High Flying Trouble

By: AliasCWN

Chapter 2

Tully glanced up toward his sergeants and rolled his matchstick with his tongue. He could hear them talking but their voices were too low to hear what they were saying. He glanced over to check on Hitch and noticed that the other private didn't appear to be alarmed. Hitch looked alert but relaxed as he watched the area toward the sea.

The blond must have sensed him watching because he turned and looked back at him. Tully gave him a nod, telling him that everything was under control. Hitch smiled and blew a bubble in return. It popped as he turned back to watch the trail again.

Tully glanced back toward the sergeants to see them watching something closer to the mountain. He turned back in time to see the prisoner sliding out of his seat.

"Hey!" Tully yelled. He didn't yell loud but it still alerted the prisoner that his escape had been noticed. At Tully's yell he reached down with his bound hands and grabbed a hand full of sand. As Tully ran around the jeep to stop him he threw the sand in Tully's face.

Tully saw it coming and was able to avoid most of it but some still got into his eyes. He stopped abruptly, blinking his eyes rapidly, trying to clear his vision. The prisoner wanted to grab a weapon but Tully was holding one and standing right next to the other in its holder. Deciding that there wasn't time to grab it, he turned and ran. As he ran he shouted, hoping to get the attention of whoever the sergeants were watching. Hitch and Tully both gave chase.

Tully ran after the blurry figure ahead of him as the tears ran freely down his cheeks. His eyes burned and he hoped he wasn't doing them any harm by keeping them open and blinking. At the moment the only thing that mattered was catching the prisoner before he could alert the patrol on the ridge above them. Tully pushed himself faster catching the pilot before he could find a place to climb the bank to the ledge above. Still not able to see clearly, Tully went for a tackle. He spread his arms wide and dove at the running pilot. He hit the German's legs with his shoulder and wrapped his arms around them. They both went down in a tangle of limbs. They landed on the machine gun in Tully's hand, knocking the wind out of both of them. Tully recovered first since he landed on top. He tried to control the wiggling body beneath him while keeping him quiet.

"Tully, shut him up!" Troy called in a loud whisper.

Tully tried but the prisoner wiggled and squirmed until he pulled Tully's hand away from his mouth. Tully felt him draw a deep breath and knew he was about to shout again. The German threw his head back to yell and there was nothing Tully could do to stop him.

Out of the corner of his eye Tully saw Hitch slide to a stop beside them. He glanced up at the other private, still hampered by the sand in his eyes. There was a thud and the prisoner went limp in his arms. Reluctant to let go in case the German was faking, Tully looked up at Hitch again.

"You can let go Tully." The blond assured him. "He's going to be out for a while."

Tully nodded and released his grip on the unconscious pilot.

"Are you all right?" Hitch reached down and helped Tully sit up. The tears were still running down his face cutting streaks in the dust that had accumulated as they drove.

Tully nodded. "Just got sand in my eyes." He reached up to rub his eyes but stopped himself in time.

"I'll get a canteen. You stay here." Hitch urged. He got up and ran for the jeeps.

"Is Tully okay?" Troy called as his driver returned to the jeeps.

"Yeah," Hitch answered, "but he has sand in his eyes. I'm taking him a canteen."

"I'll be right there." Moffitt offered. "We don't want him to scratch his eyes."

"He hasn't rubbed them Doc but he couldn't keep them closed either. He had to catch the prisoner."

Moffitt nodded that he understood and turned to slide carefully off of the ledge toward the jeeps. He followed Hitch as the blond took the canteen to Tully.

"Hitch, take our prisoner back to the jeep and tie him to the seat. Gag him first; we can't have him alerting that patrol." Moffitt knelt next to Tully as he issued the order.

"Right Doc."

"I'm sorry Doc; I only looked away for a second."

"That's all right Tully, no harm done. That patrol was too far away to hear him. They are getting closer though so we need to get your eyes cleaned so you can drive if it becomes necessary. I may have to use the 50."

Tully nodded. "I can drive Doc."

Moffitt smiled as he looked at Tully's tear streaked face. "I'm sure you can Tully but I think I would feel better if you could actually see where you were going. Let's get that sand out of your eyes shall we?"

"I guess I'd feel better if I could see too." Tully admitted. He tilted his head back so the sergeant could pour water in his eyes.

When Moffitt finished Tully's eyes were still red and irritated but he could see again. "There, that should do it. How does that feel?" The sergeant leaned back and watched as Tully blinked his eyes.

Tully blinked again and nodded. "A lot better Doc thanks. I guess we should go over there and see what's going on."

Moffitt reached over and helped Tully to his feet. "Perhaps it would be wise to clean that before you use it." Moffitt nodded toward the gun that Tully had fallen on when he tackled the prisoner. "It wouldn't do to try to fire it with sand in the barrel."

