Donnie is on the rampage; how far will he go to find the shooter?

Chapter 21:

Charlotte had pulled Donnie to the side and said, "Don, don't go Chicago on this" "Charlotte, I ain't gonna regret the next couple hours, the minute I find that prick he's a dead man" "I'm warning you, don't turn into your father." "I won't turn into my father." Charlotte nodded as she got into the jeep and Speirs had drove off like a bat out of hell leaving Talbert and Murphy standing side by side.

Donnie had then nodded to Talbert as Donnie growled out in his strong Chicago accent, "Let's find that son of a bitch."

Donnie had been pounding on every door in the building as everyone in Easy had seen Donnie's cold expression, his brown eyes didn't even register a smile they had asked him what happened, he said, "Grant's been shot, we're going after the guy who shot him." "Bull, Malark, Murphy, take a squad and a witness and go house to house to find this bastard on sight!"

Malarkey had then said, "We shoot this bastard on sight?" "Try and take him alive" "Where's Grant, now?" Randleman asked Floyd then stopped as Donnie lead everyone out into the street as Talbert said to Randleman, "They took him to a kraut hospital, to see if they could throw up any good doctors."

Donnie then told everyone who they were looking for as Heffron, Hashey, Garcia, O'Keefe and Liebgott went with him to find the bastard that shot Grant as Donnie asked, "Who's in the brothel tonight?" "Item Company are in there tonight." "Good." They then moved to the west side of town as Donnie held his gun in one hand as he said, "Listen, whatever happens tonight, if you're uncomfortable in telling the truth about who got hurt and why, then walk away. I won't stop you."

Nobody had walked away, Donnie knew he needed all the help he could get. He then walked up to the door and kicked it in with all his force as he shouted, "Nobody move!" they walked in as Liebgott said, "Item Company in here!" one of the men from Item then said, "What's it your business?" "How about one of your men shooting one of ours?" "I don't know anything about that!" Donnie then walked over as he got out his sidearm and picked up the soldier as he said, "Listen to me asshole I ain't in a smiling mood, you tell me where he is or things ain't going to look good for you" the soldier already was afraid, fear was in his eyes.

He heard of Donnie getting what he wanted when he saw the damage done to the SS prisoner from Landsberg he was frightened of seeing what happened to his own friend as Donnie said to Liebgott, "Liebgott, find the roof! Heffron, keep an eye on these guys" he then grabbed the soldier he was interrogating as he said, "Come on tough guy, I'll show you how far I'm willing to go!" he then dragged the soldier to the roof his rage was reaching breaking point as he guided him to the roof as the soldier decided to struggle, "Let me go asshole!" "I warned you what would happen, now you face the consequences." Donnie snarled.

He then brought him to the roof as he said, "Where is he, Soldier? Tell me where he is, I'll let you go. You better pray we get to him otherwise the British get to him, they'll hang him from the nearest street light" "I don't know where he is" the soldier lied.

Donnie wasn't accepting the answer and grabbed the soldier as he dangled him off the roof the soldier was screaming as he said, "NO! PLEASE DON'T DO THIS! GOD HELP ME!" "God can't help you now, tell me what I want to know, or I loosen my grip" "ALRIGHT! HELP ME UP, I KNOW WHERE HE IS!" Donnie looked to Liebgott and nodded as the two got the screaming soldier back on level ground as Donnie said, "Where is he, dark hair, dark eyes talks with a Chicago accent? No lying" "He came back to town and took a girl, said he was going to have some fun with her. The girl she's a minor" Donnie near went ape-shit hearing what the frightened soldier had said as he asked, "She's a what?!" "She's 14, I don't know what the hell she was doing there" "Did anybody get their way with her?" "No, they didn't, I swear on my mother's life, nobody went near her." "You better be telling the truth and that girl's alive. If she isn't, god help you and your buddy."

Liebgott and Donnie left the soldier on the roof as they headed to the squad saying, "Let's go, we got what we need" the squad then left heading to the street as Donnie told them what he heard. Everyone's faces were filled with anger, rage. They were ready to find this bastard and give him a little pain of his own as O'Keefe relayed the message to everyone.

