Female Trouble
By: AliasCWN
Chapter 6
"Tully, Hitch, keep an eye on the guards in case they notice us. Don't take them out unless you have to. Stay in position in case we need help getting out."
Both privates nodded and faded into the darkness.
The three sergeants slipped over the wall as the privates kept their eyes on the guards. After a full day of driving they had reached the base just before dark. There had been several close calls along the way, only avoided due to their constant vigilance. As expected, Dietrich had patrols, and at least one column, patrolling the desert in search of his lost prisoners.
"Dietrich may be waiting for us," Troy warned. "If he has any idea what you're up to, he'll have a trap set up."
"It doesn't change anything," Crystal responded. "I still have a job to do, trap or no trap."
"Getting caught again might change things," Troy growled. "And it might change how we have to go about doing the job you've set for us. Dietrich's no fool, we'll have to be careful."
"I'm always careful," Crystal growled.
"We're out of sight of the guards," Moffitt warned, "time to tell us why we're here."
"We need to find the captain's office. I have to switch some papers that were delivered to him today."
Troy glanced at Moffitt and shook his head. "We could have done that Sergeant."
"I take my own risks," Sergeant Crystal answered. "I couldn't ask you to do it for me."
"Yet you didn't have a problem asking us to get you in here," Moffitt stated.
The sergeant looked embarrassed for a moment. "I needed the help to get in."
Troy sighed. "Just stay close to us. Once we reach the captain's office you can take over."
Sergeant Crystal nodded and shifted restlessly. "I'm ready whenever you are."
"All right. We need to hurry; Dietrich changes the guards at three-hour intervals. Fresh ones might catch us going over the wall."
They hurried across the base with Troy in the lead. They knew their way around so there weren't any pauses to check the route. It wasn't long before Troy paused to look for the guards who watched over the captain's office building.
"I count three in front," Moffitt whispered after a minute. "One more than usual."
"We'll have to go around the back."
Getting into Dietrich's office was easier than they expected. The guards in the rear of the building were tired and not paying as much attention as they should have been. The three sergeants were able to slip past them by staying in the shadows. The door was open and the building was empty. Once inside they headed directly for Dietrich's office. They slipped inside and Troy immediately closed the black-out curtains. Moffitt stood by the door and listened for any passing guard.
Sergeant Crystal made a bee-line for Dietrich's desk.
"Perhaps if you told us what you are looking for, we could be of help," Moffitt suggested.
Crystal stopped what he was doing and looked up. "Captain Dietrich got a dispatch yesterday. He hasn't been on the base so he hasn't had a chance to open it. We're here to exchange that dispatch for one of our own, one that isn't quite the entire truth."
Moffitt nodded. "He usually puts his dispatches in the top drawer on the right. Once he reads them, he moves them to the bottom drawer. He's a creature of habit so I would look there first."
"Thanks." Crystal opened the top drawer and lifted out a sealed dispatch envelope. "This is it."
"Are you sure?" Troy asked.
"It's the only one in there." Sergeant Crystal pulled an envelope out of his jacket and placed it in the desk. "That ought to do it. Now all we need is for him to pass it on."
Moffitt frowned. "Dietrich's very cautious. He may not pass it on unless he can verify who sent it."
Crystal nodded. "I was warned about that. It was signed by one of his lieutenants. The lieutenant was killed by one of our patrols yesterday. The captain will recognize the name but he won't be able to confirm anything."
"You seem to have thought of everything," Moffitt suggested.
"What if Dietrich doesn't send it on?" Troy asked. "Will you plan still work?"
"It will still work," Crystal answered, "but it might cost more lives." The sergeant looked at the envelope in his hands. "He'll fall for it; I know he will."
"I hope so," Troy muttered. "What about this German soldier we were supposed to bring back?"
"He'll be at a prearranged meeting place. We'll go meet him after we leave here."
Troy glanced at his watch. "We'd better start back; they're going to change the guards soon. They'll be harder to slip past when they're fresh."
Moffitt turned out the light and opened the curtains while Troy picked up a blanket they had rolled up against the bottom of the door to keep the light from showing in the hall. Troy refolded the blanket and put it back on the chair where he had found it. Moffitt reached for the doorknob and froze.
"What's…?" Troy stopped as Moffitt put a finger to his lips.
A moment later they all heard the footsteps coming nearer. The guard stopped outside their door and wiggled the knob. All three sergeants ducked behind the door, hugging the wall. The door opened and the guard stuck his head in and looked around. He never stepped into the room far enough to see behind the door. Once he shut the door and walked away there was a collective sigh from all three men.
"You should have locked the door," Crystal remarked.
"It wasn't locked when we got here," Moffitt answered. "The guard checks it every round. He would have wondered how it got locked."
"I guess you're right," Crystal agreed. "Are we done here?"
"We'd better be," Troy answered, time is running out." He reached for the door and opened it. Checking the hall, he started out of the office. Before he stepped out, he took one more look around to make sure that everything was as they found it; he knew Dietrich would notice anything out of place. "Let's go."
They made it back to the wall to meet the privates. Hitch was waiting in the shadows for them.
"Where's Tully?" Troy asked when he didn't see his second driver
Hitch pointed toward the wall. "The guard noticed something when you crossed the street over there," he explained. "Tully had to take him out."
Troy growled. "That tears it!"
"We can still get off the base, can't we?" Crystal asked. "What's the problem?"
"The problem is," Troy explained, "Dietrich is going to miss that guard. He'll know someone was here and he's going to wonder what they were doing on his base."
