Disclaimer: The Rat Patrol is not my property. They come out to play sometimes, then I send them home.

Author's note: "The U.S. Army deployed in style. Upon landing in North Africa they set-up 3 Coca-Cola bottling plants." Creative license will now ensue. Oh and BTW, I prefer Pepsi.

How About a Coke?

By Suzie2b

Troy's eyebrows went up with surprise. "They want us to do what? Sir."

Captain Boggs managed to keep a straight face as he said, "High Command wants your team to head security at the Coca-Cola plant in Benghazi."

Moffitt simply looked confused as he asked, "Why would they need us to guard their bottling plant, sir? Captain O'Connell has a very good security team."

"O'Connell feels the same way. However, this comes from High Command." Boggs went on to explain, "Apparently Robert Woodruff received a report from the supervisor of this plant that the Arab community was stealing from them."

Troy asked, "Stealing what, captain?"

"It seems the Arabs have developed a taste for Coca-Cola. They manage to get into the plant at night and steal the drink by the case. High Command chose you and your team because Sergeant Moffitt can communicate with the Arab people."

"Sir, why don't they just lock the doors?"

Boggs sighed. "I really don't know. You are to report to Captain O'Connell upon your arrival. He will introduce you to a Mr. Gordon Ritchie, who is the supervisor of the plant."

##################

Troy had Hitch and Tully wait with the jeeps outside headquarters while he and Moffitt went in to report to Captain O'Connell. It wasn't long before the sergeants came out with the captain, who was going with them to the bottling plant to introduce them to Mr. Ritchie.

O'Connell led the way through the plant and up some stairs to where the supervisor's office was located. The secretary knocked once on the door before opening it to announce the visitors.

The five soldiers went into the office and the secretary closed the door as she left.

When the man sitting behind the desk looked up from his paperwork, Captain O'Connell said, "These are the men who are going to help you with your security problem." He turned to Troy. "This is Mr. Gordon Ritchie, the plant supervisor." The captain again looked at Ritchie and said, "Sergeants Troy and Moffitt. Privates Hitchcock and Pettigrew."

Ritchie was a large, barrel-chested man. When he stood up, he said gruffly, "It's about time you men got here. I'm losing product nearly every day."

Troy glanced at Moffitt, then asked, "Mr. Ritchie, do you know who exactly is taking your 'product'?"

"It's those filthy Arabs, of course."

Moffitt questioned, "How can you be sure it's the Arabs?"

Ritchie threw his hands up. "Who else could it be?"

Captain O'Connell interrupted, "I'm going to let you work out the details. Let me know if you need anything."

The captain couldn't get out of the office fast enough and Troy was beginning to understand why. He asked, "What time of the day do these robberies happen?"

Ritchie replied, "They're reported to me when I get here first thing in the morning. So I'm assuming they come in at night."

Moffitt asked, "What time do the workers get off?"

"We are a twenty-four hour business, sergeant. Two twelve hour shifts every day of the week."

Troy had to ask, "Wouldn't it make sense to just lock the doors?"

Ritchie said, "No it would not! Too much activity and it takes time to lock and unlock doors. Time is money."

Hitch ventured, "If I may, sir. Could it be an inside job?"

Ritchie frowned. "The men who work here make descent money. They have no reason to steal from me."

"But if there are people here 24/7, why don't the workers stop the thieves?"

Ritchie's face began to turn red. "Now you listen to me! You were brought here to find the perpetrators! I suggest you get started!"

Troy said, "One last question. Exactly how often do the thefts occur?"

"Two or three times a week."

"And when did the last one happen?"

Ritchie said, "Last night. Two full cases."

Troy said, "Okay, Mr. Ritchie, we'll start by taking a look around the plant."

##################

The four soldiers left the office and Troy said, "Hitch, you and Tully start looking around. Check every door. I want to know how many there are and if any of them are kept locked."

Tully asked, "What about you and Moffitt?"

"I want to see if there any plans to this place."

Moffitt smiled slightly and turned to the secretary. "Perhaps this young lady can assist us with that."

She smiled brightly. "Of course. I'll get the plans right away."

Troy looked at Hitch and Tully, who were watching the secretary walk across the room, and said, "I suggest you two get going."