Donnie signalled the squad to follow him. He had a cold expression on his face. It reminded him of his father when he was a kid, whenever a cop was killed in Chicago, his father would be filled with rage, anger and fear. It would have only taken somebody near crazy to snap him out of it.

At the hospital in the next town Charlotte had finished helping the German brain surgeon and she was waiting for the news along with Speirs and Roe. She had felt her breathing get shallow and her heart pound at a terrifying rate she had felt something mysterious as she felt Donnie's fear, anger and rage it terrified her to the brink that she knew her friend had gone to the dark side, she knew there was no chance that he wouldn't let his anger go. She wondered if her friend's family had felt the terrifying anger that had consumed Donnie. She would never know until she had gone home.

Roe had noticed this and gone to Charlotte as he asked, "Sgt, is everything alright? Do you need anything?" "It's Don, I can feel his emotions" Roe was further puzzled as he asked, "What do you mean? You feel his emotions?" "When Donnie was little, he always had the fear of god in him. His anger was unparallel with nobody else, he always had fear, anger and hatred in him. It was what he inherited from his father. I didn't think that the story about what Don did to a prisoner was true, but I knew that this was him."

Roe nods as he says, "What could happen if Don finds this guy and doesn't deliver him alive?" "Only one outcome would have happened" "What would it be?" "That he is dead and that would be it."

Back in the town Donnie was still searching for the soldier that had shot Grant in the head. He was already fearful that Grant was lost the squad with him had felt his rage as they travelled from behind and it was already frightening, he was on a short leash and Donnie could feel it shortening until they heard a scream coming from straight ahead.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

Donnie had then broken into a sprint as he shouted to O'Keefe, "Get everybody to that scream, NOW!" he then stopped as he let everyone go on ahead as he pulled Liebgott to the side as he said, "Surround him, I'll go around and sneak up on him." "Got it, Don" Liebgott signalled for the squad to follow him as he saw Donnie sneak around the other side.

Donnie had holstered his carbine and got out his side-arm as he checked the gun and held it in his hand as he snuck up stealthily around the drunken soldier who had a hostage with him which was a young girl 14 at least.

He then stepped out of cover and placed his thumb over the hammer as he walked over and slowly raised his gun to the soldier's head and pulled the hammer back. The soldier looked stunned he didn't move he knew somebody was behind him as the drunk man said, "This is how it ends. A man holding a gun to my head" "Let the girl go or I drop you where you stand" "How does it feel Sergeant? To be in a position of power?" "I'm giving you one last chance, let the girl go, drop your weapon. And. Get. On. Your. Knees" The soldier soberly chuckled as he said, "Doesn't power feel good? Fear, anger, the hatred, I can feel it."

Donnie's hand shakes as the soldier taunts him, "You can't do it, can you? You are nothing like a Chicago man, are you? Donnie?" Donnie then aims for the soldier's back leg knee and fires a shot as it tears through him as he grabs hold of the soldier and punches him several times as he lets Randleman and Malarkey take him as he says to them, "Take him back to the barracks, I got a few questions I want to ask him" both Randleman and Malarkey nodded as Donnie stayed where he was. He didn't ask the question as to how he didn't shoot him, he pushed it out of his head and headed back to the barracks. But all he knew was that he knew the soldier as Antonio Milano.

He had reached the barracks and cocked his weapon as he walked through the hallway as he pushed open the door and said in a voice that sent the room to Russian winter saying, "Where is he?" "In there" "Good" he walked in through the room and pistol whipped him as he pointed the gun to his head as coldly said to him, "Give me one reason to blow your head off, Antonio?" "Sgt Donnie Murphy, the prodigal son" "Last I heard, you were in jail rotting away" "Yeah, I wondered about that, guess I got a new lease on life" "You ain't walking out of here alive" "I wouldn't be sure of that. Because you can't touch me" "You shot a British officer, I'm prepared to hand you over to them and they string you from the nearest street light."

Antonio chuckled to himself as he said, "How's your girl, what's her name? Betty?" Donnie's body tensed up as he asked, "What about her?" "Remember the accident, May 1935?" "What do you know about it?" "I know that my father ordered the accident when her father had gotten too close to our activities, just like somebody else."

