The Race for the Diamonds Raid

By: AliasCWN

Chapter 4

Moffitt called to the men around the fire. Several of them looked over but none of them made any move to approach the prisoners.

"Sure," Troy groaned, "they only pay attention to us when it suits them."

The British sergeant tried again. This time he told them that he wanted to make a deal. Arabs barter for almost everything, so this got their attention. The sergeant started out by trying to barter for their freedom. It didn't take someone who understood the language to realize that the Arabs weren't willing to go that far. After a few minutes of arguing, Moffitt switched to asking for water for their wounded member.

"They'll give Tully water if we take them to where the diamonds are hidden."

"No deal," Troy shook his head as he watched the Arabs. "Tully gets the water before you show them where the diamonds are."

Moffitt translated and another argument ensued. Just when the others thought their captors were not going to agree, Moffitt nodded.

"Well?"

"One guard will bring Tully water while I show the others where we hid the diamonds."

"That should work," Troy agreed. "Tell them you agree."

Moffitt nodded and agreed to the deal.

"Moffitt."

"Yes?"

"Take your time. Be ready when I yell."

"I'll stall as long as I can," the Brit promised.

"Try to take them somewhere so they can't see what we're doing."

The Brit looked around the wadi. "And how would you suggest I do that?"

"Keep the jeeps between them and us," Tully suggested.

"Very well." Moffitt climbed to his feet and waited as the Arabs returned with a canteen from the jeeps. "Good luck."

Troy nodded and shifted closer to Tully, replacing the other sergeant.

Moffitt led the Arabs around the jeeps and started toward the other end of the wadi. The Arabs followed close behind, leaving only one man to guard the remaining prisoners. The other Arabs were tightly bunched around the British sergeant, all of them eager to find more of the valuable stones.

"Are you ready Hitch?"

"Ready Sarge."

The Arab watched his friends leave before leaning forward to hand the canteen to Troy. The sergeant allowed the canteen to slip through his fingers. As it dropped to the ground, he made a grab for it. The Arab, seeing it fall, instinctively reached for it too.

Hitch leaned forward and hit the guard over the head with a rock. Troy caught him as he fell, keeping his weapon from clattering on the ground. Hitch pulled the guard to one side and sliced the ropes binding Troy's hands. While the sergeant moved the Arab's body out of the way, Hitch freed Tully.

Troy picked up the weapon the Arab had been carrying, one of the rifles taken from them, and ducked as he ran to the jeeps. "There are more rifles here," he called softly, "but they're old. They look like the ones these guys were using when they attacked us."

"They're better than nothing," Tully whispered.

"Not much though," Hitch added as he examined the guns. "Hey, they left some knives too."

"Grab them," Troy ordered. "For now we'll use the rifles, but the knives might come in handy later. Come on, let's go get Moffitt."

The three men rounded the jeeps and ran toward Moffitt and the Arabs. The Arabs were intently watching the sergeant as he pretended to count out the steps to where he claimed to have buried the diamonds. Hearing the soft footsteps behind him, Moffitt pointed to a spot and proclaimed that the diamonds were there. He stepped back to allow the Arabs to search the sand. Two of them dropped to their knees to dig as the third one kept the sergeant covered. Holding his hands out to his sides, the sergeant stepped further out of the line of fire.

Troy and the privates opened fire on the Arabs. All three fell without returning fire. Moffitt bent down and checked for survivors. "They're all dead."

"Okay," Troy nodded, "let's go after those diamonds." He started to walk back to the jeeps but stopped when he realized that the other sergeant wasn't following. "What are you doing?"

"I'm acquiring disguises. We may be able to get closer if we are dressed in these." Moffitt continued to remove the robes from the dead Arabs. "You do understand, if we return to the base, we are going to have both sides against us? The Germans may very well be on the offensive by the time we get there."

"It can't be helped," Troy answered. He watched Moffitt for another minute. "What are we going to do about the bloodstains?"

"It will be dark; I don't think it will be an issue."

"Tully, Hitch, give him a hand. I'm going to go check to see what they left in our jeeps." Troy walked back to the vehicles. He stopped to check on the guard Hitch had hit. When he rolled him over, he realized that the Arab wouldn't be a problem. He went to inventory the contents of the jeeps.

"All set Sarge," Hitch announced as he stopped next to Troy. "Did they leave anything we can use?"

"It looks like they left everything but our rifles," Troy answered. "They just threw it back in but I guess they planned on taking all of it." He glanced at the other jeep. "Put the ammunition for the 50's and the hand grenades back where they belong. If we run into trouble, I want them where we can find them. You can put everything else back in its place later."

"Right Sarge."

"And get the robes off of that guard you killed. His robes don't have any blood on them, that may come in handy."

Hitch glanced toward the dead Arab. "I killed him?"

"Yeah."

"I wasn't trying to kill him Sarge. I just wanted to knock him out."

"I know, but remember, he was ready to kill us, or worse."

The blond nodded and began to move the gear around in the rear of his jeep.

"Is something wrong Troy?" Moffitt held the Arab robes bunched under his arm.

"The guard he hit died. He didn't mean to hit him that hard."

The Brit nodded. "It happens." He glanced at the body. "I'll get his robes."

"I told Hitch to do it but he's busy right now. If you can get them, it might save us some time. I want to catch up to those diamonds before daylight."

"Do you have a plan to get them back?"

"We'll just take them," Troy replied. "They took them from us, we'll take them back."

"I'll get the robes." Moffitt stashed the robes he held in the rear of his jeep and went to get the other one. He added it to the others and slid into his seat.

"Ready Sarge," Tully called. "I went over the jeeps and they're ready to go."

"Thanks Tully." Troy took one final look around the camp and nodded to the others. "Let's go."