The secretary returned with the plans and said, "My name's Margie. If I can help in any way, please let me know."

Moffitt took the plans. "Thank you, Margie."

##################

Hitch and Tully went downstairs to begin their search. They decided to start at the door where they entered the building. The privates checked everything – doors leading in and out of the building, closets, offices, and even the big doors used by the forklifts.

One of the doors led to a breakroom where there was table with four men sitting around it. Tully spotted a vending machine and walked over to it to discover it was filled with bottles of Coca-Cola, which was no surprise.

Tully dug a nickel out of a pocket as Hitch joined him. "What are you doing?"

Tully put the coin into the slot and when he heard a click, he opened the door and pulled a bottle out. "Want one? It's cold."

Hitch found a nickel in his pocket and got himself a bottle.

They opened the bottles using the opener on the side of the machine, then both turned to survey the room.

One of the men at the table asked, "Are you the guys helping out with our little security problem?"

Hitch nodded. "Yep, us and our sergeants."

"Mr. Ritchie thinks the Arabs are coming in at night to steal cases of coke. Seems kinda silly to me."

Tully swallowed the cold cola, then asked, "Why's it silly?"

"The Arabs here are pretty poor from what I've seen. You'd think they'd steal something besides cases of coke."

"Good point." Tully walked over to the man and put his hand out. "I'm Tully Pettigrew. That's Mark Hitchcock."

The man took the hand with a smile. "Eric Thompson." He pointed to each of his friends and said, "Larry Morris, John Clair, and Joe Bets."

Hitch joined Tully and asked, "How much coke do they put out here?"

Joe replied, "We're capable of over a million cases a year, but we aren't putting out that much right now."

"How come?"

"We don't have the manpower. Not enough employees wanted to come over to a war zone just to bottle a soft drink. Normally, there'd be more than 120 men and women working in a plant this size."

Tully asked, "How many are working here?"

Larry said, "Twenty-five per shift and the plants back in the states only have one twelve hour shift a day. We have two twelve hour shifts here. Boss wants this place working 24/7."

Eric looked at his watch and said, "We'd better get back to work. Nice to meet you both and good luck."

The four men stood and left the breakroom. When the door closed behind them, Tully said, "Did you notice that one guy – the quiet one – his name's John Clair?"

Hitch nodded. "Yeah, he didn't look too happy to have us here."

"If looks could kill, we'd be dead on the floor right now."

Hitch and Tully finished up their drinks and placed the bottles in the wooden case next to the vending machine with the other empties. Then they left to continue their recon of the plant.

##################

Troy and Moffitt were going over the building's plans. Taking note of specific areas to search. There appeared to be small rooms build into the rafters in different areas throughout the building.

The sergeants went to Margie and showed her the plans, then Moffitt asked, "What are these rooms used for?"

Margie looked at what the sergeant was pointing at. "Oh, those are for maintenance."

Troy scowled slightly. "Maintenance?"

"Yes, the crews store tools and supplies there. That way if they have to go up there to work on something, they don't have to carry anything up the ladder with them."

Moffitt said, "Thank you, Margie."

The secretary smiled. "You're very welcome, sergeant."

Troy said, "Let's go find Hitch and Tully." The sergeants went downstairs just as the two privates were getting back from their recon. "Find anything?"

Hitch said, "We found five doors to the outside and two big doors side-by-side that the forklifts can get through. There's all kinds of closets and empty offices. Nothing we found was locked."

Tully added, "We found the breakroom. There were some guys there we got to talkin' to. Well, three of 'em were talkative, the fourth not so much."

Moffitt asked, "What did they have to say?"

"They said they can put out over a million cases of coke a year, but they don't have the manpower to do that much. There would normally be more than 120 people workin' here. There's just twenty-five per shift right now."

Troy gave a nod and showed Hitch and Tully the plans of the plant. "Okay, there are these small rooms here and here up in the rafters. We need to check them out."

Moffitt said, "Margie told us the maintenance crews store supplies and tools in them for when they have to work up there."

Hitch and Tully both grinned and Hitch said, "Margie, huh."

Moffitt chuckled. "Mr. Ritchie's secretary."

Troy shook his head with a smile, then said, "I want you two to check these two rooms. Moffitt and I will take the others. When you're done, come back here."