Tully nodded. "I'll make sure I clean it when I get a chance. Until then we can use the other ones."

"Then perhaps it's time to check with Troy and see what that patrol is doing. I'd rather avoid a fight with them this close to that air base. If they called for help the planes could reach us before we could get out of the area."

"You go check with Sarge." Tully urged. "I'm going to go help Hitch watch the jeeps and the prisoner. We'll be ready to go if Sarge wants to leave in a hurry."

The sergeant nodded. "I'll be right back to let you know what's happening."

"Take your time Doc, if you're in no hurry that means we weren't spotted."

Moffitt smiled and nodded. He glanced over at the jeeps to be sure things were under control before he went to talk to Troy.

Tully slid he dirty machine gun back into its holder and went over to talk to Hitch. "Thanks for your help."

"No trouble Tully. You already had him; all I did was hit him. Like I said, no trouble at all." Hitch glared at the prisoner who was still slumped in the seat.

Tully shook his head. "He was trying to wiggle loose, he almost made it."

Hitch looked over at the prisoner again. "If that had happened I may have had to shoot him. After what he did I wouldn't have felt bad about that either."

"It would have alerted that patrol."

Hitch looked back at Tully. "Yeah, I would have felt bad about that."

Moffitt and Troy were still watching the patrol but they were discussing the prisoner too.

"That was quick thinking, throwing sand in Tully's eyes."

"He almost got away." Moffitt agreed. "Not an easy thing to do with those two on guard."

"But he didn't." Troy argued. "He underestimated Tully. That was his first mistake."

"And his second?" Moffitt asked.

"He forgot about Hitch." Troy smiled. "He may have outrun Tully but he wouldn't have been able to outrun the bullets Hitch sent his way. It would have revealed our presence but Hitch wouldn't have let him get away, not after what he did."

"He received more consideration than he gave that poor pilot."

"Yeah, but when that gets out he won't be too popular among the guards at the POW camp either." Troy turned back toward the German patrol in the distance. "What do you think they're looking for out there?"

"Us perhaps."

Troy scrunched his face up in denial. "I don't think so. They're doing a pretty thorough search of the cover, even the small stuff. If they were looking for us they wouldn't waste their time on anything too small to hide a jeep."

"Perhaps they are trying to drive us into a trap."

Troy shook his head again. "There are only two of them. We could just go around. If they wanted to drive us anywhere they'd need more than just two cars."

"Flush us out for the planes to find."

"We haven't heard any planes."

"Then perhaps you can come up with a suggestion." The Brit challenged. "I'm all out of ideas."

"Not off hand." Troy answered. "But whatever it is they're hunting, they're coming this way."

"Then may I suggest that we sneak out of here before they find us by accident? If it's not us they're seeking then why let them know we're in the area?"

Troy smiled at Moffitt's tone. "I'm not saying your ideas weren't good ones, I just don't happen to agree with them." Troy grinned. "But that last one is your best idea yet."

"Then you agree with that one at least?"

"Yeah I do. We aren't going to be able to erase our tracks but maybe they won't notice them, they kind of blend in with all the other tracks around here. The best case scenario would be if they found what they are looking for before they get this far."

"We can't count on that."

"No, and that's why we're leaving."

Moffitt nodded and began to work his way down the edge of the bank.

"Moffitt!" Troy hissed.

"What is it now?" The Brit asked.

"I think I just found what they're looking for."

"Really? What is it?"

"Not what, who." Troy answered.

Moffitt stayed where he was, waiting for Troy to explain.

"It looks like that second plane didn't make it back to his base after all."

"They're hunting another of their downed pilots?" Moffitt remembered how the second German plane had looked damaged as it fled from the second American fighter.

"Not theirs, ours."

Moffitt nodded as he recalled the smoke trailing from the American fighter as it passed over their heads after chasing the German fighter off. "He must have ditched the plane after he got out of our sight. I was hoping that he would make it back."

"It has to be him unless there is another one out here." Troy answered.

"Bloody unlikely." Moffitt stated.

"Whoever he is, he looks American from the uniform." Troy stiffened as he watched the downed pilot and the German patrol.

"Troy?"

"I think they saw him. He's trying to hide in the rocks but I think they saw the movement as he ducked down."

"Are they going after him?"

Troy didn't answer right away as he continued to watch the drama unfolding in the distance. The pilot found another grouping of rocks and tried squirm into the middle of them for cover. Troy watched as he poked his head up to look for the patrol.

One of the Germans saw him and gave a shout before pointing to the pilot's location.

"They found him!" Troy called as he twisted to slide after Moffitt.

