Major Mix-up

By: AliasCWN

Chapter 2

The four men sat in the rear of the truck and watched the soldiers who watched them.

"Do you do this kind of thing often?" Troy asked after the silence had been extended too long for comfort.

"First time for me." One of the soldiers answered with a smile. He pulled on the collar of his German uniform. "I have to admit, wearing this thing makes me kind of nervous."

"I'll bet." Troy nodded. "Getting caught in it could get you shot as a spy." The soldier paled at the remark. "So what happens next?"

"Sorry Sergeant," the friendly soldier shook his head, "they didn't tell us anything. You know…in case we get caught."

"It's for our own good." The second guard told his buddy.

"May be." The friendly guard answered. "But it seems to me it almost got the lieutenant killed. It could have got us all killed." He looked at Troy and his men.

"It still could." Troy warned.

"Hey! We're on your side." The friendly guard threw his hands up in surrender.

"And you're in German territory wearing German uniforms." Troy pointed out. "That alone could get you shot as spies."

"Oh yeah." The guard answered. "I thought you meant you might shoot us."

"I still haven't ruled that out." Troy growled angrily.

"Hey! This wasn't our idea."

"That seems to be the popular excuse around here." Troy replied. "But it doesn't help if you're dead."

"How did you guys do that?" The friendly guard asked.

"Do what?"

"Take out Lieutenant Todd and his crew." The guard explained. "One minute I was just watching them drive along and the next minute they were all prisoners. You guys weren't supposed to be armed."

"We weren't given any weapons." Troy answered. "But that doesn't make us helpless."

"I guess not!" The second guard agreed. "You took them down like it was nothing. I saw you jump up out of the sand but it was all over before I could yell a warning."

"They're lucky to be alive." Troy growled. "Someone should have told us about that part of the plan."

"The captain wouldn't have been happy if you had hurt the lieutenant or any of his men." A third guard stated. His expression was clearly not as friendly as the other two.

"Their own fault." Troy answered without remorse.

"They couldn't shoot or you may not have had it so easy." The third guard insisted.

"They never got a chance to shoot." The first guard argued.

"Whose side are you on?" The third guard snarled at his fellow guard. "They could have killed our guys."

"I thought we were all on the same side." The second guard interrupted the argument. "Admit it Henry, you're only mad because you had a buddy with the lieutenant and he got taken down without a struggle. Somebody goofed and you want to blame the guys you don't know."

"They're the ones who goofed." Henry answered. "They were supposed to get captured, not the other way around."

"We didn't come all this way to end up in a POW camp." Troy growled. "How were we supposed to know that you guys were American?"

"He's right Henry." The first guard added.

"Shut up Luke!" Henry replied. "You don't know anything about it; those guys were just following orders."

"So were we." Troy answered. "Our orders were to meet up with our American escorts and let them take us to our next destination."

"And we're those escorts." Henry declared.

"And you look German."

Henry fell silent, unable to come up with a good argument to that. Troy glanced at his men and smiled, telling them without words that everything would work out.

"Luke Stevenson." The first guard introduced himself. "That's Carson Stewart and Henry Bartholomew." He pointed to the second and third guard in that order. "Don't tell us your names, its better if we don't know."

Troy nodded.

"We're going to be in this truck for a while so if there's anything you need, just ask, we'll try to get it for you." Luke continued. "The captain will probably be around to talk to you soon. He'll be able to answer more of your questions than we can."

"Do you have any water?" Moffitt asked.

"Oh sure." Luke jumped up from his seat. He went to the front of the truck where several boxes were stacked. He opened the first box and pulled out a canteen. "We have a bunch of rations in here too if you're hungry. Not the regular k-rations but the new type."

"Hey, this might not be such a bad deal after all!" Hitch exclaimed happily. He went to the front of the truck to see what they had to offer.

The rest of the day was quiet as the truck rumbled along across the desert. They were still in enemy territory so everyone was on alert. Troy and his men slept most of the way after being in briefings and on the plane most of the day before. Darkness found the truck and the two patrol cars pulling into a wadi to camp.

"You stay here." Luke ordered as he jumped from the truck. "I'll go find the captain."

"You stay here too Carson." Henry ordered. "I'm going to go check on the lieutenant." He pushed past the others and climbed over the tailgate.

"Check on the lieutenant my foot." Carson grumbled. "He's going to go check on his buddy. The one that was with the lieutenant." Carson watched him go with a shake of his head. "That guy is about as friendly as a scorpion."