Hitch said, "Right, sarge. Let's go, Tully."

##################

Hitch and Tully were standing at the bottom of the ladder that led up to the rooms they were to check out. They both looked up and Tully said, "Long way up."

Hitch nodded. "Yep, guess we'd better get started."

Hitch started up first and Tully followed saying, "I'd rather be in firefight with the Germans than climbin' this wooden ladder."

At the top, they climbed onto the nearest rafter and began to make their way on a wide board walkway to the first room. There was no door and they stepped inside.

Hitch found a light switch and turned on the single bulb that hung above their heads. They began to look around, finding tools, replacement light bulbs of different types, along with boxes of gears and other machine parts.

Tully said, "I don't see anything unusual."

Hitch agreed. "Yeah, we'd better check that other room."

As they went to step out, John Clair nearly ran into them. He growled, "What the heck are you two doing up here?"

"Checking these storage rooms. What are you doing up here?"

"I'm part of maintenance. I work here. You'd better not have messed things up in there."

Tully said, "We didn't."

Hitch said, "If you'll let us by, we need to check that other room."

Clair glared at the two soldiers and stepped by them into the room. Hitch and Tully were then able to step out to be on their way.

As they took the walkway in the direction of the next room, Tully stopped and turned to see Clair standing there watching them. He turned back and caught up with Hitch as he said quietly, "That guy's got my hackles up."

After checking the second room and finding nothing of interest, the privates were standing in the doorway. Tully noticed that Clair was nowhere to be seen. Hitch followed the walkway with his eyes and said, "I bet a person can walk all around the plant up here."

Tully said, "Don't know why anyone would want to."

"I guess if you work up here enough, you get used to it. Look at John Clair. He moves around up here like he's on the floor. Let's see where this leads."

##################

Troy and Moffitt returned to where they were to meet Hitch and Tully after checking the other two rooms in the rafters, but the privates weren't there yet.

Troy looked around and said, "They should be done by now. Maybe they found something."

Moffitt caught sight of something moving in the rafters. "They found something all right." He pointed and said, "They're up there."

Troy looked up to see his men making their way to a ladder on a wall a few feet away. The sergeants hurried over and waited for Hitch and Tully to climb down.

Once the privates were on the ground, Troy asked, "What were you doing up there?"

Hitch said, "After we checked those storage rooms, we discovered this network of walkways. A person can go all over the building on those walkways."

"What about those storage rooms?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary."

Tully mentioned, "We did see one of the maintenance guys while we were up there. He wasn't too happy we were in his territory."

Moffitt asked, "Did he say anything?"

"He asked what we were doing and said we'd better not've messed things up in the storage room. We met him in the breakroom with those other guys. Doesn't seem to be a friendly type."

Troy sighed. "Okay, let's go talk to Mr. Ritchie. I've got a plan I'm hoping he'll cooperate with."

##################

Troy explained his plan to Ritchie and the supervisor shook his head angrily as he said, "I've already told you that the doors remain unlocked 24/7."

Troy said, "It'll only be during the night shift. If there's only one door being used by the employees, we'll have a chance to catch the crook."

Ritchie glared at them. "Only during the night shift?"

"Yes, sir. Once the shift has started we can lock up all but one door."

"The big doors aren't made to be locked."

Troy gave a nod. "We can work with that."

Ritchie thought about it, then finally said, "All right." He handed a ring of keys to Troy. "But see to it that they're unlocked before the employees get here in the morning."

"Thank you, Mr. Ritchie."

The Rat Patrol walked out of the office and went downstairs. Tully asked, "Do you want Hitch and me to lock up those doors?"

Troy checked his watch and shook his head. "Too early. You and Moffitt go to the Arab quarter and check around. Maybe someone has seen something. Hitch, you're with me. I want to check out where they store the finished product."

Moffitt asked, "Where shall we meet?"

"Mess hall. We can get some lunch."

##################

Moffitt and Tully walked the streets of the Arab quarter, questioning any likely persons who just might have seen or heard anything.

They weren't having any luck until they came to an alley and something caught Tully's eye. "Hey, sarge, wait a sec."

