When Honor and Duty Collide

BY:AliasCWN

Chapter 10

Sam Troy shifted restlessly in his bed, annoyed at the bandages and bored out of his skull. The first few days he had been in too much pain to notice the passage of time but now it just seemed to drag on forever. The door of the room opened and Troy looked up expectantly. He was hoping to see his team but one of the nurses walked in carrying a tray.

"How are you feeling Sergeant?" She asked as she placed the tray on the small stand by the bed. The sergeant looked grumpy and didn't answer her question so she began to babble cheerfully. "I'm just going to change your bandages and check to see how those wounds are healing."

"They're healing fine." Troy grumbled. "When do I get out of here?"

The nurse gave him a sympathetic smile as she deftly unwound the bandages. "They do look good Sergeant but you are not quite ready to leave here just yet. The stitches aren't completely healed and you still need to regain some of your strength."

"I need to find out what's going on with my team." Troy insisted. "They were due back a couple of days ago and I haven't heard a thing."

"Now sergeant," the nurse murmured, "you mustn't get upset. The doctor doesn't want you all excited."

"I'm not excited." He argued. "I'm worried." He added in a softer tone.

The young nurse paused as her fingers flew over the bandages. "All right sergeant, after I finish here I will see what I can find out about your men."

Troy relaxed into the pillow. "Thank you."

"I don't know how much I can find out." The nurse warned. "The Army doesn't tell us nurses much about ongoing missions, or any other missions for that matter."

"Anything you can find out." Troy answered.

"Just let me finish up here and I will ask around. I go off duty in half an hour."

The nurse finished and collected her supplies. Troy took his medicine without complaint, eager for her to be on her way to check on the others. Slowly the room darkened as the sun set and still the nurse had not returned. Restless, Troy finally fell into a light sleep.

"Sergeant, Sergeant Troy." The nurse's soft voice woke Troy from his sleep. He opened bleary eyes to look up into her face expectantly. "Did you find out anything?"

"No." The nurse shook her head. "I ask everyone who would talk to me but no one knew anything."

Troy groaned.

"But then I ran into these gentlemen and they said that they could answer your questions." The nurse continued with a smile. She looked toward the door.

Troy looked around her toward the door and saw the gentlemen she mentioned. Moffitt, Tully, and Hitch stood there grinning at him.

"Where have you guys been?" He demanded gruffly. Before they could answer he whispered a heartfelt thank you to the nurse. The nurse smiled and whispered you're welcome before leaving the friends to talk.

"Don't wear him out." She warned Moffitt as she passed him to leave the room.

"Where have you been?" Troy demanded again as the door closed behind the nurse.

"We've been busy." Hitch grinned.

"Tully was visiting with Captain Dietrich and we had to go get him before we could finish our mission." Moffitt explained. `

"Visiting Dietrich?"

"It's a long story Troy, are you feeling up to it?"

"Moffitt, I've been lying here imaging all kinds of things; you'd better tell it to me straight." Troy growled.

So they did.

"So Karl helped you rescue Tully? I knew I liked that kid." Troy sighed as Moffitt explained the part Karl had played.

"Hopefully Dietrich won't figure it out and have to act on it." Moffitt replied.

"Dietrich likes him, you can tell by the way he stopped him from helping us escape from that major. He could have disciplined him for even considering it."

"Karl sends his condolences." Hitch relayed the young German's message.

"They think you're dead." Tully added.

"What? Why?"

Tully shrugged. "I guess his men reported killing one of us and the rest of us were accounted for."

Troy looked to Moffitt for an explanation.

"You're replacement was one Corporal Tyrone Patterson, late of the U.S. Army. Dietrich set a trap for us and Corporal Patterson was killed. We buried him in a small grove several miles from the ambush site before we went to rescue Tully."

Troy noticed Hitch's shoulder for the first time. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine Sarge." The blond replied, flexing his arm. "Doc made me get it looked at before we came here."

"How about you Tully?"

"I'm fine too." Tully nodded. "Dietrich sends his condolences for your early demise."

"Troy grinned. "Is he in for a surprise."

"Karl told us that if the supplies were destroyed while they were still in the captain's care he would be transferred to the Russian front." Moffitt continued the story.

"Karl?"

"No, Dietrich." The Brit corrected. "But Karl said that if that happened he would ask the captain to take him along."

Troy frowned. "So how did you get around that?"

Moffitt smiled. "What makes you so sure that we even tried?"

"I know you." Troy growled.

The other three laughed.

"Okay. We decided that we needed a way to blow them up that could be delayed until they were out of the good captain's care."

"Timers." Troy guessed.

"Too noisy….and we couldn't set them far enough ahead. We needed to plant them while they were on Dietrich's base but not blow them up until they were safely turned over to the next commander. And, as the lads pointed out, we had no way of knowing if the convoy would have any breakdowns to delay its arrival at the next base. No, we decided that timers were not the answer."

Troy shook his head. "Then how?"

The other three smiled.

"Do you remember those experimental shells that Hitch was helping with a few months back?"

"How could I forget?" Troy asked gruffly. "We had to get them and Hitch back." Troy looked up at the smiling faces as understanding dawned on him. "They shipped the supplies out by plane!"

Moffitt laughed. "I bet they are still trying to figure out why it blew up. We went into Dietrich's base and managed to bury two of them in the bottom of the crates in the shipment. The plane departed normally and was gaining altitude when it burst into a ball of flames. We headed back here as soon as we knew that the shells had detonated as planned."

"Good thing they did." Hitch added. "Captain Boggs said if they didn't work we would have to chase those supplies all the way to their next stop. That would have taken a while."

"And we would have had to make sure that the shells were destroyed before the Germans had a chance to examine them too closely." Tully added.

"There was that." Moffitt agreed.

"But we already knew they worked." Troy argued.

"The test shells exploded." Moffitt corrected. "But it is possible that only one of them worked and it in turn set the others off. There was a very real possibility that they might not work as planned. Headquarters isn't convinced that they are ready for use just yet." Moffitt smiled at the two younger 'rats'. "Thankfully the two we got worked just fine."

Troy yawned as he nodded. "It would have been tough chasing them down and getting to them before the Germans could take them apart."

"A nightmare." Moffitt shuddered.

"So Karl repaid the debt he thought he owed us and Dietrich gets to stay in North Africa. I wonder what Dietrich would say if he knew Karl saved him from a transfer?"

"Hopefully Dietrich will never know we talked to Karl at all." Moffitt stated. "We didn't want him to get into trouble."

Troy yawned again. "Karl made his choice, and I respect him for that, but you're right, I hope he doesn't end up in trouble."

Moffitt noticed Troy yawning and decided that it was time to go. "We're going to get out of here and get some rest ourselves. We'll see you in the morning."

Troy nodded, too tired to argue.

"Sarge?" Hitch held back as the others left the room.

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad it wasn't you in the back of my jeep this time."

"Yeah," Troy agreed with a sigh, "me too."

"Sleep well Sarge."

"You too Hitch."