The Spider and the Rats
By: AliasCWN
Chapter 3
The convoy put some distance between them and the Captain's ambush. The officer in charge had orders to camp for the night and continue on to the base in the morning. As the trucks pulled into the wadi for shelter from the night winds, he instructed his men to park the trucks close together. The wadi was small for the number of vehicles but Dietrich had chosen it for just that reason. If searchers were hunting the trucks, they would search the larger wadis first.
The prisoners were allowed to stretch their legs and the lieutenant ordered them fed before he had them returned to the truck. Posting guards, he ordered the rest of his men to bed down since they were leaving early in the morning. The German troops arranged their blankets close together; there wasn't much room in the wadi with the trucks in there. The camp soon got quiet, the only movement being that of the sentries patrolling the perimeter of the camp.
Two sentries roved the perimeter of the camp as the others slept. Their only company, the two men assigned to guard the prisoners. Moving slowly, tired from the long drive in the heat, they yawned frequently. The desert nights were cold so they huddled down in their heavy coats with the collars turned up, trying to stay warm. Each one had an assigned area to patrol, meeting, but never overlapping their paths. The stars twinkled brightly in the dark sky as there was very little moonlight to dim their light. Each guard placed his feet carefully so that he wouldn't turn an ankle on the uneven ground.
The guards were so intent on keeping warm and avoiding a sprained ankle that they missed the darker shadows creeping up on them. With a sudden, silent rush, two of the shadows separated themselves from the natural ones and reached for the sentries. There was no moonlight to flash on the knives as they finished their gory task. Both guards fell without a sound to disturb those sleeping below.
Mark Hitchcock gave Troy a thumbs-up as he relieved the guard of his weapons and checked for a pulse. Finding none, he rose to a crouch and faded back into the shadows, taking the weapons with him.
On the other side of the camp, Tully Pettigrew was repeating his actions. Moffitt provided cover for him in case anyone alerted the camp. Taking the weapons, the two groups met near the trucks.
"Tully, Hitch, take the guards guarding the prisoners." Troy whispered in the darkness. The two privates nodded even though Troy was barely able to see them. "Moffitt and I will keep an eye on the rest of the Germans. Once you take out the guards, get the prisoners out of the truck. Arm all of them that you can and get them stationed around the camp. Make sure they understand the plan, I don't want any wild cards out there."
"Right Sarge." Both privates whispered.
"Once everyone is in position, we'll announce our presence." Troy looked at his men. "Be careful out there; we're only going to get one shot at this." He warned them seriously.
"We got it Sarge." Hitch answered as Tully nodded in agreement.
"Luck lads." Moffitt added to the warning.
"You too Sarge."
"Go." Troy ordered, hefting his own weapon in readiness.
The guards on the truck were close together. Hitch and Tully had to wait for them to separate on either side of the truck. The minutes ticked by as they worried that the perimeter sentries would be missed. Finally one of the guards walked around the side of the truck to look around.
His eyes searched for the perimeter guard, the moonless night making it hard to see. He stiffened as he began to suspect that something might be wrong. As he turned to call to the other guard, a dark form slipped out from under the truck and put a hand over his mouth. He reached for the hand to pull it away, his rifle forgotten for a moment, his thoughts on shouting an alarm. The knife in his back ended his thoughts on shouting, permanently. The dark form pulled his body underneath the truck and moved to the back of the truck holding the prisoners.
The body of the second guard had already been stuffed underneath the truck.
Hitch nodded to Tully, indicating that he should keep watch. Tully returned the nod and positioned himself to cover the rear of the truck. Hitch moved cautiously up until he could touch the tailgate.
"Psst." Hitch tried to get the attention of the prisoners without alerting the Germans. "Psst. Is anyone awake in there?"
"Who's out there?" A voice whispered back.
"Rat Patrol." Hitch responded. "How many of you can fight?"
There was a pause before the voice from inside answered. "All but one. There are thirty of us. Nine are wounded but eight of those can still fight." The other voice asserted hopefully.
Hitch carefully pulled the canvas aside to face the prisoners. The men were all crowding toward the tailgate.
"We can't use all of you." Hitch explained. "We don't have enough weapons. If this goes south, anyone caught outside will probably be shot. We can't let unarmed men take that risk; we'll only take the ones we can arm. We have enough weapons for maybe ten men. The rest will have to wait here."
There was a sudden commotion as the prisoners whispered urgently among themselves.
"Quiet!" Hitch whispered. "We don't want the camp awake until we are in position."
The prisoners glared at him resentfully.
"All right Private." The lieutenant by the tailgate agreed. "This is your party; we'll do it your way. Ten men." He picked out ten volunteers quickly, hushing the ones forced to stay behind.
"We'd take you all Lieutenant, but we don't have enough weapons. We do have two more men watching the camp. Tully and I will take you to your positions and explain the plan." Hitch looked at the volunteers who had been chosen. "Can you follow our orders?"
"They'll do whatever you tell them Private." The Lieutenant promised, meeting the eyes of his men.
"Okay, let's do this."
The ten chosen prisoners followed the two privates, accepting the weapons they were offered. Tully took half of them in one direction while Hitch took the rest in the other direction. They hurriedly explained the plan and stationed them in strategic positions.
"Okay, you know what to do." Hitch explained to the last of the five men who had followed him. The man nodded. "Wait for the signal." The blond left him to rejoin the sergeants. Tully arrived a minute later.
"All right, show time." Troy told his men, waiting for their nods. Troy shifted his position as his men separated. When he was sure that they were in position, he fired a short burst of bullets into the center of the camp.