Moffitt followed his friend to a collection of trash barrels. As usual they were overflowing and on the ground there was a scattering of empty coke bottles. Closer inspection revealed that there were more in the barrels.

Tully picked one up and Moffitt said, "That's interesting. I wonder how they got here."

Tully dropped the bottle into one of the barrels as he said, "Where's the closest bar of café?"

"Let's go take a look."

They left the alley and found a café two doors down from where they'd found the bottles.

Moffitt and Tully went inside. There weren't many people there. They sat at a table and waited for the server to come over. When she did, Moffitt asked in Arabic for two Coca-Colas. The server smiled and walked away. When she returned, she set two warm bottles of coke on the table with a bottle opener.

Moffitt glanced at Tully, then asked the girl where they had gotten the drink.

She quickly answered before she walked away.

Tully said, "Well?"

Moffitt said, "She said that the soft drink is quite popular with her people. Her father buys it from the bottling plant to sell here."

Tully opened one of the bottles as he said, "So it is an inside job." He took a drink and made a face. "It's better cold."

"We'd better go tell Troy what we've found."

##################

Troy and Hitch asked around and were told where the finished bottles were stored before being shipped to the many different bases in North Africa.

They went inside the large room and were confronted by man, who asked, "Do you need something?"

Troy responded, "We're here to stop the thefts. Who has access to this room?"

"As a foreman, I do. So do the forklift drivers and a few others."

"But anyone can come and go as they please."

The foreman shrugged. "There really isn't a reason for anyone else to come in here. I do the counts in the morning."

Troy asked, "So you would know when some cases go missing?"

"Yes, I get the count from the night shift foreman and add it to the previous day's total. Then I give the report to Mr. Ritchie. But the thefts aren't coming out of this room. The cases are being taken off the floor. We just haven't been able pinpoint who's doing it."

Troy frowned as he thought, then said, "Thanks, you've been very helpful."

##################

Moffitt and Tully went to the mess hall, got there food, and found Troy and Hitch already there.

They sat down with their friends and Moffitt asked, "How'd it go?"

Troy answered quietly, "We found out that the cases weren't taken from the storage room. They were taken off the floor before they could even get to storage. You two find anything?"

"We found a café that's selling Coca-Cola. The server told me her father buys cases from the bottling plant. We didn't check to see if there were any other places doing the same, but it wouldn't be a surprise if there were."

Hitch said, "So it's an inside job."

Troy gave a nod. "Looks like it. Someone swipes a case, sells the product for a profit."

Tully asked, "How are we gonna figure out who it is?"

"That's the hard part, but I may have an idea. Eat up. We need to get back to the plant."

##################

That evening after the night shift were present and accounted for, Hitch and Tully went around and locked all but one of the doors to the outside. Then Troy ordered that the two big doors be blocked.

Hitch and Tully borrowed two forklifts and went to work blocking the doors with whatever they could find – like pallets of machine parts and cola ingredients.

Some of the workers watched the privates and one said, "If Mr. Ritchie was here, he'd be pitchin' a fit about now."

The night foreman showed up and asked, "What's going on here?"

"They've locked all the doors but one and now they're blockin' those."

"They can't do that!" The foreman rushed over and stopped Hitch and Tully just as they were finishing up. "Hey! You can't do that!"

Tully slid out of the seat and stood tall and lanky over the smaller foreman. "Just followin' orders. No one in, no one out of these doors."

"For how long?"

Hitch joined them and said, "Just for the night shift. We're trying to catch a thief."

The foreman said, "This is quite irregular. Who's giving the orders?"

Tully replied, "Sergeant Sam Troy. If you wanna talk to him, I think he may be somewhere over by Mr. Ritchie's office."

Hitch added, "We're headed that way now if you want to come along."

The foreman followed the privates and found Troy and Moffitt going over the building plans again.

Tully said, "Hey, sarge. This is the night shift foreman. He isn't too happy that we've locked things up."

Troy looked up from the plans as the foreman said, "We have to use those doors to move things around. This is quite a disruption, sergeant."

Troy glared at the foreman. "I'm sorry about that, Mr.…"

"Barker … Jeffery Barker."

"Okay, here's the thing. You know about the thefts, right?" Barker nodded and Troy continued, "Mr. Ritchie wants them to stop. Our superiors sent us to do the job. Any other questions?"

