The Christmas Exchange

By:AliasCWN

Chapter 3

At Troy's yell Hitch and Tully spun around and slid into their seats. They tossed their weapons on the seats next to them and hit the starters on the jeeps. The tires threw sand in rooster tails behind them as the little vehicles shot from the wadi and raced out into the night.

Bullets whizzed past their heads as men appeared at the top edges of the wadi surrounding them. Bright flashes marked the ends of the rifle muzzles with each shot fired. The resulting effect looked like blinking lights marking the boundaries of the wadi.

The shots continued to ring out as Hitch gave a startled yelp and swerved his jeep violently to the side. He regained control and continued to put distance between his jeep and the wadi. Someone shouted behind them and in a nearby wadi a heavy engine roared to life.

Lights flared ahead of them and a pair of halftracks pulled out of a wadi and tried to cut them off. One of their heavy guns opened fire and Tully had to duck as bullets tore into the back of the seat next to him. He twisted the steering wheel and dodged around the armored vehicle as the gunner tried to correct his aim. Reaching between the seats he stuck his hand inside a canvas bag and pulled out a grenade. Using one hand he pulled the pin with his teeth and swung back toward the halftracks. He crowded close to the side and tossed the pineapple shaped projectile into the rear of the vehicle and twisted the wheel again. The German crew was too busy diving out of the vehicle to take any shots at him. By the time they could get back to their feet the jeep had vanished into the darkness.

Hitch saw the halftracks and reached for a grenade. The second halftrack turned toward him and he saw the gunner trying to clear a jammed gun. Reacting quickly before the gunner could be successful he tossed the grenade at the slower vehicle. The halftrack's driver saw him coming and tried to swerve out of the way. His grenade hit the side of the vehicle and bounced off. It landed in the sand where the steel tracks of the armored vehicle ran over it. The force of the explosion lifted the entire one side of the vehicle into the air only to come down with enough force to temporarily stun the gun crew. The driver tried to keep going but the blast had blown the track loose, leaving the lumbering vehicle disabled and unable to move. Hitch turned and followed Tully away from the scene of the battle. The Germans continued to fire at the escaping jeeps even after they had vanished into the dark of the surrounding desert.

Hitch and Tully kept the jeeps moving just in case there were more German vehicles out there waiting for them. They stuck to the open desert floor, avoiding the hills and wadis that could hide an enemy force. Once they were out into the desert and they were sure that there were no headlights following them they pulled the jeeps to a stop.

"Are you all right Hitch?" Tully parked next to the other jeep and began to jump out. He'd heard the cry and was expecting the worst.

"I'm okay. What about you?"

"I'm not the one who cried out back there when the bullets were flying." Tully growled in a fair imitation of Troy.

"A bullet hit my steering wheel." Hitch explained. "It stung like crazy! I yelled because it surprised me, but I'm not hurt."

"Are you sure?" Tully moved closer to check for himself.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Are you okay?"

Tully laughed in relief. "Yeah, I'm okay."

"What happened back there? Sarge said he was only going to yell if they got in over their heads."

"I don't know." Tully shrugged. "Sarge said to take off if he yelled and that's what we did. I guess we'll have to go back and find out; but we're going to have to be careful."

"Really careful." Hitch agreed. "If they got caught the krauts are going to be expecting us to come back for them."

"We don't have a choice; we have to go back for them. There is no way we can let the krauts keep them, especially this close to Christmas."

"We can circle around and try to beat them back to the base." Hitch suggested.

"And then what? The number of guys shooting at us back there suggests a column at least. We can't take on a column with just one jeep. Not if we want to live to see Christmas."

"I didn't see anything Tully. I told Sarge that." Hitch kept his voice low with guilt. "I told Sarge I heard something but I never guessed it would come to this."

"Sarge must have had his suspicions." Tully answered. "Otherwise he wouldn't have given us the orders he did."

"I should have been the one who went to investigate."

"You know Sarge; he had to take the risk himself. But at least we got clear and we are free to go after them. We know the krauts are going to be expecting us but that's not unusual."

