Prankster, Inc.

By: AliasCWN

Chapter 1

The crowing of the rooster echoed down the hall, followed by another, and then another. Heads began to pop out of the rooms as sleepy men awoke to the sounds and peered out to see what was going on in the barracks. Half a dozen scrawny roosters strutted along the empty hall unbothered by the commotion they were causing.

Troy rolled over in his cot and pulled his pillow over his head. Still half asleep, he tried to convinced himself that he was dreaming or that the sounds were coming from outside.

"Who left those birds in here?"

The loud yell dispelled any hope of going back to sleep. Rolling over, Troy threw the covers off his legs and began to dress.

"It sounds as if there is some excitement out there." Moffitt's quiet voice came from the other cot in the room.

Troy peered through the early morning light in the room to see Moffitt still snuggled under his blankets. "Excitement? Sounds more like chaos to me," Troy growled. "A body can't get a decent night's sleep with all of this fuss going on."

There were sounds of running in the hall outside their door and they could hear the roosters squawking and flying into the walls.

"Oh for pete's sake!" Troy growled again. Pulling on his boots he grumbled under his breath as he tied the laces. Fully dressed, he headed for the door.

"Why don't you just try to go back to sleep and let them handle it?"

"I can't sleep through all of that noise."

"You've slept through worse."

Troy threw Moffitt a cranky look. "I was exhausted then, now I'm just tired.

"Then go back to sleep," Moffitt suggested again. "Maybe by the time you wake up again they will all be gone."

Troy listened to the squawking as he shook his head. "It's too late, I'm awake now. I wonder who turned those chickens loose in here in the first place?"

"It could have been almost anyone," Moffitt answered as he started to get dressed. "The barracks aren't locked, not even at night." He watched as Troy headed for the door.

As Troy swung the door open a squawking rooster ducked between his legs and darted into the room. The two soldiers chasing it had to slide to stop in time to avoid hitting the sergeant. The bird jumped into the air and glided into the wall on the other side of the room, missing the window by inches. Crashing to the floor it took refuge under Troy's bed. The soldiers chasing it tried to squeeze past Troy to follow it but the sergeant stopped them. Catching his balance, Troy put out a hand to tell them to stay out. The last thing he needed was for them to wreck the room chasing the frightened rooster. "Let it be."

"You don't care if there is a chicken in your room?" One of the soldiers asked in surprise.

"I'd rather have a chicken in here than a bunch of guys running around making a mess," Troy answered.

"We'll catch the bird and put it back outside." Moffitt's quiet assurance seemed to calm the excitement caused by the bird's arrival.

"Oh, okay," one of the soldiers stammered. Slapping his buddy on the arm he motioned toward the hallway. "Come on, there are more of them in the hall." His buddy nodded and followed him back into the hall. Troy slammed the door shut behind them.

"I told you to go back to sleep." Moffitt smiled at Troy's sour expression. "But no, you just had to open that door."

"Shut up and help me corner that bird," Troy growled.

Shaking his head Moffitt smiled and started toward Troy's bed. "I'm sure I can chase it out. Why don't you grab a blanket and throw over him when he comes out?"

It took a few minutes but by moving slowly the two sergeants were able to capture the frightened bird. Troy wrapped the blanket around him and held him against his body. Wrapped in the dark, the rooster quieted and allowed Troy to hold him.

"After all of this I vote we eat him," Troy growled.

"He's not ours to eat," Moffitt smiled. "Some Arab probably got up this morning and is now wondering where all of his birds went."

"Maybe he should have kept a better eye on them," Troy muttered.

Moffitt smiled again. "I'm sure he never expected them to infiltrate our barracks."

"Spies!" Troy gasped. "What do you suppose they heard? We may be obligated to eat them to keep them from passing along any sensitive information."

Moffitt laughed. "Are you over being sore?"

Troy sighed. "I'm not mad at the birds if that's what you're thinking. I'm sure they had help getting in here."

"No doubt," Moffitt agreed. "Unless they grew fingers they wouldn't have been able to open the doors."

"It's a conspiracy then," Troy nodded. "We're looking for more than one conspirator."

Moffitt wisely kept silent.

The rooster, as if sensing that he was being discussed, chose that moment to begin to struggle anew. Troy tightened his grip so the bird wouldn't get loose again. "Let's get this guy outside where he can find his way home. I want to see what a certain two privates know about his visit."

The British sergeant tried to hide his smile as he nodded in agreement.

The hall was still chaotic as the rest of the roosters were being cornered and captured. Nearly every door along the hall was open as men watched the action unfold.

"Ah, you caught one." An MP approached Troy and offered to take the bird. "We have an Arab outside claiming that all of his roosters have gone missing. Oddly enough, he seems to be missing the exact same number of birds that are currently running loose in this building."