Donnie knew who Antonio was talking about as he yanked him out of the chair as he threw Antonio at the wall as he beat him to a near pulp as Donnie picked him up and put his gun in Antonio's mouth as Donnie said to him, "You knew about the Donovan's death?" "Yeah, her father was still alive, so I personally stopped him from breathing and nobody ever questioned it" "You twisted fucking coward! You murdered the love of my life's family all because you cared about protecting others."

"I'm sorry, Don, I am so sorry" Antonio says begging for mercy from Donnie who just growls angrily, "Save it for Betty, you prick, because if my friend doesn't make it, I will drop you in the fucking river with a Chicago Necklace wrapped around your fucking neck. That is a promise."

Donnie walks out of there unable to breath as he says to Randleman, "You and several others take your time with him" "Got it" "Hey, has there been any word on Grant?" "Nothing yet, everyone's anxious as hell" "Alright" "Hey, you alright?" "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

Randleman nods as he figures that Donnie lied about how he was feeling and left with several others as Donnie then took a seat just looking into the fire seeing how flickered every time whilst Luz and Talbert played cards. Soon the doors burst open as everyone stood on their feet seeing Speirs who had said, "Where is he?" "How's Grant?" Talbert asked. But Speirs kept prodding Talbert who shouted, "Where is he?!" the grunts coming from the next room attract Speirs' attention as he walks in with Donnie close behind as Speirs took in the appearance of the beaten soldier as he asked, "This him?" "That's him both the replacements confirmed it. Tried to rape an Austrian Girl. Don put a bullet in his leg and had a little time with him. Name's Antonio Milano."

Speirs nodded as he walked towards the soldier saying, "Where's the weapon?" Antonio whispers as he replies back, "What weapon?" Speirs then pistol-whipped Antonio as everyone looked on they had all heard the stories of Speirs' rumours and didn't know what to believe as he replied, "When you talk to an officer, you say "Sir."

Antonio just coughed as Speirs raised his gun cocking it as he raised it to Antonio's head everyone stood back so that Speirs would kill Antonio others just turned away not wanting to see what happened one of those men was Malarkey.

Speirs' hand was shaking they knew he was debating whether to kill him or keep him alive Speirs had looked at the side of his hand and decided to not kill Antonio he had taken his hat off and lowered his gun as he said to everyone, "Have the MPs take care of this piece of shit."

Everybody just looked on as Talbert asked, "Grant's dead?" "No. Kraut Surgeon says he's going to make it." Donnie had sighed in relief hearing that Grant would make it as he turned to Antonio and said, "Alright, Milano, on your feet. Appears your death sentence has been overruled, be lucky the MPs have you to deal with." Donnie and several others had taken him to the MPs handing him over to them as Donnie said to the lead MP saying, "Let me know if he's any trouble, I'll be glad to come and teach him to play nice." "Won't be necessary, Sergeant." Donnie watched the MPs take Antonio from him as he watched on before walking back.

The next morning, Donnie had been sitting in his Service dress uniform, he had recently heard news that Talbert had voluntarily taken a demotion to Staff Sergeant because he missed being with the men, no news had been given as to when the 101st would be deployed to the Pacific. He was nervous as to why he was called to do an interview for somebody and he found out soon enough as somebody had come out, "Technical Sergeant Murphy, he's waiting for you" "Let's not keep him waiting then."

Donnie had followed the Secretary as he found himself in front of a Lieutenant Colonel as he stood ramrod straight and gave a crisp salute to the Lieutenant Colonel who had introduced himself, "Technical Sergeant Murphy, my name is Lieutenant Colonel John Baker. With the 793rd Military Police Battalion" "Yes Sir, it is an honor, Sir." "Please sit down" Murphy had then taken the seat and sat across from Colonel Baker who had gone through Donnie's service record.

Soon Baker had taken his eyes of the page and said smiling, "Technical Sergeant Donald Henry Murphy, born April 29th 1924, enlisted for the Army in January of 1942, completed Airborne training in May 1942. 3 DSCs, 1 Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, 6 Purple Hearts and some other ribbons. Fine soldier, 1st class leadership skills, Inventive tactician and able-bodied." "Yes Sir" "Sergeant, what were you told about this meeting?" "They did not tell me much, Sir, in all respect, they only told me that a high-ranking officer wanted to speak with me about an interview."