Barker was a bit intimidated by the hard as nails Sergeant Troy. "No, I suppose not. As long as Mr. Ritchie knows what's going on."

"He does. All you and your people have to do is ignore us and go about your business as usual."

Barker nodded and walked away. When he was out of earshot, Moffitt said with a slight smile, "You were a bit brusque with him, don't you think."

Troy said, "I guess Mr. Ritchie and his foremen don't communicate with each other. Barker should've been made aware what was going to happen." He sighed and turned to Hitch and Tully. The sergeant handed each of them a set of binoculars and a walkie-talkie as he said, "Go up into the rafters and keep an eye out for anything that shouldn't be happening."

Hitch took the field glasses. "Like what?"

Troy growled, "Like someone taking bottles or cases of cola. Now get going."

After the privates took off, Moffitt asked, "What's wrong, Troy?"

"This isn't going to work, Moffitt. Everyone here knows what's going on. The thief will just lay low until we give up."

"This plan may not work tonight, but let's see what happens. Perhaps we can alter things a bit later on."

Troy looked at his friend with a bit of a smile. "I was actually hoping to catch this guy tonight so we can be done with this detail. I guess there's not much chance of that happening."

Moffitt said, "Patience is a virtue. I know you don't like doing security details, but we're sometimes stuck with them. If we don't get our man tonight, perhaps we will tomorrow."

##################

However, they didn't get their man that night or the next night. Troy and Moffitt wandered the floor watching for anything unusual. Hitch and Tully wandered the rafters, keeping watch from above.

6am on the third day found Troy, Moffitt, Hitch, and Tully sitting in the mess hall trying to have breakfast. They were exhausted after spending the last two nights at the bottling plant and getting little to no sleep. The four of them pushed the eggs around their plates with little interest in eating.

Hitch yawned and let his fork clatter onto the plate in front of him. "So what are we trying today, sarge?"

Troy sighed tiredly. "I think we need to change up our tactics."

Moffitt sipped his tea, then asked, "What's your suggestion?"

"My suggestion for the moment is to get some sleep. We're not doing any good asleep on our feet. I'll set the alarm for 1300 hours, then we can go let Mr. Ritchie know what's going on."

Hitch commented, "That'll be a short conversation." Troy, Moffitt, and Tully looked at their friend curiously and he straightened in the chair. "I didn't realize I used my outside voice. Sorry."

Troy smiled as he stood up. "After five or six hours of sleep, we should be ready to go for tonight."

##################

When Mr. Ritchie's secretary, Margie, let the four soldiers into the office, he growled, "Where have you been? You're supposed to be here catching a crook."

Troy growled back, "We spent most of the last forty-eight hours here. It was time to get some rest. Whoever this thief is hasn't been around."

"Well, at least no cases have gone missing in that time frame."

"We're going to try something different tonight. It might take another night or two before the thief makes an appearance."

Ritchie asked suspiciously, "What are you planning?"

Troy said, "I'd rather not say right now. You'll just have to trust us. He looked at his men. "Let's get going."

Ritchie watched them leave with a deep frown on his face.

At the bottom of the stairs, Troy said, "Okay, we go about our usual business." He looked at Hitch and Tully. "But this time I want you two in the rafters before the end of this shift. Keep out of sight until the workers get too busy to look for you."

##################

They spent the rest of the afternoon walking the floor and checking for anything suspicious. Then, when 5pm rolled around, Hitch and Tully climbed a ladder that wasn't in anyone's direct line of sight. They quickly made their way to one of the storage rooms to hide.

Hitch and Tully heard the whistle that told them day shift was done. They could just hear the voices of those leaving as the next shift came in. It wasn't long before the sound of the machinery could be heard again, signaling that people had gone to work.

Just as Hitch and Tully stood up to go out on surveillance, in walked John Clair. They were all a little surprised and Tully said, "Thought you'd be on your way home by now."

Clair looked a little disgruntled as he said, "Boss wants me to finish a job I'd started early. I'm going to be here for another hour or two. What're you two hiding from?"

Hitch said, "We don't want the night shift to know we're up here."

"Well, I won't say anything."

"Thanks."