"Oh." Crystal frowned. "There isn't anything we can do about it now. We can hardly bring him back from the dead."
"Yeah," Troy sighed in thought.
"Tully and I were talking about that Sarge." Hitch glanced at Crystal before he continued. "What if we blew up his fuel supply?"
"Or his ammo," Moffitt added.
"That might work," Troy agreed.
"We don't have time!" Crystal insisted.
"We don't have a choice if you want Dietrich to fall for your ploy." Troy focused on his driver. "Do we have the charges to get it done?"
"Sure Sarge. I'd have to go to the jeeps though."
"Hurry it up," Troy ordered. "They're going to change the guards soon." Troy turned to Moffitt. "I'll stay here and cover Tully. You take Crystal back to the jeeps and wait for us. If we run into trouble, you take him and meet his contact. Hitch and I can get Tully out and follow in the other jeep."
Moffitt nodded and prepared to leave. "I'll leave a message with Hitch telling you where to meet us if necessary."
Troy nodded.
"Come on Sergeant, we have to keep up with Hitch." Moffitt followed Hitch's lead past where Tully stood guard in place of the guard he had taken out.
"Are you sure the captain will even notice his guard is dead?" Crystal whispered as he followed the other sergeant. "Maybe he'll just think the guy deserted."
"Dietrich? Not likely," the Brit answered. "His men don't desert. They worship the man."
Hitch found the charges and headed back to the wall. Moffitt and Crystal watched him fade into the darkness.
"Is this going to work?"
Moffitt glanced over at the other sergeant and nodded. "It should. It gives Dietrich an explanation for the intrusion."
"Can they get it done in time?"
"Once Hitch gets back to Troy it won't take long. Ten minutes is enough time to plant a few charges in the fuel dump, if they don't run into any guards."
"And if they do?"
"We'll leave them a note telling them where to meet us."
"We can't tell them the location!"
"Of course not," the Brit agreed, "but we can use our own brand of shorthand. I leave a coded message and Troy will know what I mean."
Crystal nodded with a healthy amount of uncertainty.
Moffitt recognized the doubt and smiled to himself. Crystal wasn't used to working with the four of them, he had a lot to learn.
Troy saw Hitch slip over the wall and pass Tully. He checked his watch again. "Hurry up Hitch, they're going to change the guards before long."
"Got everything I need right there." Hitch patted a sack hanging from his belt.
"Do you need help planting the charges?"
"I could do it alone but if you want to go along to help watch for guards, I wouldn't complain." Hitch flashed Troy a quick smile as he waited for a response from the sergeant.
Troy smiled back. "Okay, Tully will be okay until we get back." Troy followed Hitch toward Dietrich's fuel supply. Ten minutes later they were back at the wall and ready to leave the base. "You go first Hitch, I'll wait and Tully and I can go out together."
"Right Sarge, I'll cover you from the darkness outside the wall." Hitch waved at Tully and slipped over the wall. He disappeared into the darkness of the desert beyond the base.
Troy waved at Tully and started across the small space to the wall. Tully joined him as he slipped away. They joined Hitch and made their way to the jeeps. Moffitt saw them coming and warned Crystal.
"About time," Crystal grunted. "We're going to be late for our meeting."
"If we had known what was expected of us, we may have been able to come up with a better plan. We're playing things by ear here," Moffitt replied.
"It was need to know," Crystal grunted.
"We're on the front line; doesn't that give us the need to know.?"
"Not in this instance."
The British sergeant shook his head and turned his attention to his returning teammates.
"Let's go," Troy growled. "Those charges are set to blow in less than five minutes."
Crystal rattled off a list of coordinates for Moffitt. He plotted their course and the jeeps headed away from the base. A normal twenty-minute drive took them nearly an hour in the dark. The road was rough and Troy worried that they would damage a jeep before they reached their destination. Troy called a halt just before they reached the spot so he could search for any sign of a trap.
"He's our man Troy, we don't need to be afraid of him," Crystal chided.
"I'm not afraid of him," Troy growled. "Has it occurred to you that he may have been followed? An officer leaving the base alone might fall under suspicion."
"He would warn us."
"If he realized it, maybe," Troy agreed. "That's if he was free to do it. And I'm not willing to risk my life or the lives of my men on a whim. We'll take our usual precautions, just to be safe."
"Suit yourself, but remember, we're due back at the base tomorrow."
"We won't make it if Jerry is out there waiting for us and we walk into his trap," Troy answered.
Sergeant Crystal decided to just go along with Troy's plan for the time being. Once they met his man, he could identify him and hurry things along from there.
Finally, Troy gave the signal to go ahead. They drove up to the point of contact and parked the jeeps. A German soldier stepped out from behind some rocks to walk toward them. His hands were in the clear for all to see.
"Is that your man?" Troy asked as he kept the man covered.
"That's him, that's Sergeant Prichard. He's been undercover as Lieutenant Rauf Kramer. His efforts made our entire operation possible. We have to get him back to an Allied base before the Germans find out who he really is. As far as I know they don't suspect a thing yet."
"Okay," Troy nodded. "The first thing you need to do it get him out of that German uniform."
"I brought his uniform and dog tags," Crystal informed them. "I'll tell him to get changed." Sergeant Crystal dug through the duffle he had thrown in the jeep before leaving the base. He met his contact and explained the situation to him. The contact changed into his own uniform and the jeeps headed out in a search for a camp site for the night.