"Why did this have to happen so close to Christmas?"

Tully gave a shrug. "It just happened Hitch; I don't think Christmas had anything to do with it."

"I wonder if Dietrich has any Christmas spirit."

"Maybe he does. Maybe he won't ship them out to a POW camp until we've had time to rescue them."

"Ha! If he keeps them on his base it will because he wants a chance to catch us too, not because he wants to give us time to help them." Hitch huffed.

"Where is your Christmas spirit?"

"What?"

"I think we owe it to the captain to give him a chance to get his Christmas wish. If he blows it then at least we gave him a shot at it. It's the least we can do, it's Christmas." Tully grinned.

"What?"

"We have to go after Sarge and Doc; it's what the captain would want us to do."

Hitch smiled. "You're right. We should give him a chance to make his Christmas wish come true, I just hope it doesn't work out too well for him."

"We'll have to make sure it doesn't."

The two privates smiled at the thought of thwarting the plans of their favorite German.

"Maybe we should leave him a consolation prize. You know, something he can use to forget his troubles." Tully decided.

"Like what?"

Tully grinned as a thought occurred to him. "I just happen to have a bottle of brandy that I got off of a supply sergeant. I was saving it for our celebration. You know how Sarge likes a little drink every now and then."

Hitch looked at Tully I surprise. "You'd give Dietrich the bottle you were saving for Sarge?"

Tully nodded. "We'd be getting the better gift, Sarge and Doc back with us."

"Yeah you're right. I'd give anything to have them back."

"Then it's settled, unless you have a better idea."

"No, I can't think of anything we have that Dietrich would want." Hitch answered thoughtfully. "Unless."

"Unless what?"

"Do you remember Dietrich telling Sarge the part he hates most about being an officer?"

"Yeah, I think so. He hates writing letters to the families of the dead. You aren't suggesting that we try to write those letters are you?"

"No, neither one of us writes in German." Hitch answered. "I was thinking that maybe we could be extra careful and try not to kill any more of his men before Christmas."

"All right, only the ones who are absolutely necessary. We don't put ourselves at risk for anyone but Sarge and Doc."

"Agreed."

"It does kind of feel right; after all, it's almost Christmas." Tully nodded.

"Do you think we can go in tonight to get Sarge and Doc?"

"I hope so." Tully answered. "Tomorrow night is Christmas eve." He looked over at his jeep and sighed. "I think we should check the jeeps before we go. I don't know about you but some of those bullets came awful close to hitting me. I want to be sure the jeep wasn't damaged. We may have to outrun more Germans before this is over."

"I had a few close calls too." Hitch answered, shaking his still tingling hand.

"It's a good thing Doc wasn't seated next to me." Tully pointed to the bullet holes in the seat. "That seat got hit a couple of times. I thought I heard some of the gear in the back getting hit too."

"Hey! My extra water can got hit." Hitch called as he examined his jeep. "They missed the box of hand grenades by sheer luck."

"The water can probably protected it." Tully drawled as he looked up from his inspection. "That's why Sarge always insists that we store them there. He says the water slows the bullets and keeps them from penetrating the wooden box we keep the grenades in."

"Kind of hard on the water cans though." Hitch noticed.

"Yeah, but the water won't blow you into next week."

Hitch fell silent and they both finished their examinations. Other than a few new holes the jeeps were undamaged. Hitch used the water from the damaged water can to fill both radiators so they wouldn't lose the water to evaporation. They would have to count on Tully's extra water if they needed to fill them again.

"Well that does it." Tully dropped his hood and stepped back. "I guess it's time to go back."

Hitch nodded his agreement.

"We'll get them back Hitch."

"I know." The blond answered. "I was just wondering if Dietrich will take them back to the base to set his trap or if he will try to catch us out here."

"My guess is that he will leave some of his men out here to try to catch us but he will want Sarge and Doc locked up in the cells on his base."

"Then we should head directly for the base and avoid the traps he has set up out here."

"Sounds like a plan." Tully agreed.