"Huh!" Troy grunted as he handed the bird to the MP. "Does he have any idea who may have helped the birds get in here in the first place?"

"Afraid not Sergeant, but we'll be checking into that after we get all of these birds back to their rightful owner."

"Will I be getting my blanket back or are you going to hold it as evidence?"

"Can it help in our investigation?" the MP asked.

"No," Troy answered. "I just used it to catch the bird after it ran into our room. All it can do is keep the bird quiet until you get him outside."

"Do you know who brought the birds in here?"

"No," Troy answered. Moffitt shook his head. "We woke up to the sound of crowing just like everybody else."

"Okay Sergeant, I'll bring your blanket back as soon as I turn the bird over to its owner."

Troy nodded and leaned against the wall to wait. While he waited, he watched the other soldiers capture the last of the roosters.

"And so it's over." Moffitt's soft words were nearly lost in the noise as men returned to their rooms and doors slammed amid the grumbling of the occupants.

"Hopefully," Troy nodded. "But what if someone decides to get mad about it? What if they decide to get even?"

"Who are they going to get mad at? Get even with whom?" Moffitt asked. "No one knows who is responsible."

"Yet."

"What are you thinking?"

"That maybe we might know the perpetrators." A couple of soldiers walked by and Troy fell silent. He kept the rest of his thought to himself until the MP returned with his blanket. Thanking the MP Troy took his blanket back to his room and dropped it into the laundry. He was staring at the blanket when Moffitt followed him into the room.

"Troy?"

Troy jerked at the sound of Moffitt's voice behind him. "Yeah?"

"Is something wrong?"

"No, just thinking. I think I'll shower and get breakfast before I talk to Hitch and Tully. I'd like to hear their reaction to our live alarm clocks this morning. If what I suspect is true, do you think you could talk the chickens' owner into not pressing charges? Tell him we'll make it up to him."

"I suppose so," Moffitt answered. "Do you want me to go talk to him now?"

"After breakfast is soon enough," Troy answered. "We'll give them the benefit of the doubt."

Tully and Hitch were already in the mess hall when Troy and Moffitt arrived. They were laughing when the sergeants arrived but sobered when they saw the look on Troy's face. No one spoke as the sergeants took seats across from the privates.

"Have you been here long?" Troy asked casually.

"A couple of minutes," Hitch answered warily. "Why?"

"Just curious," Troy answered. "I want to talk to you in our room after breakfast."

Both privates nodded.

"Did you happen to be in your room this morning for all of the excitement?"

"Yeah," Tully nodded. "They woke us up and we decided to come over for breakfast instead of trying to go back to sleep."

"That's pretty much what happened to us," Troy admitted.

"Except that Troy opened the door and let one of the little buggers into our room after we got dressed." Moffitt added.

"You did?" Hitch asked wide-eyed. "Why?"

"It wasn't exactly my idea," Troy growled after throwing the other sergeant a disgusted look. "I opened the door and it just came running into the room. The next thing I know its bouncing off the wall and hiding under my bed."

Tully and Hitch looked at each other and tried to hide their smiles.

"Hitch? Tully?"

"It's not still there is it Sarge? Cause Tully and I could go catch it for you." Hitch offered.

"No, it's not," Troy growled. "Moffitt and I caught it and some MP returned it to its owner."

"That's good," Hitch nodded. "I was hoping they'd all make it back home."

"You said an MP took it?" Tully asked. He gave Hitch a look that heightened Troy's suspicions.

"Yeah, the same MP who said he was going to be looking into the theft of the chickens," Troy confirmed.

"Theft?! But he got them all back!" Hitch yelped. He looked around guiltily to see if anyone had noticed his outburst. Lowering his voice he leaned in toward the sergeants. "No one got hurt and the old man got his chickens back."

"Hitch!" Troy growled as his suspicions were confirmed. He glanced around them and lowered his voice too. "We'll talk when we get back to our room, until then, keep quiet."

"All I'm saying Sarge is that it was a joke, no harm, no foul. No one got hurt by it."

"Actually, there were fowl involved," Moffitt corrected. "And they weren't yours, they belonged to a merchant who is just trying to scratch out a living by raising chickens."

Hitch blushed and looked at Tully before meeting Moffitt's eyes. "I'm sorry Doc, I guess I didn't think about that. We were going to take them back, honest. And if he doesn't get them all back, we'll pay him for them."

Troy looked at Moffitt and nodded. "We'll talk later," Troy repeated. "We won't discuss this until we're in the privacy of our room. And if the MPs show up, you might want to avoid them until Moffitt has a chance to talk to the merchant."