"Sergeant, what you were told was right, but they had left out a crucial detail, I would like you to join my unit working as Military Police." Donnie was stunned, an offer to work with the 793rd Battalion he had not expected this. He had a lot of scenarios going through his head thinking about whether he would leave the men of Easy Company. He knew his loyalty was now put to the test.

Colonel Baker had noticed Donnie's shell-shocked expression as he said, "If you join me, you will get control of your own team, you'll work any case and go after the people behind the holocaust, and once that has been completed. You would stay in Germany to keep the peace now that an expected stand-off is due to happen." Donnie nodded as he followed along, Baker had given Donnie the chance to ask some questions and Baker answered them as Donnie considered the words.

Soon Donnie was looking at Baker into the pale blue eyes that Baker had and thought about what to say as he said, "Lt. Colonel Baker, you have put a really good offer on the table and you know of what I have been through since D-Day" "Your father once saved my life back in the 1st War, I wouldn't have made it out of the Argonne Forest if it had not been for him" "Yes Sir, I don't exactly know sir what I want. But all I do know, is that my loyalty is to Easy Company, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. And if we ever get sent to the Pacific, I want to stay with the men, Sir." Baker nodded as he said, "Sergeant Murphy, the Army is lucky to have such a fine and loyal soldier and I don't want to put pressure on you because you have loyalty to your men" "Yes Sir" "In fact I think Easy Company are very lucky to have you" "Yes Sir."

Donnie then stood up and shook Colonel Baker's hand as he stood to attention and saluted the officer in front of him respectfully as Baker had then returned it. Baker had then said, "Congratulations Sergeant Murphy" Donnie raised an eyebrow as he said, "I'm not sure if I understand, Sir" "You passed your test" Donnie was further puzzled until he had then saw Major Winters and Captain Nixon walk in behind him as Major Winters had said, "Sir, what was the answer?" "He refused Major, because he was loyal to Easy Company than wanting to leave them."

Winters nodded as did Nixon as Colonel Baker left with the men saluting the Lieutenant Colonel as Winters said, "Technical Sergeant Donald Murphy, you have now been officially promoted to 1st Sergeant in Easy Company, congratulations" "Yes Sir, thank you Sir" "You'll stay with the men as you have always wanted to" "Yes Sir" "Good. Captain Nixon, do you have it?" "Yes Major, I do, Congratulations 1st Sergeant" "Thank you Captain" "Best, you sew on those stripes or we'll cite you for being out of uniform." Donnie smiled largely as he said, "Yes Sir, indeed Sir."

Donnie then stood to attention and saluted the officers as he took the 1st Sgt stripes and headed to sew them on.

Later on, around lunchtime Murphy had been walking in the court yard and walked over to Lieutenant Lipton who had said, "1st Sergeant Murphy" "Lieutenant Lipton, I take it you heard" "You were the only other candidate plus I knew you would have wanted to be a 1st Sergeant" "To be honest, I didn't even know what was going on. I didn't even want to leave Easy Company. Because you told me that we're brothers serving in A Company of Heroes."

Lipton smiled as they had watched Winters and Malarkey speak to each other, it turned out that Malarkey had been offered to work as a technical advisor at an Airborne Exhibition in Paris and would be leaving soon. They had watched as Malarkey had saluted Winters but had been given a handshake by Winters as Malarkey had then turned to both Murphy and Lipton and nodded to them as they smiled in return as Lipton had walked towards Winters as Donnie had listened in, "Carwood, yes. You probably know, when the Army gives a man a battlefield commission… they normally don't let him stay with the same company." "Yes Sir, I figured this was coming" "They were afraid that the men wouldn't show him the same amount of respect as they would another officer" "Yeah, it's a good theory, sir." "It's idiotic. Especially in your case."

Lipton nodded as Winters then continued, "Nevertheless, they've let me choose where to reassign you. I figured Battalion Headquarters might be a good place." "I can think of few better, sir."

The next thing Donnie knew, him, Lipton, Winters and Nixon were heading down to the airfield, where a German General had massed what was left of his men as they stood to attention. Liebgott was keeping the General company as Lipton had gotten out of the jeep and walked over to Liebgott and the General as Donnie watched on.

