"Well, Troy, are you ready to hit the dance floor?" Moffitt asked with forced cheerfulness. He had found Troy lying in a lounge chair with his feet propped up, staring out intently across the Mediterranean Sea.

"Hardly," Troy growled. "I'll be lucky to ever get my boots back on. I would have loved to have just five minutes with Guest in a dark alley . . ."

"Well, Dietrich beat you to it, didn't he? Didn't even need the dark alley to do so. He just opted to finish off Guest in the building next to the dark alley. Major coincidence that we drove down the very same alley when we were searching for you."

"Yeah."

Troy shook his head in disgust, angrily blowing out a plume of smoke.

Moffitt paused a moment before continuing.

"Has a final decision been made?"

"Yeah, it took some work on my part, but I won't be discharged back to the States. I'll retain leadership of the Rat Patrol. Since the African campaign is finished, we'll be reassigned to a new area in Europe. We'll probably eventually end up in France once the Allies get around to landing there. I would bet that we start off in Italy."

Moffitt was obviously relieved to hear of the command decision. "Good to hear, that we're staying together under you. I, for one, look forward to harassing Jerry all the back to Berlin."

Troy nodded in satisfaction. "That's exactly what I aim to do."

A silence fell between them.

Finally, Moffitt sighed. "He's not there, Troy."

"Check again," Troy ordered. He was in no mood to hear about Moffitt's failure to turn up any useful information.

"I already have. And again. And again. I assure you, Troy, he's not there. No one has the foggiest idea of where he could be."

"He couldn't have just vanished into thin air."

"Oh, but he could. There are thousands of German and Italian soldiers being processed, Troy. He could have been lost in the multitudes. Besides, you know how the situation is, even with our armies. They have more important things to do than keep track of a German captain, even one with a pedigree such as Dietrich's."

Troy was not to be put off. "The Red Cross?"

"It also has nothing. Troy, it hasn't been that long since the Afrika Korps surrendered. In the end it was becoming extremely chaotic for them. Our side is almost as in as poor of shape for having to process so many prisoners in such a very short time. Who knows where Dietrich could have ended up?"

Troy looked unhappy but said nothing.

Moffitt waited a few moments before sharing what he had found.

"I did come across one of your other little German 'friends', though, listed among the surrendering forces."

"I consider no German in my circle of friends," Troy growled.

"Including Dietrich? You seem rather soft when it comes to him," Moffitt asked, the picture of innocence.

Troy snorted. "Not hardly."

Against what could be accepted as better judgement, Moffitt continued to press Troy. "Then why the continued interest in his where-abouts?"

"I owe him something, that's all. He did save my life, you know," Troy responded, defending himself and his interest in Dietrich.

"Yes, yes of course he did. And we are all very thankful to him for it. You know, it would have made more sense for him to leave you instead of aiding in your escape."

"Well, I guess Dietrich helping me only makes up for all the times that he almost killed me." Troy looked at Moffitt. "Okay, I'll bite. Who did you find?"

"One Hauptmann Wilhelm Meyer."

Troy's eyes darkened at the mention of the name. "Why am I not surprised that he lived to surrender?"

"I suppose that it is true that only the good die young." Moffitt shook his head. "You mentioned he was the one who betrayed you and Dietrich to Guest. I thought that you would be interested."

"That is interesting. I'd rather that you'd find Dietrich though, Moffitt."

Moffitt rolled his eyes at Troy's pig headiness and then decided to change the subject.

"Wasn't Meyer Dietrich's predecessor shortly before I joined your team?" he asked.

"Yep, Meyer's the one. It was an easier time before the Germans wised up and replaced Meyer with Dietrich." Troy looked out of the ocean with the barest hint of a smile. "Those were the good old days," he said fondly.

"I'll have Meyer questioned regarding your capture. Afterwards, he'll be processed to a nice, quiet POW camp to keep him out of trouble"

"Forget the questioning, Moffitt. You'd just be wasting everyone's time."

Moffitt was surprised at Troy's lack of interest in Meyer. "I would think, Troy, you would want him to answer for what he did to you and Dietrich."

"I said, forget it. I have no hard proof of his involvement. For all I know, Guest could have been lying to reflect the true source of his information. Without Guest, there's no proof of anything, and he's dead."

"Rather convenient of Dietrich to kill him." Moffitt looked thoughtful.

"Give Dietrich a break, Moffitt. We were escaping. How many men have we killed trying to escape from the Germans?"

"Point taken." Moffitt thought for a moment. "There's always Dietrich's testimony against Meyer. It could be used."

"Moffitt, looks like you forgot that we can't find Dietrich."

"True enough. Seems that you've neatly boxed me in, Troy." Moffitt smiled as he admitted his defeat.

"Good."

They sat in silence for a few minutes until Moffitt spoke again.

"Troy, you must realize that there could be other possibilities regarding Dietrich's vanishing act."

"Like what?" Troy was in no mood for speculation.

"He might have used the abduction as an opportunity to desert. He's fluent in Arabic and knows several dialects. He is also very familiar and friendly with the local tribes. Any one of them could be hiding him. There have been several German soldiers captured in civilian clothes, trying to make their way to neutral territories. He might not have been too enthusiastic about the possibility of being held as a POW for the next few years."

"Not Dietrich. He's as likely to desert as one of us. He even said so in the car. His oath wouldn't allow it."

"You're right, of course. Just providing you with different scenarios." Moffitt paused a moment before speaking what he truly thought.

"Troy, there is the strong possibility that the Gestapo could have 'dealt' with him."

"Dealt with him? What's that mean?"

"There's been numerous reports of instant judgements and even faster punishments from the nearest tree. Think of how it might have looked for him to disappear for several days imminently before the surrender, even with you vouching for him. They could have thought it staged or bought. Or worse yet, that the two of you all were colluding."

"Then why would he return to his unit if he thought his motives would be questioned? That doesn't make any sense. No, Dietrich's not dead," Troy said firmly, looking Moffitt in the eye as if daring him to disagree again. "You can run through as many scenarios as you want. My gut tells me Dietrich somehow made it out of North Africa. I would bet even money he's in Italy."

"Could be. Maybe Dietrich was airlifted out before the surrender," Moffitt admitted. "There were still a few last minute air transports happening before their operations completely ceased. He was seriously wounded and being a war hero, Berlin might not have wanted him captured and used for propaganda purposes."

Troy looked satisfied, accepting that as the likely answer.

"Doesn't really matter, though, does it?" Moffitt asked.

"Matters to me. The man saved my life when he didn't have to. There was no reason for him to waste valuable time on saving me. For that act alone, we'll always be tied together. No matter what happens to either of us."

"No point in debating it then. It's doubtful that we'll ever know for sure what became of Dietrich. There is still a war on. I can't see it ending anytime soon. If Dietrich is alive, he'll probably be sent to the Eastern front where experienced Wehrmacht officers are at a premium."

"Poor bastard."

Moffitt nodded. "I've heard that it's positively brutal there. The Soviets are none too happy that Hitler double crossed them. It will be highly unlikely for Dietrich to survive the onslaught of the Red Army. He'll probably end up buried in some unmarked grave on the outskirts of some unknown primitive village."

"You're wrong, Moffitt," Troy said with certainty. "You mark my words, my path will cross Dietrich's again."

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I want to thank Susan, my beta reader, from the bottom of my heart for all her tireless hard work and assistance with my story. Many thanks for helping me continue the story of Hauptmann Dietrich and the Rat Patrol.