The truck bounced along and Dave tried to keep his seat which was proving excedingliy difficult since his hands were bound behind his back

The truck bounced along and Dave tried to keep his seat, which was proving exceedingly difficult since his hands were bound behind his back. He could already feel evidence of chaffing and wished that they would cut them off. He, Luka, and the two German soldiers were crammed into the bed of a truck with two armed Americans sitting on the outside. The frizzy-haired nurse drove with her Asian friend beside her.

The young Chinese nurse watched the prisoners riding in the back. She looked at the drying blood on the side of Dave's head and at the growing red stain on the arm of Luka's uniform. None would look back at her. None except the one in the back. The boy that was the darkest with the blood on the side of his head. She'd caught him glancing at her quickly. For a few seconds their eyes locked and for a moment she saw a man; not just an enemy. He shied away, though, something inside telling him not to prolong his gaze.

They arrived at the Allies' camp a quarter of an hour later. The prisoners were lead into a barbwire enclosure surrounded by armed guards. Their hands still bound, Luka and Dave sat down alongside one of the Germans. The other paced about.

"Cowards," he muttered in German. "Who knows what they'll do to us now…" he kicked up dirt.

"Hey! Pike down in 'ere!" one of the English guards hissed to the scowling German.

"It's alright," Luka tried to calm his comrade. "They will release us when the war is over."

"After they torture us for information."

"We are a handful of lieutenants and infantry. They would not waste their time interrogating us."

The German's facial expression softened with reason. He approached. "I'm Douglas. Douglas Ross." He knelt.

"I'm Luka Kovac."

"How 'bout him?" he jerked his head at Dave.

"David Malucci, Italian Infantry."

After hearing his name Dave looked up, figuring out what was going on. He couldn't understand the men and the pain in his throbbing head was increasing so he let himself zone out.

Doug chuckled. "It's funny. We risked our lives for him, you and I… and I didn't even know his name."

Luka smiled weakly.

"Can he understand me?"

"No. He only speaks Italian."

"Oh. Well, then tell him I'm sorry about the other night. Sven here gets pretty rough when he's drunk," he jerked his head toward the other German soldier who smirked.

"David. David," Luka elbowed the man next to him to rouse his attention. "This is Doug Ross. He wants to apologize for last night."

"Oh… It's okay," he looked sleepy and his eyelids were beginning to droop.

Luka turned back to Doug. "He says it's all right."

Doug laughed and sat down next to Luka.

Meanwhile Elizabeth had rushed Mark into the clinic while Romano stormed off to speak with his commanding officer.

"What the hell were they doing there?!"

The large man looked up from his paperwork. "Who?"

"Those damn nurses! They just about got themselves killed!"

The man chuckled. "I thought I heard a truck pull out…"

"This is a serious matter of a breach of protocol-"

"It's a matter of discipline, yes, but I wouldn't take it so far as to-"

"I will not tolerate this to go unpunished. They were completely in enemy territory!"

"All right. I'll go talk with them."

Romano was quiet for a moment. "It's that frizzy-haired one, Hathaway. Ever since her husband died she's been wild-"

"Major Jones was a respected member of this military."

"I'm well aware of that, Sir. However-"

"I all ready said, I will deal with it."

Romano tried to deal with something being beyond his power before speaking. "Very well, Sir. I have some new targets for your firing squad."

"You know just as well as I do that the war will be over in very little time at all. Hitler has gone into hiding and orders are to keep all prisoners until peace is called."

Romano bit his tongue. "Yes Sir," he gritted out before turning to leave.

"Oh, and Romano."

Robert spun around.

"I'm sorry about your son."

Pain filled his face. 'Yes, well, thank you sir. So am I."