Next thing Donnie had seen was Captain Sobel and an aide walking by as the aide saluted Major Winters and Donnie as they returned it, Sobel had turned the other way, Donnie had suspected that Sobel was bitter about Winters advancing higher up the chain of command whilst he was still a captain, Winters had called out to him, "Captain Sobel" "Major Winters" "Captain Sobel." Winters repeated it.

Sobel had then stopped in front of the jeep as Winters had said smirking, "We salute the rank, not the man."

Donnie smirked a little as he stood to attention saluting Sobel who returned it. As Sobel then saluted Winters who in turn returned it as everyone watched on with much amusement. Donnie then shared a Cheshire cat grin with Liebgott as he watched the General give his speech.

Liebgott had walked over and Winters turned to Liebgott saying, "Liebgott." Liebgott then complied and began translating the speech as he began, "Men, it's been a long war, it's been a tough war. You fought bravely for your country, proudly for your country."

Donnie took in the words and thought back to the men in Easy Company that served since Toccoa and been in 6 countries. He didn't think anybody in his family could top that as Liebgott continued to translate, "You are a special group… Found in one another a bond… that exists only in combat… among brothers of shared foxholes." The general stopped to breathe and continued further, "Held each other in dire moments. Have seen death and suffered together. I am proud to have served with each and every one of you. You deserve long and happy lives in peace."

Donnie had taken the words to heart but knew with what he had seen in the war. He knew he would be ok and would have his family standing with him but with Easy Company breaking up before they even jumped into the Pacific it was impossible to tell if they were going home together or apart.

Despite all of this, the men still managed to find time to spend with as a company. Buck Compton had returned but for a short while an on August 15th the company were playing a game of baseball.

Donnie was sitting on the side-lines with Charlotte as they watched the game progress as Charlotte took her turn scoring a home run, Donnie was soon called to the plate after before Webster as he took his turn holding the bat in his right hand as somebody shouted out, "We got a righty" Donnie gripped the bat in his hand as the ball came to him. A loud THWACK! sounded out Donnie began running past 1st base, 2nd base, 3rd base and to the plate as Donnie scored a home-run with the out catcher failing to get to the ball as Donnie laughed.

"Donnie Murphy, a fine and loyal soldier, he married Betty Donovan and joined a PD in 1946. He returned to the Army in 1950 for Korea but only for 6 months soon after he returned to the Police Department soon after and had 1 child. He's still around living out his days in peace and retired from the Police Department as Chief of Department in 2007."

Donnie then patted Webster on the shoulder as he said to Webster, "Alright Web, it's your turn, go get 'em!"

"Buck Compton came back to see the company letting them know he was alright. He became a prosecutor in Los Angeles. He had convicted Sirhan-Sirhan for the murder of Robert Kennedy and was later appointed to the California point of appeals."

Webster's ball had been caught by Buck and he was out of the game.

"David Webster had wrote for the Saturday Evening Post and Wall Street Journal. He then wrote a book about Sharks. In 1961, he had gone out on the Ocean and was never seen again."

Johnny Martin was now Pitcher and pitched the ball to Antonio Garcia who had hit it and began running.

"Johnny Martin would return to his job at the railroad and soon would start his own construction company. He split his time between Arizona and a place in Montana."

Martin had then caught the ball and then threw it to George Luz who flashed his usual grin and caught it as he began to run Garcia out.

"George Luz became a handy-man in Providence, Road Island. As a testament to his character 1600 people had attended his funeral in 1998."

Roe was at the plate and had his eye on the ball as he then hit the ball and began running.

"Doc Roe died in Louisiana in 1998. He'd been a construction contractor."

Perconte was running to where Liebgott was trying to avoid being caught running as fast as he could.

"Frank Perconte returned to Chicago and worked a postal route as a mailman."

Liebgott had then caught hold of the ball and had caught out Perconte as he smiled widely catching out his good friend.

"Joe Liebgott returned to San Francisco and drove his cab."

Bull Randleman was up on the plate his tall stature looked intimidating as everyone cheered on Webster who was at the pitch to run Randleman out, but Randleman smiled and had his cigar in between his teeth as he chewed on it.

"Bull Randleman was one of the best soldiers I ever had. He went into the earth-moving business in Arkansas. He's still there."

