Kommandant Klink. We don't want for him to disappear too, do we?"

"God forbid!" Schultz shook his head. "If he goes, who knows who else they would send in his place."

"You're so right," Kinch closed the door and turned. "That was close." He looked at Dorian. "Make sure to put a piece of clothing on the bunks every half an hour."

Harris shook his head with a grin and went back to his post.

Kinch went to the ladder to continue his watch by the radio.

"Any news from the outside unit?" Olsen asked.

"Nothing after the colonel's order to put the mission on hold. They won't communicate until they get to the rendezvous point and assess the situation. If everything goes according to plan, I'll send a signal to Tinkerbell and Papa Bear will take the operation from there." He shook his head. "Keep an eye on Schultz, we don't need any more distractions."

TBC

Support Your Local Sheriff (1969)

(1)From Macbeth, act 4, scene 1. William Shakespeare

(2)From Dracula, Bram Stoker: The Demeter: doomed Russian ship on which Dracula made his way to England. According to the novel, the ship arrived on its own devices and all the crew was missing. Only the captain's body was found tied up to the ship's helm. The captain's log reveals the strange events that took place during the trip.

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