Hi all! Thanks to everyone who reviewed – I love when you do that! Sorry it took so long to update. In the couple weeks I've written two ten page and one four page paper, not to mention five finals with essays!! I'm now officially done with my freshman year of college!! Whoo hooo! So, now that I'm done for the summer, I'll try to write much quicker than I have been. Anyway, enough of my ramblings – on with the story! As always please, please, please review!
A chill wind bit at him as he climbed out of the hollow tree stump, making him pull his black jacket tighter around him. The sky was clouded, blocking out the moon and enveloping him in darkness. It may have been April, but it seemed just as cold as the winter months before. He hurried into the trees, dodging the bright search light that cut through the blackness. When he was safely within the tall, bare trees, he set off at a quick pace towards the meeting place, watching always for any signs of a German patrol. The trip was unusually quiet, any sound carried on the bitter wind, but nothing seemed to be moving but him. He'd begun to relax when he was within a quarter of a mile of the assigned spot. Suddenly, a twig snapped, and the wind brought him the sound of muffled German voices coming from a short distance away. Hogan stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes darted back and forth frantically, searching for a place to hide as the voices grew louder. He spotted a fallen tree, a slight hollow beneath its trunk. He quickly threw himself under it. The rough bark dug into his back as he squeezed beneath it, but he just fit. He silently thanked who ever was listening that he'd worn his black clothes and face paint tonight instead of his uniform.
He waited beneath the tree, barely daring to breath. Slight movements of the underbrush showed the advancement of the patrol moving slowly by. Suddenly, the movement stopped, and Hogan stopped breathing all together. 'Please,' he prayed, 'I'm so close! Don't let it end here!'
A match flared, and his nostrils caught the smell of burning tobacco. The voices came again, this time he could make out what they were saying. They were complaining! The weather was too cold, it was too dark to see anyone anyway, their commander always sent them to do the dirty work and so on. 'Thank you!' Hogan thought, grateful beyond belief for his luck. They obviously hadn't seen him or the underground agent who was to meet him. The Germans smoked and complained for nearly ten minutes, Hogan getting colder all the time as he pressed himself against the freezing, wet ground. The cold and dampness from the ground seeped into his bones, and he had to concentrate on keeping his teeth from chattering. He focused on translating every complaint and insult thrown at their commanding officer, trying to keep his mind occupied by anything besides how cold he was. Finally, he heard them begin to leave. He lay beneath the fallen tree until the voices and noises faded away and he was sure the threat was gone. He slowly climbed out from his hiding place, stiffly dragging himself to his feet. Taking one last look around, he slowly made his way to the designated spot.
He arrived at the tiny clearing, and there she was. Tiger. She recognized him at the same moment, and suddenly, she was in his arms, her lips pressed firmly against his own. The thousands of questions racing through his mind suddenly disappeared, and all he could think of was how right it felt to have her back in his arms. They pulled apart slightly, both afraid the other would disappear if they let go.
She laid her head against his shoulder whispering, "I've missed you, Robert."
"I've missed you too," he replied, thinking that that was the biggest understatement of his life, "but what are you doing here? I thought you'd gone back to France."
She hesitated slightly, "After France was freed I came back to help. I can do more to end the war from here."
He noticed the hesitation and knew she was holding something back, but he didn't press it. If she wanted him to know, she'd tell him. He instead turned to worrying. "Do you know what this mission is?" he asked, "It's going to be more dangerous than any we've worked on before."
"I know, Robert, but I must do what I can."
He shook his head at her stubbornness. "Come on," he said, reluctantly letting her go, "we should get back to camp before another patrol stumbles this way."
He grinned then, and feeling like a teenager in love, he grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the clearing into the trees. She smiled as she looked down at her hand in his, feeling quite like a teenager herself.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
"Le Colonel should have been back by now."
Le Beau looked around the radio room, seeing the anxious looks on the faces of his three friends around him. They had been silently waiting in the dark tunnel until Le Beau spoke. Now, their fears had been stated out loud, and it made them all even more nervous. How Hogan had expected them to get any rest no one could understand, they had too much worrying them for that.
"Don't worry, Le Beau," Kinch said, trying to reassure himself as much as the little Frenchman, "The Colonel can take care of himself."
"Yeah," Carter replied, feeling a little better, "I'm sure he's on his way back right now. Well, I wouldn't be surprised if he dropped into the tunnel right now . . ."
Just then, the sounds of the tree trunk shutting and two people making their way down the ladder could be heard. The men looked at each other in relief and surprise.
"Blimey, Andrew," Newkirk said, giving the young man a playful shove, "Why didn't you speak up sooner? You could 'ave saved us a bit of worrying!"
Hogan came into view then, still smiling, "Look who decided to come and visit!" he said as the beautiful resistance member into view.
A chorus of "Tiger!!" rose from the group, along with the individual greetings yelled to her.
"Bonjour mon amie!"
"'Ello love!"
"Hi Tiger!"
"Hello ma'am!"
She smiled at their warm greetings, "Bonjour! It is so nice to see you all again!"
Le Beau ran forward, bowing like a gentleman and kissing her hand as he greeted her. Newkirk followed quickly, trying to shove Le Beau out of the way as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders good-naturedly and said, "When are you gonna loose the gov'ner and realize who you really love?"
"Oui, me," Le Beau answered quickly, pushing Newkirk out of the way.
Carter and Kinch stood off to the side, watching the hilarious antics of the two would be lovers. Tiger could only laugh at their flirtations. It wasn't often that she was greeted with so much enthusiasm.
Hogan broke up the entertaining antics saying, "Alright, come on, let's get down to business," as he realized, to his surprise, that he was slightly jealous. He pulled out a map, and the men gathered around as Tiger began describing the defenses and the area around the missile they were to destroy.
"General Schneider is commanding the hundred and fifty men guarding it, along with nine anti-aircraft guns, all eighty-eights. They're placed here and here," she pointed to the map, "and they protect it from any attack from the air." Murmurs of disbelieve arose from the men as they realized just how much London was asking of them.
"How much help can the underground give us?" Hogan asked, anxious to know exactly what he had to work with.
"All told, we have eleven men altogether and we're all willing to help," she answered.
The Colonel leaned over the map as he spoke his thoughts out loud, "Sixteen men against a general, a hundred and fifty men, and nine ack-ack guns." He noticed something on the map then that caught his attention, "There's an ammo dump a half mile from the missile we've been meaning to get to," he said, "and these rail road tracks here, do you know when this train runs?" he asked Tiger, pointing to the tracks a forth a mile from their target.
"Oui, I thought you might want to know," she replied, "For next three days it will run directly past that area at one in the morning."
Hogan nodded, still staring at the map, a plan finally forming in his head. His men noticed the slight smile on their Colonel's face and knew he had an idea.
"What's the plan, Colonel?" Carter asked.
Hogan wrapped his arm amiably around the young sergeant's shoulders, saying, "Carter my boy, it's simple, we'll just get rid of three targets at once!"
The men looked at each other and simultaneously wondered if the stress of command had finally gotten to him.