Webster had thrown the ball and Randleman hit it with such power that it echoed as everyone in the company cheered for Randleman for the effort. Soon Alton More was looking up at the sky and waited for the ball to drop to him which it did as he catched it.

"Alton More returned to Wyoming with a unique souvenir: Hitler's personal photo albums. He was killed in a car accident in 1958."

Floyd Talbert was waiting to hit the ball and had Compton right behind him as Martin then threw the ball with Talbert hitting it.

"Floyd Talbert, we all lost touch with him in civilian life. Until he showed up at a reunion just before his death in 1981."

"How we had lived our lives after the war was as varied as each man."

Lipton and Welsh were sitting in front of a jeep as they cheered on Talbert who was running as Donnie and Charlotte were sat with them.

"Carwood Lipton became a glass making executive in charge of factories all over the world. He has a nice life in North Carolina. Harry Welsh, he had married Kitty Grogan and became an administrator for the Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania School System."

Unknown to them Major Winters and Captain Nixon were walking behind them in their service uniforms whilst everyone continued with the game at its slow pace.

Captain Speirs was watching the game in his uniform as he leant up against the jeep.

"Ronald Speirs stayed in the army. Served in Korea. In 1956, he returned to Germany as Governor of Spandau Prison. He had retired a Lieutenant Colonel."

Everybody had cheered in celebration as Donnie had seen Nixon and Winters walking towards Speirs as he raised an eyebrow as to what was going on as he heard Speirs yell out, "Easy Company! School circle!" everyone had then begun to jog over to where the senior officers where as they gathered in anticipation of hearing the news.

"For Easy Company, it was D-Day plus 434."

They had gathered as they waited for Winters to begin as he spoke, "Listen up, I got some news." Winters began as he took a short breath before speaking, "This morning, President Truman had received the unconditional surrender from the Japanese. The wars' over."

Everybody's expression in the company was unreadable they were shocked at hearing the news at hearing the news as Donnie looked shell-shocked. The war was over? Done for good? Are we even going home?

"Regardless of points, medals or wounds. Each man in the 101st Airborne would be going home. Each of us would be forever connected by our shared experience and each would have to re-join the world as best he could."

Donnie smiled widely as he whispered, "The war is finally over?" Donnie heard his voice crack as he started to laugh in celebration, "Are we going home, Sir?" Winters nodded as he smiled widely confirming Donnie's thoughts, "You're all going to be going home."

Everybody celebrated as they all ran off to do their thing as Donnie lead the way celebrating with Randleman and couple other men including Charlotte joined as Donnie celebrated with her as Donnie said to her, "We're going home, Sarge" "What a way to end this, right Don?" "Right you are, Airborne all way!" "AIRBORNE!" everyman celebrated chanting, "AIRBORNE!" whilst Nixon and Winters watched the celebrations.

"Lewis Nixon had some tough times after the war. He had been divorced a couple times. But in 1956 he had married a woman named Grace and everything had came together for him. He had spent the rest of his life with her travelling the world. My friend Lew had died in 1995. I took up his Job offer and was appointed personnel manager at the Nixon Nitration Works until I was called back into service in 1950 to train Officers and Rangers. I had chose not to go to Korea. I had enough of war. I stayed around Hershey, Pennsylvania finally finding a little farm. A little peaceful corner of the world, where I still live today. There is not a day that goes by that I think about the men that I served with who never got to enjoy the world without the war."

"I cherish the memories of a question that my Grandson asked me when he said, "Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?" Grandpa had said "No, but I served in A Company of Heroes."

I don't know if you'll be crying at the end of this chapter, I will be though, in fact I am. And it is because that every-day the men and women that serve in the militaries around the world are the heroes because they preserve our freedom.

The men and women that serve the streets every day in Police Forces, Fire Departments and Hospitals they're all heroes and we should be thankful for that every day. Next chapter sees Donnie returning home and reuniting with his family. Let me know in the comments if you want to see the wedding of Donnie and Betty and I will add it in.

Also give thanks towards War Sage for suggesting ideas for the Sobel saluting Winters scene and his Monologue during the baseball game both are incredible scenes. Also i couldn't leave out the famous Quote Winters had said in BOB. The Title had come from his last words.