The Need To Know Raid

By: AliasCWN

Chapter 12

Braddock, on guard, alerted the camp to the arrival of Caje and Troy with their prisoner. Saunders met them at the edge of the camp, eager to assure himself that things were going as planned.

Troy shoved the prisoner forward to stand in front of the other sergeant.

"Everything okay?" Saunders eyed the German Colonel with interest.

"Just fine. Moffitt and Tully will follow us later. They're going to stay behind to make sure that the Colonel isn't missed before the fireworks." Troy put his knife away and motioned toward the German. "He's all yours Sergeant."

Saunders nodded.

"What are we going to do with him? I thought our orders were to kill him." Kirby was the one who voiced the question that was on the minds of all of them.

"Change of plans." Saunders told them flatly, refusing to elaborate. "Littlejohn, Kirby, you're going to be in charge of the Colonel while he's with us. Make sure he keeps up and stays quiet." The sergeant waited for both men to acknowledge the order. "Alright, everybody saddle up, we have a long way to go, and I want to get moving before the Colonel is missed."

"One more thing..," Troy stopped the squad as they prepared to move out, "the Colonel here speaks perfect English, so be careful what you say."

"Good to know." Caje murmured, looking toward his squad mates.

"Move out!" Saunders called again, eager to be on his way.

With Caje once again on point, the squad began to pick their way through the dark terrain.

"Caje," Saunders called, "take us to the road to make better time. You'll have to stay far enough ahead that you can warn us before anyone hears us coming."

The scout acknowledged the order and veered sharply to make a beeline for the road. Once there, the squad picked up the pace, pushing themselves and their prisoner to put as much distance between themselves and the chateau as possible.

They had covered several miles before they heard the loud booms of the charges detonating. Saunders glanced back to see Troy listening to the explosions. Troy turned back to see him watching. "We'd better get off the road, reinforcements will be coming to investigate, and they'll probably be using this road."

Saunders agreed and sent Billy to tell Caje. They continued to follow the road but now they stayed to one side in the trees. Their caution paid off as first one truck, then several more, raced past them in the darkness, heading toward the chateau.

Troy and Saunders pushed harder, letting Caje lead them toward their next destination. No one spoke as they moved along, the situation having become more dangerous since the explosions. The Germans now knew that there were saboteurs in the area and they would launch an all-out search for them. Every move they made from here on out would have to be carefully executed if they expected to make it back to their own lines. More than one man among them glanced at the prisoner and wondered how they were going to get past the Germans without being detected.

The sky was starting to lighten as the sun tried to climb above the horizon. Saunders called a halt to rest, sitting next to Troy. Troy unfolded his map and the two sergeants compared notes on their position.

"It looks like we're right where we need to be." Troy smiled, pointing to the map. "Our contact should be arriving just over that hill in less than half an hour."

"That's if the area is clear. I'm sending two teams out to check for activity."

Troy nodded his approval.

"Littlejohn, Billy, head around that way and see if we have any company. Be back here in twenty minutes. Braddock, Caje, you go the other way around. Twenty minutes." Saunders waved his men around the trees to check out the area surrounding the field on the other side of the hill. "Kirby, keep your eye on our prisoner. Make sure he stays put and stays quiet."

The two sergeants took binoculars and moved to the edge of the trees where they could observe the field. Saunders kept his eyes on the ground, scanning the field and the trees. Troy ignored the trees and kept his eyes on the sky.

Almost twenty minutes later Braddock and Caje returned, reporting an all clear on their half of the perimeter. Saunders checked his watch, wondering what was keeping Billy and Littlejohn. Five more minutes ticked by and still the two men had not returned.

"Caje, Braddock, go find them. Tell them to get back here."

"Be right back Serge." Braddock replied with confidence.

Saunders nodded, distracted by the far off sound of a small plane.

Moments later, when the plane came into sight, Troy focused on it with his binoculars. "It's ours," he turned to call to Saunders, "do we signal it to land?"

Saunders looked around, trying to spot his four men. Seeing no sign of them made him nervous; but there had been no gun shots or warnings of any kind.

"Signal them to land." He confirmed.

Troy flashed a small hand-held mirror at the plane. At the signal the sound of the engine changed as the pilot prepared to land.

"Why are we signaling to a spotter plane?" Kirby asked as he pushed the prisoner closer to the sergeants.

"We're sending the Colonel back on that plane." Saunders explained his eyes on the small aircraft. "If we try to walk him back there is a chance he'd be spotted and recognized."

"Oh." Kirby glanced at the prisoner to gauge his reaction to the news. The Colonel hadn't caused any trouble so far, but Kirby didn't trust the look in his eyes. The Colonel watched the plane a moment before focusing his attention on a nearby hill. Kirby's eyes narrowed as he watched the German officer staring at the empty spot across the valley. "Hey Serge."