Moffitt dropped the rest of the way to the ground and reached up to help Troy. Troy staggered as his feet hit the ground but with the other sergeant's support he caught himself and ran for the jeeps. "Let's go!" Troy called before he reached them.

Tully and Hitch both turned at the urgent call. They were in the jeeps before the sergeants got there.

Tully slid behind the wheel and glanced over at his passenger. Hitch had tied the German to the seat so he couldn't get out but Tully checked the ropes anyway. The German's head rolled to the side as the jeep shifted under Tully's weight. The gag in his mouth would prevent him from alerting the patrol even if he did wake up before the sergeants announced their presence in a loud way. Tully put the jeep in gear as Moffitt climbed behind the 50 and cleared the chamber.

Hitch and Troy led out as Troy checked the ammunition belt on his gun. He lowered the barrel and Hitch reached up and pulled the dust cover. Troy stood as tall as he could to try to see over the bank that blocked his view of the German patrol. He couldn't see anything and he growled in frustration. The jeep shifted as Hitch found a cut that would take them up over the bank and right to the clearing where the patrol cars were racing toward the rocks. Troy gripped the 50 for balance and looked ahead.

As the second jeep reached the top of the bank Troy twisted and waved Tully and Moffitt to the side. The other jeep started to circle to get behind the cars before the Germans saw them. He ordered Hitch to cut between the patrol cars and the downed pilot.

The pilot opened fire on the patrol cars before anyone knew the two jeeps were racing their way. In his rush to protect himself he fired before the Germans were within range. His gun clicked on an empty chamber without hitting a single German. The attempt did alert the soldiers to his exact location and they corrected their course accordingly. The two cars split up, attempting to approach from two sides. The pilot couldn't watch them both without exposing himself to one or the other. He ducked into the rocks again and kept his head down.

Troy opened fire to draw the attention of the Germans before they could reach the downed pilot. With his longer range he was able to hit one of the cars even before the German guns could return fire. His bullets hit the engine and the car rolled to a stop. Hitch continued closing the distance while Troy tried to prevent the soldiers from reaching a radio. By the time the jeep reached the disabled car the German crew was dead.

Troy looked around, and spotted the second patrol car fleeing from Tully and Moffitt. Moffitt had surprised them but the second driver had reacted more quickly than his fellow driver. Upon seeing the jeep the driver had turned back toward his base. The crew tried to keep Moffitt off target as the driver raced over the uneven terrain. The patrol car was slower and less responsive than Tully's jeep. Tully took the bumps in stride while the patrol car floundered at every turn of the wheel. As Tully closed the gap the car hit a ditch and flipped, throwing the occupants flying. Only one tried to fight after getting to his feet. Moffitt's bullets sent him flying backward into the overturned car before he rolled to the ground.

Tully pulled up next to the wrecked car and grabbed a machine gun to cover Moffitt as he checked for survivors. The sergeant rolled each German over and checked for a pulse. He didn't find any. He looked over at Tully and shook his head. Tully chewed on his matchstick and looked at the carnage they had wrought. He shook his head at the waste as Moffitt climbed back into the jeep. They drove back to rejoin Troy and Hitch.

As they approached the disabled patrol car the radio in the car began to crackle. A voice came over the radio speaking in a commanding way. Moffitt jumped off the jeep and ran to stand next to the car. He listened as the voice continued.

The sergeant reached for the radio and began to carry on a conversation with whoever was on the other end of the transmission. He listened for a moment and then looked over at Tully with a frown. When he spoke again Tully heard him giving someone coordinates. When the sergeant replaced the radio he immediately looked around for Troy.

"Something wrong Doc?"

Moffitt nodded as he looked back at Tully. "The patrol radioed back to the base for a plane to help them."

Tully glanced up at the sky expecting to see a German plane diving at them.

"It hasn't left the base yet." Moffitt explained when he saw Tully's reaction. "The planes were on a mission to protect some ships coming in, they're refueling now. Estimated time of arrival is twenty minutes."

"That doesn't give us much time to get out of here." Tully drawled as he rolled his matchstick.

"No it doesn't." Moffitt agreed. "But perhaps we could run for ten minutes and then hide. At least we wouldn't be right on top of the patrol cars."

"They know about us now, they'll widen the search."

"Yes, but I told them we were headed inland. They may not believe me but it was the best I could do. I tried to tell them that we had it under control but they insisted on sending the plane anyway. We're to look for their missing pilot too." Moffitt added with a smile.

"Maybe you should have told them that we already found him." Tully suggested.

"Perhaps." Moffitt nodded. "But I thought they might split their forces if they think he's still out here. Even one less plane looking for us is a help."

Tully nodded thoughtfully. "I guess we'd better go break the news to Sarge."