##################

Meanwhile, Troy and Moffitt waited in one of the empty offices. The whistle went off and they knew day shift was over. After a while Troy got on the walkie-talkie and asked, "Is it clear for us to come out?"

Hitch came back, "Yeah, sarge, everyone looks busy."

Troy and Moffitt carefully left the office and went down a corridor without being seen. At the end it opened up out onto the factory floor where they could watch from an alcove they'd found without being seen.

Then they waited.

##################

Nothing happened and everything seemed to be running smoothly. Then a whistle blew that signaled it was lunch break. The machinery stopped and things got quiet as the men took their lunches outside to get some fresh air.

It wasn't long before Troy and Moffitt heard a door squeak open. It was behind them and they suddenly heard footsteps hurrying in their direction. They pushed themselves back into the alcove's shadows as far as they could and hoped they wouldn't be seen.

The man came to the end of the corridor and stopped. If he'd turned his head, he probably would've seen the sergeants, but he didn't and they couldn't get clear look at his face. He looked around the factory quickly before stepping out onto the floor.

As soon as he dared, Troy whispered into the radio, "Do you see him?"

Hitch said in a low voice, "Yeah, he just came out of where you and Moffitt are hiding."

The sergeants watched the man until he was out of sight, then started following with Hitch giving directions from above.

Tully was watching with binoculars and said, "He's taking a case from one of the work stations."

Hitch relayed the message and Troy asked, "You're sure?"

Tully nodded. "Yep, he's carrying a full case and walkin' away with it."

Hitch said into the walkie-talkie, "We're sure, sarge."

Troy asked, "Can you see us?"

"Yeah, I see you. Go to your right. He's walking towards you."

Tully said, "Hold on. He stopped." Hitch told the sergeants to wait. "He's picking up a second case."

That's when Troy and Moffitt stepped out to confront the intruder. Troy called, "You might want to just put those down."

The guy straightened up and looked at the two sergeants, but made no move to set the cases down.

Troy and Moffitt both drew their pistols and walked closer as Troy repeated his command, "Put them down."

Without warning, the man threw the two cases of Coca-Cola at the sergeants and ran.

Troy and Moffitt were able to fend off the heavy wooden cases, sending bottles crashing all over the concrete floor. They quickly looked around, but didn't see the guy.

Hitch and Tully had been watching from above and Hitch immediately started to give the sergeants directions as to where the man was running.

At one point the man ran to the far side of the building and began to climb into the rafters. Hitch said into the walkie-talkie, "He's coming up here, sarge. We'll head him off."

Troy and Moffitt began following the guy from the floor as he moved quickly over the walkways.

Hitch and Tully were hurrying towards the man until the three men caught site of each other. The privates looked at each other as they recognized who the thief was.

The guy started heading off onto another walkway, away from the privates. Hitch and Tully pursued the man. They caught up with him and a very dangerous struggle ensued.

The man pushed Tully away and it nearly sent him over the edge, but he caught himself on a girder. Hitch managed to get behind the guy and wrap one arm around his throat. The struggling man pushed back and Hitch stepped off the wooden walkway and lost his balance.

From there it all happened in a flash. Tully lunged forward and grabbed Hitch's wrist. As the man reached up to hit Tully with both fists, a blur of motion hit the thief, sending him over the edge.

Troy and Moffitt could only watch as the man fell, hitting the concrete floor with a sickening thud as binoculars and the walkie-talkie crashed nearby. Then their eyes went up again to see Hitch dangling precariously.

Tully was struggling to get a foothold so he could haul his friend up. Then someone was next to him, reaching for Hitch's other hand. Together they were able to pull Hitch up onto the walkway.

Hitch was panting as he now sat between Tully's feet with a protective hand on his shoulder. Tully asked, "You okay?"

Hitch nodded. "As soon as I catch my breath, I will be."

Tully looked at the man who had come to their rescue – it was John Clair. "Thanks. Didn't think you'd still be here."

John shrugged. "I had left a while ago, but then I remembered I'd accidentally left out a couple of tools. Came back to take care of it. I'm kind of a stickler about things like that. Wouldn't have been able to sleep."

Hitch started to get to his feet and Tully gave him a steadying hand. "Well, I for one am glad for that. Thanks for being around."