"Yeah?" Saunders turned from watching the plane to look at Kirby.

"This kraut keeps staring over that way. Isn't that where Billy and Littlejohn disappeared?"

Troy turned at the comment to look at the German who was now staring at the ground. Twisting, the sergeant focused his field glasses on the other side of the hill. A careful scan revealed a darker spot near the top of the hill; if he hadn't suspected it was there, he would have missed it. The tree foliage did not quite match the surrounding shades. Troy grabbed the mirror and warned the plane off. The engine whined as the pilot gave it more power and pulled the nose up to go around.

A machine gun opened fire on the unarmed aircraft as it climbed for safety. The little plane shuttered but continued to climb. More gunfire erupted as the men from Saunders squad attacked the machine gun nest. A brief but violent battle followed with the machine gun finally falling silent. A flash from the other side of the valley told Saunders that his men had won the fight.

During the brief battle, the Colonel had been listening and smiling but the smile disappeared as the scout plane, responding to another signal, began its descent. The Colonel made a desperate bid for freedom as the small aircraft prepared to land. He lunged to his feet and took off running, only stopping when Kirby tackled him and pulled him to the ground.

The field was rough, throwing the small plane around as it taxied to a stop. Saunders, Troy, Kirby and Doc hustled the prisoner out of the trees and across the field to the waiting aircraft.

Moving ahead to talk to the pilot, he was not too surprised to recognize the quiet officer from the briefing on the American airfield.

"Any problems Sergeant?" The pilot asked as soon as Saunders was within hearing.

"No Sir, nothing we couldn't handle." Saunders didn't mention the loss of Hitchcock; it hadn't affected the mission since the blond didn't actually know what they were planning.

"Good, give him the shot and get him on board."

"Doc."

Doc stepped forward and injected the German Colonel with a syringe that had been provided for just this occasion. Doc and Kirby caught the falling officer as he collapsed in a heap.

"Works fast." Kirby grunted as he helped stuff the unconscious man into the small interior of the plane.

The pilot nodded his thanks, wished them luck, and revved his engines. The four men backed away from the plane as the little aircraft bounced across the field, lifted off, dropped back to the ground to bounce once before becoming airborne again. Climbing slowly, the pilot circled to avoid the taller trees and disappeared into the rising sun. All four men listened until they could no longer hear the drone of the engine.

"This might be a good time for us to take our leave." Troy suggested in the quiet left behind by the departing aircraft.

"Do you think they'll make it? Those planes don't carry any weapons." Doc asked as he stared after the plane.

"He'll pick up an escort after he clears this area. Headquarters doesn't want to draw attention to the fact that he was here but they sent him help to get home." Troy reassured the medic. Doc nodded and turned away from the field to look out across the valley to where the shooting had broken out.

"Yeah, let's go see how Billy and Littlejohn made out." Saunders had them move back into the trees to make a circle around the field. They hadn't gone far when they heard someone approaching; the four men hit the dirt and sought cover. They were well hidden when Braddock and Caje came into view. The two men were supporting Littlejohn while Billy brought up the rear. They nearly dropped him when Saunders let them know he was there.

"Don't do that Serge!" Braddock scolded, holding his hand over his heart.

"What happened?"

"Billy and Littlejohn spotted that machine gun but the krauts nearly spotted them. They had to lay low until they could slip away. Then the machine gun opened fire on the plane. Billy and Littlejohn were holding them when we got there. Between us we were able to get the gun but they got Littlejohn." Caje reported the facts as he helped the big man to sit on a fallen tree.

"I'm alright Serge." The big man grunted between clenched teeth.

"Told you he was going to get too big for the krauts to miss." Kirby grunted, watching the scene.

"Doc, take a look at him. Make it fast; we have to get out of here." Saunders frowned at Kirby before ordering Doc to look at Littlejohn. Turning to Caje, he asked, "Did they get a radio message out?"

"No,' the Cajun shook his head, "the radio was on but it hadn't warmed up and there was nothing but static on it. I don't think they had time to get a message out between shooting at the plane and fighting with Billy and Littlejohn."

"Okay, that's good." Looking around at his men, he looked for any other injuries. "Anybody else hurt?" When everyone reported that they were fine, Saunders turned to Doc. "How is he?"

Doc glanced up from his task and gave the sergeant a small smile. "Not too bad. The bullet went clear through his shoulder. I have the bleeding stopped and I'm giving him a small dose of morphine to take the edge off. He'll be ready to go in a minute."

"Told you I was fine." Littlejohn repeated.

"You're not fine Littlejohn, but you'll do." His sergeant admitted with relief. "As soon as Doc is done we need to move."

Littlejohn nodded. Five minutes later they were double-timing it out of the area with Doc staying close to his patient.