"What seems to be his problem?" Moffitt asked curiously.

"You made the lieutenant and his crew look bad." Carson answered. "His buddy is the lieutenant's driver. They're real close."

"Could be we scared him." Tully suggested. "Maybe he thought he lost his friend."

"That might make me cranky too." Hitch added.

"Not our problem." Troy growled. "We need to concentrate on the mission, not somebody's hurt feelings."

"Luckily that's all that got hurt." Moffitt noted. "Things could have turned out much worse under the circumstances."

Troy nodded his agreement. He felt bad about the misunderstanding but they should have warned them what was supposed to happen. He refused to apologize for trying to stay alive and protecting his men.

The flap over the tailgate was pushed aside and a German officer climbed into the truck.

"I'm Captain Kaufman." The officer introduced himself. "I will be handling the next part of your journey. Captain O'Dell will be returning to his base. I know who you are, at least by name, but I am the only one. I think its best if we keep it that way. The less anyone knows the less they can let slip if we get caught."

"If you get caught you'll all be shot as spies." Moffitt pointed out.

"I know." The captain looked down at his feet. "We're all volunteers, we know the risks." He looked up at the four faces watching him. "I don't know what you're here to do, and I don't want to know. All I need to know is my part in this. That's all my men know too, just their part. We'll be taking you to your next drop off point and then we'll turn around. We'll be picked up by an American convoy on our way back. That way there won't be any way for anyone to stop us and ask us about our cargo. Once we join the American convoy we'll change into our own uniforms and blend in with everyone else. That should confuse Jerry. Heck, it has me all confused and I helped plan it. There are German uniforms in those boxes; they should be the right sizes. Headquarters tried to get you everything they thought you would need. Don't leave this truck until you've changed. Talk will be kept to a minimum since none of us speak German. Tomorrow we'll drop you off and you'll meet your next contact."

"Will they be dressed as Germans too?" Troy asked.

"I don't know Sergeant, I only planned my part." The officer looked torn for a minute. "Sergeant, I want to thank you for your restraint earlier. I talked to Lieutenant Todd and his men. They said you could have killed them easily."

"Someone should have warned us about their disguises."

"I thought you knew." The officer admitted. "Don't worry Sergeant; I will be taking the matter up with headquarters. This mission is dangerous enough without foul-ups like that."

"I agree Captain." Troy replied seriously. "They not only endanger lives, they risk dooming the mission too."

The captain nodded and rose to leave. "I suggest that you and your men stay out of sight as much as possible in case someone recognizes you."

"We're a long way from our usual hunting grounds." Troy pointed out.

"Just the same, if anyone were to recognize you it could jeopardize this entire mission. I don't know who you guys are but I have to admit, despite the danger to my men, you seem to be capable of taking care of yourselves. I'm just glad you weren't armed with anything more than just knives and your hands."

"About that Captain, I'd feel a whole lot better if we were issued weapons."

"I'll arrange it Sergeant. I'll also arrange to have your meals delivered to the truck so you don't have to go far. Any trouble and you and your team are to get into the truck and stay there." The Captain nodded at Carson and rose to leave the truck. "If you need anything else ask Pvt. Stewart here, he can get it for you."

"Thank you sir." Troy said to the back of the captain's head as he climbed over the tailgate.

"Anything happens they want us to stay in this truck." Hitch grumbled. "If they're after us we'll be trapped in here."

"Like fish in a barrel." Tully agreed as he chewed on his matchstick.

Hitch popped a bubble in agreement.

"Don't get excited." Troy ordered. "Nothing's happened yet." He glanced over at Carson and grinned. "And if it does, we'll handle it."

Their weapons were delivered to the truck along with extra ammo and their meals. Blankets were provided and they bedded down in the truck overnight.

Luke, Carson, and Henry returned in the morning to once again ride in the rear of the truck. All of the other soldiers ignored them as much as possible

"Just a few more hours and you'll be meeting your next guides." Luke offered as the truck began to move. "The Captain said to tell you that the guys will be dressed as Arabs. They'll bring you some robes to put on over your uniforms."

"Germans, Arabs, what next?" Moffitt wondered aloud.

"Can't say." Luke smiled. "Then you're out of our hands and we weren't told anything."

"Great." Troy growled.

Moffitt smiled and leaned his head against the side of the truck and went to sleep.