##################

As it turned out, the thief had been Jeffery Barker, the night foreman.

A whistle blew and as the workers began to return from their lunch break, Moffitt, Hitch, and Tully had to head them off to make them leave.

Moffitt told them, "The plant is closed until further notice."

Someone asked, "What's going on?"

"There's going to be an investigation and nothing can be touched at this time."

Someone else called, "Where's Barker? He should be here giving orders, not you!"

Moffitt tried to stay patient as he said, "You'll find out everything in good time. Now, please cooperate and leave the building." As soon as everyone was out, he turned to the privates. "Tully, go get a security detail over here. Then wake Captain O'Connell. Hitch, you'd better notify Mr. Ritchie. I imagine he'll be in the visitor's quarters."

As soon as security arrived and their statements had been taken, the Rat Patrol was released to go to their quarters. Which suited them just fine.

##################

They were in the mess hall having breakfast when word came that Captain O'Connell wanted to see them ASAP. They quickly finished there meal and headed for headquarters.

When Troy, Moffitt, Hitch, and Tully walked into the captain's office, they saw that Mr. Ritchie was there. He stayed seated as he said, "He was a good man. A good foreman. Are you sure he was the thief?"

Troy said, "He was caught red-handed taking two cases."

Moffitt added, "If there are no more thefts, then we can conclude that Barker was the thief."

"How's the investigation going, captain?"

O'Connell said, "Pretty cut and dry. There's no reason to suspect there was anyone helping him. As to why he was doing it, we'll probably never know."

Ritchie asked, "I've been told that John Clair happened to be there to help out last night. Something about needing to put some tools away. I'm going to be having a talk with him later today."

Hitch said quickly, "You aren't going to fire him, are you? He helped save my life!"

For the first time they saw a smile on Mr. Ritchie's face. "No, I'm not going to fire him. I'm going to promote him. If he'll have it, Clair will become the new night foreman."

Tully said, "He's not much of a people person."

Ritchie nodded. "He's used to being up in those rafters and doesn't associate with too many people. However, I believe, with a little work, Clair will be a fine foreman."

O'Connell said, "All right, men. This mission is over for you. Captain Boggs is expecting you back at Ras Tanura as soon as you can get there."

Troy and his men saluted as the sergeant said, "Yes, sir. We'll be on our way as soon as the jeeps are ready."

After the door closed, Ritchie turned to the captain. "They're quite a team."

O'Connell smiled. "They sure are."

##################

Outside of headquarters, Troy said, "Hitch, you and Tully go take care of the jeeps. Moffitt and I will go get our gear."

Hitch said, "It's going to nice to get back out on the desert."

Tully agreed. "Nothing better'n fightin' Germans and crazed Arabs."

"Well, to be honest, I'd rather be doing that than being stuck in that factory."

Moffitt asked, "And why is that?"

Hitch replied, "When I take a fall out there…" He pointed at the bottling plant. "It's not as far down as it was in there."

They all chuckled and Troy shook his head. "Okay, let's get moving. I want to be on our way in an hour."

"Maybe we could go get a case of coke to take back with us?"

"We're out of here in an hour, Hitch. And I'd better not here bottles clanking in the back of the jeep."

Hitch looked disappointed. "Okay, sarge."

##################

An hour and a half later, two jeeps were skimming the desert floor, their last assignment behind them and out of sight.

Moffitt was sitting in the passenger seat watching the landscape pass by. Tully hit a slight bump. There was a tiny sound – a clink. Another bump, another clink. "What's in the back of the jeep, Tully?"

The private shrugged. "Just the usual. Rations, bedrolls, ammo…"

"All right. What's clinking back there?"

"Clinking? I haven't noticed any clinking."

Moffitt frowned as he turned in the seat and reached over into the back. He moved a blanket aside and found a wooden case of Coca-Cola. "Troy told Hitch no, did he not?"

Tully glanced at the sergeant, then said, "Not exactly. Troy said we were leaving in one hour. We did. He also said he didn't want to hear bottles making noise in the back of their jeep. This isn't their jeep."

Moffitt shook his head as he tossed the blanket back over the case. He decided to not argue the point. He simply turned back in the seat and remained silent.