The Great Requisition Raid

By: AliasCWN

Chapter 1

Troy received the summons to the captain's office even before he had a chance to get his breakfast. While he waited to be called in to see the captain he scrubbed his hand across the day old stubble on his face. His team had returned late the night before after completing another long patrol and they had all slept in. The other members of his team were still asleep in their quarters and he wished he could be with them. Corporal Williams, the clerk who handled the captain's paperwork, glanced up as the sergeant paced past his desk.

"I'm sorry Sergeant, the captain said to tell you to come right away; I don't know what's delaying him."

Troy paused to nod at the corporal before resuming his pacing. It wasn't that he was in a hurry to see the captain, he wasn't. He supposed that the officer wanted the report on the mission they had just completed. Moffitt had radioed the base and given them the results of the search; nothing; no German patrols or columns, no Arabs, friendly or not; no sign of anyone in the entire sector. Since the captain already had that information Troy couldn't understand why the request had been marked urgent.

He paced for an additional ten minutes before being called into the captain's office.

The captain opened his door and motioned for the sergeant to enter. "Troy, you're here, good. Come on in." As soon as the sergeant stepped into the room the captain closed the door behind him.

"You wanted to see me Captain?"

"Yes I did," the captain answered.

"Didn't you get our message about the patrol?"

"Yes I did Sergeant, and it's nice to know that Jerry isn't sneaking up on us."

Troy waited as the officer wandered around the room with a distracted look on his face. "Sir?"

"Sergeant."

Troy and the captain both spoke at the same time.

"Go ahead Captain," Troy urged.

The officer nodded and walked around his desk. He pulled the chair back and took a seat. Troy's eyes narrowed as the captain seemed to get lost in his own thoughts again. "We have a problem Sergeant."

Troy's breath caught in his throat. Were his men in trouble? They had been out on patrol for six days so it would have to be something that happened before they left the base. He had been with all of his men from the time they returned to the base until he received the summons so it couldn't be anything more recent. "What kind of problem Sir?" he asked uneasily.

The captain glanced at the door and lowered his voice. "Someone broke into my office last night."

"Your office? Do you have a suspect?"

"Unfortunately, no."

"Any idea what they were after?"

"Again, no, not really."

"But you have your suspicions?" Troy persisted.

The captain nodded hesitantly. "There didn't seem to be anything missing when I first checked."

"And now?" Troy urged the officer to continue.

"I'm not completely sure," the officer answered. He picked up several papers from a pile on his desk. "I thought I had three blank requisition forms on my desk, now I can only find two." The officer looked up at Troy. "I could be wrong, maybe there were only two in the first place."

"But you think there were three?"

"Yes Sergeant, I think there were three."

Troy shook his head. "Why would someone risk breaking into your office just to steal a single blank requisition form? That doesn't make much sense."

The captain nodded his agreement. "I agree Troy, it doesn't make much sense. That's why I hesitated to mention it. The problem is, other than the form, I didn't notice anything missing. It doesn't make sense, but there it is."

"Maybe they didn't find what they were looking for and left without it."

"Nothing else was disturbed as far as I could tell."

"You're sure?"

"I have gone over everything twice to be sure."

"Captain," Troy lowered his head and looked at the officer through his lashes, "are you suggesting that I might know who broke in and took the form?"

The officer's head jerked up and he looked at Troy in surprise. "Of course not Sergeant, you don't, do you?"

"No sir, I don't."

The captain studied Troy for a moment before he realized what Troy was asking. "Troy, I don't think your privates had anything to do with this. I called you here because I want you and your team to investigate this break-in. The MPs will be doing an investigation but I want you to do a quiet one independently."

"This isn't exactly our ball of wax sir. We're not investigators."

"I know that Sergeant, but I know I can trust you and your team to be impartial."

"You don't trust the MPs?"

"I trust them," Boggs explained, "but this might be an inside job and I don't want the perpetrators to get wind of it and interfere in the investigation."

"Where do you want us to start?"

"I suggest you start at the supply building," the captain answered. "I can only assume that if they took a requisition form they plan to use if for something."

"Okay Captain, we'll look around, but I can't guarantee that we'll find any more than the MPs can find."

"Just check it out and get back to me," the captain ordered.