Female Trouble

By: AliasCWN

Chapter 8

Troy watched the sand rush past underneath the jeep. They had left Dietrich enjoying the hospitality of Moffitt's friends. Troy didn't particularly enjoy the sweet tea but the relaxed atmosphere of the old man's dining room would have been a pleasant change. He couldn't begrudge Dietrich the short break from the war; he had earned it. His willingness to forget the sheik's aiding and abetting an enemy, and allowing them to take her back, had made things much easier on Lydia.

Sergeant Crystal, on the other hand, had put all of their lives at risk with his reckless charge to save the girl. Troy knew he had been feeling guilty but he hadn't expected him to suddenly overcome his hands-off policy where it came to her.

He twisted in his seat to check on the staff car and its three occupants. Sergeant Crystal was now in the rear of the car sitting beside Lydia. He was talking and she was laughing at whatever he was saying.

Dietrich hadn't seen Crystal's contact so he had no way of knowing that the man was with them. It looked as if the operation could still continue. That meant that their mission was a success, so why did something still feel off?

"Hitch, do you think Miss Fontane is pretty?"

"Sure Sarge, don't you?" Hitch looked over at his sergeant with a puzzled look on his face."

"Yeah, I do, but I don't flirt with every girl I see."

"I don't flirt with every girl," Hitch protested. "I didn't flirt with Miss Fontane."

"I noticed," Troy replied. "I gotta tell you Hitch, that bothers me."

"It does, why?"

"It's not like you," Troy answered. "Are you sick or something?

"No," Hitch answered. He turned back to his driving.

Troy waited but Hitch didn't say anymore. He decided that it was Hitch's behavior that was giving him the feeling that something was off. When Hitch continued to ignore him, he left it rest.

The German patrol attacked from behind a dune. Troy spotted it first and sounded the alarm. He had Hitch drop back so he could talk to Moffitt. "Tell Crystal to keep going! We will cover them while they make a run for it. We'll catch up as soon as we can."

Moffitt nodded and told Tully to drive next to the squad car where he passed the message along. Tully cut back to give Troy and Hitch a hand with the patrol.

Prichard kept going while trying to keep track of the jeeps.

Crystal pushed Lydia to the floor and picked up a Thompson machine gun. He saw the jeeps engage the first patrol cars. He watched the battle as the jeeps distracted the cars. His attention was behind them when Prichard yelled a new warning. A third patrol car was trying to cut them off.

The German patrol car hit a patch of soft sand and fell back. The squad car carrying the three Americans pulled ahead, giving Crystal a good field of fire on the pursuing car. Crystal fired at the patrol car, forcing the driver to swerve to the side. One of the Germans fired on the fleeing squad car. The high-pitched whine of bullets whipped past the sergeant's head. He switched from aiming at the driver to aiming at the gunners. Lead whipped back and forth at a rate too fast to track. With all of the bullets flying around it was inevitable that sooner or later one of them would connect with human flesh, and it did.

The jeeps were forgotten as the battle between the two cars heated up. Prichard swerved sharply when a rock appeared in of front of the car. It was that swerve that was their undoing. The bullets that until now had missed their intended target were suddenly right down the middle of the car. Sergeant Crystal had managed to avoid any injury up to that point, but now, he was thrown backwards as a bullet caught him in the chest.

The German driver became emboldened when he saw the sergeant fall. With Crystal down, and Lydia on the floor, Prichard was unprotected as he drove the car at a reckless speed. The German patrol car drew closer as Prichard made a determined attempt to force him to stay behind. Prichard ducked as the Germans now took aim at him. He pushed the gas pedal to the floor but the car was already at its top speed. It was all he could do to keep the wheels straight as the tires bounced in and out of the pot holes in the road. One large pothole threw him to the side as a bullet whined past his ear. If he hadn't been tossed to the side, his life may have ended right then and there.

"Stay down!" Prichard yelled to his passengers, not realizing that Crystal had been hit.

Crystal managed to pull himself onto the seat far enough to slide over and cover Lydia with his own body, protecting her from the bullets. He couldn't think of anything to say to her, so he settled for holding her close. His heart sank as the squad car began to shake and lose power. He put his head down and mouthed a silent prayer as the patrol car pulled alongside. He heard one of the Germans shout at Prichard to halt.

Prichard looked back and took his foot off of the gas.

Crystal lifted his head and prepared to surrender.

"Stay down," Prichard warned in an eerily calm voice.

Before Crystal could ask why, the answer became apparent. A loud barrage of gunfire tore at his ears, making them ring. The Germans began to shout in alarm as they twisted to defend themselves. It was a futile effort as the 50 continued to rattle. The screaming stopped as the 50 fell silent. Through the ringing in his ears, Crystal heard the jeep engine.

"Is everyone all right?" Troy's voice was a welcome sound.

"Sergeant Crystal is hit!" Lydia called with fear shaking her voice.

"Moffitt!" Troy called as he jumped from his jeep to approach the squad car. Moffitt was at his side in an instant with a medical kit in hand. Moffitt and Troy helped the wounded sergeant onto the seat where Moffitt could examine the injury. Troy helped Lydia out of the car despite her insistence that she could help Moffitt care for the wounded man. "Right now Moffitt can handle it," Troy urged. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Lydia snapped.

Troy couldn't help but smile at her spirit.

Seeing the smile, Lydia took a deep breath and tried again. "Really, I'm fine. Sergeant Crystal protected me. He used his own body to keep me safe." She looked toward the sergeant with tears in her eyes. "He could have died."

"I believe he'll make a full recovery," Moffitt offered from the back seat of the car. "I have the bleeding stopped and we are close to the base. We can get him to a doctor in short order." Moffitt looked over at the nurse and smiled knowingly. "He is going to need a good nurse to care for him for at least a week, perhaps longer."

"I'm a nurse."

"Yes, I know. Perhaps you could take over here while I have a word with Sergeant Troy?"

"Of course," Lydia answered quickly. She was in the car before Moffitt could step aside. He had to climb around her to get out of the car.

Troy turned to Prichard and looked him over. "Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine, but I'm afraid that I can't say the same for the squad car."

Troy frowned and glanced at the car. "Tully!"

"It lost power," Prichard explained as Tully hurried forward at Troy's call. "I think a bullet may have hit the engine."

"What do you need Sarge?" Tully asked as he moved over next to the sergeant.

"Check out the squad car. It lost power."

Tully nodded and lifted the hood on the squad car. As he stuck his head under the hood Troy turned to Moffitt for an update.

"How's Crystal?"

"I think he'll recover," Moffitt answered in a low voice. "We do need to get him to a hospital though. It's fortunate for him that this happened so close to our base."

"The squad car is finished Sarge," Tully announced. "The bullet hit the engine."

Troy sighed. "Seven people in two jeeps. That doesn't give Crystal much room to get comfortable either. It's a good thing we're close to home."

"The patrol car we took out might be okay Sarge. Doc hit the driver and he drove it into a sand bank but I don't think it was too badly damaged." Tully was still standing by Troy and decided to offer his suggestion. "Do you want me to take a look?"

"Yeah, do that," Troy ordered hopefully.

Tully was back minutes later with the good news. "She's banged up a bit but she'll run Sarge. I dumped the bodies out so the blood will dry." Tully lowered his voice as he glanced toward the squad car and Lydia. "I didn't want the lady to have to sit in that wet blood."

Troy nodded. "I doubt she'd even notice. She's focused on Crystal right now." Troy glance at his watch and nodded at Prichard and Moffitt. "Let's get Crystal loaded into the patrol car. Tully, go bring it up here. We'll have to drive carefully but we should make the base in about two hours. We'll get him to the hospital as fast as we can."

Prichard drove and Lydia cared for her patient. The gates of the base were a welcome sight. Sergeant Crystal and Lydia were dropped off at the hospital and the sergeants and Prichard headed directly for the captain's office to make their report. Tully and Hitch got the jeeps serviced while they waited for their sergeants. When the sergeants returned both privates jumped to their feet.

"Time to go home," Troy called as they approached the jeeps.

"About time." Hitch hurried around his jeep and slid into the driver's seat.

"Everything okay Sarge?" Tully asked as he followed at a slower pace.

According to the captain, the Germans did exactly what they were expected to do. The operation is right on track and they don't need us anymore."

"That's good then," Tully drawled. 'I sure will be glad to get back to normal."

"About that." Troy frowned and stepped around the jeep to stand facing his driver. "You never answered my question."

"What question?" Hitch asked.

"Right before the patrol cars jumped us," Troy began, "we were having a conversation."

"Oh yeah," Hitch nodded after a minute, "you were wondering about something."

"Yeah, so?"

"So what Sarge?" What was it you were wondering about?"

"I was wondering," Troy began, as he fought to control his impatience, "why you didn't make a play for the girl? Wasn't she pretty enough for you?"

"Oh yeah, she was pretty," Hitch admitted, "but I didn't want any part of the trouble that came with her."

"Trouble?" Troy frowned again. "You mean the rescue?"

"No Sarge, not the rescue, Sergeant Crystal."

"Crystal?"

"Yeah," Hitch answered. "Every time I looked back at him while she was riding with us Crystal was staring at her. I had no interest in getting caught in the middle of that."

Troy began to smile. "Really? I'm impressed."

"Why?" Hitch asked in confusion.

"You're starting to make smart decisions." Troy smiled. "Almost like an adult."

Hitch pretended to pout.

"Come on Hitch," Troy encouraged.

"Actually Sarge," Hitch shrugged. "I figured Sergeant Crystal would fight for her and I didn't want to get on his bad side over a girl who isn't going to be around anyway." Hitch shrugged again. "Besides, my girl back at the base would have dumped me if she caught me paying too much attention to someone else."

Troy began to laugh.

"What?" Hitch asked indignantly.

"Nothing," Troy grinned. "Welcome back."

"But I didn't go anywhere."

"No, I just thought you did, but you're still the same old Hitch. Let's go home."

The two jeeps left the base and headed home to their next adventure.